3 tips for holidaying with a little one

So we’ve been back from our summer holiday a couple of weeks now, and it’s probably time I updated you about how it was and more importantly how NJ was. I thought I’d base the post on my top 3 tips that made the holiday that little easier for us with a little one.

We were staying in a town on the Costa del Sol called Benalmadena and as such flew into Malaga airport. The outbound flight was a 7am take off, so right in NJ’s “I’m awake” time really. No kip on the flight but we were ready. Be prepared is a great mantra when travelling with a small child and therefore becomes tip No.1.

1. Be prepared for the journey. I hear a lot of people talking of how they dread travelling with their small child but with a little bit of preparation the flight doesn’t need to be a trauma! Our flight was due to be just short of 3 hours so potentially we had that much time to fill for him. Before the trip we’d bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab. Through Google Play we downloaded some apps aimed at young children, some we already have on our phones that we knew he liked already, and some new ones; a drawing app and a colouring (scribbling) one, plus a couple of videos of tv shows that he likes. Add to that, from the non-digital world, a toy car and a colouring/sticker book he was a joy the whole way there.

2. Tip 2 comes from being able to handle the heat. We were there for two weeks and by the time we’d got to the middle weekend we were reaching 40 degrees C! To help NJ stay cool and also be able to play close to us we take a paddling pool with us. Blow it up, fill it up and he’s got somewhere to cool down the whole time. We took this to the pool and also when we went to the beach. This year we had an ace guy at the beach, manning the beds etc, he would bring out a super big bucket to help us fill it up every day rather than us maning a million trips to the shower with our poxy one!

3. The third tip is to make sure that you have something to keep your little person entertained when you go out to eat. When we went out this year we were able to not be the first people in the restaurants like we were last year. NJ was able to be awake and good tempered enough to come and eat with us a little later in the evening. But he’s still only young and likely to lose his eating focus at some point. This is where a little bag of tricks comes in. We had his colouring/sticker book and a couple of cars. It also pays to have some little snacks just in case it takes forever to bring his food. We found little packets of raisins were perfect, or fruit flakes covered in youghurt.

All in all we had a lovely holiday, I’ll more than likely post a bit more of a report in the near future, but I’m fairly sure that these tips helped us no end.