Holidays are meant to be an enjoyable and relaxing way to recharge your batteries. Why then, after a week in the Canaries, do I feel like I need another week off work? Simple: Harry.

Before I go on, I should say that our holiday wasn’t a disaster by any means. Harry certainly enjoyed himself and it was nice to get in the sun for a few days.

Going abroad with a toddler is, however, a very different, and altogether more challenging experience. The main problem is the travelling itself – and it made both Melissa and I long for the simplicity of being able to throw everything into the back of our car.

We arrived at the airport two hours before our flight, which meant plenty of hanging around, trying to keep Harry entertained. It’s not as easy as it sounds. To complicate matters, Harry had woken up with a slight stomach upset – nothing serious, but it meant a couple of dirty nappies in the airport, which wasn’t the ideal way to kick off the holiday.

To make matters worse, when we got on the plane Harry filled his nappy again. Unfortunately, we were told by the cabin crew that we wouldn’t be able to change him until we were in the air and the seatbelt sign had been turned off.

Half an hour later, we were still stationary on the tarmac, with Harry on the brink of dropping off. Our pleas to change Harry again fell on deaf ears and we ended up having to wake him when we finally did get into the air an hour or so later.

The journey home was less eventful – or at least it was until Harry decided to start hitting the lady sat in front of us on the plane over the head with one of his books.

As I say, the holiday itself was good and Harry loved splashing around in the pool and being made a fuss of by the hotel staff. Nevertheless, Melissa has vowed it will be at least 10 years before we go abroad again. She might be exaggerating slightly, but she does have a point. As for Harry, he’ll just have to get used to the unpredictable British weather.