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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Air travel with toddlers
We're doing a Disney trip in a few weeks and I'm just trying to map it all out. We are taking a car seat, but want to check it vs have Brogan use it. Do I have to have a special bag in order to check it? We're also hoping to take our double stroller as Disneyland no longer has doubles to rent ...have any of you taken a double onto a plane? I've taken a single with no problems..hoping for the same outcome. Lastly any general tips for travel that I may not be thinking of would be greatly appreciated!
Re: Air travel with toddlers
We took our double last year when we flew but not this last week. I thought I heard something about them not allowing us to check a stroller any longer at the gate. I could be making that up though.We used our carseat so I'm not sure if you need a cover or not. We have one you can borrow if you'd like.
We brought an Ipod loaded with the girls' fav shows and gave them kid sized head phones. This saved us on the flight and also in restaurants where there was a wait.
I also made a necklace out of cheerios and fruit loops. that was a big hit and not as messy. I packed "crushable" snacks in a wipes container. I also shaved one side flat on the girls' crayons so they wouldn't roll.
We have never traveled with a car seat (aside from an infant seat on a travel system that we gate checked) so I can't help you with that. When we went to Disney last week we got seats with our rental car.
I've only traveled with a single stroller and those are gate checked just fine when boarding. I did notice someone gate check a double on one of our flights. It was a smaller double (umbrella style) so I would probably check with your airline about size restrictions.
For Maya we always bring easy snacks, especially things that are a "treat" to her, like fruit snacks. We load the ipod with her shows. We brought her MobiGo this last trip. Mrs. Reem is a genius because I never thought of doing that with crayons.
For Cameron he was more interested in the stuff on the plane rather than his own toys. He liked looking at the items in the seat pocket, playing with the cups and straws when the cart comes by, and snacks worked well for him.
Make sure you have all liquids in a plastic bag and put it on top so it's easy to take out when you go through security. Children no longer need to have their shoes removed, which we learned on this last trip. Every little thing helps!
When we went to Seattle in July, we could gate check our stroller. It was just a single umbrella stroller but others had bigger single strollers. I would also check with the airline about their policies on gate checking a double stroller. Also, how do you get something that big through security? Do they just go over it with their wand? Or does it actually fold down enough to go through the xray?
Carson really liked having a portable DVD player he could watch movies on. That kept him interested for about half of the flight time. He is also big into matchbox cars so I bought him a new pack that we opened when he tired with the movie and he played with those the rest of the flight no problem. Maybe introducing a new toy in the plane would be a good idea. Otherwise crayons and a coloring book were popular as well.
PS--my kid got air sick and threw up all over me so might not be a bad idea to bring an extra set of clothes for each of the kids and for yourself in a carry on and also lots of gallon sized plastic bags so if an accident does happen, you have somewhere air tight to pack away the smelly clothes. The airline flight attends were zero help when this happened so we were lucky we had everything we needed to clean the little guy (and me) up.
We've flown an average of once every other month since DS was born (2.5 yrs now).
- Our car seat had a plastic bag that it came with, we always use that just to help keep scuffs and dirt off of it. We check it at the counter.
- You definitely can gate check strollers (it would be cruel and unusual punishment not to be able to use the stroller through an airport - especially large terminals). We have gate checked both large jogging stroller and umbrella stroller - both I put in a bag at the gate (again to reduce damage and scuffs).
- Our strollers have always fit on the conveyor for scanning but if it doesn't then you will need to have additional screening (read: take forever).
- Remember you can have large volume of liquids for your child just put them in a separate bin at security (a way of declaring them for additional screening)
- Shoes and Jacket off of LO as you go through security
- DS has a little backpack that I stuff full of toys (I try to bring a combination of new toys and his favorites) ... general rule I use: a new toy every 15 minutes - about their attention span). So you want to pack lots of smaller toys or limited large ones. We bring our ipad downloaded with movies and age appropriate games.
- DS eats and drinks far more on a plane than IRL. So bring lots of different little snacks and remember that = more bathroom trips/diaper changes/etc.
- We use the CARES harness for him in the seat. It works great and keeps him buckled similar to the car seat but advise you cut a piece of that rubber shelf liner stuff to put on the seat to prevent him from slipping around on the airplane leathery seats.
Best advice: BE ORGANIZED. We can get through security quicker than a couple WITHOUT a child because ... we are organized. Know the rules for flying - it makes things much easier.