My most asked question by friends, family, and acquaintances is how I prep the kids for a 10 hour flight + airport travel time. While I would not say that I have it down perfect by any means, we have taken Eli on 10 flights that were over 9 hours and a ton more shorter flights and Rex has been on 4 international flights, so I have learned some tips and tricks along the way.
Today I will just be talking about what we bring on board for the kids.
First up: The diaper bag.
Toddler Eli: He is potty trained now, but I still bring pull ups just in case since he has only been really trained for a few months now. For him I bring the following:
- Spare outfit (pants, shirt, socks)
- Extra underwear-2 pairs
- Pull ups-2
- 2 pairs of old socks that he can wear around the airplane and we can trash on arrival if dirty
- Snacks-lots and lots (veggie straws, fruit bars, gummies, raisins, pouches, etc)
- Pacifier (In case of emergency)
- Baby chapstick
- Toys/Activities (see below)
Baby Rex:
- 2 outfits
- 6 diapers
- Wipes (really for both kids)
- Bib
- 2 pacifiers (We have lost many on board)
- Teething wafers
- Hand sanitizer
- Wipes to wipe down seats/tray tables
- Book/teething toy
For Eli, I have learned along the way to wrap up new toys for him to have on the plane. Unwrapping takes a bit longer and also everything is hidden so he hasn’t played with all of the toys 10 minutes in and we still have 10 hours of flying left. Eli’s favorites are magazines with toys, new small cars, slinkies, small gummy snakes, and suckers. Think Target Dollar section or The Pound Store or Tiger for those in the UK. This time I already had a pack of different colored wrapping paper, so I color coded. Purple are toys. Green are the emergency toys-the ones I know will be his favorite (new cars & toy story packs). Then the pink is some of the food I wrapped and the suckers. I have a ton of other snacks in the bag already, but the ones I wrapped are the faves and will save them for a special time on the plane when we really need them.
Then I typically separate everything out in Eagle Creek packing cubes. However, I used all of them in the luggage and thought I would try out these new bags that came with some of our new packing cubes. So time will tell if this works as good as the packing cubes. (EDIT: I prefer the packing cubes over these bags, but same concept so still attaching pictures of the bags below.)
- I put Eli’s diapers, underwear, and clothes in 1 bag
- All of Rex’s diaper changing clothes/accessories in another bag
- Eli’s toys in one bag
- Snacks in another bag
- Rex’s toys in a bag
- Then I go ahead and put all liquids in a separate ziploc on top of diaper bag to easily pull out in airport security
- Pacis and chapstick in separate ziploc bag
- Wipes loose in travel wipe container
Then I put all of the bags in, leave the wipes on top, then put liquids at the very top. Then I put the pacifiers and chapstick in the front pocket for easy access.
In a separate bag I bring my iPad, my headphones, Eli’s iPad, Eli’s headphones, our passport & BRP cards, my wallet, liquid breast milk with ice packs for Rex on board, a blanket for Rex, and the ergo360 carrier.
Also, not pictured, but I bring both kids a sippy cup filled with water through the airport and they go on the top of this bag. They might have to put the cup in the machine to test it, but it is worth it to me to bring these through. I like this sippy cup for Eli (3 years old) and this sippy cup for Rex (6 months old).
if anybody has any tips and tricks, I could always use some new ideas!!
