Holiday! A Review of the Companies We Used.

Apologies for the silence, we have been in Athens for few days. This was our first abroad holiday since firing out a baby two and a half years ago, so consequently was Casper's first time on an aeroplane too! So I was a little apprehensive about how he would behave but he was actually fine - only a couple of strops, mostly due to having to stay in his seat for landing and takeoff! His ears didn't seem to bother him and the other travellers were fab and happy to engage with him so it was much less stressful than I had predicted.

We flew out with Air France who were great, the staff were friendly and really lovely with Casper. We got priority boarding due to the toddler and in a particularly awful queue we were skipped to the front which definitely avoiding a major tantrum! There was a special kids meal which was brought out before the adult ones it included a hot pizza pocket type affair, a potato salad, biscuits and a mini Mars bar. Casper was asleep when it came out so I packed most of it away or later but the adult version was similar but with an orzo salad and an apple tart which was all very tasty and seemed fresh. We kept the buggy with us until the boarding gate when the staff took it to the hold for us, unfortunately they didn't return it at the transfer airport which was a bit of a nightmare as we had a wild toddler rampaging free around Charles De Galle airport for nearly 3 hours but that was really the only negative of the outward journey. I would happily fly with Air France again and recommend to anyone, but especially those with small children.

We stayed at the InterContinental Athenaeum in Athens which was stunning! The rooms were huge, as were the beds- all three of us happily slept in ours. We were in a newly refurbished room - it was slick and luxurious but also felt cosy and relaxing. The staff were amazing with Casper, they were all so friendly and smiley; in fact everyone we met in Athens seemed to love children- he's never been kissed by so many strangers! The only thing that let the hotel down was how pricey everything was, we didn't eat there as main courses were 30-40 euros, a coffee and an orange juice was 15.50 euros, but we got a great deal on the room and the hotel puts on a free shuttle bus into the centre which meant we could go and find food that was more in our budget.

The return flight was with Alitalia who I wasn't as impressed with, Although they didn't really do anything wrong as such everything just seemed a bit less than Air France. The staff were professional but did not come across as very personable and didn't really engage with the toddler.Te food was particularly miserable, there was no child options so he had to have the same dry sandwiches as us - he didn't eat much that night (luckily I still had the Air France food in my bag, so they saved the day!). We took the buggy right up to the plane door and it was returned for the transfer- very handy with an over tired toddler and a long way to walk. The planes were also really rattly and noisy, fine for me as I am not a nervous flier but I can imagine it would be pretty unsettling if you were anxious. I would fly with them again if they were cheaper than other options but I wouldn't recommend them.