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Tips/Tricks for Flying with a Two-Year-Old

written by Parita 1 Comment

Flying with Kaiden up until now has been fairly easy.  I say fairly because of course we’ve had our shares of ups and down.  But this is how it usually went– get on plane, let him crawl around and play with whatever, K passes out in my arms as soon as plane takes off.  See, fairly easy.

So you can imagine how nervous I was flying with him for the first time since he turned two.  Why nervous?  Because after kids turn two, they get their own seat.  And my Kaiden isn’t one to sit for prolonged periods of time.

Thankfully, the flight time from Chicago to Atlanta is only about 1.5 hours.  A good testing ground I suppose.

Given this was my first time flying with a two-year-old, I’m certainly no expert.  But here are a few tricks/tips that worked for me. 

TIP/TRICK  1 – Now that Kaiden understands what we’re saying, I tried my best to hype up our ‘airplane’ trip a few days before we left.  That excitement helped us get through security, to the gate, and on to the plane. 

TIP/TRICK 2 – One word – snacks…and lots of them.  I brought so many snacks, including apples, a PB&J sandwich, cereal, freeze dried fruits and veggies, etc.  He didn’t eat much of it, but I did have peace of mind knowing I was prepared.

TIP/TRICK 3 – Don’t be afraid to ask for and/or accept help.  For example, when we were standing in line to board, the man in front of me asked if I wanted him to carry our stroller on to the jet bridge.  He carried it out for me as well.  I could’ve easily said no and looked like a crazy woman trying to wrangle her toddler, carry two bags and a stroller. No thanks!  Example number two happened when Kaiden wouldn’t sit in his seat.  I quietly asked the kind man sitting next to me to tell K to sit down and put on the seatbelt.  At first, he was like, “You want me to tell him that?”  And I said, “Yes, please.”  He did it and guess what…K sat down and let me put his belt on!  

TIP/TRICK 4 – The things that saved me this time around in terms of toys/activities were the Crayola Color Wonder Markers and Paper.  This kept Kaiden entertained in some form or fashion for longer spurts.  And because these markers only work on the special paper, they didn’t transfer on to the seats, our skin, our clothes, etc. 

I also brought two brand new little trucks and a pack of stickers for K as ‘surprise, be good now!’ treats.  They entertained him for a little bit.  Ha!

TIP/TRICK 5 – Forget about everyone else and do what you have to do.  Flying, in my mind, is grounds for going into survival mode.   Anything and everything goes.

That’s all I have in terms of tips/tricks.  I’m hoping to build my toolkit as we travel more with K.  We have our trip back home to Chicago on Sunday, as well as a trip to Cabo and the Bahamas coming up.  Cross your fingers for us!

I will say that Kaiden did relatively well for most of the flight, excluding the last 20 minutes.  He was pretty much over it at that point and wanted to sit in my lap.  I sang him songs and distracted him as much as I could, but boy, those 20 minutes felt like 2 hours!

Please share your best tips/tricks for travelling with kids!

Written on August 15, 2019 Related:motherhood, Toddler, Travel, Uncategorized

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

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