Travel days with kids, at any age, can be daunting. Flying with babies and toddlers seems to require its own playbook for how much their developmental stage can impact travel.
Before my daughter turned one she had been on something close to 40 flights. To the average person that might sound crazy, but to a military family who has never lived closer than 18 hours driving distance from either of our hometowns/have friends scattered all over the globe…this is our norm. As much as we love it when our people come to visit us, we know that sometimes as a military family we have to be the ones traveling to them. Four kids, and a lot of travel time between us both (sometimes solo, sometimes with our husband), we’ve summed up a few key takeaways that work for our families.
Manage Your Expectations
This is always our biggest piece of advice. Go into the trip knowing what the goal is – to get everyone safely from point A to point B. Would you love it if your kid took their nap at their normal time cuddled up with you mid-flight, OF COURSE! But, it might not happen that way, and that’s ok. Roll with whatever the day throws your way and remember that schedules are great, but when you’re all out of your element flexibility is key.
Give yourself grace and give your kid(s) grace. I promise you’ll look back and laugh about the craziness in the future.
Bring a Stroller
In the middle of a 16-hour travel day, it’s normal to find yourself touched out – and the same could likely be said for your kid(s)! Our solution to this is simple: gate check a stroller. It gives you a break from carrying and them a break from being held. We both found that our jogger style strollers were super maneuverable in airplanes too and the one handed collapse was a must for those solo trips that pop up! Another win is that it provides a space you can pull the shade down, turn on your portable sound machine (we both love this one HERE), and get them a quick nap during a layover.
If you’re anything like us you’ll stress about how you’ll get it broken down at the gate with all of the other things/people you’re juggling in your hands…don’t sweat it too much. People are SO kind and helpful. If no one is offering, don’t hesitate to ask for help (oftentimes people don’t want to bother you if you have it under control but are beyond eager to help if asked).
Pack Extra Clothes (For Everyone)
Our family jokes that if you pack the extra clothes you won’t need them, but if you don’t pack them, you will. It took one time of me having baby spit up on my leggings for an 8-hour travel day to learn my lesson. Since then, we’ve always packed extras for everyone and have used those extras (for everyone) multiple times.
You truly just cannot predict what’s going to happen. Blowouts mid-takeoff. Vomit during a turbulent landing. Just trust us, pack the extras.
Snacks + Food
We’ve both seen a lot of cute ideas on different snack containers you can set up to keep your kids entertained, but at the end of the day, we’ve realized our kids care less about how they’re distributed and just that snacks are available. Pack a few things you know they’ll get excited about (for our family that means fruit snacks) and then more sustaining options you know they’ll need to make it through the day. One of my FAVORITE purchases after having my second were these little food pouch “lids”…they prevent kids from being able to squeeze the pouch and shoot food everywhere, they have to suck the food through the lid to get the goods. I would pay a lot more than I did for these bad boys. I literally use them every single day.
Also, pack a drink cup they’re familiar with if they’re still too young to manage drinking out of a standard water bottle without spilling. Set yourself up for success and save the extra outfits for more unpredictable situations. This one and this one are our faves!
Take Advantage of Layovers
Before having kids, layovers were enemy #1. Now we believe in the beauty of a nice, long layover with plenty of time for everyone to stretch their legs, fill up their bellies in a lounge and get out every last wiggle before the next flight.
Lounge life is truly the best life, and if you’re an active duty family, sign yourself up for the Amex Platinum if for no other reason than to take advantage of lounges in airports. Not to mention the other perks that come with that card, if you have no clue what we’re talking about – check out the post HERE on all things Amex Platinum + perks.
If you’re hoping for some toy/entertainment recommendations we have a few linked HERE. We love the water pen books, volume-controlled headphones with a wire for movies, and books your kid is interested in.
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