Taking my 4yr old twin girls abroad for 1st time-tips & advice welcome!

[hellswelshy]

Hi, I am going on holiday in a fortnight to Turkey with my 4 year old twin girls on an all inclusive resort. Its the first time they have flown and been anywhere abroad. They are very excited, as are we, but just wondering if anyone can offer any experience or advice, things i probably havent thought of. All advice welcome

Ok I'm going to put some really obvious things, don't be offended!
Take some activities for airport and plane
Keep some activities

to one side, for emergencies
Take some snacks on plane
Check how far coach journey is in turkey and have ideas for on the coach
Ensure you've got plenty of your usual suncream and medicines
Get loads of bottles water in your room, and make sure they drink it
The drinks bottles with names on are useful in restaurant, if drinks aren't included
Watch out for the sun, even in the morning early evening
Have a great time

We took dd(4)s scooter on holidays at Christmas and it was a godsend. It folds up and went in suitcase. She could scoot to pool/ beach / dinner etc.

Ha dont worry, its these sort of things (ie the blindingly obvious) that im likely to forget! Coach journey is only 20mins so not too gruesome. Yes suncream and first aid kit will be sorted, good idea with thte drink bottles! Thanks:)

We also found sticker activity books brilliant for the plane

Yes good idea, my girls do love stickers! I may compile a goody bag of secret items to bring out when they get bored. Think im bit anxious about the plane journey more than anything, confined space and squabbly children etc! Oh and a nervous flier husband

Hi welshy we have 2.5YO triplets, and haven't been abroad with them yet; but our older 2 daughters are very close in age and we have taken them on holiday.
The flight will be fine - it will be the thing you worry about most, but really dont need to! Sticker books are brilliant, mine are all obsessed with colouring so maybe take some colouring bits each. Have they got a DS or anything similar? If not, it might be something you'd consider buying (even just 2nd hand!) before you go as they are brilliant for flying, but also if they're having an 'over-tired' day and just need a break from all the swimming and sun.

Biggest advice would be to assign a DD to each adult. Swap over every day if you want - but anything 'your' child needs, you deal with - anything DHs 'child' needs, then he needs to deal with it. Definitely needs to be done when you're going out in public to the beach/market or even just walking around hotel - its so easy to think 'Oh DH has got both girls', and actually he thinks you've got them! Much easier to be able to concentrate on just one DD each.

Remember to try and get a place close to the kids pool so that you can just sit by the edge and leave them to it - obviously if the kids pool is too deep then you wouldn't do this, but most we've been to the pool is only a Foot or 2 deep so they can wander round by themselves. If you don't already have them, definitely buy DD's those - life jackets for your piece of mind. Obviously you can get them a lot cheaper - but they literally hold all their weight - you won't need to help them at all, even in the deep pool because they have such good buoyancy!

If you plan on spending a lot of time by the kids pool - take some bath toys or be prepared to buy some there so that they have some bits to play with.

All inclusive is brilliant with kids - when I found out I was pregnant with triplets, we decided to go all out on a lovely AI holiday. Our girls loved being able to eat about a million ice creams a day, and its just so much easier!!
Have an amazing time!

Thanks KateShmate for that, really helpful! Wow triplets, im in awe of you:) I think the plane fear stems from earlier occasions of travelling when they played up and the thought of being on a plane and tantrums...well, you know. Plan to take a bag of goodies to keep them happy...so we'll see. Some sort of game like ds good plan, as they do have 'tired' days frequently, and need to unwind after a long day...hmmmm im pondering now as they dont have a ds and wasnt planning to get them one just yet.

They love the water, so yes hoping to sit around kids pool whilst they have fun, would you recommend the little pool shoes - the ones that you can wear in the sea, paranoid about them slipping as they do run EVERYWHERE!

Anyway, thank you for your tips, I am sure it will go well, these things are always a bit more nerve wracking beforehand - will make sure i report back with my own feedback!

Haha, but we're not brave enough to take them away! Good on you for taking your DT's!
Planes are so much different from long boring car journeys - my DD's constantly go on about how exciting planes are - so maybe just keep reminding DT's about how exciting it is to be able to go on a plane, but at the same time they must be really good.
You can get decent DS's on eBay for about £30 - I would really recommend one. If not, maybe go cheaper and get a really old one (think Gameboy!) for really cheap.
But definitely something for those tired days - or even the evenings. When on holiday we would all a 'siesta' and a snack around 2/3pm and then go out for dinner at 7ish and the girls would stay up - so we found that if it was an especially late night, then often they would want just 30mins in the hotel room with the DS to re-fuel!
I couldn't recommend the pool shoes as its never something we've had - but as theyre so cheap I guess it would definitely be a good buy! (I'm not sure why we've never had them?! My DD's cannot physically walk, only run!)

Is it about a 4 hour flight to Turkey?

Think how you're going to sit on the plane (might be obvious) but most planes have 2 banks of 3 seats with an aisle in the middle, so you either have to have one bank of 3 seats and perhaps the seat closest to the aisle on the other bank of 3, or 2 x 2 either across the aisle or behind each other. If you can, have 2 separate hand luggage bags so if you do get split up, each adult has a bag of stuff!! We take games, colouring, stickers, new puzzles and last time (our DTs were just 4) we took a portable DVD player that we got off EBAY just before we went. I was also reluctant to get them DS's at 4, but the DVD player was great. We used it on the plane and then as others have suggested, used it for maybe 30 mins / 1 hour in the evening whilst we 'chilled' before going out for dinner in the evening. I also think things that take a while to eat (cheerios / raisins / mini weetabix) were quite good on the plane just to calm them down without E numbers!

Agree with what everyone has said re the children's pool - lots of little activities / cover ups / hats / waterproof suncream / lilos or rings (hours of fun). Are you taking a buggy? We had a cheap maclaren that we took with us and they had a little doze in that in the shade during the day. Are you taking car seats too? If you are, check whether they come out of your luggage allowance.

From your point of view, lots of books - you'll have to stay in the room / on the balcony when they've gone to bed so good to have books. We actually took a few grown up DVDs (was going to say adult DVDs but thought you might get the wrong impression!!) which we watched on the balcony with a glass of wine.

You'll really enjoy it, they'll have a fab time.

We're taking our 4yr olds abroad for the first time this year but we're taking the car and doing the ferry thing.
Have you got the leappad tablet computers or their tag books? Our two are obsessed by the books and they keep them quiet for ages. We are also taking the iPad to use for their favourite films and have started ripping them to transfer over as well.

I was also going to suggest that you sit behind each other or across the aisle. When they get bored they can swap round and do something different.
Only take a weeks worth of clothes. Wash midway through, they'll dry in no time on the balcony.