Sky’s the limit when it comes to traveling with my kids. The only limitation is really my courage to take them! Anyone traveling with kids knows the recipe is two parts courage, one part being organized and a large dose of patience thrown into the mix.

Unflappability is what I strive for at the airport but the result is usually more like a mad woman with hair flying everywhere, beads of sweat on the brow and a flurry of statements like ‘look with your eyes not your hands’, ‘please calm down and stay close’, ‘don’t run away from me’, ‘less questions please’, ‘no you can’t have a giant Toblerone’, ‘put that down’, ‘don’t touch’, ‘please listen to me’, ‘They are usually so well behaved’, ‘I’m so sorry’, ‘can you hold it for just 5 minutes til we see a bathroom’ while in my mind I recite my mantra ‘I am calm, we will get through this, keep it together’ but inevitability this shifts to ‘why am I doing this? I can’t take it any more! Is that a bar I see? Is it midday yet? Where’s the Phenergan?’

But the amazing thing is, we get past all this, we’re all seated on the plane, we’ve done the negotiation with fellow passengers and cabin crew to have the whole family in a row together, have somehow managed to stuff our absurd amount of gear into the overhead lockers are comfortably seated for take off and without fail at this point one of my boys will turn white and have a nappy explosion or vomit? This happens like clockwork for any long haul flight and my husband and I barely blink an eye as we begin the clean up, we know to pack multiple outfit changes for the kids and ourselves and lets face it, it’s just more laundry at the other end!

There are some small mercies, now that my youngest has turned 2 he has his own seat so at least I’m not tying to wrestle him in my arms and don’t end up with the bad nappy explosions or vomit all over me! The downside is that trying to change his nappy in the very small toilets is a bit of a juggle and he is terrified he’ll fall off the change table, but we manage somehow. iDevices have become a necessity and booking the child meal an essential. But each time we fly, I learn something new and forget something else. It’s all part of the fun!

If you enjoyed this post please share using the share tools on the left side.

Please join me by signing up and you’ll be the first to receive new posts when they are published. The sign up box is on my homepage here

And of course I would love to hear your stories about traveling with kids, ask me questions or make a comment- the box is just below.

Best wishes,

Sue