Parents of 4 - reality of long haul travel...

[changer22]

I am expecting DC4 next May and we were thinking about going to the west coast USA/Canada for our summer holidays.

We will be doing a house swap as we definitely won't be able to avoid any other accommodation and we have enough airmiles to get everyone over there for 'free'. But I can't imagine how it will be with everyone on the flight - they will be 7, 5, 2.5 and 8-10 weeks, and I can't really imagine how I will feel on holiday with a newborn (so soon one forgets!).

We plan to go for 3 weeks and try and swap with someone who has a pool so that the older ones (and DH) are occupied.

Has anyone done something similar or is it a foolish idea?

It's a looooonnnggg flight. Have the kids flown before? What if the baby is late?

TBH I wouldn't do it, but you know your children. The newborn will probably be the easiest one and the 2.5 yo the hardest.

Mmm, all 3 have flown to the East Coast before and that wasn't too bad (the youngest was 6 months and the other 2 watched the films).

The worst part really was the jet lag when we got home. One child was fine, one took a week to recover and the baby took about 2 weeks. DH went back to work and so I felt like I was doing 24 hour shifts for a couple of weeks!

It was a conservative guess with the bay so he/she should be at least 8 weeks.

I'm still undecided. I need to make my mind up soon as the house swaps are already getting booked up for next summer.

We've done a few long haul trips with our kids....make sure you get seats with a skycot for your baby...these are usually the bulkhead seats.

Try to get overnight flights so they sleep!

It won't be as bad as you imagine....the 2 year-old will be the hardest to keep busy, take sticker books etc.

Just try to focus on what a great holiday you'll have. Good luck!

well I'm planing a holiday with 4 kids next Easter when my baby will be around 7 to 8 weeks old and my others will be 2.5, 12 and 15. Eldest two no probs, baby hopefully no probs but know my 2.5 year old will be the hardest work! We are flying to Malaysia (from middle east) so not nearly as far as you but we will have to change once and have around 4 hours on the ground in Dubai. Funnily enough, we are house swopping too as with 4 kids, hotel accommodation gets pretty expensive. Shame you don't want Florida as I have a 4 bed house with a pool there which I might be swopping next summer! Good luck with new baby and holiday!

I haven't ruled out Florida (especially not if it's Anna Maria island )... I haven't really ruled anything out. It's just we have a nice house and no hard cash so the house swapping makes sense and I figured that if we were flying long haul, we might as well go really long haul and get to the west coast. I think a pool is a must as we've swapped with houses before where we have been close to the beach but trekking there with 3 young ones and all the beach stuff is a right pain.

Mumoverseas - I saw you on the Malaysia swap thread. I would have been tempted to go for it but for my very pregnant state next Easter! I keep meaning to get in touch with the original poster as we live in her 'area' in England so could be up for a swap the following year.