Airport chaos? Not if you read these tips and you are lucky enough to be travelling after the half term.

Now's the time when parents of preschoolers should thank the Lord (hallelujah, amen and hallelujah again) that they are not tied to travelling in the school holidays.

Not only is travel cheaper outside the holidays but sleepless nights, tantrums, teeth, any of the other irritations of being a new parent pale into insignificance when you compare them to the nightmare that is an airport on the first day of the school holidays.

Parents, fraught after having been up half the night packing and looking for lost passports, are faced with the juggling act that is trying to hang on to their offspring while manhandling overstuffed bags through understaffed check in and trying to wrest a half drunk Fruit Shoot away from their seven year old before they get to security.

And it’s supposed to be a holiday.

Those with under-fives, however, have the luxury of travelling when they like.

When budget flights really are budget and it isn’t necessary to take out a second mortgage to secure a holiday house booking.

You still have to get your children through the airport and new parents, as I can testify, are prone to making mistakes.

When my eldest was ten months old, I took her to Barcelona thinking that, as I would be on my own, a sling would be easier to manage than a pushchair. We were delayed, my daughter had nowhere to sleep and the sling quickly felt like a (hot) tonne of bricks on my five-foot frame.

Then, flying to Greece when she was around 18 months, I decided to cut down on hand baggage by leaving out her spare set of clothes (we had travelled a lot and never used our spares once). Of course, this was the one time she was ill and after an enormous nappy explosion really needed a change of clothes). We ended up wrapping her in my partner’s T-shirt.

Since then, I have always worked on the worst-case scenario, preparing myself for delays and sickness or worse. It drives my clutter-hating partner mad and I have to admit that even I am amazed by my lists.

It seems to work. So, if you are lucky enough not to be travelling this half term but are planning an escape with your babes the minute the holiday is over, it is worth thinking how you will manage at the airport.

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