Travelling with 3 children

We've just returned from a lovely weekend in Dublin but man alive have I picked up some tips for easier and less stressful travelling. We enjoy travelling and we've been on a lot of family holidays but this was our first trip as a family of 5. 

This is what we had to get through the airports...,

1 pushchair

2 adults 

3 children

4 pieces of hand luggage

5 lots of hats, scarves, and gloves. 

I won't lie it was a stressful, tiring and sweat inducing experience! So here's what I learned .....

Travel as light as possible

packing and unpacking on the way out and back is time consuming and a pain so make a list and take only the bare minimum

Keep hand luggage to the minimum 

There really is no easy way to carry a baby, hold the hands of two toddlers, carry two suitcases one baby bag and a rucksack, and get up the airplane steps and along a teeny aisle with only 4 hands between you. So my honest tip would be to pack in hand luggage only what you need for the journey and check the rest in, even if you need to pay.  If you can say goodbye to it before the stress of security I promise you are in for a much smoother experience which in my humble opinion is worth the €40.

Prepare for security checks

Taking off the coats of two toddlers, folding a two part pushchair, separating iPads from other luggage, emptying pockets and then trying to remove knee length boots whilst holding a baby (because in my wisdom I'd sent the husband through X-ray with the eldest two!) and then doing it all in reverse is stressful enough but add an audience of similarly harassed people and unsympathetic security staff and you have a fully flustering situation. Next time I will be wearing shoes that don't need to be removed, I will have empty pockets and I will have had the kids remove their coats  before there are hundreds of people looking at us in impatience! 

Think about your pushchair

Ryan air ask for you to leave your pushchair at the front steps of the plane, this means folding a pushchair whilst holding a baby and hand luggage and stopping toddlers wandering off onto the runway. With a two part pushchair this is a nightmare so my advice is find a pushchair with an easy fold. We loved our Baby Jogger City Mini and missed it so much during this trip that we have come home and ordered a new one!!

Leave Plenty of Time

Leave Early , get to the airport with time to spare, it's not ideal to keep toddlers in an airport longer than necessary but as you can see you need plenty of time to do everything and the last thing you need is a frantic dash down the departure terminal with toddlers and a pram!

Most of all try to enjoy yourself