Traveling with Toddlers: Practical Advice for the Flight

Navigating the strict rules of the airport while carrying all of my belongings AND toting cranky or sleeping little ones sends me into a panic attack just thinking about it. However, I have traveled with my two toddlers enough to know that we will make it and the trouble will be worth it. The following are a few of our tried and true methods for dealing with the chaos of the airport and flights.

1. Bring the kid gear.

No matter how cheap the airline is they always allow a car seat and a stroller to be checked FOR FREE. So, if your big-ass double stroller will make your trip more bearable, then bring it. Typically, you can leave it at the departure gate when you get on the flight and either pick it up at the arrival gate or at the baggage claim. Just remember that if it is not checked at the front counter, you have to get that beast through security so empty it out in advance and save your sanity for the flight.

2. DON’T pay extra to book seats together on budget airlines.

I can’t even fathom that a child would ever have to sit alone on a flight. If the airline doesn’t automatically move your child to sit with you, then the passengers will because no one in their right mind that wants to sit next to a kid. It’s also highly unlikely that another passenger wants to sit next to a single parent and a child when the rest of their party is nearby. We took this gamble on a few budget European airlines, never once was it an issue. The airline put all of us together and we saved big bucks by not paying for seat selection. This may not be true, however, if the seats are booked separately. Although I still maintain that any person who has ever encountered a child would make sure that they are united with their parents for a flight.

3. DON’T get stuck holding your wiggly child for the entire flight.

If you have a lap infant on a long-haul flight, ask the check-in counter or flight attendants for seats with a bassinet. They are often located at the front of the rows and a small child can sleep the flight away, freeing you up to do normal things like eat with both hands or go to the bathroom. LIFESAVER! For toddlers and other small children, we bring small blankets to make nests on the floor for them to stretch out on. I suspect that this is frowned upon by most airlines since they are not strapped in but it is one of those risk/benefit situations that each parent must weigh for themselves.

4. Reuse water bottles.

Of course, security does not allow you to bring liquids through, but nothing says that you can’t fill a water bottle up at a drinking fountain afterwards. My family drinks an insane amount of water and the airlines never seem to supply enough to keep everyone hydrated. The real pro tip here is bringing mix-in powders to make other drinks. We bring emergen-C for a quick boost of vitamins, Gatorade powder for electrolytes, Starbucks Via for our caffeine habit, kool-aid, hot chocolate, even dry soups. The powders take very little space in a carry-on, yet make a huge difference. This can also be taken a step further by bringing instant oatmeal or macaroni and cheese cups that only require hot water. The one caveat is that some bottles can erupt under pressure and spew water many feet in the air if they remain closed during take-off. My children have both been blasted by shower-force water to the face and on one rare occasion the passenger sitting directly behind us was the unlucky recipient of our mini-geyser.

5. Let your roller luggage do all the work

You have your luggage, your giant stroller, probably your toddler’s entire bedroom packed up into some kind of bag, maybe a car seat. How do you carry it all? The real answer is, “you probably don’t.” We take multiple trips, we ask strangers for help, and we use the expensive airport carts. However, there are a few gadgets that can provide a limited amount of assistance. Try attaching a bulky car seat to your rolling luggage with a strap, some even allow a child to remain in the seat.  https://www.amazon.com/Traveling-Accessories-suitcase-ultra-portable-solution/dp/B0772VL93G If you McGyver it just right, you might also be able to get a folding umbrella stroller strapped onto your roller as well. Use an extra large, rolling duffle and cram as much as you can fit in it. We’ve transported kid’s bicycles, car seats, small strollers, and the kid’s luggage within a larger duffle and then paid to check only one bag. Bonus points if toddlers can ride on the duffle as you roll it.

Stay tuned for more pro travel tips and practical advice. If you too have any helpful hints, please let us know. We want to hear it!

Budapest or Bust

We jumped into the car, one by one, until all eight of us were seated. It only took 15 minutes. Each of the four kids vied for a place, next to the window, next to their mom, not in the back seat, not in the middle, not in THAT car seat. It was a miracle that it only took 15 minutes. And just when we were ready to leave, one of the adults forgot a phone and had to run back inside for it.

Sara and I are best friends from junior high school and Ben and Nate are also childhood friends. Sara and Nate married, had two children and moved from Oregon to Poland–although not in that order. We decided to visit them in Poland, on a whim and on the verge of our own move abroad. Now there we were, two families who have known each other for years, trapped in one large van as we prepared to drive across four countries from Krakow to Budapest. When we planned this little vacation within a vacation, I had pictured something like National Lampoon’s European Vacation, complete with car breakdowns, kids peeing their pants, freaky hitchhikers and many traffic violations. I had really high hopes of strife and misadventure.

Once fully loaded and buckled, we drove off through the Polish countryside. The kids settled into their seats and read books. They colored for hours, shared their iPads, ate a million snacks, napped, and sang songs. The adults got to have meaningful conversation and even nod off themselves for brief naps. This was definitely not the trip I imagined, nor was it even close to the road trips that I had been on in the past. In my youth, I had totaled a rental car in Maui by backing into a metal mailbox, I had driven on the wrong side of the road intermittently for 10 days in New Zealand, and my tour bus ran over a dog in Bali. I once stopped for gas in Bavaria and was groped by a toothless, homeless man; and I got food poisoning and crapped my pants in a bus in Borneo. I was ready for some shit to hit the fan. (Pun intended.)

This drive to Budapest may have been the most mundane road trip that I had ever been on. It took nearly twice as long as the interwebs said because one kid or another always had to pee. But even that’s not bad. In fact, the entire trip went off without a hitch. I relished the idea that we would have some misfortune to make this vacation more memorable, but in reality, I had researched all of the unknowns. I had planned for all of the contingencies. In the event that I had forgotten something, Sara-my fellow mother and hardcore planner- had it covered. Unlike the travels of my youth, I had the knowledge, credit card fund availability and insurance to solve just about any problem. What had happened to that carefree, wild girl that I used to be? Had that part of me died when I became a mother? That thought was enough to send me into a mild depression.

However, I looked over at our kids just as those disappointing thoughts started to creep in. They stared out of the van window and saw castle ruins on the hilltops and I realized that every single thing here was new to them. I was 15 years old the first time that I left the United States and saw things like grand palaces, double-decker buses, and topless sunbathing. My son turned 3 in London and my daughter had flown across the Atlantic before she could walk. They don’t need a safety-third event to make this trip memorable. I know that they are too young to remember the details but their perceptions of church and religion are being founded in massive cathedrals. They see famous art in person. They learn to ride bikes on cobblestone streets. Their language is accentuated with foreign words and phrases. They get to experience all of it with both of their parents and that is worth any misgivings I have about not having some outrageous adventure.

Back in the van, the kids yelled with excitement as we passed through the Buda tunnel and emerged in the heart of the city, the funicular to the castle on our right and the lions guarding the Chain Bridge straight ahead. I’m not sure if it was their enthusiasm or the anticipation I had for seeing a new city for the first time but the mood in the van reached a feverish pitch. We shouted out all the things we saw as we passed under the bridge: the Parliament Building, the Castle on the hilltop, boats, roundabouts, Liberty Statue. This was moment that would be etched in our collective memories. Having a sketchy drive across Central Europe, exploring the Buda Castle Labyrinth, getting drunk on Palinka at the ruin bars and scuba diving in the thermal springs can wait a few more years, and I’m ok with that.