From December through January this past year, my husband, our two young daughters aged 3 and 1, and myself flew to Germany for almost six weeks. My parents are currently stationed with the Department of Defense of a few years in Bavaria, so my husband and I took this as the perfect opportunity to take our family to Europe.
Having a home base with the grandparents was perfect! We were able to save quite a bit of money by not having to pay for hotel stays, continued to cook at home and very quickly developed a normal routine (which is a necessity for young children!). Because my parents were very eager for granddaughter time my husband and I took many date nights and several multi-day trips as well; which we hadn't done alone since become parents. It was a win-win for all of us!
But it wasn't always that easy - after all, we had a 9 hour time zone difference and 17 hours of travel time to get there. How did we prepare our kids for this marathon trip?
I checked with our airline ahead of time to make sure how many bags and carry ons we were allowed and based our packing from there. Because the three year old was required to have her own ticketed seat (full price too! What a racket!), she also was allowed to have the same amount of carry on and personal items as adults do so that gave us some extra wiggle room. What that also meant was mom and dad had to be the ones to carry it!
But it wasn't always that easy - after all, we had a 9 hour time zone difference and 17 hours of travel time to get there. How did we prepare our kids for this marathon trip?
I checked with our airline ahead of time to make sure how many bags and carry ons we were allowed and based our packing from there. Because the three year old was required to have her own ticketed seat (full price too! What a racket!), she also was allowed to have the same amount of carry on and personal items as adults do so that gave us some extra wiggle room. What that also meant was mom and dad had to be the ones to carry it!
Traveling with kids means bringing along car seats. We checked our infant's car seat (bring a big clear plastic bag to put over your car seat, not all airlines provide them) and brought the 3 year old's seat onto the plane. This turned it essentially into a car ride atmosphere for her and she was able to relax and napped in it for a while as well.
One of our biggest decisions came when it came to the stroller. It may come as a shock to some, but we opted not to bring a stroller. We have a double BOB stroller that I absolutely love, but I knew that I wouldn't be using it too much in Europe. Everything is smaller and skinnier in Europe; a friend who brought a standard sized stroller even said it was hard to navigate with it. So we knew that the Cadillac of American Strollers would not be working out for us abroad. We are a babywearing family so my husband and I wore both of our kids through the airport and on most of our travels. This saved us on having to lug around a heavy stroller but most importantly it kept our kids close to us. It was a source of comfort for them in a new, often very fast moving environment. In my experience, TSA is very hands off with worn children. Were there moments where we sorely wished we brought a stroller? Definitely. There is a stretch between TSA screening and customs where there there are no luggage carts available, and we ended up having to find a way to move 4 full sized pieces of luggage, 3 carryons, 3 personal items and 2 children. Without any sort of cart. Yes, I really wished we had a stroller for that part. But it was thankfully a short lived portion of the trip and the simplicity of not having a stroller otherwise made it worth it.
One of our biggest decisions came when it came to the stroller. It may come as a shock to some, but we opted not to bring a stroller. We have a double BOB stroller that I absolutely love, but I knew that I wouldn't be using it too much in Europe. Everything is smaller and skinnier in Europe; a friend who brought a standard sized stroller even said it was hard to navigate with it. So we knew that the Cadillac of American Strollers would not be working out for us abroad. We are a babywearing family so my husband and I wore both of our kids through the airport and on most of our travels. This saved us on having to lug around a heavy stroller but most importantly it kept our kids close to us. It was a source of comfort for them in a new, often very fast moving environment. In my experience, TSA is very hands off with worn children. Were there moments where we sorely wished we brought a stroller? Definitely. There is a stretch between TSA screening and customs where there there are no luggage carts available, and we ended up having to find a way to move 4 full sized pieces of luggage, 3 carryons, 3 personal items and 2 children. Without any sort of cart. Yes, I really wished we had a stroller for that part. But it was thankfully a short lived portion of the trip and the simplicity of not having a stroller otherwise made it worth it.
I planned ahead on what to pack in my carryon for international travel with kids. I have a full blog post written on it on The Pierogie Mama, but here's a quick round up:
- I recommend packing a diaper per hour of travel.
- Kindle Fire tablets are inexpensive and easy to use for children. I preloaded them with apps.
- Two changes of clothes per child.
- Hit the Dollar Store and pick up small packs of crayons, coloring books, an obscene amount of stickers and other small, disposable time wasters.
- Then package them up in zip lock bags paired with a snack; one baggie per hour of travel. Wrap them up like a present and that's another couple minutes of fun for your child! Because my kids can't read yet, I wrote what the contents were inside so that I can pick and choose what might be best for whatever is going on at the moment.
Finally, check with your airline on how your airplane will be equipped. In my experience, very few domestic airlines offer in flight entertainment any longer. You can purchase internet access but you need your own device. However, for our international leg with Delta from Atlanta to Stuttgart, the plane was decked out with entertainment! Each seat had it's own screen with over 100 movies loaded on, including some card games and a travel tracker to see where we currently were. That was truly amazing! We didn't even take the tablets out for that portion of the flight.
And there you have it - just a few of my top tips on how to fly internationally with kids!
What would you add?
What would you add?
