So there you are all booked up to go on holiday with the family and as the departure day looms ever closer alongside the excitement of the upcoming fun in the sun, is the morbid trepidation of 4-5 hours on a plane in your little 3 feet squared bit of space with your 3 children.
Now you might add that holidaying with kids is a choice, and if by choice you mean to have kids or not, then yes you are right, but holidaying with or without your kids is really someone else's choice, and that someone is anyone you would entrust your little darlings to just to get a break from them. Obviously this is quite a small shortlist that in reality only consists of grandparents, and when you have 3 little darlings across an age range of 11 years that's no easy thing. Because, although they are happy to babysit now and then, when you are just out for the evening, or they are happy to let one of them at a time have a sleepover, that does not really make for a proper break. So that bring us back to reality, and dreams of romantic holidays on far flung beaches are consigned to the history books, and all inclusive holidays straight out of the brochure are it. See there I go again, dreaming and veering off from the subject. For this Holidaying with kids to work, planning is essential, this is what parents tell themselves, we like to convince ourselves that we have it all planned to the tiniest detail and therefore nothing can go wrong. Just think about that, at what point would any sane person conclude that the planning they put in place was going to be sound, when the 3 biggest variables are aged one, four and twelve. But still we convince ourselves that all the time invested before we go, will mean it will all be great when we get there, and it will, the actual holiday once we arrive will be great, the kids will have loads of fun wherever we are and whatever we do. But that's not because of our amazing planning skills it because we are somewhere different, and that is exciting when you are a child, in fact it's just exciting, child or adult makes no real difference. Right then, the big day is here, and what could go wrong, the tickets are printed, visas purchased and the car parking booked. We've checked in online the day before, printed boarding passes , and now just need to get to the airport, drop the bags and breeze into the departure lounge for a glass of wine and some retail therapy in an attempt to chill out before the flight. Yet again though, this is the dream and not the reality. So, in accordance with the checklist, we will leave the house at 0830. Alarms are set to get up at 0600, it takes 2 hours to get the kids out the door and there is 30 minute contingency. But this doesn't include opening all the cases back up, just to be sure you didn't forget some random item for the third time. Is this really needed? after weeks of meticulous planning? Yes, yes it is, because if the 4 year old doesn't have bunny or the 1 year old is missing his raggy, or even the 12 year old is missing a lip balm or some other item that is critical to her life, the world will spontaneously end. Right there and without warning. Now, that was stage 1, and onto stage 2, this is getting to the airport via the long stay parking. Ok, car loaded, yes, for the 10th time, check we have the passports, visa’s, tickets and boarding passes, yes (checking in online will save time, remember this), kids? Yes, don't forget the kids, if you do, it's unlikely that they will die in a week, but it really doesn't reflect well on you as a parent, and you will get caught out. Now, has everyone been to the toilet? Yes of course they have is always the answer, but this won't hold up when the call of nature comes ringing from the back seats. Another contingency built in, yes, it takes 75 minutes to get from our house to Gatwick airport, best allow 2 hours for this one, because 45 mins is needed for the additional requested stops for food and you guessed it, the toilet because they just can't wait and are about to wet themselves. But at this stage the timings as are working, and the planning is coming off in accordance with the schedule. We are at the car park and unloading the car at 1030, that's right, getting up loading the car and driving just 58 miles has taken 4 and ½ hours or 270 minutes, this is like getting up and leaving and doing just 12 miles per hour for the same amount of time. The children haven't whinged too much and at this moment, stress levels are around moderate. If there were no kids travelling with us, we would have stayed in bed for another couple of hours till say 0800, got up, refreshed and ate breakfast at a relaxed pace, left the house at say 0930, stopped and grabbed a coffee en route, and arrived at the parking at 1030 to drop the car off, relaxed and stress free. Now, there is one last part of this trip to negotiate before the airport, and that's the bus transfer from the parking. These are every 10 minutes and are always full, there are always people running late with no patience and this is a bad combination when buggies, toddlers and stressed parents with multiple offspring are slowing it down, because those who are childless do not understand that you can't pick up and move 3 children, 4 large suitcases and 5 items of hand luggage along with a buggy in the space of 30 seconds, and there are several of these combinations to get on each bus. But we get there and arrive at the airport at around 1100 for our 1350 flight. To be continued …………..
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AuthorHi, I'm Sophie. I hope you enjoy reading my blog. Please leave some comments on what you think of my blog x Archives
March 2022
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