On a recent long haul flight from Madrid to Lima in Peru with my wife and 2 children (aged 3 and 15 months), we had the bad luck of having an 11 hour flight with 10 of those 11 hours confined in our airplane chair. There was a little turbulence at the beginning of the flight, and at various intervals during the flight but nothing to write home about - just like going over a bump in your car - and the seat belt light came straight on. And stayed on for almost the whole flight. Now, I've been on long haul flights with my first born before, so I know the drill, and was half-prepared with distraction techniques, and the usual things to calm down small children. However, one of the main techniques I used to employ when all else failed, was to simply walk around the aisles of the aeroplane to distract my little one, and let him be fussed over by other passengers, or look out of the windows, etc. This recent trip presented me with a new problem, as we literally weren't allowed to stand up to use the bathroom, never mind walk around.

One of the first tips I have for you needs to be done at the time of booking your plane tickets. This involves the food. When you book your airline tickets there are a few (or various) options with regards the food you will be given whilst on the plane. Low Salt, Low Carbs, high fibre, etc. I suggest that you choose one of these options - whichever you fancy. This is the same principle as those Gala dinners that you have where everyone has a steak. If you ask for the vegetarian option, you know that your plate will be handled probably along with 2 or 3 others maximum, on a personal basis by the chef, and will therefore be fresher, and tastier. The same applies to the aeroplane. Those with special dietary requirements receive their meals FIRST, so as not to confuse with the rest of the conveyor belt of pasta or chicken for the rest of the passengers. I, for example, on this occasion had chosen the high fibre diet, and was presented with a delicious artichoke salad, a great big hunk of steak with rice and fresh sliced kiwi for desert. I can tell you that all the other passengers around me were wondering a) why I had been given preferential treatment with regards speed of delivery and b) why I had a real tasty looking steak whilst they has a tough piece of chicken on some dry pasta! This also meant that my little boy got his food first as well - a God send, because as soon as the trolleys came out and you could smell the food, he was telling me "very hungry daddy"! Needless to say, full tummies did a lot to calm the kids down, and we were finished well before the rest of the passengers. This is one tip I really suggest you try.

Obviously we had prepared ourselves with story books (they loved to play with the overhead lamps controlled on the seat arm) and crayons, etc. knowing that the in-flight movie may not be to their taste! So my next tip may not necessarily be one that everyone can take advantage of, but hey, it really worked for me. If you have an mp4 player, or an iPod, or in my case a PlayStation Portable, then this is also a great thing to have with you! There is a lot of free software readily available over the internet which can convert videos and other media into psp files iPod files, or even just a plain mpeg. What I personally did (or rather my wife!) was to convert all their favourite Youtube video clips onto the psp, and almost filled up a 4 gig memory card. This worked a dream when it was getting late and they were getting tired. They shared the headphones and watched all their cartoon favourites without noticing the time slip away. I also recommend that you don't lie to the kids about the length of the journey, as they are a lot more intelligent than you may think! We didn't fall into that trap, and had prepared them telling them that it was going to be a long journey but that it would be worth it. It worked right up until the last hour (but by then I was also climbing the walls), so another good tip.

David writes about Apartments for rent in Barcelona. For more information about Barcelona see this Barcelona Guide. http://www.bcn-rentals.com/barcelona-guide