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Published On: Mar 17, 2007 02:40 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Mar 17, 2007 02:40 PM
Traveling with Kids
My daughter is now 6 years old and her first
traveling experience was flying from California to Wisconsin when she was only 3
months old! She has even traveled internationally when we visited Japan last
year. Overtime I have learned from my experiences. Now I won’t say that I
have all of the answers or that every trip is flawless. But I do have a few tips
to share.
My daughter is now 6 years old and her first
traveling experience was flying from California to Wisconsin when she was only 3
months old! She has even traveled internationally when we visited Japan last
year. Overtime I have learned from my experiences. Now I won’t say that I
have all of the answers or that every trip is flawless. But I do have a few tips
to share.
Before I mention my traveling tips for kids I thought that I would compare and contrast two trips. One trip was certifiably hellish and the other went off pretty well (all things considered) due to advanced planning.
Trip from Hell to Japan
Now I won’t say that our entire trip to Japan was hellish. In fact the country was absolutely wonderful and the Japanese love children. However, our plane flight over to Japan was simply one problem after another.
Our trip started in Sacramento, CA. My husband, myself and my 4 1/2 year-old daughter flew a local flight to San Francisco, CA. Once we arrived we were supposed to transfer to our international flight to Japan. The first problem was that we had a major plane delay. After all 300+ people had boarded the plane we found out that there was an electrical problem. None of the electricity was working. They kept all of the people on the plane and wouldn’t let us disembark. Due to the lack of electricity our plane started to get hot and stuffy (even on the cool Bay Area tarmac!). My daughter was going haywire jumping around. My husband tried to walk her up and down the aisles, but she was stir crazy. By the time the flight started (which would be 10 hours long)—I thought that I would bring out my secret weapon--a portable DVD player! I had never used it before and I found out quickly that the battery automatically started to drain when it was hooked up to the DVD player. It was completely drained! My distraction wouldn’t work. What would I do for 10 hours? My daughter was also pretty hungry by then. I had one “Ritz Bits Peanut Butter snack crackers”. It was quickly gone and my daughter was still hungry for more food. Food was served during the flight, but since it was a Japanese airline—my daughter would not eat any of the food that they served. So I had a hungry and haywire 4 year-old for the next 10 hours. She jumped up and down and alternatively poked me with her fingers on a regular basis. I had no sleep—and neither did she. Finally after pleading with her for over 14 hours she finally fell asleep 30 minutes prior to landing. Then I had to wake up my tired, cranky and hungry daughter so that we could go through Japanese customs! After 3 more hours we finally made it to our hotel. I hoped that she would now sleep, but because of the 16 hours time change she ran around our small hotel room like a chicken with her head cut off. She finally went to sleep again the next morning on the train while we went sightseeing around Tokyo. It took her about a week to acclimate and things were hellish for the first few days.
A More Organized Trip to South Carolina
Alright, hopefully after my last disastrous trip I had learned a few lessons. Prior to leaving I had packed my daughter a full lunch along with paper and crayons. I had her DVD player and videos ready to go. And this time I had managed to fully charge the DVD battery and didn't hook up the battery yet. I had learned from my last experience how quickly the DVD battery could drain even when it was not in use.
Our first leg of the flight was from Sacramento, Ca to Atlanta, GA--which left at 7AM. We had woken up at 4AM in order to get to our flight in time! The early flight time worked out well because it had my daughter acting a little more sedate than normal. (Her regular high energy behavior usually requires hours of active playtime.)
My daughter (as usual refused to sleep). However, this time my secret weapon was fully charged and ready to go. Not only did the DVD player work for 3 hours straight while my daughter was mesmerized, I also got a few Zzz's myself. I had also managed to buy a number of DVD's prior to leaving so that every video was new to her. She was completely enraptured. Hey, I hate to have a kid watch videos to keep them well-behaved. On a normal basis this is something I try to avoid, but for an airline flight where your kid can't run around--it's a God send.
