Can you talk me through taking small children abroad as if I'm an idiot?

[BessSedgwick]

DS (5) has decreed that he would like to go on a plane. We want to go during October half term, and it would be two adults and two children (5 and 2).

I feel completely overwhelmed by the idea of taking them abroad. Can anyone kind explain what I should be thinking about as if I were five years old and not very bright?

Our usual type of holiday would be walking, city break, nice things to do and see - but that all feels impossible with smalls! Some sun would be nice; ideal airport to fly from would be Stansted (though could do another London airport if necessary); the shorter the flight the better.

And if you have any recommendations of countries/cities/hotels you have loved, I'd be very grateful!

My friend advised me that her kids (7 & 11) hate short city breaks - they don't want to sightsee, pop into cute markets, visit famous galleries or eat at amazing restaurants in a short space of time. I have a 6 month old and have banked this advice for when bambino is older. If you can stay in a place for longer than you usually wouldn't help the kids settle?

Our usual type of holiday would be walking, city break, nice things to do and see - but that all feels impossible with smalls!

Why is it impossible? Maybe take an umbrella stroller for the two year old.

I agree on length of time - I don't think anything less than 9 days feels worth it - but I can definitely get my kids at 7 and 4 to do some cultural stuff on holiday, you just have to pick it carefully and mix it in with stuff more focused on the kids. E.g. cathedrals are quite good because the visit is relatively short, the Gaudi park and houses in Barcelona were good because they look cool. Actually generally sculpture gardens have been good for ours, more so than galleries

I think it really depends on the kids. Both mine have always been able to do a reasonable mix of stuff and LOVE a market; elder has (since the age of 3, he's now 12) liked pretty much anything museum-shaped; younger (now 8) used to be more challenging but he'd manage with some park time thrown in.

All kids are different though! We always did museums and stuff with ours at home so we knew they'd be ok.

Restaurants have been hard as we had one with basically a food phobia for a long time. It's slowly getting better....

Top tips, keep the flight short. Look for flight times that allow you to keep to normal ish bedtimes and nap schedules. Something to suck for their ears on the plan and some calpol fastness in case they get really bad ear pain. All inclusive or half board can be good because you can get them in and fed quickly if they are tired or need to get to bed. Think about transfer times as well. The Balearics or Caneries are both nice at that time of year and there are always lovely little play parks too.

Not breezy Teguise, you'll all be blown away. If you want sun but not necessary hot the Balearics are cheaper 😉 or Malta is really good, plenty of buses, nice and sunny.

I find a resort easier than self catering because the food is there, it's sorted. You're not trailing round a foreign supermarket trying to work out what they will eat.

Have a look at the Tui Blue Orquidea in Gran Canaria. It’s perfect for young families and Gran Canaria will be warm and much less windy than Lanzarote or Fuerteventura.

Me and DH went there a few years ago, on a last minute cheap our of season deal. The hotel, itself, is clean and modern. It’s on small beach and has a few shops and restaurants in the vicinity. The food was good for an AI and there is a children’s buffet too. There’s, also, a taverna, you do need to book, which does a la carte service.

IIRC there’s a children’s club, a crèche and play area, as well as a splash park for kids. The transfer from the airport wasn’t too bad either.

I used to enjoy watching little green parrots flying between the trees round the pool.

Why would anyone deliberately delay a holiday until you're stuck with school hols?

(All other aspects aside)

I'm taking my 4 year old and 2 year old to Majorca in June. It's our first foreign holiday as well. We've booked one of the big AI hotels for the pools but we're self catering.

I've just applied for passports this week. Pretty straightforward as it's all online. Getting the 2 year old to stay still for a photo was entertaining, but the rules say they don't need to be looking at the camera (thank god!)

With Jet2 they get their own hand luggage and you can take a pushchair all the way to the gate.

I'm trying to keep the whole thing as easy as possible!

My tip, wherever you go, is to do a little bit of research and save a little extra budget for situations where a child needs to see a doctor. Ours always gets ill on holiday so we are now used to sussing out where to get an appointment easily and we are ready to pay just to get dealt with quickly. This isn’t meant to stress you, just to prepare.

We went to Duinrell when the DC were little - drove there
Great place for a holiday with children - as you stay on site there is free entry to the water park / amusement park (not too big)
There is entertainment in the evenings - DC enjoyed that and they can go around on go karts (but yours might be a bit too small for that!)

When our children were 2 and 4 years we went here in October. It was quite a while ago but we all loved it. Good pools, a small water park and we could walk to plenty of restaurants and the beach. We took a taxi from the airport to the apartment. https://www.parquesantiago.com/en/parque-santiago-iii.html

I concur with all the other posters who say canaries and all inclusive. It's the only way to have a relatively stress free holiday when they are small. Try an Iberostar. It's like an NCT group on holiday. Bleary eyed , knackered parents but no cooking, cleaning and on site kids club for the 5 year old. You might even enjoy it?

We use an independent travel agent who takes commission from the holiday company so the service is free. She holds our hand right through booking / checkin in / departure etc and would be perfect. Also great if you have any issues etc as she's on hand to help.

Give her your outline then she does the rest:

Dates
Budget
Type of accom
Warm weather
Max flight time
Local area / amenities

You sound like you already have a pretty good idea on most of these so I think it could be really helpful for you to use a travel agent.

