Holiday time.

 Holiday time.

This is normally the time of the year when we all begin to start thinking about our summer holidays. So you've packed away a huge supply of sun factor 30s, stuffed your suitcase with all your worldly belongings, dug out the beach shorts, flip flops and then all manner of light clothing such as those skimpy T-shirts with amusing slogans plastered all over them. It's time to get in the holiday mood ladies and gentlemen.

Then there are the casual shirts for evening strolls along romantic harbours, window shopping in innumerable souvenir shops and gentle gallivanting around lively market towns, cobblestone back alleys and those tall, imposing churches where every so often a temporary moment of blissful silence is broken by the loud chiming of bells. Now, there's the spotting of those delightful al fresco restaurants and cafes that always look irresistible and attractive when you're visiting the Mediterranean in all of its seductive charms.

We always look forward to that welcome break from the domestic duties at home although family of course are essential and we love them. But, hey, come on, we all need a holiday just to re-charge the batteries, a golden drop of rejuvenation, the medicine we all need at this time just to wind down and give our industrious and workaday lives a complete rest and some different scenery, some exotic environment where chickens and hens wake us up in nearby farmyards next to our hotel. 

By the end of the day, we're so emotionally exhilarated by the relentlessly beautiful warm sunshine during the day that we almost come to expect, nay less demand, more of the same every day. Our destinations are normally European, be they Spanish or Greek islands, and how we look forward to them. So we grab our sun lounger in the morning, drape our capacious towels over the top of the reclining chair and assume that, come the evening, we'll all look like handsome bronzed Hollywood movie stars.

Nowadays there's the Caribbean, African safaris, USA, Hong Kong and the gorgeous Maldives where paradise always seems to come out to play and nobody can disturb your peace. We look for swaying, whispering palm trees and we are never disappointed, soft sandy beaches stretching for miles and as far as the eye can see. There are couples holding hands by the slowly declining sunset, a glorious vision of honey coloured amber sinking languidly into rippling sea waves. They walk seemingly for hours and hours but then find a sea food fish restaurant, where the lobsters and calamari look so juicy and enticing.

We then unpack our bulging suitcases and rucksacks, plonking them down in some relief because our flight was terrible and turbulent and all we want is the ultimate panacea which is invariably a soothing cocktail. Here is something that not only refreshes but just reinforces your enjoyment of the holiday. You sip your Pina Coladas, play with a cherry and express excessive gratitude because the working year thus far has been hectic and demanding, stressful and arduous. It's time to loosen up and chill out, folks. 

So you've settled your holiday itinerary, mapped out the places you have to see because that's what holidays are all about. These are invariably historic places of interest or those mandatory sights that are just breathtaking. You've heard all the right noises about these stunning tourist attractions and this could be the most exciting and enjoyable holiday you've had for years. So you book up to see the Egyptian pyramids, explore the foothills of Tuscany, soak up the beauty of those immensely satisfying mountain ranges and just explore the Med at your own pace. 

Nowadays some of us can still remember with deep affection those wonderful cruises that have now become very much the preferred choice of those with or without the disposable income. Of course, they're criminally extortionate and too expensive for words in some cases. But there's something about travelling on a luxurious ship or vessel in the middle of the Atlantic or the Mediterranean which simply takes you into a world that hardly seems possible and imaginable. But it's happening and this is a dream come true. 

Our perspectives on a broader scale are now very different when the conversation moves to the subject of cruises. Now you can simply kick off your crocs and flip flops, lay back on your sun lounger and gaze out at on an ocean that looks like a placid pond or lake because the breeze is barely noticeable and the sun is shining on your face. When you step on board your boat you're treated as royalty, everything is taken care of and all you have to do is just to find out which restaurant you want to go to for either lunch, dinner or tea. 

In a world of privilege and luxury, maybe we've forgotten what it was like to be swept off our feet as kids when holidays to Southend, Brighton, Bournemouth, Blackpool, Skegness and Great Yarmouth became a yearly, or so we assumed, a permanent fixture in our youth. Then we discovered that there was something more than to Britain and walking holidays in the Lake District. 

And so it is that we venture out into those sumptuous countries such as Israel, South America, Canada, Italy, Turkey or those closer to home destinations such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Portugal, France, Turkey  or Germany. This is where we usually head for when museums or cathedrals become foremost on your agenda, places of romance and mystique, buildings with character and steeped in tradition. 

Finally, you stop for a cappuccino or a latte in the middle of the morning before adjusting your I phones and taking thousands of holiday images and photos. And then you hark back to your childhood when the fashion statement of the time was the Kodak Instamatic when a now old fashioned looking camera would snap everything from hotels to bridges, canals, woodlands, forests and birds. Your lovely late mum and dad would think nothing of taking pictures of you and your brother swallowing huge quantities of Spanish sangria or thrilling to baby bullfights in distant Majorca. 

Yes folks it's the holiday season and we'll all be telling off our friends and families that we're off to Chile, Peru or spellbinding Brazil. Maybe it'll be the mystical Orient and the Land of the Rising Sun or simply pottering around the hills and valleys of the idyllic English countryside. In the old days your mum would always make our family summer holiday her biggest priority at the start of the year and she would unfailingly bring home a princely pile of travel brochures. A quick flick through the said brochure would reveal seven, eight or ten days at the unforgettable price of £32 for ten days in Benidorm with bed, breakfast and everything included. Ah the 1970s! We'll never forget them. 

So whatever you're doing this summer whether it's home is where the heart is or some desert island in the middle of the Indian ocean, it is time to make sure that you've got everything. Don't forget the passport or that gruelling assault course known as the airport. You'd be well advised to take a deep breath and keep cool and once you board the plane be sure to select music in your earphones because if  you're going on a long haul flight, you'll be wanting some very appealing distractions. 

There are the nightmarish obstacles known as customs, the deeply annoying checking of passports, the suitcases that seem to experience every emotion known to human kind and of course those decadent boxes of chocolates, hundreds of bottles of perfume and packs of cigarettes by the thousands. Take the advice of the legendary Sir Cliff Richard who once found an old Route Master bus in the early 1960s and embarked on his own personal summer holiday. And yes of course it was just for a week or two. Have fun everybody.