Introducing Airtots! How to travel with kids…

Flying with kids is stressful enough as it is. Wishing away hours on the plane and longing to make a run for it when you land, hoping that the passenger in front of you will never set eyes on you again due to your toddler kicking, screaming and throwing toy trains throughout the entire flight – not to mention the annoying tone of my ‘mummy voice’ for 4 hours, will make any parent want to be swallowed up and spat out in their hotel room immediately.

I honestly think our flight journeys have been a great form of contraception for other couples.

However, the tension doesn’t stop when you disembark the plane. The trek from the gate, through immigration and collecting baggage can be just as stressful – especially when children are overtired, fractious and out of their usual routine.

We had a particularly troublesome experience travelling to Turkey one year.   My mother in law has a house in Oludeniz so going back year after year is very much on the cards.  However I’m familiar with the wandering marathon to exit the airport – and previous encounters have left us vowing to never travel again.

The tiresome journey between leaving the aeroplane and getting in the hire car is a long, tedious, stressful chore. Naturally my husband and I had those oh-so-cool under the breath arguments whilst standing in line, sweating profusely, carrying way too much carry-on luggage with a toddler screaming and kicking with all his might, trying to escape my husband’s tight grip.

It’s like wrestling a wild animal and trying to keep some decorum – it fails miserably every time.

‘Where is the bloody pram?!’ I huffed to myself through gritted teeth.  Awkwardly prams aren’t collected until you claim your luggage – which can be 2 hours after stepping off the plane – and once ours even got lost!  HELL ON EARTH!

So this year I wanted to make the start of our holiday easier for all of us.

We needed a pram that we could stow in the over head lockers on the plane…

This way we could keep our toddlers under control as soon as we land and save ourself a melt down (us as well as the kids!)

The Babyzen YoYo was the most recommended – so we looked into how much they cost, and of course they’re a little pricey to just buy for a holiday. We already have 2 prams as it is and a third was hugely unnecessary.

I asked around Facebook and Instagram stories for any YoYo’s that were up for sale/or we could borrow.

No response.

I was about to give up when we came across this brand new company who actually rent out prams for travelling families.  GENIUS!

Airtots, founded by Ben and Matt is the first company to rent out baby equipment from bath toys to buggies for holidaying  families.  They make the difficult task of travelling with all the kid paraphernalia made easy.  Anything you need for your kids – they have it – so you don’t need to pack it and chug it overseas with you.  You want a micro scooter or a travel cot?  They have it – AND at a very decent price.

We could hire these particular YoYo prams for £35 per week AND they would be dropped off at our front door and collected after our holiday.

Again. Genius.

So did it work? Absolutely one hundred percent incredibly!  We landed in Turkey at midnight with two very tired toddlers. I easily reached for my pram from the over head lockers on the plane, and transformed it with a push of a button from a small bag to a fully functioning pram.  My 5 year old thought it was it was like a transforming car and loved it.

Wheeling through the terminal with ease whilst other parents looked on in awe, confusion, frustration, whilst struggling to carry their over tired children and bags, I felt a mixture of smug and sympathy. One of those moments where you think to yourself  ‘yep – I’ve nailed this’ but at the same time, I wish these other parents had known about Airtots (hence the blog post).

This marriage saving service from Airtots meant stress levels were lifted for ourselves and our little ones. For once I didn’t mind the long queues for immigration or collecting our luggage – we were THAT family that looked like we knew what we were doing and my husband and I even embraced a loving kiss whilst waiting for our luggage.  Usually one of us is rugby tackling our 2 year old and losing.  Not this time – this time we were in control.  Being in control with kids past their bed time is gold.

The kids were happy, which meant we were happy. Great start to the holiday!

Some other parents questioned how we managed to get a pram on the plane. Did we pay extra? Did we know the staff?  Were we air stewards?

Nope – we just know Airtots.

I absolutely recommend this company for any families traveling into the UK and out…  Let Airtots provide you with what you need and save the space in your hire car for more important things.  Like Prosecco.  And Tequila.

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