Holidays with children are a great way to spend time with your kids away from all the day to day routine and tasks of normal life. However the journey and trips abroad can at times seem a little daunting, especially when travelling for the first time with young children.
Our team have had quite a bit of experience travelling with young children, we asked them to compile a list of top tips when travelling with young kids to make the journeys that little bit more relaxing for them and you.
1. Pack Snacks
Nearly everyone agreed, that a small lunch box or bag full of favourite snacks is great way to keep kids calm and distracted on a long flight. Things like kids biscuits, pre cut fruit or favourites treats really come in handy when either waiting to board planes or if they start to feell hungry in-between meal times on a flight. There's no limit on how much you should pack and any extras leftover can always be used during your holiday.
Keeping the snacks pre packed in little Tupperware style boxes make it easier to find and repack them when needed. It always help to pack their favourite sandwiches or something similar just in case they're not happy with meals on board a flight.
Remember you can't take any drinks over 100ml through security so leave a little time to pick up a bottle or two of water in duty free to keep on hand in case they feel thirsty.
2. Phones, Tablets, Movie and TV Shows
Different parents will always have different views on children using tablets and phones. But nearly everyone agreed that they were a major help when travelling with young children. Most long haul flights these days will have some sort of in-flight entertainment, but this isn't always guaranteed on shorter flights and you may not always find something your children will want to watch.
A tablet loaded with your kids favourite movies and TV shows or a few games can make journeys pass much faster for them and is a great way to give your self half an hour or so to eat a meal or have bit of down time on a flight.
3. Toys, Activities and Books
Packing a few favourite toys for your young ones helps them feel a little bit more at home, for some it may be the first time away for so long and link back to home really helps them settle.
Activities such a colouring-in books, puzzles or a small bag of Duplo again give children something to do on longer flights and if you have to wait in airports during stop overs.
4. Baby Milk
Packing powdered baby milk for a flight is not an issue but it can be cumbersome when trying to handle a large box of powdered milk. Before your trip it may be useful to buy a powdered milk dispenser like the one below (around £7 from Amazon). This way you can store up to four feeds to quickly take out and pour into a bottle when making a feed.
Another option to is to call up a pharmacy in duty free such as Boots and pre-order your baby milk. They'll keep a bag ready with what ever you order and you can pay for it on collection. Remember to do this if you use pre mixed milk as you won't be able to take any bottles of liquids above 100 ml through security. Some people have been allowed to take milk through if they agree to open and taste it during the security check but it's more advisable to pre order and pick it up in duty free if you can.
A few members of our team mentioned that some of the larger chain coffee shops, especially those in the USA, will offer to fill a baby bottle with warm milk without any charge or for a small fee. But bare in mind this will be normal cows milk not formula.
As you board a flight let a flight attendant know you may need some hot water to make a formula feed or to warm a bottle of milk. It will help them prepare in advance and they can advise you of what needs to be done.
With some airlines you may need to pre order milk for young children as they may not allows have enough on board. Let your travel agent or the airline know in advance and they will arrange this for you.
5. Breast Feeding
Many airports offer private areas for mothers to breast feed young ones. It may be advisable to look this up on an airport website or call their information desk in advance before travelling, this way you can pre-plan where you need to go for a feed whilst you're in the airport.
6. Clothes and Essentials
Many of the parents said they dressed their kids in loose comfortable clothes like jogging bottoms and t-shirts, with some even taking them to the airport in their pyjamas when travelling on night flights.
Pack a spare pair of clothes for those little emergency situations where they are needed, it's also useful to have a few carrier bags on hand to pack any dirty clothes should you need to.
It's also advisable to keep a few sachets of Calpol or baby Nurofen in your hand luggage in case you need them on the flight. Don't take the larger bottles due to airport restrictions on liquids as they'll be confiscated during security checks. A small cellular blanket can come in handy for those short naps and can keep them warm if the air conditioning on a flight or in the airport is a little cooler.
7. Pushchairs & Car Seats
Airline will normally allow you to carry two items for young children aboard a flight on top of your normal luggage allowance for example you could take your push chair and the car seat.
You can normally keep your push chair with you whilst you're in the the airport before a flight. Let the check-in staff know and they will provide you with a special bag or luggage tag for your pushchair. You'll then leave this with the airline just before boarding the plane.
If you normally use one of the more expensive push chairs day to day, it's a good idea to pick up a second cheaper travel buggy. Something that won't hit the wallet so hard should it get damaged or go missing. One of our team members did this on a trip to Hong Kong and were grateful as they left their buggy on a local bus and were unable to locate it afterwards.
When abroad you can't always rely on local taxi's having a car seat on hand or if they do you can't always be sure of the quality. We've arrived at our destination in the past and found the local taxi driver has a car seat but it was in a completely unusable condition with bits broken off and straps not working. If you know you're going to be travelling in a car it is very advisable to pack your own, even if the local laws don't require you to have one.
You'll need to safely pack your car seat to avoid any damage during travel. You can buy cases designed specifically for your model of car seat, universal cases or you use a packing service at most airports that will tightly wrap the car seat in tamper proof plastic film. It's best to pick up a case as you can re-use this on future trips.
8. Start Small
It may be worth while choosing your first holiday destination a little but nearer to home, within a a 3 or 4 hour flight, then choosing destinations a little further away on proceeding trips. Every child is different and some take to flying very easily whilst others need a little time to adjust.
Night flights can work well on longer long haul journeys as children can sleep for most of it, leaving them refreshed when they arrive and ready for the holiday ahead.
It may seem like a lot to take in and carry with you, but most of the items above should all fit in a small wheelie case and can really help when travelling with young children.
Remember everyone was a kid once and most people will end up taking a flight with young children at some point in their lives. Even if children do start to cry or become agitated, most people understand as they've been in similar situations themselves.
We've all found holidays with children to be very rewarding and the above tips just helping making an already enjoyable experience even more so.
Let us know what you think, your experiences or if you have any advice in the comments section below and we'll update our article with some of the most useful tips.