On The Plane

Many people dread the thought of being on a plane with their children on an International flight. With organisation and the right 'tools,' you can make it work for your family.

Before children, travel felt like this...

Oh, the good old days! BUT over the years, I have fine tuned it so that it works for every member of my family. Ok...it will never be the highlight of our trip but with incentives, it can be a fun starting point to an amazing family adventure.

Before you get on the Plane

Through the scanning area- Every airport has different policies but many will even have children take off their shoes. make sure your family is wearing shoes that can be taken off and put back on easily. Also, things like belts need to come off. have all liquids (have to be 100ml or less in a sandwich style bag. You can have up to 1 bag each.

Entertainment Schedule ahead of time- Most airlines release the schedule for what movies and shows they will have available the month before, sometimes 2 months out. Become familiar with where this is shown on their website- usually under flying and entertainment. This allows you to be able to get the family excited about what they can see and possibly discuss movies you don't want them to watch.

Children's Meals- You can go onto your airline website and pre-book children meals. I cannot tell you how many times my children have been enjoying a specifically catered meal for them and another parent nearby is complaining to the flight attendant when there are no children meals left. The other bonus is these pre-booked children meals are delivered before the rest of the meals are delivered so you can help them eat and open poppers etc. and if you are organised enough you can send their tray back when your meal arrives so they can move around more and not kick over the tray. I just wipe down their pull down tray so it is clean.

Early Boarding- At the gate they will get families travelling with children on first. We still did this with children up to 12 as it does take longer to get organised. Get on board place the children backpacks in under the seats in front and then your day pack etc up in the overhead lockers. By planning ahead, anything you will need quick access to should be on the ground under seats rather than getting up and down to the overhead lockers.

Plane Presents- See below

Online Check-in- This is one of those little-known but stress-busting tips. Look into the online check in for your airline. Usually, you totally bypass the huge lines of other family's and go to a separate line for online check-in.

On plane list of things to take

Less is best! We used to take bags of things to entertain my stepson...he would use a few things and then we would lug the bag around for the rest of the trip. We learnt to minimise. Here is a list of things that have worked for us.

Backpacks work better than pull along cabin baggage- for parents, it leaves their hands free to push strollers, hold hands and even have a baby in a carrier on their front! For children, again it keeps their hands free. If you have ever tried to walk within 1 metre of a child with a pull along carry on you will know the reason why a backpack is better! Have things in zip lock bags. You can then pull things out easily in the dark knowing that you won't accidently pull out a beloved toy that will be lost under someone's seat forever. 

Comfort items are a must. Leading up to a trip, if you don't have a routine for going to bed with comfort items like a blanket or a soft toy that signify it is time to go to sleep...get them. Make sure these are only pulled out when you are ready for them to go to sleep or need to comfort/quieten them down. When my children were babies/toddlers I also went to the effort of having pj's/ onesie to put them in to sleep comfortably in. I would then get them into day clothes near the landing.

Entertainment- These days most airlines have a great entertainment program. However if there is a favourite show/movie/ audio book that you know your child will sit for hours watching/listening to, purchase it and have it on a device so that they can chill out for hours at a time. Even think about having a playlist for them as well. Just not songs they will sing at the top of their little voice too!

Essentials such as pain relief, ointments etc. that you may need should be packed in the cabin baggage- making sure that any liquids are 100ml or less. It can be hard to find nappy rash creams and other liquids in a container 100ml or less so look way ahead of time and put it aside so you don't use it before hand. Obviously have the regular size container in your luggage, as you will need the smaller size for any subsequent flights and the return flight.I also took a baby thermometer on board when they were young and now it stays in the main suitcase as they are old enough to tell me when they are not well or have a headache. You would be surprised how many times on flights a flight attendant has come up to me and asked if I have spare baby Panadol or Bonjella as another parent has a child who needs it and they didn't pack any. I gladly lend it but only because I always buy a new bottle to take with me so know in a 14 hour flight I would never need a full bottle supply. I have a seal it bag to put these things in as the 'doser' even after I wash it out in the basin can still be a bit sticky.

