Share your top tips for travelling abroad with young children with Brittany Ferries - chance to win a £300 voucher NOW CLOSED

[AmeliaMumsnet]

Travelling with young children isn’t always plain sailing from the start, but, if you get it right, showing your children a new part of the world can be a fantastic experience. So, to avoid those horror stories about packing all the wrong things; choosing a destination that’s not quite as child-friendly as it promised; and temper tantrums along the way, Brittany Ferries want to hear your top tips for travelling abroad with the little ones.

Brittany Ferries say “if having young children has put you off taking that holiday abroad, then think again, think family-friendly France. Sailing from Portsmouth, Poole or Plymouth we offer more choice of sailings than anyone else and our onboard service is designed with little ones in mind. What’s more, we can also arrange your holiday accommodation. Our choice of sail & stay holidays are perfect for young families with a chalet camping holiday offering fun for all with lots to see and do both on and off site. And, as all our holidays include return sailings with your car, so you can pack all you need for your time away.” You can find out more here.

What’s your go-to for keeping the kids entertained throughout the journey and avoiding the dreaded ‘are we there yet’? Do you have any tips for encouraging fussy eaters to enjoy some local cuisine? Is there a particular part of France you’ve come to love as a family holiday destination? Whether it’s useful packing advice or just a recommendation for a great family activity, don’t keep it to yourself. Share yours on this thread to help other parents enjoy their holidays with young kids to the fullest and you’ll be entered into a prize draw for a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

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Thanks, and good luck!

MNHQ

Stack up on copious amounts of food drink and things to do. My boys love there tablets for long journeys

iPads for each child

Bring plenty of snacks & provide lots of entertainment, I find the iPad seems to do the trick

Ours are older now (15 & 12) so it's mobile devices & DVDs, but in the old days I used to pack them a backpack each with colouring, puzzle books etc. for on the ferry (we've done the past 6 years with Brittany Ferries) I always have games (cards, uno, Yahtzee, pass the pigs etc). We have had some quite raucous games sessions on the ferry, the time flies!

we loved the I spy books

My top tip is make sure theres plenty to do for the children. They dont want to be sunning themselves all day. Look into activities around where you are staying, childrens clubs at the hotel/complex are always a good start. Also the reps in the holiday clubs are great at pointing out local attractions suitable for the childs age.

Take extra time to explain whats going on and the place we are visiting. A different culture, climate, way of life etc can be really intimidating for a little one otherwise.

Always make sure they have plenty of opportunities to go to the loo!

We often go to Brittany on the ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo. As we go in our car, we can take lots of activities for the kids. They like colouring in and puzzles to do on the Ferry crossing and when in the car, they like playing eye-spy and singing.

I haven't yet travelled abroad with them but I can't say that I'm looking forward to it.

great idea would be NOT to take them with you on holiday...PEACE and GREAT holiday

A bag of toys etc in the back of the car to keep them busy - a couple of new little surprises in there always keeps them happy. Water only on the go - save your car from sugary spillages. Regular stops to stretch their legs and break the journey into bite size pieces. And talk to them - chat about what you see en route, make plans for all the exciting things you are going to do when you get there, play good old fashioned guessing games etc.

Lots of snacks and drinks handy. We do lots of games like first to spot a ......I also hope they will sleep at least part of the way.

Pack up a small rucksack for each child with snacks, a new book, a new toy car or some other small toy and some small notepads and pencils/pens etc helps to relieve bordem on journey and when at destination or at holiday mealtimes, We play car games if driving long distances the alphabet game is opular when you choose a topic i.e animals, foods etc and take it in turns around the car to name something begining with each letter of the alphabet, for younger children we do 'sounds like' version of I-spy i.e "I see somethng that sound like heap" answer "sheep" And as for a location to holiday in France for families we love the Vendée region with it's lovely beaches and wonderful summer weather

pack a bag full of snacks and 'new pocket money toys' that they haven't seen before. When we last travelled i would pull out a new little shopkins figure or minecraft figure everytime there was a lull. It definitely helped!

