How to travel with your children without losing your mind

How to travel with your children without losing your mind

On the way to the Maldives this summer, transiting through Doha, our seven-year-old son accidentally tipped his one-year-old brother out of the buggy onto the floor. Both burst into tears, prompting a man in the queue behind me to mutter, “Happy holidays, huh?”

If an ideal vacation’s definition is relax, revitalise, reset, then “family holiday” – particularly when small children enter the equation – can feel like a contradiction in terms. With dispiriting accuracy, a friend captures the whole farrago of ferrying toddlers and babies abroad, where early starts and tantrums, nappies and nap times continue apace (albeit with better weather), as merely “routine on tour”.

Parents of teenagers report that it gets easier as children leave the era of snack-related meltdowns, though holidaying with teens presents its own unique challenges (swap “snacks” for “WiFi”). Which is not to say that travelling with children is not rewarding or, indeed, fun; only that the magic ingredients to a successful trip en famille are often difficult to predict. 

Family travel can feel weighed more toward effort than enjoyment, particularly if a hotel has sold itself on its brilliance for children but laid on nothing to facilitate the actual running of a family holiday: babysitters, top bunk barriers to