Phew! I need a holiday after my exhausting pre holiday prep

There are very few things in life I love as much as a holiday. But there's no denying it can be bloody hard work. Oh, not the lying-around-drinking-cocktails-in-the-sunshine bit - I'm so skilled in that area I've included it on my LinkedIn profile - but the bit beforehand. The dreaded pre-holiday prep.

I'm off to Barcelona for a few days and sunshine and swimming pools mean I'll be baring more flesh than I'm used to. Gulp. In an attempt to make this slightly less terrifying I've booked in for my first ever spray tan.  (Prefer a DIY approach? Try some of the Irish tanning brands we showed you here.)

But before I even get to the salon there's a whole exfoliation and deforestation process to go through. A mental week at work means I have to cancel my waxing appointment:  I'll have a go myself later, with these wax strips instead - if they're as good as Veet's EasyWax kit, I'll be happy.

Exfoliation is a bit of a smoother process (see what I did there?!) with Lime Body Scrub Cubes from the all-natural brand Irish brand Pixy. They smell divine, leave skin feeling really soft and are a bargain at €4.99.  Add a slathering of this Nourish & Restore body lotion from E45 to finish and my skin looks noticeably better.

The next bit to tackle is my poor old feet. They take such a battering from me and I feel so sorry for them but god, they really are hideous. In a bid to get them sandal ready they've been soaked and scrubbed to within an inch of their lives with the Body Shop's peppermint foot range. And - if you've a sensitive disposition, look away now! - I've been the scraping off dead skin with Scholl's Instant Hard Skin Remover. This is bloody brilliant - it uses tiny circular blades  and is both safe and effective. It's €6.49.

And don't even get me started on the last minute pre-holiday shopping spree, where popping in for some suncream inevitably results in a two hour trip, three shopping bags and a hundred euro Boots bill...

So now - after all that hard work, I think I thoroughly deserve my few days in the sun. What about you, what hoops do you jump through to get yourself holiday ready?