COLUMN: He was sitting on my head and feral...I thought to myself, 'Best holiday ever'

We recently went on a trip abroad to Spain and stayed a week for our friends’ wedding. The holiday involved a three-hour flight, seven days in Nerja, and obviously a flight back, all done with a two-year-old boy.

Here’s some of what we learned:

Waking Jack in the middle of the night we thought he would go straight back to sleep in the car on the way to the airport.

He didn’t, he fell asleep on the M50 - which basically means he slept for ten minutes on the way up at 4am in the morning.

Going through Dublin Airport, despite reports of long queues and flight cancellations, was actually a lovely experience.

My advice to anyone travelling on their own or as a couple, bring a buggy and wheel it, you’ll be treated differently. You can discard it before you get on the plane; a small price to pay.

Airport security with a little person is a nightmare. There’s no way of avoiding it.

We packed snacks for the plane, the tablet, medication etc.

Everything is rooted out for security and it’s so easy to get distracted with the trays and then turn around and no sign of the child.

You will sweat!

If we could do it again, and if you could afford it, check the 10kg bags in as well. And have just two knapsacks for the plane.

Carrying the knapsacks, wheeling a buggy and wheeling the two 10kg bags and minding a child was a lot to do. Just have the bags on your back and the buggy in front of you.

Nothing else.

On arrival at our apartment in Nerja, we got the place in order and baby proofed it. The apartment was on the third floor.

All I’ll say is, don’t be on the third floor. I can’t say too much more on this matter as the wife booked the apartment.

Moving swiftly along...

My wonderful sister, Jackie and her family came along as well for the week and they were going to be minding Jack on the day of the wedding.

The first thing we noticed was the 8pm bedtime routine, the normal eating times, the normal nap times, all went out the window.

It was chaos. One night, at 11.30pm, he was bouncing on our bed, sitting on my head and feral. I thought to myself, “Best holiday ever.”

Generally, your days are made up of planning how to occupy the child’s time, much like at home when they’re not in creche.

It’s that question all parents, I hope, ask every day: How do we get from breakfast to afternoon nap and afternoon nap to bedtime in the handiest way possible?

We took Jack to a waterpark which was amazing fun.

He loved the slides and the water, but it was exhausting for the adults and you were always watching him and always nervous.

We took turns minding him and so the rest of us got to go on the slides.

This was the day after the wedding too. I was nursing a serious hangover and I nearly closed the waterpark down at one stage, but it was an awesome day.

Keeping active and having things to do during the day, much like here, definitely made it easier with Jack but it was just as tiring.

We almost needed a holiday after the holiday.

Doesn’t everyone say that though. Oh and for the flights, he was the best boy. He slept most of the way over and almost all of the return flight.

One word: Nurofen.