First things first, wouldn’t recommend it. BUT, it IS possible!
If you do decide to go, for whatever reason, here are some top tips from our experience.
Months before you leave, start a list on your phone of items you may need to pack, I have put our list below (take what is useful from it or relevant to your situation).
We keep adding to this list every time we go on a holiday and that might be a short trip in the car or a longer holiday on a plane. Each child has their own list to help with packing.
Next, plan your trip and the times. Know when your child needs to sleep and work out a rough plan around this. We dressed the girls is a tracksuit and changed them into their pjs when it was their ‘bedtime’, this helped them to understand their routine better.
SNACKS.
Bulk snacks.
I can’t express enough how many snacks you should pack. We bought a cool box from ‘the somewhere co’ which was fun and a great size. We filled it with all of their favourite things. Eg. They ate a punnet of raspberries on take off which was the perfect distraction for having to keep a seatbelt on. We also packed an empty bottle and some mini long life milks to give them whenever they were unsettled, especially before sleep times and on landing. You can ask for milk on the plane but the long life was handy for take off and landing when everyone had to be seated.
Next,
ACTIVITIES.
If your child is old enough to sit and watch movies, you’re winning. But if not, all the best to you.
We took a backpack filled with different activities to keep the girls entertained.
What did these include
- Stickers
- Colour books and pencils (Hey Doodle mats are fantastic for travel)
- Doctors role play kit
- Toys to open and close (see below pictures)
- iPads and headphones (link to headphones below)
How we sorted our hand luggage.
We didn’t allow the girls to take a bag. We felt it would slow us down during transits and we would end up having to carry them. Instead we had 2 large backpacks, 1 filled with everything for the girls eg. Activities, nappies, wipes, comforters and change of clothes/pjs and the other was filled with everything for Dan, myself and Paxton (6 weeks old at time of travel).
Arabella is completely toilet trained and Camilla had started toilet learning before going away. Whilst both usually wear knickers, we put them in a nappy or pull up on the plane. A few reasons, but mainly so that on take off and landing we didn’t feel the pressure of having to tell them to ‘hold on’ for the toilet. We did a lot of talking about this before leaving and we think this helped.
We also talked a lot about the plane, travel and airports before going away. A good friend of mine made the girls their own pretend passport and plane tickets so we started with role play before leaving. They also loved handing their ‘passports’ to everyone at the airport.
All in all, we are glad we did it. It was tiring, but well worth it.
You just need to be prepared for anything and everything, the days of packing light have gone.
We wish you all the best and enjoy your holiday.
Chelsea xoxo
