A bribe a day
Anotny Barnett, father of Alice and Arthur, now six and three

Best tip: Don't be a stickler for rules laid down at home, such as bedtime, food and noise. Relax, it's a holiday for the kids as well. Failing that, a bribe always comes in handy. We tend to offer the kids the opportunity of a big pressie at the end of the hols if they behave themselves, although this tactic leads into one of my big mistakes.

Worst mistake: When using bribes don't get too elaborate. One year, I had a point scheme, where good behaviour got one point and bad behaviour had a point taken away. The holy grail was 10 points which meant a super big pressie at the end.

Alas, our daughter Alice quickly worked out the system and realised she could get away with murder, because she could easily make up points later. Also, when trying to rock baby to sleep in buggy before eating dinner al fresco , don't choose a dark alleyway. These tend to be favoured by mad moped drivers whose bright lights and tooting horns not only wake up the nipper but scare the hell out of them and set in train a screaming fit that ruins all chance of a peaceful meal.

Lost-child line
Liz Myers, mother of Aidan and Laura, 10 and seven

Best tip: In a crowded place - beach, airport, sightseeing, shopping - write your mobile phone number on the backs of the children's hands. If you are separated, all they have to do is find a policeman or 'a nice lady with children' and wave their little paw at them. You could be reunited in minutes.

Worst mistake: Not taking a travel cot when touring France. 'The baby can share our bed,' we said in our right- on but naive way, forgetting that French hotel beds are invariably U-shaped. This meant one baby comfortably cocooned in the valley floor and two sleepless parents clinging to the steeply sloping sides.

Don't bottle out
Jeannette Hyde, mother of Hanna, two

Best tip: Take a travel kettle and a plastic bowl when travelling with babies or toddlers. Invaluable for heating or making up bottles of formula, jars of food etc. Unlike the UK, many Spanish and continental hotels do not have tea- or coffee-making facilities in the rooms (which come in handy on the baby front). Without a kettle, there can be a lot of running from your room to the bar to beg for hot water and ask for bottles to be microwaved - not that convenient at 3am.

Worst mistake: There are many. Whatever you do, don't do what we did and forget the pushchair. Two weeks in Sharm El Sheik with an 18-month-old is not fun with nowhere for a tired baby to rest while you eat - elbows, crying baby in all your food. It's a disaster in the evenings, when you would like to walk around the resort, but the little one is too heavy to carry for hours on end.

My husband wasn't too pleased the time he traipsed all the way over to Heathrow (a two-and-a-half-hour jour ney on Tubes and trains) with luggage and a five-week-old in a sling, to discover they wouldn't let him on the flight with the baby because he'd left her passport at home. Apparently, it happens all the time with new babies. Many people don't realise they need their own documentation.

The other biggy came recently. Hanna shouted from the back of the car: 'Feel sick, Mummy', so I reached for the glove compartment and chucked her an airline sick-bag. No noise, no crying. Five minutes later, I hear rustling by my neck as I'm driving on the motorway. It's the sickbag. I assume it's empty. I snatch it, the contents splatter the entire windscreen, the front-seat upholstery and the car floor. The smell is only now receding.

Buy a people-carrier
Catriona Dry, mother of Phoebe, five, and Ed, three

Best tip: We've just bought a people-carrier which, apart from the extra space and being able to keep the kids a bit further apart so they don't irritate each other, means that all the rear seats recline. This means the kids can sleep comfortably and without the inevitable head-lolling that usually involves. Oh, it's got air-conditioning too, which makes life a lot more pleasant for everyone.

Whenever possible, when there's a long drive, we travel in the evening with the kids already bathed and in their jim-jams. Put some soothing music on and they're asleep in no time. If we're really lucky and they're not too excited, when we arrive we just tip them straight into bed, unpack and pour ourselves a glass of wine.

Worst mistake: I can't think of any disastrous journeys, apart from the occasional bout of vomiting which can't be helped, so all of the above obviously worked for us.

A wipe in time...
Kate Kellaway, mother of Leo, 10, twins Bernie and Ossie, five, and Ted, three

Best tip: Travel with wipes - you need a really good supply of wipes, hankies and the like for under-fives who invariably get filthy, snotty or covered in chocolate on the road. I am very good at forgetting these and ending up having to do disgusting things with their sleeves or mine.