We love the south of France especially the Aix en Provence area. So we fly and drive. For the plane I take food that the kids love to eat and some (healthy) treats for when they get cranky. Books to read, colouring in books and pencils, games and films on their tablets. When driving to our destination eye spy games like, who can see the first yellow car and we change the colour regularly.

Our kids love going on the ferry, always ensure we have water and waterproofs. They prefer to be on deck.

When our children were small, we went to the Vendee for a few years - lovely sandy beaches, good weather and plenty of things to see and do. We used to stay on a campsite with tents and mobile homes. We are close to Dover and so would make the relatively short ferry crossing to Calais and then drive to the Vendee. Our children were very good and accepted the journey, knowing there was a treat at the end. The different campsites we stayed on always had fun pools that the children loved and we would pack a bag with our swimming things, separate to everything else and easily accessible - as soon as we had checked in onsite and found our accommodation, it would be everyone off to the pool to have fun and freshen up after the long journey. In order to be able to manage this, we were always prepared with a meal for the first night - often I would cook and freeze some bolognaise sauce - this would defrost slowly during the journey and was quick to heat up and serve with some pasta. It may seem like a small thing to be organised with the swimming things and a meal, but it meant the children were happy - and happy children make for a happy mum and dad!

Leave the buggy at home and take a sling. Much less faff.

Mine pack their own backpacks with what they think they need (cuddly toys, games, some books) and pyjamas and toothbrush, and get a magazine and some pens to add. They then pride themselves on proving they've packed perfectly by never being bored if we say "look in your backpack"!

Explaining the journey including boring queuing bits and when the next food is coming is vital. Also stocking up on plain bread at every opportunity - a child scared of new food will be much braver when they know there is some 'safe' food available as backup. Take your time to look around and play in playgrounds - 12 new playgrounds in a week was a highlight of our foreign holiday last year.

Slings are very handy, especially at the airport. And self catering accommodation makes it easier to go with the flow when you have children - especially if there's an area to sit a land relax after the kids are in bed!

We try to travel when the roads are less busy as there us the inevitable need for the toilet and if we get stuck in a jam all hell breaks loose. I always have snacks and drinks.
I spy is the best distraction I think

We took 1 year old DD to France with Brittany Ferries last year. Things we learned:

1. Book the largest cabin you can afford - we had a tiny 2-berth wth a cot in the middle of the 2 beds on the overnight outward trip. DD hated going down in the cot, and - once she was finally asleep - there was no room whatsoever to stand up. We upgraded to a Commodore cabin for the return (day) trip and it was brilliant - lots of room to spread out toys on the floor, and somewhere for us to sit whilst DD her her nap.
2. Take a big basket or bag of things to do - don't rely on the children's are on the boat, especially if your LO is relatively young. Again, a big cabin is great to give you some room to spread your things out and play, and you can make noise and mess without worrying about other people.

We always had a six hour drive to the ferry and then only two hours the other side so we did it the other way round to everyone else by doing a day crossing with a cabin, enabling the children to have their own safe space (and not to go running around screaming and getting under other passengers' feet: hell is other people's children!) and the driver to take a nap so he'd be refreshed and ready to attack the final stretch of the journey.

To counter the inevitable "are we nearly there" before they were too old to tell the time I tore up a sheet of A4 paper into equal-sized pieces e.g. twelve pieces for a twelve hour journey and gave the pile to the kids and then they gave me one back every hour and then as we got closer they could give them back in smaller sections: half size from two and a half hours from destination then quarter sizes from an hour away.... and this was before Sat-Navs made E.T.A as precise as it is now.
If you wanted to you could even make a proper re-usable "travel set" with laminated cardboard and write hours and minutes on them to make it a learning experience: I improvised mine the first time because I was fed up with "are we nearly there?" but after that they would expect to be given their stash of time cards when they got into the car.