#whatwouldyoudo? To fly or not to fly?

Now one of my favourite things to do of all time is go on holiday. I will never be a wealthy woman because if there is one thing I will over stretch myself for it is to travel. I love exploring new places, the lack of responsibility, the freedom to do what you want when you want, to relax and sit with the sun on your face…hmm ok I think I am reminiscing about pre baby holidays there but you get the idea.

 

Since having children however the luxury of foreign holidays have not been at the forefront of our destination list. You have to pack a small shops worth of baby pharafenalia when daring to stay away from home for the night let alone several weeks in a different country with a 20kg weight allowance, which is for adults only…and we have 2 babies. Instead over the summer we enjoyed several stay cations where we fully loaded the car and opted for the comfort of familiar surroundings, one of the perks being, if you forgot something you could simply buy it, and you knew where from. Much less stressful.

That being said when we had one baby (and one in my tum) earlier this year we did brave the airplane and flew to Lanzarote for a bit of winter sun. Whilst at the airport with our little 6 month old everybody was cooing over her, smiling at us, striking up polite conversation about the little one. However, when they saw us standing in the queue for their flight their smiles noticeably dropped and you could see the look of dread spread across their face as the realisation hit that they were the unlucky buggers who faced a 4 hour flight with a baby. I don’t blame them, I was absolutely dreading it, and that is an understatement. Before I had children crying babies on flights did irritate me but in all honesty it wasnt something I let wind me up – I had the luxury of being able to put headphones in and ignore it! Being mum does not come with that option. However to my great surprise the little one was amazing. She was quieter than the toddlers, happier than the young kids and slept better than I ever thought she would. Fellow travellers went out of their way to come up to us after the flight and tell us however impressed they were. Hallelujah.

With the onset of winter, dark nights and nasty winter bugs spreading around we find ourselves getting itchy feet and longing for a bit of sunshine once again, scanning the flight prices and weighing up the possibilities of air travel with two babies. Crazy? Probably. Baby 2 will be 7 months when we intend to go but he is quite a chilled little man who is happy to sit being cuddled and if history is anything to go by he won’t be the problem. Baby 1 will be 18 months old. She is however such a busy little lady and does not like to sit still, unless she has a biscuit in her hand…and one in her mouth. She wants to be on the move at all times. I struggle to entertain her for 4 hours in the home let alone in a space restricted air craft full of grumpy onlooking holiday makers, and I don’t think it’s right I stuff her with biscuits for 4 hours, is it? Is it unfair of me to make others sit through my potential toddler strops and is it fair to put my little girlie through it too? She is only young and doesn’t understand – it’s not her fault she can’t sit quietly on a plane for four hours, hell its boring for us adults.

And it’s not just the flight that worries me, what about when you are there? Holidays with little ones have a tendancy to be the same shit but just that little bit harder and if a different place. Your home comforts are not to hand, toys, familiar beds, things to do, routines are out the window. And will mum and dad get stressed that the holiday is actually hard work and not the relaxing sangria on the beach it used to be? Probably.
On the flip side however, said holiday will involve grandparents so we will outnumber the babies 2 to 1 and the little ones absolutely love their grandparents. Baby 1 will love the attention and our own pool and she is so nosey and there will be so many new things for her to look at and take in. It will get baby 2 out of the British winter which has already been behind 2 hospital stays. Dad will be more chilled without the pressures of running his own business (the pint in hand may also help) and it will be nice for grandparents to have family time and a month in the sun wouldn’t do me any harm either.

So what do you think? Would you take your little ones on a plane and embark on a foreign holiday? Have you already done it and have some horror stories or pleasant surprises to share? Or do you have an age limit before you would even consider it? #whatwouldyoudo?