Travelling With Larger Families - Tips to keep your next holiday worry free

By: Suman Manning, Mum of triplets and founder of TwinsPlus Arabia, the UAE’s only support network for multiple parents. www.twinsplusarabia.com/community

As a parent with a larger family, the idea of travelling any further than the school or playdate run might fill you with serious ‘Home Alone’ flashbacks. It can be enough to send you scrolling for the perfect ‘staycay’ options within an hour of home, and let’s face it, in the UAE we have some amazing options.

But there are times when a longer haul trip is either necessary - to visit our home countries for example, or simply just wanted, and however much we may dream of child free vacations, this often isn’t either possible, practical or on the cards.

Travelling with larger families can feel like a logistical nightmare, but it can be as stress-free as you want to make it, or your kids allow! As a mum of triplets, now aged 12, and as a family with different ‘home bases’ we’ve had plenty of experience travelling away from the UAE as a family of five. From the baby and toddler years through to the pre-teens and we are not alone.

Parents of multiples (twins, triplets and more) or simply just those families with a larger than average brood can enjoy trips and holidays abroad as much as a smaller family can, with some careful planning and tips from those who have done it! Whether your concerns might be around cost, safety, food, equipment, space, or even your sanity, there are ways to ensure that none of you miss out on what should be a magical, memory making time for you all this summer, and not the obstacle course you may picture it as!

Travel light..

The irony, I know! Even solo travellers will tell you that they often travel with so much ‘stuff’ they just don’t need. Travelling light should also extend to your pre-trip planning. You might not have any choice as to where your trip is taking you all, but if you do - it’s important to make life as easy for yourselves as you possibly can. Multi-trip style itineraries mean multiple accommodation bookings, multiple transport options, the list is endless. Whilst you can absolutely enjoy a brilliant holiday as a large family as much as the next person, don’t make your trip any more difficult for yourselves than you need to.

If your children are young, they only need a certain type of stimulation, and ultimately just quality time with you. Save the adventure for when they are old enough to appreciate it. There is nothing quite like having your own ‘gang’ with you on holiday as the kids grow, and whilst costs may rise along with them, the fun just increases, trust me!

Travelling light can also include booking yourselves into an airBnB style property instead of a hotel. For some families a ‘home’ style stay helps keep things familiar, often gives you far more space than you will have in a hotel room, and gives you potentially more private outdoor space in a garden or courtyard but also the benefit of ‘self catering’. Now, this might be exactly what you are trying to avoid on our vacations - but nobody has ever said holidays with kids were easy - however many you have! The ability to prepare food as and when you need it, not be confined by restaurant opening or meal times can be a real bonus.

Full properties will also come with laundry facilities too - again, something you are trying to avoid, but believe us, you’ll need them! Whilst large or conjoining hotel suites and rooms are available - larger single properties give you all more space and privacy. No more sitting in a dark hotel room whilst babies sleep and you don’t want to wake them! If you’ve gone down the rental property route, you will NOT have to take the kitchen sink, but you may still feel like you have to! Make a list - what are your family’s absolute must have essentials? - the things and quantity that you absolutely cannot manage without? There are rental services in most modern towns and resorts that are popular with tourists, and you will be able to hire almost anything equipment wise to meet you at your destination. If it doesn’t have to be ‘yours’ - saving space and a few less things to think about.

You can of course even order shopping - groceries and toiletries for example to meet you at your destination if you are self catering. Take advantage of anything you can in this regard and make your packing woes lighter. When we travelled to Australia and India, we asked local friends to lend us essentials such as strollers, toys and books etc so the kids had ‘new’ things but we also didn’t need to carry them back and forth.

If you are staying in a hotel - always make sure you are taking, or hire a travel cot or ‘playpen’ - even if it is not used in lieu of a bed, it means you always have a ‘safe space’ to keep them - yes, ‘penned in’ but that’s the point - hotel rooms can be toddler unfriendly from a safety point of view, and you can’t always keep your eyes on them.

Many hands…

Now, the last thing you will be considering is taking ‘more’ people with you, but more people (over a certain age) means more help! Multi-family holidays are great for larger families because of this - more children mean instant playmates for yours. More adults mean more help for everyone, the more hands and eyes the better, plus a respite for the grown ups to have the companionship - all in it together, right?

You can share certain expenses, cooking duties, babysitting and more. Keeping it in the family is always great too - singletons may never want to holiday with their parents again - until they have children themselves of course! It’s likely that at home you will have help, consider taking your home help with you - this of course can come with visa headaches for specific nationalities and countries, but worth looking into, the cost can be worth it for the familiarity, peace of mind and the help!

“We have 6 children including twins and a child who is autistic and nonverbal. We’ve done 6 weeks in the UK and Ireland when the twins were 4 months old, that was an experience! We’ve also been to New Zealand, Thailand, Greece and France (after the twins were born, they are now five years old). This year we are going to Santorini and Crete but we’re taking our nanny for the first time, mainly due to 1:1 care that my son with autism requires.”

When Flying

One of the biggest concerns amongst our parents within TwinsPlus Arabia is always ‘how will we manage the flight?’ Plane cabins can feel claustrophobic at the best of times, let alone with multiple wriggling, bored or tantruming children. Like most things, it can all be in the pre-planning, but it’s important to note how important your own mind set is here also.

Nobody ‘loves’ a screaming child on a flight, but really, it’s part of life and most other passengers have ‘been there’ too - it’s important we keep a cool head as parents and don’t worry about anyone else. That said, I have a few fail safe tips for when I have travelled with my triplets.

This is not a time to worry about ‘screen time’ - take full advantage of any in flight/back of seat entertainment options. Make sure your kids are comfortable - if this means a familiar blanket, pillow or such - take them. Tablets, if your kids are old enough to have them, can be preloaded with games and their favourite shows so no arguments there - let them watch away. In this instance, it’s all about the destination *not* the journey!

A good thing to prepare is a number of small, easy to carry activities, toys or books, the smaller the better and as many as you sensibly can. Producing something ‘new’ at various times during the trip will keep them happy, and of course snacks too! Do not be reliant on airline meal routines to keep your kids fed and happy! Cabin staff will always be happy to help you at any point, do not be afraid to ask! From helping with seatbelts, luggage, mealtime logistics and even to walk a bored toddler up and down the cabin - it is what they are there for and almost always happy to oblige.

Transport

Another popular ‘headache’ - lots of people means lots of luggage. How do you all get to the airport? What about car seats? The best advice I can give from personal experience is to utilise a ‘Safer Driver’ service. This means that you can get to the airport in our own car, and it will be delivered back to collect you after your return journey - with your own car seats so no taking in or out.

Remember, if you need a hire car at your destination - you can hire the seats extra. If you cannot do this - You can book multiple taxis or a minibus option and again, with pre-planning, ensure that you have enough car seats included, but remember, this level of transport requires research and pre-planning for your convenience and safety.

We had two ride on carry on chairs for our twins - amazing! I managed to do a 40 min transit in London Gatwick including changing terminals on my own with them! These are carry-on case size, on wheels, but with a seat attachment that folds down.

You can sometimes find these on marketplace sites or eBay. Designed by a US Flight attendant and so practical, our two loved whizzing around and waving at everyone - if we had a dirham for everyone who said ‘Wow! those are brilliant’ we could have retired. Hannah Dowson mum of twins