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Flying Solo with a Toddler

written by Parita 1 Comment

Before I share more, let me set the context for my personal toddler travel situation. Firstly, Kaiden was almost 18 months the first time we flew solo and almost 22 months the second time around. My BIL dropped us off at the airport the first time, which helped immensely. I took a Lyft on my own the second time. A bit of a different experience, but we survived!

I should also share that a lot of how your experience goes depends on your kid. Kaiden is a pretty good traveler. He doesn’t fuss much while we go through the check-in/security/waiting to board processes. He also sleeps pretty easily on planes. The noises lull him to sleep. Ha!

Ok, with all of that being said, I definitely planned and planned and planned for this most recent trip. We were traveling from Chicago to Philadelphia/New Jersey for a family wedding (a 2 hour flight). In retrospect, I thought waaaaay too much about this, but hey, that’s how I prep myself for anything that seems daunting.

Flying solo with a toddler

I am by no means an expert at traveling with a toddler, but I do have a few tips that could possibly help another parent, so here we go…

  1. Plan out the logistics of your trip well in advance. I thought about everything from how I would get all of our stuff from our apartment to the Lyft to how I would carry everything, including Kaiden, into the airport. You may think I’m crazy, but I also thought about available restaurants in case of a delay. For example, where would I go to get some milk. In my defense, MDW is a fairly small airport!
  2. Choose a family friendly airline (when possible). Personally, I love Southwest because they offer family boarding, and the people are generally nicer and more helpful.
  3. Scale back and bring only what you need with you onto the plane. I brought one backpack/diaper bag, and it was filled with 2 toys, 2 books, diaper/wipes, a few snacks, an extra outfit for K, and my wallet. I find that the more we bring for Kaiden, the more he acts up. Out of sight, out of mind works best for him and us!
  4. Ask for help! I talked to my doorman a few days before our flight and asked if he could come up to help me bring down the suitcase and stroller. I had no shame asking our Lyft driver for extra help. And even though I didn’t need extra help when boarding this time around, I’ve asked strangers in line to help me in the past. No shame in this game!
  5. My final tip is easier said than done, but be confident! You know what you’re doing. It’s scary but not rocket science! And know that there are some scenarios you can’t plan for, so leave those be. Do what you can with what you have! You will eventually reach your destination, so have fun if you can.

I also think the kind of gear you travel with makes it easier (or harder) to navigate the airport. We love this stroller and stroller bag and this car seat and car seat travel bag. These things make everything 100x easier in my opinion. I like that I can carry either item on my back.

So there you have it! Like I said, I’m no expert, but these tips definitely help me prepare for solo travel with K!

No portion of this post is sponsored.  However, affiliate links are included. There is no extra cost to you, but I do receive a small commission on anything you buy through my links.  Thank you for reading and supporting My Inner Shakti!

Written on April 25, 2019 Related:motherhood, Toddler, Travel

Air Travel with an Infant from the Perspective of First Time Parents

written by Parita 6 Comments

From the minute we decided to make the trip to Nashville, I started reading about air travel with an infant.  I wanted to be as prepared and knowledgeable as possible because with babies…you just never know!  First time parents much?

Did my weeks of prepping and planning pay off?  Yes and no.

Let’s me share more…

Traveling with baby

Travel gear

We didn’t travel light, that’s for sure.  If I had to pick a few must haves, I’d say a car seat caddy is a must (both for the airport and your destination), as is a car seat cover (we own this car seat).  We gate checked everything with no issues.

I also took both the diaper bags we own.  One carried my pump and milk while the other was filled with Kaiden’s stuff.

Airline of choice

We decided to fly Southwest for several reasons.  Great cancellation policy.  Get to board after group A.  Free checked bags.  Need I say more?

In fact, we enjoyed our experience so much that I decided to fly with them over the holidays.  Fingers crossed all goes well again!

Regardless of the airline you select, don’t forget to bring your baby’s birth certificate with you.  You’ll need to obtain his/her boarding document.

