Tips for Traveling with Kiddos

This month, I found myself traveling quite a bit. The four of us drove back from Washington state early in the month, and I found myself traveling by plane, ALONE, mid-month. With all that extra time on my hands and nobody looking to me for snacks or entertainment or diaper changes, I came up with a list of tips for traveling with kids. Most of these work for car trips or planes, but some are specific to one or the other. I hope you find some useful ones and enjoy some of my travel anecdotes!

• Pack ALL the snacks. Your kids won’t be the only ones looking for a snack before you get to your destination. And you can never be sure when you will be able to stop, or if you’ll have time on your layover, to stock up. Pack a small cooler with drinks for a car ride. If you’re traveling by plane, pack empty cups and fill them up after security. I’ve had some let me take milk and juice through security if I have my kids with me no questions asked, and I’ve had others I’ve had to practically beg not to throw away my breastmilk. Just avoid the hassle if you can.

• Pack layers. Just like you’d pack layers for yourself, pack layers or a small blanket for the kiddos. You never know what the temperature will be like. And, if you don’t need the extra layers, you can use them as a pillow! They also come in handy during car rides in the carseat when they fall asleep and their head is hanging at a bad angle.

• Pack several different activities. I get bored on a plane and in the car, and I’m old enough to just suck it up. Now, imagine a kiddo with less attention span and a need to be on the move! Make sure you have plenty of options to keep them busy. If you will be low on space, plan some games/activities you can play that don’t require anything (I spy, making up stories, planning what you will do at your destination, etc). If you have a tablet, this would be the time to use it. We try not to let the boys use theirs, but we always have it as a backup when we travel.

• Make sure you have a change of clothes…or three! You never know when there will be a blowout or a puke. I’ve had travel days where we don’t need any changes of clothes. And then I’ve had travel days like our drive out to Washington where Nico puked twice before we were half way there (darn mountain roads!). Make sure to have several changes accessible, whether it’s a separate bag in the front of the car or your carry on. And have a plastic bag ready to keep yucky clothes away from the clean ones! I’ve made that mistake before…

• Snag a window seat for your kiddos if possible. It has the dual purpose of giving them something to look at AND you block their exit! My biggest issue with plane travel is my boys want to get up and RUN. If you give them a window seat, it at least makes it harder for them to escape.

• Make sure you know which bathrooms have changing tables. I sat and waited for the bathroom near the cockpit to change my baby one time just to find out there was no changing table. On the way home, I made sure to ask, and it turns out both had changing tables. So you never know. The same goes for bathrooms at restaurants and gas stations. I was so surprised to find that the bathroom in a McDonald’s we stopped at didn’t have one. So I had to change Nico on the floor and hope he’d stay on his little mat that comes with the diaper bag. Turns out the bathroom inside the play area was the only one with the changing station.

• Make friends with the flight attendants. They are the providers of snacks and napkins and you want them on your side! Plus, if you’re like me, I don’t like the idea of leaving my kids with a stranger to go the bathroom. I know they can’t be stolen, but still. Although the flight attendants are strangers, I feel less weird leaving my kiddos with them. (Though I still have never done it…just hold it ‘til we land!)

• Know your kiddos and plan travel times as best you can. I’ve had the best luck with earlier flights, my boys are still sleepy when we get on the plane and haven’t had an entire day of energy building. When we drove to Washington, we left at like 4am, which got us about a third of the way there before the boys woke up and got antsy. What are your kids like? Would morning, afternoon, or evening travel be better for you?

• Plan for everything to take three times as long. This isn’t much of a tip. If you’ve had your kids for more than 5 minutes, you know that everything takes ages. But especially remember that when you are planning how you will spend your 40 minute layover, or how many stops you will have to make and for how long along your drive.

• Don’t stress! I know, easier said than done. Chances are you won’t miss your next flight, if you’re concerned, let someone at the desk know you’re on your way and go get that diaper changed. And anyone with kids will totally understand if your kiddos have a meltdown. There’s nothing you can do about it, and you definitely shouldn’t feel bad! On our way to Washington, we managed to take a wrong turn and not realize it for like 45 minutes. It happens, we made fun of ourselves and started a game of I spy and only arrived a bit after we had hoped.