It is always good to travel with snacks for children (gobstobbers by another name). If travelling by car, tapes are a godsend, though a selection is essential or you'll feel like driving off the road with the monotony of hearing the same one again and again. I find it difficult to get a decent selection - we have only a couple that the children listen to (old Uncle Mac tapes and All Join In, read by Richard Briers).

Worst mistake: The worst thing is to leave behind anything that is necessary for a child's sleep - comfort blanket, bottle, dummy and the like. That is almost life-threateningly bad. I once forgot my baby's mini-duvet and he had to 'sleep' under an alien, majestically large one that he did not like at all. He didn't suffocate but no one slept a wink.

Peace with a pizza
Martin Love, father of Liberty, seven, Rufus, five, and Vita, nearly one

Best tip: Always eat in Italian restaurants. It's a cliché, but the Italians really do love children and kids can't go wrong with pizza. Walk through the door of any trattoria and you'll find the little ones are taken off your hands, plied with garlic bread or impressed by a wine waiter doing slick tricks with corks.

On one occasion, we visited a restaurant in Venice only to have our six-month-old immediately taken from us by the waitress as if we were simply handing back her child. She disappeared into the kitchen and we did not see the baby again until after we'd finished our dessert. Vita was returned, covered in flour as the chef had apparently been making bread. As the waitress went back into the kitchen, I couldn't help but notice that she too had a pair of floury handprints on her bottom.

Worst mistake: Don't expect young children to enjoy sailing. Being a water lover and, expressly against my wife's advice, I presumed my older children, then three and five, would love nothing better than to join me on a trip on a 23ft yacht. It was calm as we set off and all seemed to be going well. The children looked cute in their lifejackets and were happy hauling on ropes and throwing ice from my gin and tonic overboard.

Then the wind picked up and all hell broke loose. Both started being sick, the three-year-old tried to jump overboard, the five-year-old started screaming as if she was being murdered.

It took us 30 minutes to get back to port. I was accused of child cruelty by my wife and neither she nor the children spoke to me for the rest of the day. Even now, years later, if they misbehave I threaten them with a day at sea.

Toy with a suitcase
Jill Insley, mother of Imogen, five

Best tip: For those aged three-plus, take one of those toy suitcases with wheels and a push-up handle, so they can push their in-flight/train entertainment about with them. They are easier to manage than a heavy rucksack and children like having a case like Mummy and Daddy.

Worst mistake: A toss-up between allowing the air steward on an eight-hour flight to Antigua to give a 15-month-old toddler a choc ice (it stayed down for about five minutes and I had no change of clothes), taking loads of tinned food for my child in the erroneous belief that there wouldn't be any suitable food for her in the Caribbean (and paying £80 excess baggage because it was so heavy) and going on holiday with friends who have quiet, well behaved children (as opposed to my extremely lively, noisy hooligan) - it's a quick way to lose friends no matter how prepared they say they are.

Autostrada of joy
Brian Oliver, dad of Bonita, 8, Victor, 5

Best tip: The highlight of one family trip (dad, mum and 11-month-old Bonnie) to Le Marche, a solid two-day drive, was the autostrada service station near Bologna on the long journey home.

Standing in the queue for a desperately needed espresso while my partner enjoyed a pit stop, I was bouncing Bonnie on my shoulder, cursing the fact that you had to pay for your ticket before you ordered your coffee. In walked a man who looked like Paolo Maldini, carrying thousands of pounds- worth of clothes on a model's body, wearing shades and an earring just so.

And when he saw me, carrying at least 10lb overweight and with a hint of a sick trail where I might have had an earring, he melted. He was genuinely envious. He wanted to hold Bonnie, and nearly burst into tears at the thought of being a dad to such a cuddly bundle.

It made my day - made my summer, in fact. It just wouldn't happen at Watford Gap. Italy is the only place to go. Everything anyone says about Italians loving children is true. Don't go anywhere else.

Worst mistake: Don't take too long getting there. Driving is unavoidable if you've rented a villa - and don't even think about renting somewhere without a pool - but it's worth looking at the French Motorail. No matter how young you are, it can't be pleasant watching 800 miles of motorway go by twice in a fortnight.

Since we've had two children, we've been no further than a couple of hours past Dieppe. There was enough trouble taking one. Stay close to home - nothing wrong with Europe - until they're older. The only people who look like they're telling the truth when they say they had a great time with two or more under-fives are campers. They don't expect luxury and they're used to hard work.

