Tips Traveling With – A few weeks ago marked Emma’s inaugural airplane flight when we flew to Florida to visit her little cousin Marley. I was a little worried about the trip because our little girl (now a few months over two) is a mover and shaker. She’s not a big fan of sitting still for long periods of time and is known to be a bit feisty. (I mean, there’s a reason her nickname is Felicia. Really.) I wasn’t as worried about the flights themselves as I was about the layover time at the airports, but the flight time was clearly a concern too. To prepare for our trip, I sent out a blast on my personal Facebook page asking all of my friends who are parents of their children to give me their best tips for traveling with young children. Luckily, they delivered in bulk. We tried a ton of their advice and overall (despite some serious travel delays), we made it through the trip relatively unscathed and feel mostly ready for our next trip whenever that may be. When we knew we were going to have a baby, we adopted a “have a baby, it will travel” policy. Of course, that may be easier said than done, but it’s really important to us that our little sidekick joins us on many adventures, near and far, so now is the perfect time to get us all up to speed, especially since many of her relatives live outside of the state. Here are some of the best tips shared by friends and what worked for us, including links to some of the best travel gear for toddlers ever made! (A great endorsement if there ever was one.)
This part of the equation is what I felt I needed the most help with going on our first flight with our little wild woman. This child of mine has no interest in staying. She is
Tips Traveling With
As a kid, so the thought of her unbuckling her seat belt on the plane and screaming her way past us and through the aisles really freaked me out. I was pretty sure early on that I wanted her in a car seat for both that reason and the fact that in general I really believe it’s the safest way for small children her size to fly. (She’s still rear-facing in our car at over two years old, because I’m definitely one of those super pro car seat safety moms.) On popular recommendation, I bought the Cosco Scenera NEXT convertible car seat for this and future trips. It was under $40 with shipping and is incredibly light, making it much easier to carry and maneuver on the plane than her bulky, much heavier car seat that we use in our vehicle. Having the car seat also allowed us to not have to worry about whether or not the rental car company would have it, and when it outgrew it, we’d send it to her big cousin Marley as she flies back and forth. Also, by popular recommendation, we ordered the Go-Go Babyz Travelmate, a device that allows you to attach the car seat to the base and then roll it through the airport like a roller bag, eliminating the need for a stroller. The thing is genius – check it out in action in my Instagram Stories travelogue! It works incredibly well, it’s super easy and we’ve had so many parents stop us to ask about it at the airport. I can’t recommend it enough and am so grateful to my friends for letting me know about its heavenly existence.
Traveling As A Couple: Essential Tips And Advice
When traveling with a toddler, snacks are essential. We loaded up large Ziploc bags with snack packs. Things that aren’t crazy messy, but are really exciting for them to snack on and keep them happy at the airport and on the plane. Em loves these Hippeas Chickpea Puffs, Justin’s Almond Butter Little Packets, and Pressed by KIND Bars. I also packed carrot sticks, apples and bananas, and she snacked on hummus and pretzels at the airport. You’ll need to get all the snacks out when you go through security, so I suggest stashing them all in gallon-sized bags so you can easily pull them out of your carry-on, rather than having to fumble with a bunch of individual packages.
Since we were already dealing with a toddler and her car seat (and her stuffed best friend, George), we decided to check our primary luggage and tackle just the carry-on essentials. We carried her regular diaper bag, another bag (a messenger style bag) for snacks, toys and entertainment, and then my carry-on. I recently bought this beautiful canvas bag from Kelly Moore Bag and it is amazing as it can carry my computer (15″ MacBook Pro), my camera (Canon 5D Mark IV), extra lens, all relevant chargers, travel documents and my wallet and it made it possible to keep everything organized and still have cards on my expensive gear. I love that it doesn’t look like a gear bag and the strap was super comfortable for hauling all that stuff through the pot. I highly recommend it if you have similar travel needs, especially if you’re also traveling with a child as it allows you to pack a lot of stuff in a really streamlined way that isn’t cumbersome to carry around all day.
A few days before we left, you could find me at my local Target browsing the Dollar Spot for new toys for our trip. I’ve had a few friends recommend bringing a bunch of new treats to keep her entertained and pulling them out one by one. Another friend suggested sticker pads (like these cute ones that are so cheap) so she can stick stickers all over the place and then just peel them all off and throw them away as you get closer to the end of the flight. Both tactics were genius! We also discovered while at a restaurant on our trip that she loves these Wikki Stix, so we saved the ones they gave us and brought them on the flight home. We’ll be sure to take them with us on our next flight or long car trip. We also packed a few small books, some cards and my sheet music from the Dollar Spot as a set of felt money and a regular crayon notebook packed in a little plastic case so she could color.
For the flight itself, we packed about four diapers more than what we thought was the maximum we would go through on the trip and a fresh pack of wipes. We put a handful of diapers in our suitcase and then just bought a small pack of diapers to use while we were in Florida. Don’t forget a few extra items of clothing, even if your child doesn’t usually absorb through clothes, because the last thing you want is to be stuck at the airport with a kid who’s a mess and has no way to clean it up. Nightmare! You’ll also want to make sure you have some sort of changing pad, because airports can be crazy and you never know where you’ll end up having to change diapers so you at least have the peace of mind that they have a clean place to lie down. Which brings me to Wet Ones wipes! Or your germ-fighting wipe of choice. Airports and airplanes are gross, especially right now during flu season, and little ones touch every damn thing, so this will help keep their little fingers clean. You also have to take all the wipes out of the diaper bag to go through security, so I stashed all the diaper wipes and Wet Ones wipes in a large plastic bag so I could just take it out of the bag and put it in the bin to keep things simpler.
Top Tips For Travelling With Kids
Did you know that the TSA’s liquids rule generally does not apply to small children? We traveled with two of these straw cups (which we’ve been using since Em switched from a bottle), each filled to the brim with her usual unsweetened almond milk. This gave her one cup for takeoff and one for landing to help her ears adjust to the pressure, which worked very well for her. Keep in mind that TSA will need to perform additional screening on any milk, water, or breast milk you may carry, so just show up ready for that and you’re good to go. We had very nice people at all the airports who had no problem doing checks for us so we could go on our way.
Even if you’re not too into kids, save yourself the trouble and bring an iPad or similar for movies and games. Ours
