International travel.

Re: International travel.

• numeria11 member

  October 2013

  Hi!  One of the things we just did with DD for our trip over was do a hop scotch across the country.  We started out in Chicago, flew to Denver spent about 3 days there with family then flew onto San Fran, stayed a day and a 1/2 and then flew onto Sydney.   It worked really well since it allowed us to break up the trip a bit for all of our sakes.  It actually didn't change the cost of the flight at all so if you have any friends or family across the country in major cities you could consider visiting for a day or so it might help.  DD's 3 1/2 and I was terrified but she did amazingly well on all 3 flights. 

  One thing to check into would be with your pedi to see if you are allowed to give him Children's Benedryl to help him sleep on the long flight over.  Again since she's older we were able to do so which at least helped a bit.  Otherwise lots of new (small, lightweight) toys and snacks for him will help.  I had a full on canvas bag full of stuff to keep DD busy on the plane. 

  I'll be flying back with both kids alone come April so I completely understand where you are coming from, DH will be doing the same as yours coming with me on one leg (the way home in our case) but not both.

  

  
  

   

   

   

  

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• numeria11 member

  October 2013

  Oh and if you can afford it (or if your job or your DHs is covering the flight) get him a seat for the long flight.  A lap baby is ok for a shorter US flight (not great but doable in a pinch) but at 9 months old they are already pretty wiggly and having them in their own seat in a car seat will help both of you stay sane.

  

  
  

   

   

   

  

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• AmericanInOz member

  October 2013

  It'll be fine, it only takes a few days to get over jet lag, and even if he's starting to want to walk by then - you can hold his hands and walk up & down the aisle

  Flying with little ones really isn't bad as long as you come prepared with a lot of stuff (and backup stuff!) and know from the start you won't get any sleep and will have to walk up & down a lot with them

  GL!

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• AmericanInOz member

  October 2013

  a fellow expat in  Sydney just did the flight to NJ herself recently! totally doable, just exhausting

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• GalLaura member

  October 2013

  Thanks for all the positive information! I had his 4 month check up yesterday and doc said under 2 is too young for Benadryl. Too bad!!!!
  
  How did your kids do with the time difference? How did you prepare for that?
  
  We are paying, not work so I'm going to have to keep him as a lap baby. It's just so darn expensive to get back to the east coast of the USA. We are thinking of maybe staying a night or two in LA. I would love Hawaii! It's sort of the half way point....and it's Hawaii. Lol.
  
  I can't remember if I asked but what brings you both to Sydney? Are you here permanently?
  
  

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• AmericanInOz member

  October 2013

   Yea no benadryl or anything til they are 2 (the equivalents here are polaramine & phenergen)
  But at that age it's not so bad anyway
  There's nothing you can really do to prep for the jet lag, just be prepared for a few nights of not much sleep
  I just tried to get her back on a schedule asap, with sleep/nap times etc
  and when she woke in the night we'd just have a quick drink or milk or snack then go straight back to bed. Sunlight is the best thing to help to adjust to jet lag
  
  Yea I'd love to do Hawaii as a half way point, we usually just push straight through to MN to get it over with, but we did stop on the way back this time in San Diego - it was nice to break up the flights while seeing some friends
  
  My dh grew up here from elementary age (although his parents are British/South African). They are retired here, and his sister lives here too, so we're here because his dad is a lot older than my parents and therefore my parents can still travel here each year to see us (and we go to MN once a year). We are pretty settled here, bought a house 2 years ago, but I always say nothing is forever - we may end up in the US or somewhere else at some point in the future
  
  
  

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• GalLaura member

  November 2013

  @americaninoz We booked our tickets and I'm so excited !!! Any experience with requesting the bassinet seat? I did request it from Sydney to LA. I need to see if the LA to NYC flight had one. I wasn't sure if it's better to fly in a two seater with my husband or go for the bassinet.
  
  Numeria11 thanks for the advice about stop overs. We are staying in LA one night on each leg of the trip. It isn't much time but breaks up the 24 hour flight.
  
  I'm defintetly going to ask for a pep talk closer to our flight!
  
  

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• AmericanInOz member

  November 2013

  @americaninoz We booked our tickets and I'm so excited !!! Any experience with requesting the bassinet seat? I did request it from Sydney to LA. I need to see if the LA to NYC flight had one. I wasn't sure if it's better to fly in a two seater with my husband or go for the bassinet. Numeria11 thanks for the advice about stop overs. We are staying in LA one night on each leg of the trip. It isn't much time but breaks up the 24 hour flight. I'm defintetly going to ask for a pep talk closer to our flight!

   

  Sorry - I only just saw this! My advice:

  Check in EARLY. Most US carriers will take a 'request' for a bassinet, but won't confirm it til checkin (cause they try to sell as many of the bulkhead seats as they can ahead of time for a premium). Actually this is the case with VA too. When we wanted to get a bassinet we were in line waiting for checkin to open at LEAST 4 hours before the flight.

  There usually aren't any bassinets on domestic flights. You could bring your carseat, and gate check it if you get a spare seat (instead of a bassinet). I do agree that they are quite small. My dd was 50th percentile and it was VERY tight fit for her at 3 months (on Delta). She hated it and cried every time I put her in there, so I ended up holding her on my lap the whole time (I brought a pillow from home, which worked really well for a 'bed' like thing on my lap. If you get moved up to the bassinet seats, and your dh is with you, they will bump him up too. So you wont' have to choose, unless they don't have bulkhead seats available the you're stuck with just 2 seats. IF that's the case - make sure you get an aisle - miserable to have to climb over people to get out to walk with/change the baby etc. I always print out the layout of the plane from seatguru.com before I fly, so at checkin I can say the exact seats I'd prefer (or check if they don't have those to see if what they offer is acceptable to me:)

  The other thing is many domestic planes don't have change tables in their restrooms. Pick up the disposable change mats at the grocery store - I'd use them a couple of times, then just throw them away, so much better for travel.

   

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