Going on holiday with twins
"Due to their cuteness, we got a helping hand with lots of different things, along with lots of smiles and jokes. The twins loved this. and after the relative isolation of Covid, it was amazing to see them thriving and lapping this attention up!"
(TG = Twin Girl, TB = Twin Boy)
I really like holidays, they are one of the few things I can probably admit to having overindulged in throughout my life. I love experiencing new cultures and places, and I love the idea of relaxing by the pool or on the beach (never really managed to nail the relaxing part, but the thought was there!).
So, it was a little strange that as our first holiday with the Twins approached I didn’t feel particularly enthusiastic about it. I had been told by several people I trust and respect that going on holiday with children was an exercise in taking all your parenting challenges from home to somewhere that isn’t really set up for you to deal with them.
Still, we were keen to go. Between the arrival of the twins and Covid, we had not had a holiday or any break other than a couple of weekends at the inlaws for over 2 years.
So, we decided to book a month away, surely in a month we could get set up and enjoy ourselves? Surely?!...
Things we did before we went that made travelling easier
Given the pretty convincing heads-up we were given about the likely experience we were going to face, we put quite a bit of thought into the trip before we left.
What Went Well
The twins made friends with all of the hotel staff, and a due to their cuteness, we got a helping hand with lots of different things, along with lots of smiles and jokes
What was difficult and what would we do differently?
So, this list is quite long…not to say the overall experience of the holiday was negative, but wowza, was it hard work at times!
Things we did before we went that made travelling easier
Given the pretty convincing heads-up we were given about the likely experience we were going to face, we put quite a bit of thought into the trip before we left.
Firstly the accommodation. This was a bit of a disaster as the 3rd-floor sea view apartment with a large balcony we had booked initially when the twins were about a year old now looked like a deathtrap for no-compliant 2-year-olds who loved to climb everything. We didn't fancy a holiday where we were effectively acting as balcony goalkeepers, so we had to cancel and rebook.
We found a hotel with apartments that looked decent - we were looking for some cooking facilities, a laundry, a short walk to both a beach and supermarket, with a decent children's pool and playground on site.
With all of these boxes ticked we felt like we would have a chance of keeping the twins both alive and occupied whilst we were away. We also dreamt of somehow carving out time for one of us to nip off for a swim, or to the gym, and of course our ever-present work schedule we would just be able to slot in exactly as we did at home, right?
We hadn’t used public transport much, let alone a plane, so we put quite a bit of time into getting the kids ready for the flight.. We happen to be just off the flight path for our local airport, so you can often see planes in the distance so we started pointing these out and letting the twins know that we would be going on one soon.
We also managed to get a few books with planes in (I can highly recommend “Topsy and Time go on a plane” and the nutter “Blippy” also has a programme on planes and going through the airport).
About a week before the trip, we went over to the viewing area (car park!) of our local airport and showed them a few planes landing and taking off (check the timetable so you aren't left waiting around for ages between flights!). We also spent time discussing what it would be like at the airport and on the plane, and what we would be doing (snacks, books, stickers) so they were prepared.
This meant that when the day to travel arrived, the twins were excited and generally had some idea of what to expect as we dropped off our bags and made our way through the airport.
We did find managing them in the waiting area quite hard work, so we moved to one of the corridors to the gates that had huge windows looking out over the airport, which was much easier to manage and also kept the twins happy watching the planes, busses and other vehicles whizzing around. We also found play areas scattered around the terminal, so worth keeping an eye out for one.
Of course, there were times when they were a bit fidgety on the plane, but nothing that caused any dramas.
One thing that was noticeably more stressful was working our way through customs and baggage reclaim on landing - by this point the twins were in turbo curiosity mode and were also getting tired (as were mummy and daddy!), a bad combination when combined with the chaos of the airport.
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1. We really like holidays! We hadn't had one in over two years, but all of my parent friends told me they can be tough as you move all your parenting challenges somewhere you are not set up to deal with them.
2. We had to change our accommodation as our initial booking had a balcony and was 3 stories up, not ideal with twins obsessed with climbing! We re-booked somewhere with cooking facilities, a laundry, a short walk to both a beach and supermarket, with a decent children's pool and playground on site.
