Having just survived flying to Hawaii and back I thought now would be a good time to share my own advice on this issue! On the ride over we had a fussbudget of an older guy sitting behind us and he was clearly fully irritated at us and the kids. He kept peering over the edge of the seat, muttering comments, making disapproving noises. And honestly, except for Amy’s crying melt down that lasted about 20 minutes before she passed out I personally didn’t think our kids were that bad. Well what a chuckle we got when we boarded the plane home and that same guy was sitting directly in front of us. And you should have seen the look on his face, it really was priceless. I was surprised he didn’t demand to have his seat changed

Traveling on a plane from San Francisco to Hawaii with three small children is, I will admit, a bit stressful! To be honest with you I don’t think there is any way to cram people that tight on a plane and insert restless small children and have the parents have a relaxing and enjoyable flight. Of course TSA regulations and airline stinginess haven’t helped the cause of parents’ of young children either. And that’s the flight itself getting all the bags checked in, navigating the airport…just another part of the adventure.

Preparing for your flight… The carry on luggage.

1. Portable DVD player- You can get them dirt cheap, they take 2 sets of earphones. WELL worth the investment.

2. Food- Bring lots of snacks. We flew United and all they dole out anymore is a measly pack of pretzels. Then they charge you for a lunch box. At least they don’t charge exhorbinant prices (ours were $5) but the choices were horrible. On the flight home I brought lots of snacks AND we stopped at Subway for sandwiches. Yum… much better option. Don’t forget treats that you can pull out when meltdown is occurring, even if you are militant about no treats when your child is craying and screaming his/her head off, irritating the whole plane you’ll be glad you packed that bag of M&M’s. (oh yes do think about mess when packing food, there isn’t a good way to clean up on a plane!)

3. Check the TSA regulations on Carry On items. They have some pretty strict ones about liquids on the planes right now. According to this brochure you are supposed to be able to carry on water, but they made us dump ours. The best option is probably to bring some clean sip cups and just have them filled from the beverage cart. On the flight over the flight attendant was very nice, even rinsed out a milk one with hot water so we could put juice in it. On the flight back… well she SKIPPED our row that’s how much she hated kids. She was awful.

4. Activities- For our older kids I packed a backpack for each with coloring books, crayons, books, etc. They both have Leap Frog Leapsters and those provide quite a bit of entertainment. Keep in mind that everything dropped will be a pain to retrieve in the cramped seating and try to pack things in small bags and pouches to keep them contained. Also consider giving them backpacks with wheels. Amy had one and was able to pull her own backpack through the airport. Kyle (who is older) didn’t have one and it was too heavy for him to carry very far. (oh did my husband love me on that one!)

5. Clothes and Diapers- Bring a change of clothes for yourself and each of your kids. Someone will inevitably spill something on themselves, and probably you too. Couple that with the possibility of peeing the pants or puking, I highly recommend you do it! There is no easy way to change a diaper on an airplane. They don’t have changing tables in the restrooms. Evan is big enough I can change him standing up, but if you have a baby you will probably have to do it in your seat. So be forewarned! A plastic bag to hold a dirty diaper might not be a bad idea, make sure you change baby right before you get on the plane. Also if you can possibly cram it in your bag bring a cloth diaper to wipe up any spills. Those little bar napkins don’t do much when you have a whole can of ginger ale dumped in your lap.

5. If you have a Toddler… God help you. Evan who is 21 months was by FAR my hardest. If you can afford it get them their own seat, bring their car seat, and strap them in it. Our flight was expensive enough that we opted for the “infant in lap” which United lets you do up to age 2. Now for the $700 it saved us I won’t say I wish we’d bought him a seat. For $700 I can put up with 10 hours of having him in my lap. However it wasn’t fun. The video player was the thing that occupied him best. Evan is a big Baby Einstein fan. He won’t wear earphones, but I was able to put them around his neck and turn it up enough he could hear the music with out disturbing those around him too much. We sang a lot of songs, played peek-a-boo. He went to the bathroom with me every half hour so we’d have an excuse to stretch our legs. I did get him to sleep for a small amount of time each way. Of course just when he’d finally be sleeping the beverage cart would come by and make a huge racket. It’s just a hard age to travel with a toddler, especially if they are in your lap. If your toddler has a soother be it a bottle, pacifier, or still breast feeding, and you know you have a long airplane trip coming up. I would strongly suggest keeping the soother until after your trip. I was so tempted to try to break Evan of his soother a few months ago but it was a god send when he started crying. I honestly don’t know how I would have calmed him down without it.

Navigating the airport:
My advice… Bring your stroller! Someone was almost always riding in the stroller and if it was empty I had carry on bags loaded on it. You can check your stroller at the gate and it doesn’t count as an extra piece of luggage. If one of your older ones falls asleep (happened to us) you can put them in it so you don’t have melt down when they wake up on exiting the plane. It is just something you will probably find really useful. (If you have an infant and you haven’t bought a seat for the infant I would probably check the infant seat and just use the stroller.) BUT if you have a toddler unless you are dashing for a plane let them walk the airport. The exercise will do them good and they will be so cooped up on the plane you’ll be glad you let them run out some energy.

A note on Car Seats:
Rental car companies usually charge $10 a day for a car seat. So if you go on a 10 day trip like we did that’s $100 x 3 kids… For $100 you can go to Walmart and BUY a cheap car seat. And it’s not like the rental car companies give you the high end 5 point harness. I had one once I couldn’t even install properly in the car I had to go to Walmart and buy a clip for it. My advice is bring your own carseats. It does count as a piece of luggage (on United each ticketed seat gets 2 pieces.) I’ve seen car seat travel bags in catalogs before. United gave us a big plastic bag to put the carseat in. I brought one of our older, fully trashed ones just in case, not the new Britax! For the older two I took apart 2 seat only booster seats and fit them in a suitcase.

Hopefully you have found some good tips in this article. The travel part isn’t easy but when you get to your destination just think how much fun you will have!

Posted on 01/22/07, 8:54 PM
in: Fun & Family, Parenting Tips

RSS 2.0, Both Responses and pings closed.