There’s nothing more exciting than the rush you get when approaching the airport security with two small children.
You’re about to enter the oversized metal detector. You rush to empty out the stroller, pile ALL your stuff on the conveyor belt (cause traveling with kids requires 3x the amount of stuff). Removing your shoes, pulling out your camera, lap top, phone, removing coats and sweaters. Throwing out all your liquids including the new victoria secret lotion you just purchased. You attempt to remove your child’s shoes only to find out he’s extremely against the whole idea. You can FEEL everyone’s angry impatient eyes on you. The security guard’s yelling at you to fold up the stroller. You’re sweating like a pig, rushing through the detector. Another guard pulls you aside as he completely violates every rule of personal space. Your two year old runs off, shoeless and sockless on the germ infested floor.
Finally you get everything back together, retrieve your runaway child, and you’re ready to find your gate and board the plane.
You have a moment to catch your breath.
*phew* you did it!
And it’s only the beginning.
Traveling with kids can be extremely stressful, but also very much worth all the effort if requires. This last trip was so much fun, but also very exhausting.
In the end I was grateful to have them with us despite all the craziness. We made it work and we made memories.
I wanted to share a couple tricks that helped us get through this last trip.
Tip #1: INVEST IN A GOOD STROLLER
There’s nothing worse than NOT having a stroller on a trip. We did it once (by accident of course). I thought, well Lily’s walking now, so lets just make things easier and leave the stroller behind.
What the heck was I thinking!!!!
Then the next time I thought, okay, we will definitely bring a stroller.
So I brought an umbrella stroller. I thought that would be a good idea because it’s small.
Nope!
Now after learning the hard way, I found the perfect travel stroller.
Peg-Perego 2010 Pliko P3 Stroller, Kiwi
This stroller is PERFECT! It’s light weight, easy to fold up, has lots of storage, and a built-in rear foot-board provides safe ride for second passenger.
It also reclines which is a must. Oliver was able to take nice naps while we were out and about. It was really nice.
Tip #2: MAKING BEDTIME WORK FOR EVERYONE
Sean has rigged up some pretty incredible things in our hotel rooms in order to get Oliver to sleep. Like most babies, Oliver has a hard time falling asleep if he can see and hear what everyones doing. He doesn’t want to miss a thing.
So first of all we ALWAYS make sure we bring a sound machine. The white noise soothes him and helps him fall asleep and stay asleep.
HoMedics SS-2000 Sound Spa Relaxation Sound Machine with 6 Nature Sounds, Silver
Okay, you’re gonna love this!
This is Sean’s creation.
This really helps Oliver sleep better. If he can’t see us then he sleeps. If he sees us, he just cries and cries until someone gets him out.
What are some of your tricks? I’d love to hear some things you do to make traveling with kids easier.
I was just thinking about this last night! Jon and I are traveling to New Zealand this fall and Sydney will be 9 months. I was wondering if I should take my carseat/travel system stroller. It's so big and bulky, but I know I'll need the carseat once I'm there. But I was thinking specifically how I would get it through security!?! And then what in the world do I pack in the diaper bag? It's a 14 hour flight with a crawling/active baby. Aaargh. Anyway, thanks for the tips – especially the white noise machine!
I can barely get through on my own!
I used to travel with 9 kids. There were no security measures in those days, and most of the time they were growing up there were no car seats! I applaud you gals who have to travel today…you do with thoughtful preparation, and generally with a lot of style, too…even with all the sweating! I really like the stroller you posted, and although I use a white sound machine, I had never thought of taking it for the kids! This is a great informative post and I am glad you got us thinking about ways to help our grandkids travel better!
@Alyson, I'm glad this information came at the right time for you. Yes, packing a diaper bag can be somewhat daunting, since you want to keep it light weight, yet be sure to pack the things you will need. One thing I would recommend would be benadryl. We forgot it on the way there, and Oliver screamed and screamed, either he was teething, or his ears were hurting him. Either way, benadryl would have been nice. I even tried to buy it at the airport, but they didn't have any.
@ Linda, thank you. I appreciate your sweet comment 🙂 I'm still amazed that you had 9 kids. You are an incredible women!!!
These are SO great! I am still trying to find out ways to travel with our kids since we will always be on the go go go from here on out.
For me the diaper bag was the most important packing trick – every flight home I took for a while, with plane changes ended up with unexpected overnights – make sure you have a full extra day's worth of diapers, formula/baby food, children's medicine and anything else that cannot be bought in an airport gift shop…
Formula, baby food and ebm are all exempt from the rules for liquids, but must be packed in a way to easily be accessible, because they will want to inspect them… I like grouping them in gallon size zip lock bags.
I attached the baby's toys to the outside of the diaper bag with clips or even string.
I try not to travel that far :). I am a travel wimp. Lol
It might look crazy but that whole can't see you thing makes really good sense!
Those are awesome suggestions. Getting through an airport with kids is absolutely crazy. Oh and I'm glad you suggested that white noise machine. We need to get something like that for our littlest (for everyday use; he's a light sleeper).
One thing that I do for my kids for the plane ride or a car trip is I buy a bunch of little toys at the dollar store. They don't get to open them until we are on the plane or in the car. Then they have a bunch of new/novel toys to entertain them for the trip.
I'm so glad mine were basically grown before all these new rules went into place. I can't imagine!