Babies

1. Pain relief medicine and dispensers- I put in a ziplock bag to prevent spills.

2. Nappies/ wipes- allow enough for a day and a half on a really bad day.

3. Change/s of clothes/ bib/s

4. Food/ bottle etc. for flight- throw banned food before going through destination customs.

5. A few quiet toys/ books. Other passengers will get quickly tired of squeaky toys. Small toys get lost easily between seats. You will know whether a favourite toy or a brand new toy will work best.

As soon as the entertainment devices came out, life became easier. Most airlines have children's entertainment and this can take up hours at a time while they just watch and possibly listen too.

Take off and landing with babies- You will need to either feed them/ give them a drink or give them something that will move their jaw to prevent them from pain with altitude difference. This is with babies/toddlers and children. We always had something ready for take-off and then as we gained altitude.

The Travel Concierge tip: 
-Some airlines offer seat belt extensions for you to secure your baby for any time the seatbelt sign is on. Check with your airline, and get in quick so you can get one before they run out. Some don't offer them as they say it is safer for you to just hold them. If this is something you feel strongly about, you could always get a harness like you would have say in a high chair and loop your seatbelt through it.
- Anytime the seatbelt sign is on, make sure your child has theirs on. Even if it is a little loose you will thank yourself if you hit sudden turbulence. When they are asleep, I usually lay them on the seat with their head on my lap or towards the window. Airline law states they cannot lie on the floor. I ensure their seatbelt is loosened but still on.

Toddlers/ children

1. Pain relief/ any medicines you have approved from Dr and have trialed at home first to calm them. It is essential that you do a test run. I tried one suggestion from my Dr. and it hyped my daughter up. A friend of mine trialed one on herself and had an allergic reaction that landed her in a hospital.

2. Device/ book etc to keep them entertained around the airline entertainment programs. *

3. Snacks

4. Sleep time equipment like a blanket/ fav sleep toy etc.

5. Spare underpants/ change of clothes

5. Plane Present- see below

Again less is best.

Plane Present

When I was a child travelling for my dad's work, we had plane presents. I loved them and remember them fondly, so followed this on with my children. They now look forward to them as part of the tradition during their trips.

The plane present cannot be opened until they are seated quietly in the plane and the whole family is organised. The wrapped present comes out and THEN they can open it. Generally,it would be something like this...

1. A bag of lollies to 'suck on' for take-off and landing for all flights. Lollypops work well.

2. Snacks that I know they particularly like

3. A magazine/inexpensive toy/ colouring book etc.

4. A travel Journal (yes even from toddlers these can work...I will post a blog about this)

5. A personal card or letter for reading age children saying how excited we are to be on this holiday and all the fun things I am looking forward to sharing with them.

I usually have the lollies out of their external packet and yes you guessed it, in a zip lock. The packs rip easily and lollies go everywhere. I also go one step further and put the whole plane present in a large freezer bag zip lock so as they rip the paper off in excitement things don't go flying.

Don't forget to take a photo of your family on the plane.

Now to the important stuff

The list of items I pack in my plane bag is here

A few notes about some of  the items and why I pack them.

