WARMING WINTER SUN // family travelling tips

As I write this I’m around 40,000 feet in the air, somewhere off the east coast of Australia.

We’re about 23 hours into a 25-hour journey back home to New Zealand and, to be honest, we’re all pretty over it now.

Travelling with children is challenging at the best of times, and some might say embarking on such a mammoth journey is just asking for trouble. But long trips to the other side of the world are simply part of the deal when you create a family that’s half-Kiwi and half-British (Kiwish?).

But there are ways you can still enjoy some winter sun, and ease the awkwardness of travelling with children in tow.

Firstly, you can fly first class and stretch out in luxurious pods that convert to fully-flat beds… Yeah, right! That has never been – and is unlikely to ever be – an option for us.

Instead here are some practical and realistic options to make your journey a bit less painful:

Pack a bag for each child. On our previous long-haul journey to BALI we bought a pair of those pull-along cabin bags, but found they slowed us up and we ended up carrying them.

This time we had backpacks, and the girls found them much easier to handle. Inside they had an activities book, a colouring book and pencils, some dry snacks, and a kids’ Kindle. They had game of Snap, and one of Top Trumps, and were also allowed to pick one small cuddly toy to take with them.

I included some dried fruit, but deliberately didn’t pack sweets; a sugar rush at home is awkward enough to deal with and I had no intention of finding out how one would play out thousands of feet in the air.

Airlines provide blankets, but if you have younger children, snuggly sleeping bags are brilliant. Not only are they warm and snuggly, but you can buckle their belt easily over top and they won’t fall off as they sleep.

I literally do not go anywhere without my travel essential, the J PILLOW. Sure, it looks completely weird, but I’m not joking when I say this pillow has literally changed my travelling life. The side wings support the back of your head while the curved pillow hooks under and supports your chin so you don’t get that annoying head jerk. The pillow worked a treat with the girls too, who both managed to get at least five hours of solid sleep – which makes a massive difference to your holiday at the other end (grumpy kids = not much fun).

If you’re travelling to a nearer winter sun destination, such as the Canary Islands, Morocco or even the Caribbean, this won’t be such an issue, but as we’re completely flipping time zones, I’m a big fan of light therapy. It might sound a bit hokey, to be fair I was a bit dubious at first too, but I’ve been using a sunrise simulator alarm clock for a couple of years now and absolutely swear by it in the dark winter months.

Travel versions of the light lamps can also be used as a gentle way to reset your body clock after a long flight by tricking the brain into reducing the ‘sleepy’ hormone, melatonin, and increasing cortisol, thereby lessening the effects of jetlag.

Now this could quite possibly be the best bit of travel advice you ever read. Seriously. Invest in a selection of air tight packing bags; these brilliant bags can be filled and rolled to squeeze out to remove all the air, essentially shrink-wrapping your wardrobe. Not only do you free up loads of suitcase space, but you can separate your items (t-shirts, trousers, swimwear, etc) so you’re not constantly rooting through your entire bag, and they’re great for storing damp swimsuits too.

Finally, relax, soak up that sun and enjoy! 

FANCY SOME WINTER SUN?

CLOSE BY (up to five hours):

Tenerife: flight time (departing London): 4.5 hours; currency: Euro; average winter temperature: 18 degrees.

Ibiza: flight time (departing London): 2.5 hours; currency: Euro; average winter temperatures: 15 degrees.

Morocco: flight time (departing London): 3hrs 40m; currency: Moroccan dirham; average winter temperature: 21 degrees

A LITTLE BIT FURTHER (five – 10 hours):

Florida: flight time (departing London): 10 hrs; currency: US dollars; average winter temperature: 15 degrees.

Caribbean: flight time (departing London): between 9-15 hrs; currency: each island is different, but the US dollar is widely accepted; average winter temperatures: again, this depends on where in the Caribbean you travel, but 21-27 degrees is a rough guide.

Cancun, Mexico: flight time (departing London): 11hrs ; currency: Mexican peso/US dollar; average winter temperatures: 23 degrees.

THE WHOLE HOG (over 10 hours):

South Africa: flight time (departing London): 11 hrs; currency: South African rand, average winter temperature (summer in South Africa): 20 degrees.

Honolulu, Hawaii: flight time (departing London): 17hrs 40m; currency: US dollar; average winter temperature: 26 degrees.

Auckland, New Zealand: flight time (departing London): 24+hrs; currency: New Zealand dollars; average winter temperature (summer in New Zealand): 20 degrees.

NB: (figures are rough guides and variables may apply)