Getting Ready For Spring Break Travel
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For Spring Break this year the kids and I are flying to visit my sister and her family in North Carolina.
At least once a day for the last few weeks Anna looks at me and asks "Gabrielle?" (her cousin). When I say "not today" she says, "Mommy's lap?" And then I say, "No, you'll sit in your own seat on the plane."
Since I'll be flying solo with the kids (the legislature is in session so Chris will be working) I'm definitely planning ahead to make the experience as mellow and pain-free as possible.
This past weekend I started making a list of things I want to make sure we take along on this adventure:
1. Go-Go Babyz Kidz Travelmate
2. A backpack for each kid to carry a few special things. Simon will use his school backpack and I found this toddler backpack for Anna. She's already been wearing it around the house pretending she's going to school.
3. LunchBots Duo Stainless Steel Lunch Box/Food Container. I found these at the grocery store yesterday and will be using them to store snacks in each backpack. I'm thinking something like goldfish, dried fruit and gummies. I'll take water bottles for each that can be filled up once we get through security.
4. A new pack of washable crayons, a coloring book, and a blank book for Anna. A new dot to dot for Simon: The Greatest Dot-to-Dot Book in the World, Book 1
5. A new book or two for each of them and a favorite or two.
6. A new small toy. I'm thinking something like the Playmobil Dad With Stroller
7. Empty ziplock bags. So great for corralling those small toys, snacks, etc.
8. I want to remember to download a couple movies onto my computer before we leave. I'm also wanting to find out if there's a way to connect two sets of headphones to my computer so both kids can listen to the movie.
9. Cameras. Maybe a couple disposables or the Instax. I'd love to invite them to take their own photos along the way.
Any favorite travel tips - especially for traveling with a toddler?
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I don't have any tips since we've never flown. We have traveled for two days in the car though and I thought ahead like you are. It sounds like you have great ideas already, I always bring some old favorites and then add a few new surprises in their bags. How sweet that Anna is looking forward to going already. Thanks for sharing your ideas.
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I work customer service for an airline.
Make sure your seats are together BEFORE you leave for your flights.
Also, NO playdough for the kids on the plane--what A MESS... and yes it happens all the time....
Weigh your bags before you travel.
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I wasn't sitting with my 2 year old daughter when I flew with Delta from Atlanta to Boston UNTIL I mentioned to the people who wouldn't switch seats: ummm....she is potty training...you'll have to take her to the bathroom, or...? Well...that worked like a charm. Just in case you need to use that one.
wow...how insensitive can people be!
We have been assigned separate seats many times (we are a family of four) and often the airlines refuse to change seat assignments until you get to the airport (we fly American or Delta from NYC to Nashville quite a bit) no matter how many times you call customer service. I much prefer to handle these things ahead of time, but often airline personnel passes the buck to the gate agent who is then forced to strongarm other passengers in person to get them to switch seats.
Believe it or not - I had this happen to me - my son was put in a row ahead of me -- and the people were a little rigid and wouldn't switch seats (b/c it would mean that they...the grown ups...would be separated) He was 4 at the time and handled it like a champ.
Good comments. Of course everyone tries to get seats with their traveling companions. But it's not always possible. And some people truly are rigid. We book the aisles and windows, knowing we'd offer one to the person stuck in the middle seat. Once we had someone choose to seat between two kids instead of moving to the window or aisle seat.
I had a problem flying on a long flight. On short one, I can handle twisting when the seat back in front of me slams back. On a seven hour flight, I can't tolerate the pain.
An old man with his adult son were in front of me. The old man reclined his seat while at the jetway; I asked him nicely to put it back up. The son ranted that his father had the right to recline his seat. When he saw that my legs simply did not fit with the seat back, he told me to sit sideways.
Eventually a flight attendant had someone switch seats with me since the two men were adamant that their ticket meant they could put the seat back. @@ sigh.