PM if you want her details she's ace.

@bluebells1234 I did a couple of all inclusives in Spain because everyone says they are easy for kids. DC1 never liked it. She didn’t like the crowds and noise. She didn’t like kids clubs or the entertainment. It really depends on the child.

I have found from experience with my DC that they prefer day outs. They don’t like staying at a beach or pool. They do like a water park but only with very big slides and for only a couple of hours. So what I do now is just pick a place as base and plan day outs. That varies from museums, zoos to amusement and water parks. For museums there are many with hands on children friendly exhibits.

Don’t be limited to what everyone else says. See what you and your children like to do.

We took our kids abroad from a few weeks old.
I found when very young they can only handle one activity a day. So say you are going to a market or a museum or whatever. Do it in the morning stopping for refreshments. Then in the afternoon it's playing in the pool or similar.
We did Australia with a 20 month old and three year old. We were able to go to an aquarium, tour a vineyard, go to a zoo, take a cable car over a rainforest, visit a aboriginal market, go to an art fair and so on. These would generally be morning activities and afternoons were more chilled and booked hotels with pools (it was jellyfish season).
The tricky time in evening - you won't be able to keep them up to go out much. We resigned ourselves to early dinners and a fair few in the hotel room.

We first took DD abroad when she was 6, and we’ve done Eurocamp-type holidays every year since. Highly recommend them! That first year we went to Dordogne, and had a brilliant mix of days on site at the fabulous pools, and other days out exploring grottoes, chateaux and prehistoric museums!
That sort of holiday would be better in the summer, most campsites will be closed by October - however one year we went to a nice site down near Nice during October👍
Tip for the plane: expect the kids’ ears to really hurt going up and down, so practise chewing/swallowing to relieve the pressure, and if they’ll eat boiled sweets take a supply of those. And a few sick bags in case of travel sickness 🤢😩

I think you should do this at least once. If you don't then the trepidations of doing it will paralyse you. I've got four, and at times it was hard work, but we kept going and I am glad we did. As young adults they are extremely confident about travelling and can handle themselves through any airport and travel situation alone, it is a process that they will become familiar with. Choose a short flight, choose a place where they will be entertained (and posters have said Duinrell and I think this a great choice - loads to do for that age) and less than an hour flight from London. Yeah, not that warm in October, but so much fun.

@ReadyForPumpkins similar for us - my kids do like a beach/pool day but they wouldn't want a whole week of just that, so we like a base that allows for more variety.

I also personally find beach/pool an awkward combo of stressful and boring with young children - until they can swim well, I feel like I need to constantly supervise them in the water. But that gets a bit dull after a while! But mine were also a pain about wearing flotation aids so maybe it's that

If you go for canaries make sure there's a heated pool, we've been in Feb before with one heated one not, the non-heated was too cold for anyone to go in (in the whole hotel, not just our group)

It's absolutely fine. I've just taken a baby on holiday on my own. You just pack like you would for a Uk trip and don't forget passports.
You need to organize transfers with car seats too.

I recommend Spain - places near Malaga airport e.g. Nerja or Marbella (near Old Town rather than Puerto Banus. Or Valencia is nice if you want city / beach

We did it with small children. Stay near a beach to keep them occupied, also Spanish beaches have playgrounds on the beach or very nearby. Don't be too ambitious on what you can get done in a day - sometimes it's enough to go out for coffee, lunch, siesta, dinner and bed!

"We use an independent travel agent who takes commission from the holiday company so the service is free. She holds our hand right through booking / checkin in / departure etc and would be perfect"

MLM 🙄

I quite enjoyed travelling with my dc, and at those ages you can see a city in a completely different way than you will as adult tourists.

We divide our day into a morning outing and an evening outing, and return to our base in the afternoon for a siesta. Only ever try to do one thing, always buy the tickets advance online to avoid queues and research your city so you know where the playgrounds and parks are.

I vastly prefer self catering over AI with dc. Simple breakfast in the apartment, picnic lunch, and dinner on a timeline that suits the dc. It doesn’t stop you eating out but it gives you flexibility.

For airports: Get your dc to carry their own bag - not too heavy obviously but a little bit of weight in a back pack is very calming and also makes them feel important. iPads are a godsend.

We always followed a pattern when travelling that dad led the way, and the dc followed him in age order with me bringing up the rear. It saved endless sibling arguments, and we never mislaid a child. It also meant that going through a security barrier there was one dp either side.

Practice the security check as a role play game before flying. And look up the rules yourself if you’re not sure. Many airport websites have information for autistic children, with photos and clear explanations - and it’s great for showing all kids (and adults) what’s expected.

Buy a cheap umbrella fold stroller for the trip. Don’t leave an expensive travel system to the mercies of baggage handlers. And an umbrella fold will give you better flexibility on the go anyway. Pack light. Assume that at some point you’ll be carrying all the bags and the children.

Bring lollipops for the airplane ear pressure. And don’t pass a toilet without a visit.

once you get going, travel with dc can be really fun- but you have to manage your own expectations as an adult. If you get the right mindset it can be brilliant. You tend to meet locals, rather than tourists, and sometimes see famous attractions in a different way (the cats at the colosseum and the pigeons at the Eiffel Tower stand out in my memory). And it is magical to see places through a child’s eyes. But that means being willing to go at their pace.