Bula from Fiji!
When I started telling people we were taking our 2.5year old twins to Fiji, most people’s reaction was…you’re brave…or stupid!
Now I grew up in a family of travellers. I think my first flight was when I was 6mo this old and unfortunately (for my adult bank account) it didn’t take me long to catch ‘the bug’ despite the fact that I actually hate flying!
So fast forward to parenthood and we hope to be able to show our boys the world much like I had the chance to.
With any parent travelling I have discovered there are a few keys stress points…budgets, the actual travel and accomodation! All of which are the big factors to any holiday. Not to be deterred by any of these we are now on our 2nd international holiday and our kids their 5th flights not to mention many little road trips we’ve had since the boys came along!
When it comes to travelling with kids you need to prepare yourself for the journey be it car, plane or train!
We took our boys to Hawaii at 6 months, about an hour up and Chris had a look on his face like what the bloody hell have we done…it was chaos! Twin boys screaming and us not being able to settle because we were still stuck in seats! What the hell did we do?!
I thought I’d had it planned – get good seats with a bassinet in the bulkhead, fly around feeding time and then to sleep! Well yeah… it took us nearly 2 hours to get bottles warmed didn’t it so it soon became chaos…ooops! But after a few hours we broke the back of the trip and we got it sorted!
When travelling with babies there’s a few key things you need – heaps of formula if you can’t feed, loads of bottles, seats with room and nappies for days!! We managed to ask for a row of 3 when possible to allow for space for all our crap – worked a treat!
Fast forward a year and we travelled yo both Queensland and Melbourne…now 18 months we faced completely different challenges! Now walking and more assertive we chose locations closer to home in order to reduce the stress.
Before boarding we loaded up an IPad (the Luxury of modern travel) and the key to this one was heaps of their favourite snacks! I had lunch boxes jam packed with biscuits, fruit bars, purée fruit and all their tried and tested faves! When mid flight rocks around and your juggling 2 smallies the old inflight colouring in pack is worth every cent of the $10 you pay! I also quickly discovered one of my boys loves pringles and he ate a whole half pack on the decent after we were delayed landing…he had a rotten tummy ache but it kept everyone on board happy!
So when organising to get the twins, now temper tantrum throwing 2 year olds, to Fiji I felt a bit old hat already!
First thing we did was upgrade to premium economy that saved us! Extra leg room, and we once again managed to get rows to ourselves so we had room and didn’t bug anyone else (thanks Virgin)! We also make sure we use in school term time at the moments- it won’t last (obviously) but neither will 2 year old stage!
Plenty of snacks, nappies and wipes, a change of clothes and my bag was done!
I love that this year they can carry their backpacks…I hated that they refused to because I packed iPads, learning laptops and heaps of cars for the trip which we ended up carrying…and them!
My kids stood on the chairs, they sat on the floor, they were loud, restless but overall AMAZING!
Being prepared is key, accepting that kids will be kids is important but taking the stress is worth it for their little faces on take off and when you get to your destination! 
nickyainley 