The Chewys’ Tips for Flying with Family

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You may have noticed that we’re a family that likes to travel. We’re lucky to have visited such amazing places like Taiwan and Hong Kong and hope to visit many more soon. After we did our first overseas family photoshoot in Phuket earlier this year, we learned a lot about how to make traveling and flying with the family much easier.

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For us, half the fun of traveling comes with the amazing luxury hotels we get to stay at. Sometimes, we even enjoy our hotel staycations as much as our actual vacations. When planning for a trip to London, it’s hard to beat a family-owned hotel like the Athenaeum. We found this gem on British Airways’ flights to London page where the hotel got five stars from the airline. And by booking our rooms and our flight together, we’re able to stay in the kind of place we’ve always wanted. With an award-winning tea room, spa and hair salon all in the middle of Piccadilly, it was just what we were looking for in London. Also, booking rooms in advance when traveling with family is one of the big tips we picked up. You can get the family settled and comfortable the moment you arrive instead of scrambling to find yourselves a place to stay!

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Also, when you are traveling with children it’s important to take things slow and accept that you may not always be able to hit everything that you have on your schedule. That’s just one of the many pieces of sage advice we found on The Guardian’s 50 top tips for traveling with kids. That’s one of the reasons why finding a great hotel is so important for a great holiday. If the weather turns bad or a child gets sick, at least you can still try your best to relax and enjoy the rest of your vacation from a comfortable room!

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There’s so much to do and prepare and passports are only the beginning! It is also very important to know your terminal and the airport well before you show up for your flight. Some airports, like Heathrow, are so big and busy you could easily miss your flight trying to find the right gate. You should make yourself familiar with the layout ahead of time, especially if you’re also keeping track of little ones. It could take you almost an hour just to get from one terminal to another, so plan accordingly.

It’s also very helpful to try your best to pack light and pack smart. We like to prioritize items we may need for the kids like games, snacks and books for our carryon bags while putting bigger things like clothing and shoes in our actual luggage.

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Our flight to Phuket was very lucky as Chanelle was well behaved, but we know we won’t always be so fortunate. We were unable to get bassinet seats for that flight, but you can bet we won’t be going without them for our next one. Bassinet seats are one of the Telegraph’s top ten secrets to stress free travel and clip into the rear of the airplane’s bulkhead seats. This helps to save your lap and the backs of your fellow travelers hours of potential kicks and screams. It also gives us a little extra legroom, which is always nice.

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We already can’t wait to go on our next vacation as a family and are glad that we were able to have the chance to give Little misschewy a trial run on her first overseas flight. It’s safe to say we’re excited to go even further for our next Chewy adventure!

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