Getting through security

Both Vishnu and I have TSA precheck, so getting through security was fairly easy.  I carried K with me while Vishnu loaded up all our stuff (bags, car seat, caddy, etc.).

We made sure to let the agent know that one of the bags contained my pump + breast milk.  He advised us to take out the breast milk out of the bag and place it on the belt as a standalone item.  Another agent tested my milk by putting each bottle in a machine of some sort.  It took a bit of time but was relatively simple.

Our seat strategy

On our way to Nashville, Vishnu and I grabbed a middle and aisle seat totally thinking we’d get the row to ourselves.  No one would want to sit next to a couple with a baby, right?  Well, the plane was 100% full, so…WRONG!

On our way back, we took the window and middle seat thinking we wouldn’t have to get up so what did it matter.  Well, Kaiden pooped as we were taking off, so…WRONG!  More on that in a minute…

Honestly, with an infant, your strategy doesn’t really matter.  Most flights are full these days, so the likelihood of getting a row to yourself is close to zero.

How Kaiden fared

Our 4.5 month old infant did much better than anticipated.  In fact, on the flight to Nashville, Kaiden bounced and played a little before passing out.  On the way home, he was a bit more antsy and probably a little overtired.  But we didn’t experience any major crying fits or anything like that.

A lot of people told us to feed him upon take off and landing to help prevent his ears from popping too much.  Great advice.  He drank some milk on the flight over but wanted no part in anything of the sort on the flight back.  So we resorted to giving him his pacifier, which thankfully did the trick.

Other than that, I made sure to have his teething ‘toys’ in one place (big zip lock bag) in case we needed them.  So helpful!

How Par and Vishnu fared

Vishnu and I were definitely ‘those’ first time parents travelling with a baby.  We over packed our suitcases and even our diaper bags.  And both of us were super nervous about Kaiden potentially crying nonstop (so thankful that didn’t happen!).

While we were ‘those’ parents, I think we did ok!  Next time, we’ll probably be a little more judicious with what we pack, and we probably won’t get to the airport so early (we sat the gate for almost 2 hours).  Not too bad for first timers.

Travel stories

Story #1 – The lady who sat next to me on the flight over seemed nice enough.  She engaged with Kaiden and told me all about her teenager kids.  She even went as far as saying she often wished for the days when they were babies.

But then she made a comment that threw us off a bit.  It was 100% harmless, and I probably read into it way too much.  In fact, I know I am because I’m writing about it right now.  Ha!  Anyways, she looked at Kaiden, and in a baby voice said, “Don’t cry now, baby, because then no one on the plane will like you.”  Umm…ok.  Who says that to a baby?!  Someone who’s a mom of three at that!

For the record, not only did Kaiden not cry, but he was an angel.  And what if he did?  HE’S A BABY!

Story #2 – As soon as our flight home took off, Kaiden let our some gas.  Not normally a huge deal.  I handed him over to Vishnu so I could find his toys.  After a few minutes, Vishnu said, “Par, he smells pretty bad.  I think he needs a diaper change.”  My immediate thought?  NOOOOO!  My one hope was that we wouldn’t have to step inside a tiny airplane bathroom with K.

Well, we survived!  I thank my lucky stars I talked to my friend Purvi the Thursday before we left.  She told me all about their first flight experiences, which included a diaper change.  The conversation gave me a boost of confidence (a very small boost!) as I changed this very dirty diaper.

So no true horror stories, but we definitely got a few good laughs in on this trip!

If you have any specific questions about our experience, please leave a comment or email me (myinnershakti@gmail.com).  I’m more than happy to be someone else’s Purvi! 🙂

No portion of this post is sponsored.  However, affiliate links are included. There is no extra cost to you, but I do receive a small commission on anything you buy through my links.  Thank you for reading and supporting My Inner Shakti!

Written on December 6, 2017 Related:Baby, Parenthood, Travel

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