Contributing editor JG recently travelled coast to coast with his wife and two year old son. I asked him for some tips and lessons learned about travelling with a young one in tow. Here are a few tips for young parents who may be travelling with their kids and some thoughts that might be useful.
Very glad we didn’t try to take advantage of his 2yr “free” lap traveling. Just no. If you don’t have to, don’t do it.
Middle seat may make sense so a parent is on both sides, but we found wedging that monster in the window seat gives you the most barrier from them running wild up and down the aisles
Nonstop digital media. Have it queued up on any and all devices and plan for maybe not having wifi available.
Bring portable battery packs
Bring, disposable toys. We brought these stickers that he had never played with and he was enthralled for at least 15mi. Plastered them everywhere and we didn’t care, and it bought us 15 minutes!
Snacks – have a truckload of them. Never know when you’ll eat and if the kid will like the out of the ordinary restaurant
Although I don’t have any experience travelling with kids, I can say that I always appreciate parents who come prepared and try to make travelling less of a burden on the rest of the passengers. I’ve been on my fair share of flights that feel like I’m entering the 9 circles of hell because kids are running crazy in the aisles and their parents just didn’t come prepared. I don’t blame the child and to be honest, I think it’s ludicrous to expect a child to sit in his seat for hours at a time. I’ve always been more than happy to lend a helping hand to any parent who is trying to keep it together as long as a genuine effort is being made. The key word here is effort.