Wait, because you have a kid, the other passengers should separate from their companions? They requested seats together and got them. It's not very nice of you to expect them to change their seats to accommodate you. Potty training or not. I like kids a lot but I would not volunteer to sit in a middle seat with strangers instead of next to my own family.
oh dear....there is always someone getting offended. The point was...we all book ourselves to sit with family, but often the airlines take it upon themselves to overbook or separate families...then they leave it up to the passengers to sort it out. Everyone then just has to make the best of it some way or another.
I would guess there isn't anyone out there who has never been inconvenienced when travelling by air.
I don't think anyone would like or deserves to be separated from their families. But let's be realistic, can a 2 year old Really travel alone???
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You can get a splitter for headphones at Best Buy or Radio Shack-then everyone can listen to the movie.
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I think you can get up to 6 way splitters even. In Aust, we have a shop called Smiggle, and I got a cute pink heart shaped one! They should be available at pretty much any electronics place though
Might be called a 'y-plug'. That's what we've always called them in Australia. They should be pretty easy to find. Best Buy/target/Circut City? Have fun and travel safe!
Yep, the ones that split 2 ways are called Y adapters if you're looking for them on google - they work great! :)
yep, we did that for our DVD player on a road trip earlier this year. I think we bought it at Target or Best Buy.
Kohls has the six way splitter. Looks like a wheel hub of sorts. Totally worth it. You will have an awesome trip and hats off to you for great planning ahead!
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My sister travels with my niece a lot and uses that same carseat wheeler thing. Last plane they were on was old (it still had ash trays in the armrests!) so the center aisle was narrower. She CARRIED the carseat with my niece in it above her head to make it to their seats. Strong woman! (My niece is 15 months old!)
She also brings a combination of old+new for familiarity and interest. Also something to suck on (sippy cup of water for now, will move up to lollipops, etc.) for take-off and landing ear-popping. And of course antibacterial wipes for the tray, armrests, etc. Airplanes are dirty!
Have fun!
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What a fantastic post! I wish you were my mum when I was growing up :)
My little one is only 7 months, but I am so very much looking forward to travelling with him when he gets older and I can pack him little goody bags like you've suggested above Ali.
Hope you and the family have a wonderful trip!
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In Germany the headphone things are called Y-Splitter. You can then put both earplugs in one and plug that into your pc.
You should get that any place you can buy electronics...
Have a great trip.
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My son loves to hear audiobooks of his favourite storys. So you can let one kid hear something on your ipod and the other can watch a movie on your computer, very welcome quiet time.
When i'm travelling with my son i'm sure to bring a book about the travel medium, for example train or airplane oder ship. especially for anna is this surely interesting.
Also a great thing we always do when we traveling apart from my husband: writing postcards from underway back home to daddy. My son always enjoys that and looks forward if daddy gets the card.This will be a nice add-on in a scrapbook of this week.
Enjoy your trip!
Greetings from germany
Marit
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No flying tips here, but as a proud North Carolinian let me say WELCOME (in advance) to our state! I hope you have a great visit with your family! You should probably check the extended forecast as its been very up and down lately - 70s one day, 50s the next.
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It's great to look forward to a vacation. We recently had a hit with those felt boards that comes with felt people and clothes etc. They're usually in a theme, like pirates etc. Kept my boys busy for quite a while. Wishing you traveling mercies!
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we love belkin.
http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F8V234-WHT-Speaker-Headphone-Splitter/dp/B00009WQSR
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Oh totally love the idea of you letting them explore their world with their own cameras..How exciting!!!
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maskign tape. they can stick it ALL over their seats, etc and it comes right off. any time of sticker, special tape, etc. it kept my daughter entertains for hours! as for the snacks, I would get them snacks that you don't normally "let" them have, special cookies etc
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Stickers, stickers and more stickers!!! They entertain my 2 and 6 year olds forever!!! I'm sure you have a bunch of scrapbook stickers laying around that you'll never use, or hit Target!
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Good one! Sticker books were GREAT when I traveled with my 2 kids alone. Definitely make sure you have seats together. Also, I found those paint books (like coloring books) with the colored dots on the page so when you took a wet paint brush to them the colors smeared to make a water color picture. I used a tiny bit of water from a water bottle (so if it spilled it didn't matter) and asked the stewardess for an empty cup. I never had a problem and my kids loved it. Have a great time! You seem super organized and patient and that's all you need for a successful trip with 2 kids. When I did it alone I had a 4yo and a 1yo...and from what I remember it went very smoothly!
