From Worcester to South Africa in Jan 2004 - TIPS PLEASE !!

[wickedstepmother]

DP and I are taking our collection of kids - 2 stepDSs, 9 & 11, and a DD, who'll be 17 months old, to South Africa in January next year. It'll be for about 10 days and we'll be staying at my Mums holiday place out there so we've no worries about accommodation .

I was really wondering about the flight. It's a 12 hour flight and I was wondering how to keep my 17 month old occupied. We've never taken her abroad before so it's a long haul first flight. Should I be worried ?

Have just re-read this post - what appauling use of the language. SORRY !!

APPALLING !!!!!!!!!!

oh yes... short haul was bad enough/... mind you its over night?

I think so but we are still researching flights. We are going over for my step-fathers 50th (lots of step-families in my world!) birthday bash. They live in this country but wanted to do something special as it is a major birthday.

The last time my mum flew over there was in late May of this year and she flew over-night with KLM (£680 !!!). If it's over-night it shouldn't be a prob but I worry about DD getting restless and bored, and also perhaps not sleeping very well as it's such an odd environment.

Most of the flights to South Africa are overnight, so that should make things much easier.

Make sure to take plenty of wee snacks - raisins, mini bread sticks, cheese traingle, crisps, chocolate buttons or smarites (Smarties have the advantage of the sugar coating, so if they drop, they don't immediately melt) - whatever your dd likes. Also have a good supply of whatever she drinks.

When I took ds to South Africa he was only 13 months, so I'd kept my breast feeding going a bit longer so that I could keep him happy on the flight.

Have a bag of small toys that you can bring out one at a time to keep her occupied, if she does wake up. Make the most of your stepkids and get them to take it in turns to keep her occupied.

But honestly - if she is a half decent sleeper, you should be OK as the majority of the flight will be in "sleep" hours.

The other bit of advice I've got it NOT TO WORRY about the other passengers - getting upset that she might be upsetting the other passengers will NOT HELP in getting her more settled. Look after to her to the best your abitlities, remember that you will never be seeing the other passengers after the flight and it is ONLY 12 hours. This time too will pass!

Thanks Jan. Do you travel to SA often, then ?

We go to SA approximately every 2 years to visit family. Next time is provisionally August 2004 - but that is dependent on my grandmother surviving to her 90th! I hope she does, as I'd love ds to meet her again when he is (nearly) 4 - he'll then have a chance of remembering her. He was only 13 months when we went out last - but we'll be able to tell him he learnt to climb stairs at his great granny's house.

We do the flight annually to visit DH's family. So we've flown firstly when DD was 5 months old and secondly when she was 18 months. Each time the flight wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I think JanZ has given you the best advice about snacks and things to keep them occupied and you really must go for a night flight. It doesn't take long to adjust when you get there too because the time difference isn't great.
Thinking back to the flight, the only time it was difficult was in the morning when she'd woken up and wanted to run around and we had to keep her strapped in. The rest of the flight was easy as she was asleep.