3. We prepped the twins for the flight by pointing out planes when we saw them, read them books about planes, and took them to the local airport viewing area so they could see some in person.
4. The airport was largely stress-free, except the shopping area while we waited for the gate - too much to look at and explore! We found the corridors to the gates which were much quieter and had big windows looking out over the airport much easier to sit at and keep the twins safely occupied. We also found there were play areas scattered around the terminal, so worth looking out for them.
5. Landing was tougher, with everyone tired and more stressed, so big queues for passport control and baggage reclaim were not ideal...
6. The twins made friends with all of the hotel staff, and due to their cuteness, we got a helping hand with lots of different things, along with lots of smiles and jokes.
7. We all enjoyed spending more time outside, and the twins really developed physically while we were away.
8. Sleep took a week or so to settle (and the twins were also ill. for this period, so may have settled sooner otherwise..)
9. Childproofing the room was tough and it took us probably a week to get it right - and it still wasn't perfect, meaning for the whole holiday we always had to be alert, even when we were in our room. We would definitely go to a hotel with childproofed rooms if we had our time again.
10. We would also book somewhere with a children's club - we didn't even think of this, but it would have been amazing to have some time for myself and my wife while we were confident the twins were being safely looked after and weren't far away. Without it, and no childproofed room, even the good times were really demanding to ensure the kids were safe and secure.
11. Probably due to this, we found hiring a car and going exploring really enjoyable as the twins would be occupied with the travel and destination, and we wouldn't feel like our lives were devoted to safety goalkeeping them around the pool or beach.
12. With all this going on, we came back happy but really tired! Definitely needed another holiday to recover from the holiday!
What went well?
All the prep we did really paid off, the airports and flights were a relative breeze!
The twins made friends with all of the hotel staff, and due to their cuteness, we got a helping hand with lots of different things, along with lots of smiles and jokes. The twins loved this. and after the relative isolation of Covid, it was amazing to see them thriving and lapping this attention up!
The weather of course meant we could spend a lot of the day outside, and in the pool and on the beach. We all loved eating outside too.
They grew and changed so much while we were away - there was a climbing incline on the playground in the hotel that they couldn’t get up on day 1, by day 10 they were up like mountain goats.
Sleep for the first week or so was tough, but once we had re-established a routine and twins settled we got back to them sleeping through, albeit with a bit more of an involved bedtime of stories and singing!
What was difficult and what would we do differently?
So, this list is quite long…not to say the overall experience of the holiday was negative, but wowza, was it hard work at times!
Firstly, everyone except moui got sick on the flight over, so the first 10 days or so were super tough with awful sleeping from the twins and me desperately trying to give everyone a rest whilst figuring out how to also keep them occupied, fed and watered in a distinctly “un - childproofed” environment.
This was the next thing we learned pretty quickly - childproofing our room from two very mobile and curious twins was effectively impossible. We tried different rooms and had brought with us all kinds of things to help us make things safe, but we just couldn’t!
Ultimately we managed, but it had a huge impact on our stress levels that we didn’t have anywhere we knew the twins would be safe. With two of us strangely the beach initially seemed a good option as the shallow incline and lack of anything to break or climb on kept things simple, but as the twins' confidence grew they started running off in opposite directions, ruining the sense of calm!
If we went away with mobile toddlers again, we would definitely look for a hotel that has specifically childproofed rooms (they exist!). This might be overkill with a single toddler, but with two, it would have made life so much easier, especially when there was only one of us looking after them - we still haven't mastered being in two places at once 🤣.
We actually found, partly due to this, that going out on day trips and generally being away from the hotel made things much less stressful, and of course we got to enjoy whatever it was we were visiting. We would have definitely planned more outings if we had known this, we realised quite late on and only had so many we could fit in.
We will also be looking for hotels with great kids clubs that can give us both a break, it seems a bit noddy we didn't realise this but having not been on holiday before, we just didn't think about it! With the twins at such a busy age, we really never got a break, and certainly not one for both of us at once!
So, we came back super tired, I often used to say you needed a holiday to recover from a holiday, seems like as a parent that is X 10!