After 3 hours of videos my daughter needed other distractions. I then whipped out some sticker and coloring books that I had bought specifically for the trip. She was highly entertained with stickers and drawing for the rest of the first flight.
Then we landed in Atlanta, GA. I thought I was well prepared, but what I had forgotten about was that it was 95 degrees in Georgia that day and even in an air conditioned airport--it was hot. It had been cold and rainy when we left Sacramento--so we both had on long sleeved shirts, long pants and jackets. It was a little worse for me--I was wearing a black sweater with no undershirt. I was stuck in it for the rest of the day. My daughter was upset about having to wear her hot clothes and kept on trying to convince me to allow her to run around an airport with only her panties on. (Mental Note for my next trip: Bring a change of clothes!) The one nice thing about this airport is that they had a small playground inside for the kids to play on. I wisely let Laurana play for 20 minutes while we waited for our last flight.
On our final leg of travel we went on a small plane (puddle-jumper) to Columbia, SC. Just like the plane flight beforehand there was no food being served. I brought out Laurana's pre-prepared lunchbox. You can imagine the hungry looks from my fellow passengers as we ate a nice lunch of peanut butter sandwiches, bananas and apple juice while all they had was bottled water. For the rest of the trip and our return trip back I made sure that I had Laurana's lunchbox packed every day. We had to drive from South Carolina to North Carolina and back again. So having her lunchbox handy and a portable DVD player in the car kept everyone from going wacko as we drove 3-6 hours per day.
List of Things to Do When Traveling with Kids
Pack a portable DVD Player (and don't hook up the battery until you need it!)
Pack a lunchbox
Pack a change of clothes for your child (both hot and cold clothes)
Bring your child's car seat (If you bring a car seat you can pre-board and avoid the hustle and bustle. Also, make sure that your car seat has a back (even if you bring a booster seat). According to FAA regulations all car seats must have a back.)
Bring new videos with you
Bring new coloring books and sticker books
Go on a really early or really late flight (It keeps your kid off-balance enough that they might actually nap while you fly rather than trying to run up and down the aisles for the entire flight.)
Do your best to keep luggage under 50 lbs. (I was charged $25 extra by Delta for having a bag that was 60 lbs.)
Before I mention my traveling tips for kids I thought that I would compare and contrast two trips. One trip was certifiably hellish and the other went off pretty well (all things considered) due to advanced planning.
Trip from Hell to Japan
Now I won’t say that our entire trip to Japan was hellish. In fact the country was absolutely wonderful and the Japanese love children. However, our plane flight over to Japan was simply one problem after another.
Our trip started in Sacramento, CA. My husband, myself and my 4 1/2 year-old daughter flew a local flight to San Francisco, CA. Once we arrived we were supposed to transfer to our international flight to Japan. The first problem was that we had a major plane delay. After all 300+ people had boarded the plane we found out that there was an electrical problem. None of the electricity was working. They kept all of the people on the plane and wouldn’t let us disembark. Due to the lack of electricity our plane started to get hot and stuffy (even on the cool Bay Area tarmac!). My daughter was going haywire jumping around. My husband tried to walk her up and down the aisles, but she was stir crazy. By the time the flight started (which would be 10 hours long)—I thought that I would bring out my secret weapon--a portable DVD player! I had never used it before and I found out quickly that the battery automatically started to drain when it was hooked up to the DVD player. It was completely drained! My distraction wouldn’t work. What would I do for 10 hours? My daughter was also pretty hungry by then. I had one “Ritz Bits Peanut Butter snack crackers”. It was quickly gone and my daughter was still hungry for more food. Food was served during the flight, but since it was a Japanese airline—my daughter would not eat any of the food that they served. So I had a hungry and haywire 4 year-old for the next 10 hours. She jumped up and down and alternatively poked me with her fingers on a regular basis. I had no sleep—and neither did she. Finally after pleading with her for over 14 hours she finally fell asleep 30 minutes prior to landing. Then I had to wake up my tired, cranky and hungry daughter so that we could go through Japanese customs! After 3 more hours we finally made it to our hotel. I hoped that she would now sleep, but because of the 16 hours time change she ran around our small hotel room like a chicken with her head cut off. She finally went to sleep again the next morning on the train while we went sightseeing around Tokyo. It took her about a week to acclimate and things were hellish for the first few days.
