10 tips / travelling with tots

Welcome to The 10 tips Series – where Tina Gray {dot} Me readers and myself will share with you what we know. Scroll right to the bottom to find out how you can submit your own 10 tips.

In this post, Toushka shares 10 tips about travelling with tots…

Whether it is for a fun holiday or relocation, the travelling part of the journey can be a total bitch when kids are involved. Have you seen those single travellers on flights, reclined with their magazine, sipping wine and relaxing? I hate them. I want to be them. But I have kids and they won’t let me check them in with the rest of my baggage, so I must dip into my pool of happy mummy calm and get through the flight.

Here are my tips for a smooth journey with babies and pre-schoolers.

1-      Disposable nappies. Even if you love modern cloth and are a staunch believer in dry-pailing, you will want disposables on anything longer than a one hour flight. My tip for packing the nappy bag is to pack a nappy and a zip-lock snack bag containing 2 wipes, into a nappy sack or disposal bag. Pack as many of these single serve nappy packs as you think you will need for the flight and then pack three extra. Keep these all in the bag you will keep under the seat in front of you. When you need to change bubs, you can grab a single serve pack to take into the teeny tiny bathroom instead of taking the whole giant nappy bag.

2-      Dummy or nipple. On take-off and landing, the best way to calm baby is to get it to suck. When the captain makes the “starting our descent” announcement, get that boob or bottle or pacifier ready.  Older kids can suck on a lollipop to stop that ear popping pain. Pack an extra dummy or two because a dummy spat onto the floor of an aeroplane can be hard to find without pulling a muscle you didn’t know you had.

3-      Flight Times. If you have a choice of flight times, go for one that is timed for baby’s nap time. Sleeping babies make great travelling companions and keeping as close to their normal routine as possible will cause less overtired tantrums and other headaches.  Check your flying times and stopovers and plan accordingly.

4-      Presents. Flying is boring. Even more so for young travellers. Pack new toys and gifts in your carry on. Wrap them up like presents. Make it fun.

5-      Snacks. Pack lots of healthy snacks in zip lock bags. Fruit, cheese, crackers. Kids will get hungry when the snack trolley is not around. Guaranteed. Don’t forget to throw away the snacks before you go through customs. Customs officers don’t like zip-lock bags full of strawberries.

6-      Their own carry-on luggage. Pack a bag that is just theirs. Make sure they can carry it or that it’s not too much of a burden if you need to carry it when they crack the shits. Pack it full of things to do, books, games without little pieces, little cars, pens, notebooks, colouring books, stickers and other things that amuse small children.

7-      Board early. Most, if not all airlines board passengers with children first. This gives you time to settle the kids and stow bags without worrying about all the other passengers getting in your way. It also delays the “are we there yet?” nagging until the actual flight and not the air bridge.

8-      Children’s meals. Order the meals in advance. If you are travelling on a flight that includes meals, the kids may not appreciate the chicken breast stuffed with pesto lying on a bed of baby peas mashed with mint and garlic and would prefer nuggets and chips. Check out the airline website to see what children’s meals are on offer. Ease your guilt about the on-board fast food by offering the fruit bag from tip #5 again.

9-      Pack a change of clothes. For both you and the kids. If you don’t, you can be sure that the kids will spill something or throw up on you and them early on and you will have to travel smelling like vomit for the remainder of your flight.

10-   Seating arrangements: Chose wisely. If you chose that bunch of seats at the front of a section on a Boeing 777, it will be nice and close to the toilets and you will have heaps of floor space for kids to play on, but you will have to stow all luggage in the overhead lockers. I prefer to have things close to hand under the seat in front of me. I suggest the seats directly behind those first seats. Or business class.

11-   Expect the unexpected. (Like an eleventh tip on a ten tips list). You can’t control everything so you have to let some things slide and keep calm. Plan ahead but expect that not everything will go to plan. Some things will go better than planned and some will blow up in your face. It’s all part of the fun. Don’t forget that the flight is just a way to get to your destination. Tips on surviving the holiday are a whole other post.

 

Toushka Lee is a blogger and a mother of two small children.

A Kiwi that moved to Melbourne and is now living in India, she tries to manage the parenting thing while jetlagged.

Instead of getting some well needed sleep, she blogs at toushkalee.com

 

::

If you are interested in submitting a post for The 10 Tips series, please get in touch – tinagray.me@gmail.com

 

Tagged as: 10 tips, flying, flying with children, kids, travelling, travelling with children, travelling with kids, travelling with tots