To tan or not to tan....

My parents would take my brother and I to Majorca almost every summer when growing up.  I had a healthy olive skin tone, I used to go really dark and never got sunburned.  My healthy glow would last for months on end before fading....

...Fast forward nearly 20 years...

His Lordship and I would save for the best part of 2 years to pay for glorious holidays a little further afield and our last proper holiday was to Egypt a little over 5 years ago, before the 'Lil Monster came along.

British summer time in not quite in the same league as foreign holidays and I tend to burn at the first hint of summer these days, so I'm a little anxious at the fact that we're heading back to Egypt in a little over a month.  We booked the holiday to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, so I really don't want to be looking like a lobster on the beach and in photos, so I was contemplating using a sunbed for a few weeks in the run up to going away.   

I'm still over my ideal weight and all ladies know that a tan make you appear slightly slimmer and can help disguise cellulite.  I'm sure many people reading this would tell me to go for a spray tan, but I've heard that using a sunbed before a holiday can help to prevent sunburn...given the choice of a patchy spray tan that looks even patchier when wearing off, or a healthy looking all over glow from a sunbed - I'd choose sunbeds every time...

Like many ladies, I used sunbeds most days when I was younger, before we really understood the dangers of such frequent use.  I'm lucky enough to have only 2 wrinkles and usually pass for a good few years younger than I really am and as I'm only thinking about having a handful of sessions, I'm not too worried about the aging effects, but how much damage can a handful of sessions actually cause?  Can they really help to protect against sunburn or is that an urban myth??  How do you tan safely??