Travelling with Young Children: Share your top tips / advice for travelling with young children for a chance to win a £200 voucher!

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Travelling with young children can be an adventure in itself, full of excitement and challenges. From keeping them entertained during long journeys to navigating airport security with ease, every parent knows the importance of being well-prepared.

Share your top tips and advice for travelling with young children in the thread below!

Whether it's packing essentials, a shout out for your favourite family-friendly resort or maybe you have creative games to pass the time, we want to hear your tried-and-tested strategies.

Post your tips and advice in the thread below to be entered into a prize draw! One lucky participant will win a £200 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list). Let's come together to help parents make their family travels smoother and more enjoyable!

Here's what TUI have to say:

“A top tip for a successful family holiday is finding the right kind of accommodation that will suit your family’s needs. TUI offers a whole host of family-friendly accommodation that packs in plenty of entertainment, from volleyball games to professional evening shows, alongside kid-friendly pools and splash parks. TUI Blue for Families holidays are designed with the whole family in mind, and offer child-friendly restaurants like children’s buffets and special kids’ menus to keep little ones happy. If you want a few hours to yourself, there’s also Kids’ Clubs that cater for a range of ages from babies to teens. Alternatively, for those in search of an action-packed holiday, Holiday Villages have loads of activities to choose from to keep everyone entertained, such as high rope courses. For the water babies, SplashWorld holidays come with unlimited waterpark access."

"Another tip is to look out for TUI’s free child places where travellers can take their little ones away without paying a penny for them. Customers can search here for free kid’s places.”

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Some great tips on here, mine are;

1. use your mobile phone as your phone/iPad password - kids will soon learn your number so if they do get lost they will be able to share your number. You will be amazed how young a child can learn your number if it means they can get to utube 🙈

2. Pack swim wear in hand luggage so can jump straight in pool on arrival to hotel.

Happy holidays x

For long travel days, pack a few things that they wouldn’t normally get to play with. For us it’s sticker books - we go for ones with as many stickers as we can find. The novelty keeps them entertained and makes the day seem more special.

I’ve travelled with my children alone from the UK to Australia multiple times as my family live there.

You can make it though anything for a day!

1. baby carrier! It’s essential for babies under 1. It also means you can got to the toilet while they sleep, otherwise you will be trapped!
2. book basinet seats well in advance with the airline
3. back ziplock bags with a spare change of clothes for each person (including yourself!) you can then zip away the dirty clothes.
4. try and get a flight that lands at your destination at night, this way the kids can go straight to sleep (as lord knows you need some sleep too) I’ve also found it adjusts them to the time zone quicker.
5. when I do UK - Australia, I book a terminal hotel at my connection airport, this breaks up the flight, allows everyone to eat, shower and rest before having to go on another mammoth flight.
6. ask the air hostesses for baby food if you need it, they normally have them (emirates stock Ella’s kitchen) but don’t hand out without you asking. They can also warm bottles for you.
7. if you can book an airport lounge, much more convenient and quieter for kids to play and get endless snacks without having to find these out and Que in the airport.

good luck! X

Pack as light as you can. Nine times out of ten, you won't need that extra bottle of sunblock/ two different jackets/ spare teddy. If you are short of anything, there will be shops at your destination more geared to what you actually need there.

For babies - breastfeed or give them a dummy during take-off and landing. Sucking will help them with the changes of air pressure/ ear popping. For older ones, give them hard boiled sweets and make it in to a competition of who can suck for the longest.

My top tip is to dedicate the mornings to the children. Make sure it's activities filled with heaps of physical activity and very child centric. Swimming, sand castles, bug catching (camping gave). Followed by lunch and long siesta, leaving afternoons for adult sightseeing/activities. My children always seemed much more amenable to settling in the pram if we did this.

For long journeys I buy a couple of cheap activity books or a magazine each and give it to them when we start the journey. A car picnic if we're traveling over a meal time. Headphones and films on tablets if it's a really long one too.

Always take a photo of your kids on travel days before you set off, so just in case they run off you know exactly what they're wearing etc.

If you have a toddler who's a real bolter (I did) don't be afraid to use reins in the airport. Who cares what judgy people think?

Snacks, snacks and more snacks. Airport food is expensive.

We also buy a few new toys and travel books. We also board last, kids don't need to be sitting down any longer than necessary.

My tip is to split their belongings on different suitcases and always carry a complete set for a spare outfit in your hand luggage in case of lost luggage or mini disasters need a full change.

we always had lots of layers to adjust to temperature changes as well as snacks, drinks, games and books for flights

Try to line up naps with travel for a more peaceful life

I didn’t know how my child would react sitting on a plane for the first time for a couple of hours. I decided to fill a backpack with a few different things that would help keep my child occupied. There was an activity book, card game, dvd player, travel board game, book etc. All new to my child. This worked out really well and I had no issues whatsoever.

Oh yes planes - if they have a dummy, give it to them for take off/landing, if not, something to suck like a lolly. Helps with ears.

Have a clean outfit for any young children in a zip seal freezer bag in easy access (in hand luggage if flying, top of top bag in boot of driving) just in case, if more than one child, label the bags!

Good flight times, a bottle of calpol and zip lock bags with a handful of small cars/Bluey figures/dinosaurs etc.
And lots of snacks for the journey!

Pay more for the first row extra leg room seats when you travel with toddlers, a life saver when they have to sit on your lap during the flight or you are desperate to disembark after a flight.

This post is now closed. Congratulations to @Peanutbutterjelly123 who is the £200 voucher winner!👏 Thank you so much to everyone for your insightful travel stories, tips and advice. Keep your eyes peeled for more discussions and competitions to come!