A More Organized Trip to South Carolina
Alright, hopefully after my last disastrous trip I had learned a few lessons. Prior to leaving I had packed my daughter a full lunch along with paper and crayons. I had her DVD player and videos ready to go. And this time I had managed to fully charge the DVD battery and didn't hook up the battery yet. I had learned from my last experience how quickly the DVD battery could drain even when it was not in use.
Our first leg of the flight was from Sacramento, Ca to Atlanta, GA--which left at 7AM. We had woken up at 4AM in order to get to our flight in time! The early flight time worked out well because it had my daughter acting a little more sedate than normal. (Her regular high energy behavior usually requires hours of active playtime.)
My daughter (as usual refused to sleep). However, this time my secret weapon was fully charged and ready to go. Not only did the DVD player work for 3 hours straight while my daughter was mesmerized, I also got a few Zzz's myself. I had also managed to buy a number of DVD's prior to leaving so that every video was new to her. She was completely enraptured. Hey, I hate to have a kid watch videos to keep them well-behaved. On a normal basis this is something I try to avoid, but for an airline flight where your kid can't run around--it's a God send.
After 3 hours of videos my daughter needed other distractions. I then whipped out some sticker and coloring books that I had bought specifically for the trip. She was highly entertained with stickers and drawing for the rest of the first flight.
Then we landed in Atlanta, GA. I thought I was well prepared, but what I had forgotten about was that it was 95 degrees in Georgia that day and even in an air conditioned airport--it was hot. It had been cold and rainy when we left Sacramento--so we both had on long sleeved shirts, long pants and jackets. It was a little worse for me--I was wearing a black sweater with no undershirt. I was stuck in it for the rest of the day. My daughter was upset about having to wear her hot clothes and kept on trying to convince me to allow her to run around an airport with only her panties on. (Mental Note for my next trip: Bring a change of clothes!) The one nice thing about this airport is that they had a small playground inside for the kids to play on. I wisely let Laurana play for 20 minutes while we waited for our last flight.
On our final leg of travel we went on a small plane (puddle-jumper) to Columbia, SC. Just like the plane flight beforehand there was no food being served. I brought out Laurana's pre-prepared lunchbox. You can imagine the hungry looks from my fellow passengers as we ate a nice lunch of peanut butter sandwiches, bananas and apple juice while all they had was bottled water. For the rest of the trip and our return trip back I made sure that I had Laurana's lunchbox packed every day. We had to drive from South Carolina to North Carolina and back again. So having her lunchbox handy and a portable DVD player in the car kept everyone from going wacko as we drove 3-6 hours per day.
List of Things to Do When Traveling with Kids
Pack a portable DVD Player (and don't hook up the battery until you need it!)
Pack a lunchbox
Pack a change of clothes for your child (both hot and cold clothes)
Bring your child's car seat (If you bring a car seat you can pre-board and avoid the hustle and bustle. Also, make sure that your car seat has a back (even if you bring a booster seat). According to FAA regulations all car seats must have a back.)
Bring new videos with you
Bring new coloring books and sticker books
Go on a really early or really late flight (It keeps your kid off-balance enough that they might actually nap while you fly rather than trying to run up and down the aisles for the entire flight.)
Do your best to keep luggage under 50 lbs. (I was charged $25 extra by Delta for having a bag that was 60 lbs.)
Posted: Wed - April 19, 2006 at 04:20 PM