With the holiday season coming up, traveling is
inevitable. Traveling before a child was easy, pack a bag, pay for
tickets with all the extra cash we didn't have to use for diapers and daycare
and hit the road. No strings, no responsibilities, just the fun
adventurous old us. Yea those were the stress free blissful days.
Then we had this little monster....
Do I regret it? Absolutely not. Look at her,
she's amazing in every sense. But bringing her into this world pulled us
back from all those fun adventures. Now the only time we get to fly
anywhere is when we fly across country to see our family. The first year
we flew we did what all new parents do, we over packed. Three (3) check
bags, a stroller, a car seat, and two carry ons later, we were off. Year
two, there was one less bag but still way over packed. We took a year off
of traveling but this past Easter while my husband was busy with work, I decided to pack up my little monster and head home for Easter. Yes a two
year old and plane travel across country sounds a little insane, but I had a
plan.
My first idea was to travel on off days.
Traveling friday to sunday is pretty typical of people trying to get the
most time for their travel time. I chose to fly Wednesday and return on a
Tuesday. Not only were the tickets cheaper but there were less people to
bump into during my lay over and the arrival gate. Since I was taking the
jogging stroller I needed a bit more time and space to navigate.
My second idea was to forego checking any bags,
except her car seat of course. It was already enough to have the monster,
the stroller and the two rolling bags and my backpack I had, trying to grab check bags at LAX and then
trying to get to the rental car place, yea I wasn't up for that challenge, I
mean it was a vacation. I bought a new bag for all of Zoey's stuff and a
new one for myself (our house consists of nothing but huge check bags courtesy
of my husband's job). Since she was a ticketed passenger, we both got 2
check bags free. I had her rolling bag, my rolling bag and my back pack. When in doubt lay it out!
Packing.....oh how I avoid it! I knew I had
10 days (outside of traveling) that I needed to pack for, including one
holiday. Luckily, we were going to southern California so there was no
need for excessive layers. In order to save space and my sanity, I packed pieces that I could mix and match which included:
2 pairs of Jeans
2 pairs of Shorts
1 dress acceptable for a family holiday
1 pair of dress shoes
1 pair of Toms
1 pair of flip flop
1 sweat shirt
1 pair of pajamas
4 tank tops
4 T-shirts
1 long sleeve shirt
4 pairs of socks
10 pairs of underwear
1 extra bra
Swim suit
Zoey's list was much easier:
two pairs of clothes for each day
a dress for the holiday,
a swim suit,
a pair of her converse,
flip flops,
dress shoes,
about ten pull-ups,
few pairs of underwear (we are still
training),
a washcloth
and all of our toiletries
Going to my
family's house, I knew I had access to my mom's hair dryer and flat iron, so
that saved me a ton of room. And I bought some of those little bottles
from Target's travel aisle for $1 a piece and brought only what I needed for showers. Target also had this travel pack for Zoey that had lotion,
soap and desitin. I was able to forego the big bag I normally use for all
that and use the Ziploc bag for carry-ons.
My backpack consisted of:
my computer
camera
my Kindle
all of our chargers
one blanket for Zoey in case she decided to take a nap (ha ha)
her favorite doll
a portable DVD player
three movies
sunglasses for both of us
two packs of wipes-Make sure you get the flushable ones to prevent any toilet back ups
her Kindle
a book for Zoey
snacks
a Nalgene bottle-It helped pop her ears with the altitude and I was able to share my water without sharing all her floaties.
•
baby approved head phones- I found an amazing pair on Amazon that won't go above a certain volume, so they are safe for her baby ears
•
a coloring set- I found this one at Target that was amazing for the trip
•
extra batteries- I used an Energizer rechargeable battery that is compatible with tablets and iPhones
To save room, I emptied everything from my purse into the outer pockets
of my backpack and put my emptied, flattened purse in the carry-on. Yes
it sounds like a lot but with the size of her clothes, it wasn't hard to pack
all of our stuff into one bag. My backpack was a little larger than a
normal one and don't get me wrong it was heavy, but I wanted to be prepared in
case we were stuck overnight somewhere. I used a larger backpack like this to capitalize on the extra room:
Now, you might ask how in the world did you carry all that with a toddler? The answer is simple, I let the stroller do they work. I pulled the seat down and had Zoey sitting up right all the way in the back. I laid her bag over the top where she'd normally be sitting which allowed her to play with her toys and still gave her room to lay down to nap. The second rolling bag went in the basket under the stroller (jogging strollers tend to have larger baskets) and the car seat was in a nifty little zip up bag I bought on amazon that allowed me to sling it over my shoulder. Essentially everything was rolling on the stroller. Once I dropped the car seat at the check station, I was one bag lighter! Make sure you check the policies of the airline you're flying, most airlines offer free check bags for car seats and strollers, which can save you a ton of time, money and hassle.
Once we were on the plane, Zoey decided she wanted to watch the movie playing on the headrest screens. Yes, it's a little irritating that I packed so much stuff for her that she didn't use but in the even the monitors stopped working, I was ready. Take offs and landings are tricky, the change in the cabin pressure can really affect your little one's ears, because they aren't aware of the ear "popping" trick. This is where that water bottle comes in handy. You need one that requires a lot of suction, this provides them with the ability to pop their ears and avoid the painful cabin pressure change.
The worst part of traveling is all the worrying you do ahead of time. The best thing to do is to take a deep breath and be prepared for an extended lay over, or a potty accident, or being puked on. As a mom these things are always in my head. The better you're prepared the better things are for you whether the trip is on time or you're set up in a corner waiting for a new one. Either way, enjoy the time with your munchkins and the memories you get to make.