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I travel from Ireland to Bend Oregon every second year to visit my parents and have been travelling with my two kids since babyhood... your list is pretty complete, but for my girls I definitely bring a plastic folder with a good amount of plain paper and depending on their ages, crayons, markers, etc...that keeps them occupied for ages!
I also buy a little surprise that they don't see at the start of the trip (little game or coloring book, etc...) that I can pull out when they might be needing something new to keep them occupied...
Have fun on your trip!
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i love seeing this. it made me think back when i was little. i loved getting to go on a trip. then it meant packing up the old car with everything to get to wherever we were going. one year mom and dad gave each one of us kids a beer case, you know the old heavy corrogated cardboard boxes with flap lid. we painted them, decorated them and you saw the thee kids in single file walking up the hotel steps carrying our beer boxes. ilove memory.
have a great trip. wave as you fly over middle earth.
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Radio Shack will sell you a splitter. Having international travelled with kids on my own since youngest was 6 weeks old I've become quite a pro! You look well prepared. One thing I used to bring along with me when they were little were pipe cleaners in lots of colors. You can make lots of things with these and then do imaginative play. Then take them apart and start again. They also don't take up that much room. In England when I was growing we used to have these little books which were called "I-spy" books - they were lists of things you had to see and mark as you say them. They would be easy to make. So you could collect some pictures off google and print several on a small piece of card and get the kids to mark them off when they see things as you travel. Sort of like a bingo game. Maybe a prize when they complete it?
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I was going to mention iSpy books too. Memories from my child-hood but I have not seen them for years (my twins are nearly 2 so a little young at the moment for them). I agree, would be easy to make though.
Other thoughts... dettol wipes, hand wipes, pens (you could draw finger puppets on your fingers), stickers. Not sure if you have trunki cases/products in the States. They are a huge hit in the UK.
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Have a wonderful trip!
I can't add much of anything since my days of traveling alone with three were years! ago, in almost a different world and time when airplanes were not crowded, and my crew could sleep on the floor of the plane or on two or three seats. It was a godsend for trips back to the US from SE Asia or the Middle East.
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I used to wrap the little toys or books for my twins when we travelled... Now, they watch DVDs on a portable DVD player that we bring. We've only gone on short distance trips (Hong Kong) so it has been okay.
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We travel a lot. I go back and forth with my little ones from the UK to New Jersey a few times a year, but must admit that I haven't done it alone since the ratio became 1:4! You sound well prepared, should be a great trip. With my girls (they are 2) it's always vital to have a soother of some sort (at the moment they are into their stuffed bunnies) and that always keeps them happy when they are tired or out of sorts, a sort of reminder from home. Also, toddler cutlery. We travel with a small plastic fork and spoon for the plane, as the ones the adult ones are always too cumbersome. (I actually have a travel set in a little holder that I bring with me to restaurants, too). ;)
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I take one or two cans of play-doh on our flights with our 3 small children (along with lots of the things you have mentioned) and it is always a huge hit! We usually end up sharing it with kids sitting close by too! I also take several gallon size ziploc bags. My oldest usually gets motion sickness and it is much easier for children to use the ziploc bag than the little bags the airline provides. They also work great to put clothes in case of an accident. Have a safe and wonderful trip!
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We travel a lot with our kids. My son is 7 and has ADHD and Aspergers. He loves the "I spy" search and find bags (etsy.com) and empty pads for x & o, hangman etc. My daughter is 4 and loves coloring, scavenger hunt games that I make ahead of time for when we are on the plane or in the terminal waiting (exit signs, baby, bathroom signs, Airplane...) also we often take a metal tray (small cookie sheet) and magnets. Sometimes letters and numbers, sometimes a farm scene, or people and clothing. That has been a real hit! Good luck!
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Love the cookie sheet and magnet idea!
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