A miserable overnight flight to Brazil some years ago was also a mistake; we should have gone in daytime for our own, and our fellow passengers' benefit. And Bonnie doesn't remember a thing about it - our fault for taking her too young.

Help in a flash

Sarah Ryle, mother of Isabel, 21 months

Best tip: During flights, the real hits are finger-puppet Red Riding Hood characters (expensive at £13 but worth every penny), and a very cheap, small colouring book with basic pictures and flash cards. I hate the idea of flash cards but she loved them. Try to produce a new toy every 20 minutes.

In terms of equipment, a sturdy, lightweight buggy is invaluable, as are pockets full of raisins brought from home, anti-mosquito wipes rather than gel/spray/lotion and spray-on sun cream.

Worst mistake: Leaving behind a portable, flatpack seat which we would have screwed on to restaurant tables while we were away to try to ensure trouble-free eating by our daughter. Without it, there was elbow/food/grabbing carnage at every mealtime when I wasn't chasing Isabel around the restaurant.

Pack a sandwich course
Kim Bunce, mother of BiBi, four, and Dusty, six months

Best tip and worst mistake: Pack sarnies for the children if you're travelling on a charter flight. Don't assume, as I once did, that under-twos will be catered for. My husband and I travelled to Greece with BiBi when she was a year old. Though we were travelling with an upmarket company, we hadn't been told to reserve our seats. We were seated in different aisles. Worse, when the bread rolls came around at meal time, none was offered to our daughter. When I asked if she could have one, the steward told me she hadn't paid for her seat and wasn't entitled to any food! Not a good start to a holiday.

Fuelled for take-off
Nick Mathiason, father of Georgia, four, and twins Miles and Ruben, six months

Best tip: If flying, feed babies at take-off and on landing. This stops the kids from getting and giving you earache. Minimise hand luggage. You might be able to put your belongings in a buggy at the departure gate but on arrival you have to walk to the luggage rack without a trolley or buggy. Kids fall off your arms, while you risk ricking your neck imitating a packhorse.

Worst mistake: Not dropping the family off at the airport set-down zone. As a latecomer to driving, I didn't realise you could do this. The first time we went on a family holiday, I put myself, partner and little girl with all our luggage on the bus from the airport car park to the terminal. Stress.

Formula for success
Matt Tench, dad of Kitty, two, and Anna, five months

Best tip: Take the little cartons of readymade formula milk abroad. A great standby for the trip itself, they can also be useful once you're there. Kitty found that the Spanish milk didn't agree with her - and was quite sick as a result.

Worst mistake: Not assuming the worst. Our EasyJet flight back from Spain was delayed for 10 hours, and we were left in Barcelona airport with one crotchety 15-month-old and not much for her to do. The solution: A few more books and toys in our hand luggage.

Pack some pintas

Phil Hogan, dad of Baxter, Ryan, Jackson and Cameron, now 13, 11, nine and five

Best tip: Fresh milk can be hard - or even impossible - to find in some countries, especially hot ones.Take a couple of pints to see your kids through their first, 'settling-in' day and be prepared to hunt down local stocks of horrible UHT. The same goes for disposable nappies.

Worst mistake: Avoid night flights. Coming back from Tunisia, our boys (then aged four and two) fell asleep just as the plane landed, which meant having to carry them as well as our luggage, buggy, baby paraphernalia and stuffed camel.

Something for a rainy day
Robin McKie, father of Anna, 14, Tom,11, and Olivia, seven

Best tip: Make sure the kids have plenty to do or your journey can easily turn pear-shaped. After several holidays on remote, lovely Scottish islands such as Lewis, Canna and Rhum, I realised that proximity to golden beaches was not enough. Poor Scottish weather (on every occasion) meant our kids had to stay indoors, despite the enticing sands outside. As a result, they got vexed and bored. So always take plenty of games and books if you have the slightest doubts about the weather. Equally, make sure your villa pool is safe (or you will have to lock up your children) or that you have a big garden they can explore.

Worst mistake: Overdoing a child's comfort when travelling by car. On a tour of Ireland one autumn, we allowed our daughter Anna, then an infant, to consume three bottles of milk just to keep her quiet. She promptly regurgitated the lot over the inside of our tiny hire car. The smell was appalling, but no matter how we scrubbed and doused the interior, it lingered like a hideous miasma. We spent the rest of an otherwise agreeable trip with the car's windows completely down, and only wound them up when the Irish November gales and rainstorms got too painful.