Most parents of young children are travel wimps with good reason. By the time vacations begin we're exhausted, the children are over excited and all we want is to be beamed into the perfect holiday destination.

And that's the problem - getting there: early morning drives to the airport; queues at every stage of check in and then the remorseless misery of sitting in a cattle pen while fellow passengers take their frustration out on your squiggling children.

There are no easy answers unless you can afford your own Lear jet. But there are some strategies, outlined in the eight following features, to make air journeys bearable:

1. Mothers who drug their babies on flights - colleague Emma Mahony outlines the extremes some parents take to keep their children quiet, and themselves sane, while travelling. A very well-read feature

5 top tips: family holiday savings

Your cards are up to the limit - but here's the way you can still book a great summer getaway

• Half-term bargains for families

Aaronovitch on a family safari of Zambia

In the company of lions, elephants, hippos, hyenas and countless exotic birds, David Aaronovitch and family get in tune with nature

• 10 classic wildlife tales

• The world’s top safaris

• Zambia in the wet season

BACKGROUND

• 5 top tips: family holiday savings

• 10 top family holidays

• Ask our expert: large hotels for families

• Ask our expert: child-friendly cottages

Related Links

• 5 top tips: family holiday savings

2. Surviving the airport with baby - special facilities for small children are one of the tips - Chloe Bryan-Brown reveals how to make airports bearable

3. Travelling with baby: the lowdown - is there an art to taking a baby on holiday? We answer the most frequently asked questions.

4. Travelling China - with a baby - a word of warning from weary long-haul parents

5. Ask our experts: is Ryanair the least family friendly airline? - a word of warning about some bargain airlines and their policy to children

6. A great pre-boarding swindle - paying less for budget flights can end up costing families more in stress says family expert Emma Mahony

7. Will airport security allow formula milk on planes - a straightforward but crucial question for families with babes. And another question answered by our experts - airport security and pregnancy: do scanners put the unborn at risk?

8. Six of the Best travel toys - every form of entertainment to keep the kids quiet on the way to and from the airport as well as in the air.

9. Travelling long-haul with a baby - Eric and Elaine Chapman don't want to change the way they travel just because they have a new baby - outr our expert responds

10. The best baby travel websites - and finally, the websites with a mass of baby travel help

Got a question or comment about family travel? Email our experts Emma Mahony and Jane Owen at yoursay@timesonline.co.uk

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