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Deep sea diving in Portugal!

Hanging out in Corfu

Arriving in Morocco

Travelling the Athens Metro

On a ferry between Greece and Italy

Snorkelling in the Red Sea

How to travel with kids
Having 3 children myself there have certainly been times when I've wondered why I actually thought it was a good idea to leave the house let alone the country! Overall, however, our travels have been full of wonderful experiences and its definitely been a learning process along the way.
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So here are some of the things I've learnt:​

• Once children can talk and understand, explain what the journey is going to look like and remind them of these steps along the way. Focus on the bits you're worried about and the bits they might find difficult or boring.  Tell them why it's important they sit still/don't run off/be polite to the nice people at security and give them some sense of how long things will take while queueing/waiting/sitting still. 
• Bring snacks, activities, spare clothes etc. but don't overdo it.  Having to herd children is hard enough without carrying an array of bulging hand luggage. I always travel with a big squashy bag which starts off as empty as possible. You'll be amazed that by the time you sit down on the plane it will almost always be overflowing with all kinds of random accumulated stuff.  
• Sleep is super important for everyone to have a good time and hopefully a holiday is a chance for the whole family to have a bit of a catch up.  Plan how you are going to manage the evenings.  Are you going to persuade everyone to have a siesta so that they can stay up a bit later? Will little ones sleep in the buggy while you go out for a meal? Are you going to go to bed at the same time as your kids with a good book?  What kind of accommodation will best suit what you want to do?  Sometimes a holiday is a great time to break bad sleep habits but try to make sure you don't mess up the good ones with a bit of forward planning.
• Food can be tricky if you've got children who don't enjoy trying new things or who are a bit fussy.  If you're worried consider self-catering options for your accommodation. In hotels, buffet meals are great because they give everyone lots of choice and the food is available instantly.  Picnics can be cheap, simple and you have control over what to buy.  Keep it simple - bread, cheese, ham, crisps and fruit are available in most places.  
• If you want to eat out and try something a bit different make sure your children aren't starving hungry before you get there or you'll have a meltdown before you even begin. Try ordering lots of different things and have a sharing meal so that children don't feel intimidated by a whole plate of unfamiliar food.  Don't get stressed if they refuse to try things - enjoy your food, make it a pleasant experience and fill them up with bread! Many restaurants will happily make an omelette or a plate of chips and then top them up with a few snacks on the journey home!  Remember it's just one meal!
• We love a dinner table game to keep the children happy in restaurants.  It could be a simple as some pens and paper, a card game or just word games.  Here's our blog on our favourite dinner table games.
• Unless you are heading somewhere really remote you will find supermarkets that sell milk, nappies and essential baby items.  They may well be unfamiliar brands but actually many are just branded differently for that particular country.  Yes it's frustrating when you have a nappy malfunction but we've discovered some great nappy brands, often much cheaper.  Don't be scared to bite the bullet and give them a go.  The Our Tribe Travels website lists infant products availability in a range of more remote places.
• While the chances of anything bad happening on holiday are remote it is always worth taking note of how to call the emergency services wherever you are and check out where the nearest pharmacy is as they are a great source of medical knowledge.  If you are not confident with the local language it can be useful to type into google translate the information you want the doctor/pharmacist to know before you get there and then you can show them the translation when you arrive.  Finally, always make sure you have adequate travel insurance, see here for more details.
• Don't be too ambitious.  One of the lovely things about being on holiday is that you don't have to stick to a rigid schedule so go with the flow a bit and build in plenty of down time.  ​ ​

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Feeding lambs in Somerset

Useful inks
Our Tribe Travels - blogs, tips and community of family travellers.  Very active Facebook page full of helpful and lovely people.
Bebe Voyage - Advice and guides for travelling all over the world with little people.  Great Facebook community too.
Baby friendly boltholes - baby friendly accommodation in the UK, France and a few other places.
​Tots to Travel - specialist family friendly villa and resort company.
Mr & Mrs Smith Family Hub - beautiful, child friendly (but not very wallet friendly!) accommodation. 
Kid & Coe - a selection of hand picked child friendly properties.
Travel with Kids by William Gray - I love this book, even though it's a bit out of date now, every country listed has reading suggestions based on that country for children, interesting facts and lots of info.