Flying abroad alone with my boys for the first time last year definitely made me nervous beforehand. Not just because everything is a little different now (and rightly so) thanks to Covid, but because I had never actually taken them on a flight alone before. I know I'm lucky, the boys are really well behaved but of course you never know what may happen so even knowing that, I was still a little nervy.
Our outbound flight to Alicante, was a very early morning flight, 6:20am departure meant that I was going to be waking the boys at around 2am. Now who likes being woken in the middle of the night? Certainly not me. But it did seem the wisest option as it just meant we weren't waiting around all day at home with two very excited boys, waiting to head to the airport. Plus as a child, I always remember feeling so excited when I'd be woken in the night to go on holiday.
I need not have worried about the early wake up call though as the babes handled it like troopers. Noah spent the whole taxi ride to the airport talking about everything he remembered from his last visit, about ten months prior. Patrick for potentially the first time in his entire life, sat in silence. I think he was still half asleep if I'm honest. All in all the whole check in and airport situation was painfully easy, even despite quite heavy covid restrictions at the time. I had to wear a mask both in the airport and on the plane but the boys being 7 and 5 at the time, did not.
On the flight itself I really couldn't have wished for it to go any better. We had the front row seats which meant extra legroom but more importantly it meant we were sat close to the bathroom so that if either needed the toilet, I could go with them and stand outside the door while being only a metre away from our seats. So if you fly alone with younger kids that would definitely be a shout from me, especially as those airplane toilets are so tiny so not like you can all squeeze in together. For the flight I didn't go overboard with flight bags this year like I have in the past, they're older now and they can definitely focus on one activity for a lot longer than when they was younger. So I kept it simple with their Nintendo switches, their amazon tablets, a notepad and pens, then a book. That was plenty for the boys and to be honest they only really used their notepads and pens then their switches too. It's not a long flight so before we knew it we'd landed. Luckily for us we where the first ones off the plane and security at Alicante could not have been any easier to get through. I think within about fifteen minutes of getting off the plane we had our luggage and was through to be greeted by my parents. They have a villa there and had already been out there for a good month or so.
The flight back was much the same, so relaxed and no stress at all. I actually felt a little bit silly for being nervous and at least I know this year when I take them again, there really is no need to worry. Below I've shared some of my top tips so hopefully they can help anyone.
- At security, get all electronics out of bags whilst you're queuing up. It makes it a lot less stressful when you get to the front of the line.
- Pack a spare set of clothes for young ones, it's rare you'll need them but better to be safe than sorry.
- Keep hang luggage minimal, the more you have then the more you have to carry.
- Buy snacks at the airport, Yes they're more expensive but it saves any problems at security.
- Don't forget chewy sweets for take off and landing to help with air pressure.
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