I have now spent an entire day trying to find a way of taking the children on a plane, storing the dog and some form of bed for the period - all for about five pounds.

It has been a fruitless task and I am now bored.

I may have to buy a large poster of sun, sea and sand, a sunlamp, some cocktail sticks and resort to staying in the living room and trying to fool them. The little ones have never been on a fly somewhere and stay somewhere holiday. This may not be about to change