Travel (airplane) Advice.

mrsgabus

We have a trip to AZ in 4 weeks. 

The flight itself is 5 hours if we do non stop, we might do a 1 stop flight.

We have two dogs that are coming with us, two suitcases, a stroller.Should I bring the playpen? (will cost 25.00) If not what did you use? Should I book morning or evening?

 Anyone that has recently been on a flight with their toddler,

How long was the flight? how did it go? how did you keep said child from running wild?

Advice? 

cantalopes24

I would call the hotel and see if they have a crib for the room. Everywhere I've stayed has. We like to travel at night so the kids are sleepy on the plane. Every flight I've been on with the kids has been about 2 to 2.5 hours. There's no way they could do 5 hours on a plane. I bought a couple new toys, something to watch a movie on, and snacks they don't normally get and lots of lollipops. I will sometimes stop at a McDonalds or something and give them nuggets and fries. I prefer a kid eating junk food to a screaming kid and a plane of strangers glaring at me.

hunnybunny614

We took DS on vacation when he was 11mo. Lots of books, DH tablet and snacks got us through. We had just over a two hour flight and honestly don't think we could have made it much longer. DS fell asleep during take off, slept 45min and we did our best to keep him busy.

btsrc5

The only flights I have been on with DD have been 2-2.5 hours as well.

I agree with Lopes- Your hotel (are you staying in a hotel??) should have a pnp for you to use.  Take as little as possible.  We often ship a box with diapers, wipes, snacks etc ahead of us so it is one less thing we have to worry about fitting in luggage when we travel. 

We usually fly jetblue, so we have a tv in each seat.  DD doesn't really watch much, but it is a nice quick distraction if needed.

I also recommending packing a pack of some sort with a few favorite toys/books/entertainment items as well as some new stuff to help entertain LO. Make sure you have some favorite snacks as well. 

We have flown both morning and evening and the different time really didn't make a difference for DD.  She hasn't slept on a plane since she was little- too much going on around her to pay attention to. 

I usually take her to the bathroom once and let her walk up and down the aisle when we go, just to let her move around a bit.

Good luck! 

mrsgabus

Packerfan79:

mrsgabus:

We have a trip to AZ in 4 weeks. 

The flight itself is 5 hours if we do non stop, we might do a 1 stop flight.

We have two dogs that are coming with us, two suitcases, a stroller.Should I bring the playpen? (will cost 25.00) If not what did you use? Should I book morning or evening?

 Anyone that has recently been on a flight with their toddler,

How long was the flight? how did it go? how did you keep said child from running wild?

Advice? 

I dont have any advice, but God bless you for making the trip with all you have coming along!  Are your dogs riding on the plane too?

Two of them will be. Would cabin or cargo be best for them?

HappyAardvark

I just lived this yesterday. We are moving but living in an extended stay till Monday, so I had to bring the PNP. I didn't trust that the place would have a crib, and even then, hygiene and safety standards, ya know?

That said, as far as Wes went, it was not fun. I will not sugar coat it. He is easygoing and travels very well in the car, but he is VERY BUSY. Sitting stil was tough. I recommend a window seat and an empty seat next to you, with one person blocking the aisle on the end seat if you are in a 3seat row. He sat on my lap but at times wanted to get down and stand in front of the empty seat and look at his books. I brought several board books, TONS of snacks, all different kinds, and Allison recommended stickers as a diversion, which worked for a few minutes each time I brought them out. He shrieked a few times, but did not have any all out crying fits. He passed out on me for about an hour, and this kid NEVER sleeps on me.

I would recommend an earlier but not crack of dawn flight. Wes is generally in a better mood earlier in the day and the flight coincided with his regular naptime, which is when he fell asleep on me.

Wes also loves looking at iPhone videos of himself so I made sure I had plenty of those queued up in a separate folder in my photo album so I could get to them quickly.

HappyAardvark

And if it were me, I would do nonstop. Just get it over with and not worry about boarding and getting off two planes, lugging the kids and all the stuff, worrying about bags getting lost, etc.

SheLovesMrHip

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mrsgabus

Packerfan79:

mrsgabus:

Packerfan79:

mrsgabus:

We have a trip to AZ in 4 weeks. 

The flight itself is 5 hours if we do non stop, we might do a 1 stop flight.

We have two dogs that are coming with us, two suitcases, a stroller.Should I bring the playpen? (will cost 25.00) If not what did you use? Should I book morning or evening?

 Anyone that has recently been on a flight with their toddler,

How long was the flight? how did it go? how did you keep said child from running wild?

Advice? 

I dont have any advice, but God bless you for making the trip with all you have coming along!  Are your dogs riding on the plane too?

Two of them will be. Would cabin or cargo be best for them?

Where is your flight originating from? What kind of dogs are they?

Most likely Baltimore to Phenix

They are chihuahuas

lissfriedrice

I just flew with Izzy for Christmas. I did a direct flight and the latest they had.  She fell asleep in the Ergo before we boarded and didn't wake up until we were descending.  On the way back we left at about 6pm, which was too early.  She wanted to mess with the lady next to us until we took off.  Then she fell asleep.  I had us at the window both times.  I traveled alone with her and had a lot of people helping grab the stroller at the gate, etc.  She is a really great traveler.  

Good luck!!  

mrsgabus

lissfriedrice:

I just flew with Izzy for Christmas. I did a direct flight and the latest they had.  She fell asleep in the Ergo before we boarded and didn't wake up until we were descending.  On the way back we left at about 6pm, which was too early.  She wanted to mess with the lady next to us until we took off.  Then she fell asleep.  I had us at the window both times.  I traveled alone with her and had a lot of people helping grab the stroller at the gate, etc.  She is a really great traveler.  

Good luck!!  

Thats awesome. It will be DH,DS1,Ds2 and myself so I am sure there will be all hands on deck. I am still scared that all hell will break loose along the way.

It looks like we will be leaving around 5-6pm for both ways. Leave is usually asleep in between 7-8 so I am hoping he will fall asleep on us along the way. 

jwls84

I don't really have much advice since I haven't taken B on a plane since he has 10 weeks, but busted wante to say good luck! And the last hotel I state in had a playpen, it was in good condition and it reduced what we had to pack which was awesome! When we went to the DOminican they had a crib... From the 50's, maybe! It was horrible he didn't sleep in it! I ended up sharing a bed with him. So I would call ahead and reserve a playpen...

mrsgabus

Thank you everyone for all the great advice. It looks like the hotel I'm probably going with has cribs or playpens so I will be sending them an email shortly.

Thinking of travelling with my small dogs has also made me think of leaving them at home and having a neighbor come by daily.

I hate travelling ..
.

cantalopes24

mrsgabus:

Thank you everyone for all the great advice. It looks like the hotel I'm probably going with has cribs or playpens so I will be sending them an email shortly. Thinking of travelling with my small dogs has also made me think of leaving them at home and having a neighbor come by daily. I hate travelling .. .

We always leave our dog with someone. I hate traveling with pets. 

lkm2006

We flew a month ago.  Going and returning, it was 4 different flights and each was only about 1 1/2 hour.  We did morning flights and DS still slept on most of them which really surprised me.

I made sure to have his juice cup, snacks and DH downloaded some games on the Ipad but he isn't really entertained by that.  I did get a mini doodle pad (I forgot what they are called) and he enjoyed doing that.   He really enjoyed looking out the window when we were low enough to still see things, obviously that can't last the whole flight though. 

Good luck!  I would say it was definitely more successful than I expected!