To say I was anxious about taking our 3- and 5-year-old on a plane by myself is an understatement. First, I had never flown by myself anywhere and always had the comfort of another adult helping me navigate airports, transportation, etc. Second, our children hadn’t ever flown before, so preparing for this trip was a little bit like an episode of Doomsday Preppers.
When we decided to book our flight, I had roughly 40 hours until we departed, so I quickly asked Instagram friends for tips. Their advice? Electronics and snacks. I heard them loud and clear. While the big kids were at school, Grace and I scoured the Dollar Spot at Target. Puzzles? Check. Silly putty? Yup. Coloring books and markers? Done. (And much more that I list later.) We then high-tailed it to the back of the toy section where you can find the cheap surprise toys so there’d be an added bonus of fun on the plane.
Once the entertainment portion was taken care of, we stocked up on snacks. Lots and lots of them. I packed enough for our trip there and back. And I had no problem grabbing items we never buy but that I knew they’ll like just for survival purposes.
Pack It Up, Pack It Up, Let Me Begin
Once we got home, I took out their backpacks and started loading. A couple good ideas for their backpacks:
1: I had separate plastic bags for snacks and toys. This made it easy to grab the bag they needed without unloading their whole backpack.
2: Put their bag of snacks and tablet in LAST. Why? When going through security, they will ask you to place your tablet by itself and they may also do the same for your snacks. (Google your airline’s protocols. We were able to keep our snacks packed and take all we had packed.)
3: Put gum, sanitizer, and an extra mask in the front pocket. When it’s time for take-off, you can easily access the gum to help their ears pop.
4: Put their toys in another bag so you can easily pull out what they want to play with and you’re not digging through their snacks to find it.
5: Let them pick something they want to bring. I was excited to surprise them with a couple things, but they also played with toys they picked themselves. They know!
What was in their backpacks:
(Gate) Check, Please.
Thankfully some of my girlfriends had flown with kids before and told me about gate checking. I had never needed this before, so I didn’t know it was a thing. Since we’d be riding in a car, I had two booster seats to bring. Once we’d made it through security I asked the attendant at our gate to gate check our boosters. Basically this means these items would be left in a certain spot before we boarded (this depends on the airline, just ask) and I’d immediately be able to get these items once we landed while avoiding baggage claim. Pretty slick.
*If you’re traveling with a large car seat, I’d suggest checking it. They’re so bulky and between all the restroom and food breaks you’ll be taking, do yourself a favor and get rid of some baggage. Bonus: most airlines (all airlines?) let you check car seats for free!
Homeward Bound
Before heading back to Iowa, I wanted to grab a movie the kids could watch on the iPad on the way home that they’d been begging to see for months. (*You can download this to your device so you’re able to watch it offline. This takes awhile, so do this the day before!) Croods 2 had come out awhile back, so we went to Target and I bought the Blueray + DVD + Digital combo. Once our flight took off, this movie took most of our plane ride. I’m definitely tucking the idea of a never-before-seen movie in my pocket for the next time we travel!
Overall, the suggestions for snacks and technology were right on point. Gate checking our booster seats also saved me time and provided less hassle. I hope this post is helpful if you’re traveling with young ones, and please leave questions below if there’s something else you’re wondering about!
Travel Activities
twss,
Kelsey
