Mom Talk Monday- Traveling with Kids

Hi Everyone! Happy Tuesday! Today’s post came highly recommended as a lot of you have travel on the books with your little ones. As you know, we headed to Chicago for a Wedding last week. It was our first time traveling by air with two kids (we road tripped to Palm Springs and Ojai earlier in the Summer). I took your recommendations and did a lot of my own research and was able to compile a list of my tips for success to share with you here. We traveled a TON with Coco, most of which was stress free so we were curious to see how it would be traveling with two.

Griffin’s Top/ Griffin’s Pants/ Rug/

*** Hanna Andersson is having a sale on their sleepers today ONLY! $24 each!***

Let me start by saying, Coco was a dream. I believe after the age of 3, traveling gets MUCH easier with kids. Let me also say that in my experience with both Coco and Griffin, the most difficult age to travel is between 10 and 18 months. Is it impossible? No. It’s DOABLE but but I think having correct expectations is key. This age comes with it’s fair share of difficulties because most often, they are on the move. Or on the verge of being on the move. Which means they do NOT want to be contained and want to explore EVERYTHING (and put everything in their mouths). I can’t recommend purchasing a airplane seat for them highly enough if it is in your budget. This allows an entire row to spread out in most cases. Luckily, if you have two kiddos, you’re purchasing a minimum of 3 seats regardless so you will have that row to yourselves regardless.

We never brought our car seats on planes. I know the demeanor of my kids and just think it would have been a waste in that they’d want to sit with one of us and not be contained. Not to mention, I breast fed Griffin on the plane so he would have had to come out of the car seat regardless. Since we didn’t need carseats in Chicago, we opted to take the double stroller (LOVED having this one in the city) to the gate and gate check it there. Had we brought the carseats, we would have checked them. I snagged this protective carseat bag in our previous travels!

So in preparation, I brought a set of toys for our trip down to Chicago, and hid a stash of toys for the trip back so both kids would have a few ‘new’ things to play with! I’ll include the stuff they LOVED and that occupied their attention the most!

General Tips:
Bring an extra change of clothes for each person in your carry on. We love the Hanna Andersson zip up sleepers (on sale today), for ease of diaper changes! We brought a back pack full of toys, activities and snacks and a small duffel to go under the seat with supplies like diapers and wipes. Make sure to pack anti bacterial wipes and any medication you may need for the trip in your carry on as well. Griffin was majorly teething on the way home and I was so happy we had his Motrin in our carry on! When you order your drink, request a LID for your cup. Some airlines offer this amazing service, lol! The cup/lid combo also makes for a great toy for a baby. And wine. You deserve a DRINK.

Toy Arsenal Griffin
Munchkin Stacking Cups
Activity Ball
Hand Puppet Board Book
Travel Pop Up Mirror
Toy Links
Animal Zoo Finger Puppets
Wooden Strings Apple Puzzle
Board Book