This rather funky gift card from Mr & Mrs Smith came through my letterbox the other week – a “dummy” version, sadly, but it did whet my appetite for a spot of overseas travel. I’ve been a member of the Mr & Mrs Smith hotel website for years now – I book nearly all of my holidays through them and most of my business stays too. I’ve had each type of membership (the Gold one is great if you’re a very frequent traveller and can justify the cost) but my default is the entry-level Blacksmith, which is totally free, yet still – amazingly – gets you a free gift or perk at every hotel you book into as well as really nice discounts with lots of luxury brands like NEOM and Oskia.

My friends and family are sick to death of me banging on about the Blacksmith membership, but I can’t stand it when people miss out on perks – it’s like frequent flyers who don’t collect airmiles! What are you doing? Or when Mr AMR fills the car up with petrol at Tesco and doesn’t use the Clubcard! It all adds up – I paid for more than half of his iPad Pro using Clubcard points at Christmas. I’m also a voracious collector of Amex points, but that’s a whole other story and to tell it would reveal the extent of my enthusiastic “online retail adventures”, so we’ll move swiftly on…

If you want to look at the Smith memberships then they are here – I’ve completely gone off piste with this post  and I need to read it again from the start to try and remember what an earth I was going to talk about…

The new “Get a Room!” gift card. Yes. It’s had a complete makeover from womenswear designer Roksanda Ilincic, who has produced something that looks like a cross between a front row invitation for fashion week and a brightly coloured travel wallet. If you are looking for a stylish birthday/anniversary/wedding/engagement present for someone, something pre-loaded with a sense of adventure and opportunity, then this is it. The gift of travel beats a book voucher any day. You can find the revamped Roksanda Get a Room! card here – voucher amounts start at £50.

I very dangerously made the mistake of browsing hotels in Greece when I was looking up details about the Roksanda card and now I can’t stop thinking about holidays. We’re going to Cornwall for a few days this spring, but I’m starting to get itchy travel feet and am desperate for some heat. We haven’t been away on a proper holiday since September 2014 (Kinsterna, see here) and though I know that lounging on a beach isn’t going to be entirely an option with a baby in tow, it would be nice to just see some sunny weather and float about in a maxi-dress for a few days. Drink some local wine that’ll turn my face inside-out, that kind of thing..

I’m thinking Greece – perhaps Crete – in early or mid-May. What do you reckon? OK temperature-wise, or should I be looking more along the lines of Spain? I don’t want it to be too hot, because I’ll spend all of my time worrying that the baby is overheating, but I don’t want to risk rain. We get enough of that here. I’m usually Mrs Confident when it comes to holidays, because I’m pretty well-travelled, but feeling a bit nervous about the whole “abroad with baby” thing. Good advice readily accepted…