1. Trying
to quietly smother ourselves with a rather expensive but very comfortable travel
pillow and
2.
Without losing a Blogger Baby or anyone else, though it was touch and go when
Grumpy nipped to the loo via the ill placed bar. Better still I’ve only had one small mini
melt down because I couldn’t remember the gate number even though I’d just read
it for the 10th time.
We left
home at 2pm this afternoon and it’s now 8:30 at night we don’t land until
nearly 11pm local time, it’s already been a long day and we still have to get
to our destination.
Daddy and
I aren’t new to traveling with Blogger Babies, however, each time we learn a
little more about the best way to reduce stress and cognitive confusion. The problem we have is that unless I write it
down I don’t remember and every time we travel the Blogger Babies are that
little bit older which changes the game from the get-go.
So, I
thought using the Blog to help would be a useful tool for me to remember but
also help others with either MCI or twins (or both) travel in the future.
What we
have learnt so far:
1. Arrive in good time – There is nothing worse than arriving
late and in a panic.
2. Plan your trip – Are there road works? Do you have enough
petrol? Fill up the day before if you’re on the early flight and you want that
extra 10 mins in bed! We prefer to
travel at night time so we filled up in the morning.
3. Bring activities for the little ones! – Our twins are 2, I
look forward to the time that I can let them pack their hand luggage
themselves. So, in their hand luggage I packed snacks, their favourite juice
bottle (which was empty as liquids are frowned upon by airport security), their
favourite teddy. I also packed a story
book each and their favourite colouring books and pencils. I also make sure they have their favourite
comfort be that a teddy, a dummy for smaller ones or a blanket (blanket is
called Mia and is basically the only way our boys sleep).
4. Charge those Electronic nannies – There is nothing worse
than getting to the airport or layover and finding out your DVD player has no
battery and you’re stranded in an Airport with nothing to do.
5. Toilet stops – While Daddy cued with the suitcases, Grumpy
& I took Blogger Babies off to the toilet even if they say they don’t need
it right then I tend to bribe them with a colouring pencils/stickers/Grumpy if
it means I’m not halfway through security with “mummy I need a wee, Mummy wee, Sorry
Mummy derwandwans all wet” in my ear. Derwandwans is Blogger Babies word for
trousers, I know we shouldn’t encourage this use of a non-word but I like it
and it sounds cute.
6. This year we bought Blogger Babies their own hand luggage,
this way Daddy and I didn’t end up carrying a thousand bags and the Blogger
Babies got to pretend they were all grown up like Mummy, Daddy and Grumpy.
7. OMG, if I’d known before I would have bought “airport
Shoes”, the one thing Blogger Babies
hate is having their shoes taken off and silly Mummy bought them a pair each
which light up – this means there is a battery in the sole, which means they
have to come off to be scanned at security, what ensued next was a mini melt
down by two Blogger Babies and Mummy falling into a dark panic and blind brain
block. REMOVE SHOES, COATS etc before security and try to remember to bring
shoes which don’t have flashing lights on.
8. We learnt the first time we flew with the Blogger Babies to
Fold the pushchair (remove any babies beforehand) as the pushchair also needs
to be scanned – our first time this meant one of us balanced the two babies and
our scanned bags while the other emptied the double buggy of coats, bottles of
milk, toys and blankets to fold the pushchair.
Once through security you can unfold it and take the pushchair up to the
aircraft door (you’ll need to check your own airline if unsure of this), but
remember this doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll meet you at the other end as we
found out last year…
9. Next time I am booking the posh lounge area we walked right
by, from speaking with Daddy we could have booked this with the car parking – I
don’t care all I know is next time I’m booking it they had a big sign saying
complimentary WiFi and looked like a place of safety and less crowds.
10.
Pack Snacks – I packed
a few into the Blogger Babies hand luggage for them, I admit I forgot all about
our snacks and we ended up re-mortgaging to buy 3 drinks and 3 packs of crisps
– airport prices are far from reasonable.
11.Make sure the adults in
your group have all been to the toilet too, there is nothing worse than trying
to seat a 2-year-old into an airplane seat that doesn’t hold them whilst trying
to hold your ever-expanding bladder and not wet yourself…
12.If traveling with
children under a certain age you get to jump the que at the departure gate so
don’t rush there, plus being on the plane first doesn’t mean you’ll take off
any quicker it just means everyone gets bored and a bit narky and chances are
one of the kids will need a wee wee and you’ll have to force your way through the horde
of passengers trying to get to their seats.
I’ll
upload pictures when I’m back on home territory but right now I’m already
thinking about going to the pool with a glass of sangria and my next article – “In
Flight with Twins” or even writing an actual book entitled “How to Survive
Plane Travel with Toddlers”!
That’s
all from Mummy for now, we’re off to the pool to get a healthy dose of vitamin
D. x
