Noel Radford moans it’s ‘really stressful & hard work’ travelling with 22 kids & says small families take it for granted
PARENTS-OF-22 Sue and Noel Radford have opened up on what it’s really like to have a bumper brood.
So if you think it’s challenging to get just one child ready and out of the house on time, you’ll need to listen up.
In Sue and Noel Radford’s book, The Radfords: Making Life Count, which is a number one best-seller on Amazon, the couple discussed how having a large family causes difficulties when travelling.
The book, which has also taken the second spot on the Sunday Times bestseller list, saw the parents discuss how ‘tedious’ going out as a big family can be.
Noel explained: “They say you can get used to anything in life – but I’m not sure ‘anything’ includes getting from A to B with an army of kids in tow!
“To some extent, we have learned to roll with it, but that doesn’t mean it has got any easier over the years.
“After so many testing experiences, we just know what to expect now – and are ready to grit our teeth and brace ourselves in a bid to get through the pain and hassle.
“I think being at airports and travelling on trains are our least favourite experiences when we have lots of the kids with us. Airports are bad purely because of when you queue up to hand in your passports and to check-in – it’s really stressful and hard work.
“Once that’s done, we’re fine – probably like a lot of people. But the stress of this part of going away is probably multiplied for us, because of the numbers of people involved.
“There is far more admin, basically – and no one likes admin! But seriously, it can be horrendous.”
Sue then opened up about the family’s previous issues at check-in desks, as she chimed in: “They do sometimes look at you like they’re thinking, ‘What on earth is going on here?’”
Not only this, but Noel explained that airport staff are often not too thrilled when the bumper brood arrive, as he claimed: “It’s just us arriving as one big group that they don’t seem to like. But splitting us up just creates other problems, not least for the check-in staff.
“There may have been a lot of us but what seemed to have been forgotten on that occasion was that we were all on one booking. The guy behind the desk who asked us to split up into two queues was logging in on his computer trying to check half of us in, and the woman at the other desk was doing the same for the other half.
“But it took about an hour to sort this out, simply because a family under one booking was being dealt with by two different people.”
Noel also admitted that he often feels ‘embarrassed’ when the family are queuing in public, as he shared: “We do tend to feel embarrassed when we’re all queuing up for something as we’re conscious the people behind us are going to have to wait longer than they might normally have to.
“But then we try to tell ourselves, ‘Well, if we were three different families in front of them, they would still have to wait the same amount of time.’ It does bother you, but then we think, ‘This is how it is. We’re a big family – we can’t help it’.”
The children are pretty good, I think, in these stressful travelling situations. It can be tedious for everyone.
Noel Radford
But Sue explained that this has been happening for years, and as a result, she’s developed a ‘thick skin’.
She explained: “It’s obviously been like this for a number of years now, but you’re still really conscious of other people in situations like this.
“But because of the number of times this has happened, you do develop a thick skin.
“You just have to get on with it, and hope you’re not creating too much of a problem for anybody else.”
Who's who in the Radford family?
SUE and Noel have 22 children . . .
- Chris – May 7, 1989
- Sophie Rose – December 13, 1993
- Chloe Anne – July 31, 1995
- Jack Richard – April 9, 1997
- Daniel Leon – March 3, 1999
- Luke James – October 1, 2000
- Millie Jo – August 29, 2001
- Katie Louise – November 14, 2002
- James Edward – October 17, 2003
- Ellie May – May 6, 2005
- Aimee Elizabeth – April 21, 2006
- Josh Benjamin – July 3, 2007
- Max Joseph – December 11, 2008
- Tillie May – May 2, 2010
- Oscar Will – October 22, 2011
- Casper Theo – October 3, 2012
- Alfie Thomas – July 6, 2014
- Hallie Alphia Beau – June 3, 2015
- Phoebe Willow – July 24, 2016
- Archie Rowan – September 18, 2017
- Bonnie Ray – November 6, 2018
- Heidie Rose – April 3, 2020
Despite the challenges, Noel praised his children for dealing with ‘tedious’ situations, as he wrote: “The children are pretty good, I think, in these stressful travelling situations.
“It can be tedious for everyone. I’d say it’s worse for them on busy trains than when they’re on a plane, to be honest. On a train, there’s no entertainment – there’s no TV or anything for them.
“On a plane, when they’re sitting down and they have entertainment in front of them they’re just fine. It’s the waiting around and having nothing to do when they can get bored – like when they have to be at an airport two or three hours before a flight.”
Noel also revealed what he thinks smaller families ‘take for granted’, as he claimed: “What smaller families probably take for granted is just being able to turn up somewhere and get a table without any problems at all. They’ll probably never be thinking, ‘Why wouldn’t there be a table for three or four?’”
To this, Sue chimed in: “Whereas we will often have to go in and check to see if there’s even a possibility of being able to eat somewhere that afternoon, evening or whatever.
“The other thing that can be a problem for us is holidays – because we can’t always book hotels in the same way other families can.
“Hotels abroad will usually only cater for family rooms with two adults and a maximum of three children. That’s why we tend to book villas, because hotels just wouldn’t be suitable for our needs.”
Noel also explained that staying in hotels is ‘hard work’ for their large family, as he continued: “We have stayed in hotels in the past, but it was hard work. The room situation is just so difficult.
“You might book five rooms, but only use three – because more of the children will end up wanting to be together. It just doesn’t really work.”
What smaller families probably take for granted is just being able to turn up somewhere and get a table without any problems at all.
Noel Radford
Despite this, Sue and Noel wouldn’t want their family any other way, as Sue penned: “We’ve spoken a lot here about what happens when we’re out and about with so many kids, and there can be a lot of problems and hassles – but we’ve never said, ‘Oh, we wish our family was smaller’ because, for us, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.
“There might be a few things that are difficult for us because of the size of the family, but on the other side of the coin there are so many more occasions when we are just so grateful that we have such a big family because we think it just makes our lives so special.
“Christmas and birthdays are great examples of that – and going on holidays together, despite the problems there can be at airports.”
In response, Noel concluded: “And the problems and hassles will never stop us going out and about as a family. So, watch out – the Radfords are coming!”
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