From my experience flying with a baby or young children is a particularly stressful experience. It might seem like a good idea to take a holiday in the sun – you don’t have to pay for a seat until they are two, and they’ll sit still won’t they? Small babies can be wonderfully adaptable and as long as they are fed, watered and kept clean are happy anywhere, aren’t they? Oh no! After all the hassle of checking in, hanging round the airport for hours, worrying if your brand-new bugaboo pram will be in one piece after being chucked in the hold, you can’t predict how your little one will react to flying – the change in pressure at taking off and landing may effect their ears, and they may decide that this is the time to scream inconsolably for two hours during the flight, resulting in the severe annoyance of your fellow passengers, and what happens if the dreaded exploding nappy happens – baby changing facilities in plane toilets are limited, and it’s tricky at the best of times – and worse if are experiencing a spot of turbulence! Let’s face it, wherever you go, a holiday with kids is not the same as a holiday pre-children, or without them – you can’t switch off. Far better to choose a holiday in the UK, and save yourselves lots of stress. And it doesn’t have to lack in luxury, there are some gorgeous cottages to rent with swimming pools or even log cabins with hot tubs! You’ve got the added security of knowing if children are ill, Doctors are easy to get hold of.
I remember a very stressful flight to Rome, with my 9 month old. I tried to discreetly breast feed her on take-off to help balance her ears (as advised). She didn’t want to know – and kept sticking her head up and grinning at the large gentlemen beside me, leaving my breast exposed and me trying look like I regularly spurt milk up at emergency call buttons! Then the loud chattering started; fellow passengers smiled warmly at first, but I could see their tolerance start to diminish as her chuckles turned to tears. Toys on the floor, biscuit crumbs in my hair, and the worry that a dirty nappy was imminent made it feel like the longest flight of my life! When we finally landed in Rome, the plane was delayed on the runway for 30 minutes! And, just when I thought I’d avoided the baby changing facilities, my daughter decided to void herself of three days worth of waste and stank out the entire cabin! Worse still it is when we were queuing to get off, and there had been some other hold up, so I couldn’t move. Forget the Trevi Fountain suddenly a log cabin in Dorset seemed a much better idea ….
