With the festive season approaching, many of us will be boarding flights to visit loved ones or holiday destinations. Of course, being such a popular time of year to travel, the festive season also brings with it over-crowded airports and bored kids! Luckily there are a few simple holiday travel hacks you can use to avoid pulling your hair out this festive season.
Check-in online:
If you’re catching a flight this festive season, avoid the queues by checking in online. Checking in for your flight online will not only allow you to choose the seats you prefer and print your boarding pass beforehand, but you will also avoid long check-in queues at the airport. When you arrive simply breeze through the faster-flowing baggage drop-off queue before heading through security for departures.
Breeze through security:
With boarding-pass in hand or on your mobile device, and your luggage dropped off, all you need to do is get yourself onto the plane and off on your well-deserved holiday. But first, you need to get through security. Before getting to the airport, make sure you’re free of any metal that might set off the metal detector, such as copper change or a massive bunch of keys. Rather, place that in your hand luggage and put it through the scanner. If you’re travelling with a laptop, take it out of its bag ahead of time and move swiftly through security. Security staff are also likely to confiscate nail-scissors, multi-tools and even toy weapons. so leave those items at home just to be safe.
Give Junior a tablet:
If you’re travelling with small children and teenagers, make sure to pack a few extra toys and games to keep them busy. While Lego and Meccano are excellent for kids’ creativity, the small parts will be tricky to retrieve from the floor of an airline cabin. Travelling is the one occasion where you’ll be happy to let the kids play on a smartphone or tablet, for as long as they like.
Chew on this:
All that walking and shuffling around can really make you work up an appetite. Keep hunger pangs at bay by packing a few healthy snacks for yourself and the kids. Think lentil chips, baby carrots, nuts, and rice cakes. Small children sometimes also struggle to equalise the pressure in their ears as the aircraft ascends and descends, so age-appropriate food and drink that encourage swallowing can help. If you’re worried that sugar will make them hyperactive, then cooled rooibos tea and snacks like droëwors will do the trick.
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