First Family Holiday Abroad

In less than 30 days we shall be jetting off on our first family holiday together to Menorca, it’s not too far away so the flight is short  which is exactly what we need for our lively toddler that doesn’t like to sit still.

Travelling with a toddler isn’t as easy as just going away with the Mr, so I have come up with a plan to help keep everything as smooth as possible.

First off we are staying in a child friendly villa so that we can come and go as we please, we’re big fans of holidaying in self catering villas, we even wrote a post about it here. Since the villa is fully equipped with washing machines and other appliances we don’t have to worry about taking lots of clothes and wash them when we need to. (No carry hefty bags and luggage around!)

I’m rather concerned about the flight but hoping that if I take a variety of snacks, juices, toys and books to keep her entertained  during the journey. If that fails we have the back up tablets, no not the tranquiliser kind, the kind that we can play videos on, Curious George in particular. Everything we can pack inside her ride on Trunki for easy access on the plane.

I’m a constant worrier when it comes to sun cream and Isabelle isn’t a fan of having to stop playing to keep having cream applied so in order to combat this, I shall be using a high factor, waterproof, once a day application for the little lady to save us the hassle of wrestling her whenever we need to reapply cream. (This may also work for the Mr, as much as he says that he is ok and not burning, he has fair skin and often results in a lobster red glow)

As some of you may know already, we are potty training the little lady, I did hope that we would be fully trained in time for the holiday but we have had numerous set backs and stubbornness from the child. So at present we’re not safe to leave the house without backup. I hadn’t thought about how potty training would effect us on holiday but whilst making our checklist we realised that just taking nappies with us would undo all of out hard work. Instead we are investing in a travel potty and simply taking nappies for the evenings.

Speaking of nappies, I also remembered that we might need some little swimming nappies for use in and out of the pool and sea. They aren’t really a must but they would certainly make life a lot easier for us.

As a family we all love music, be it as back ground noise as we eat, get ready or to dance like nobody is watching so it makes complete sense to take our iPod with us packed with our favourite summery classics along with an ipod dock so we can enjoy our music by the pool or on the beach.

Travel insurance, we’ve booked this already as we found a great deal with the post office where children’s insurance is free with two paying adults so we are covered for any bumps or accidents.

One useful tip that I learned was to always take talc to the beach with you, it helps get the sand off really easily.

Isabelle has quite long hair for a little toddler, to avoid those swimming pool hair knots, we’re learnt to simply tie her hair in plaits beforehand. This saves tears and tantrums later on

We’re not planning a fun packed adventure fuelled holiday, we just want to relax and spend time with Isabelle. The less that we feel we have to pack in to our weeks stay the more enjoyable it will be without having an overtired grumpy toddler.

We’ve just renewed our passports and have got Isabelle her very first passport, check your passports beforehand to make sure that they are in date. If you need to replace or send off for a first passport, make sure you apply at least 6 weeks before you are due to fly.

Remember that it’s often safer to drink bottled water than tap water on holiday, you can always boil tap water and allow it to cool before drinking to. A tummy bug is never pleasant, especially on holiday.

Also its worth mentioning to remember to take a first aid kit with you containing over the counter antihistamines such a piriton and also capol for the little ones just in case.

That’s it for now but I’ll be sure to add more useful ideas as and when we think of them. For now we’re looking forward to burying daddy in the sand, building sandcastles & swimming.

This post has been written in collaboration with John Lewis