*Eye drops- Keep applying them through the flight but especially just before landing to 'freshen' yourself up.
*Vomit bag/s- yes they have some on board...sometimes. Never when you are seconds from child vomit disaster. As soon as we get seated that is one of the first things I pull out and put somewhere hand in the seat backs.
*Eye mask- This stops you opening your eyes every time someone walks past you and causes a light flicker, or if you get stuck next to someone who has their light turned on the whole flight.
*Brush/ Comb- again to make you feel human preparing for landing. You will thank me when you see a photo of yourself after landing and don't look like the living dead!
*Noise Cancelling Headphones- These save me going 'batty' from the constant plane engine noise. My children from a very young age know to tap me to get my attention. When I am resting/ sleeping I am in a habit of having one hand on their leg or body somewhere so I know they are there and can feel if they are moving a lot or need me.
*Twilight meds. I went to the Dr. and discussed this with him. We trialled a few medications until we came up with the perfect balance of me feeling I could relax enough to lightly sleep, but still wake and be cognitive if my children needed me during the flight. Make sure if you want to take anything you do the same as a friend of my trialled one and ended up in hospital during the night due to an allergic reaction to one of the ingredients.
* Playlist- I have an Easy-Plane Listening Playlist that I have set up with 51 songs that are all relaxing slow songs. Whatever you are doing, you can listen to this music and it justs helps you chill. Before entertainment and meds I would sit there all stressed looking at everyone else sleeping and I couldn't. This enabled me to be able to just close my eyes and listen which wasn't sleep but still rested my body.
*Documents Pre-filled in- I have all my travel documents filled in before I even arrive at the airport. If you can't get a friend travelling before you are to bring back extras at least have a travel book that has listed all your family passport details, DOB and the address and name of your first destination written in one place so you can access it easily. I then fill in all forms and have my husband sign his and then as children have been older I do theirs also and get them to sign.
*Itinerary folder- I store this at the bottom of my day pack in the overhead locker in case I need to look at something in the flight.
*I also have my handbag and wallet. I actually have a travel wallet as I don't want to take away unneccesary cards to the local coffee shop etc. I then also totally empty my wallet and fill it ONLY with essentials. I have lots of $1 notes for tipping and quarters for machines in my wallet as well as my day's budget.


Travel Concierge Tip- I like to feel clean and refreshed when I land, so I use liners that are called double ups (2 liners on top of each other) so that at different increments during the flight I can take one off until the end where I have none but am still fresh for the remainder of the day. This is one of those tips that no one will tell you but it is a game changer, so I am happy to put myself out there for you...You're welcome :)

Toilet Tips

* Children become obsessed with toilets at the best of times but in a plane it seems to morph into an OCD need to go as many times as humanly possible. If you are happy to take them 4000 times awesome...otherwise try and explain to them before you even get on the plane that the toilets are not overly clean so minimising use is best (someone I know told her children that there is a quota for how many times you can go) whatever works for you!
*Take your children to the toilet BEFORE the food is served. (likewise, it's a great time for everyone to get it out the way.Learn from my experience that a) when children try to get out of their chair to go to the toilet with a tray of food and liquid 9 times out of 10 it will end up on the seat cushion...not good! and b) Most flight attendants are not happy if they have to stop collecting trays and go all the way back to the next section so you can get up then back down the aisle to go to the toilet. 
*Go to the toilet during a movie not at the end when everyone will go and just before or right when the lights come on preparing for landing to beat the rush.
*Shoes- I cannot stress this one enough. Don't go into the toilet with bare feet or with socked feet. Human Nature, in my experience, is that by midway through the flight the toilets are not at all a happy place.
* Children HATE the sound of the toilet flushing. Don't flush it while they are on the toilet still. My children even to this day (now 17 and 13) wear their noise cancelling headphones in the toilet they hate the sound so much.

In Preparation for Landing

*Get toddlers/ babies into fresh clothes/ change nappy etc. Give them a quick wash up with baby wipes.
*For you- eye drops in gritty eyes (go eye drops for sore, red eyes)spritz with perfume, brush your hair, chew some chewing gum or give your teeth a quick clean. This in itself will help you get through the next 12 hours.
*Operation clean up. This means to pull all blankets out and put in one spot. Collect any borrowed headphones etc. again dump in one spot. Look EVERYWHERE for your family possessions and collect and put away. Put bags back under the seat ready for landing. Get landing lollies etc ready as sore ears will happen even before proper descent.
* Make sure your passport and immigration forms are accessible and all filled in correctly. Shoes on everyone ready to get off the plane!