• Thanks for these tips
  I’m flying cross country (in Canada) in a few months and when we switch airlines part way through we have to collect our bags, take a sky train to another terminal and check in again.
  I’d love to pack all of our gear (20 month old and Momma) in 1 carry on and 1 personal item (plus gate check stroller).
  But it scares me

• I’m travelling with my baby soon and facing the conundrum of staying in a hotel that has a cot without a mattress – what would you do in this situation?

  • Can you bring something to use as a mattress? I have folded a blanket and wrapped it in a sheet to use as a kid mattress. May also work for a cot but I would by quite vigilant about fitting it to the edge of the cot and making sure nothing could come loose. Good luck!

• I’m a big fan of diaper wallets. I think they are the best invention since…snack cups with child-friendly lids! I love them because they are literally a portable changing table. I can stuff wipes, a few diapers, and those little “smell locking” bags in a compartment. There have been many many gross convenience store bathroom changes where there were no stations, and I was so thankful to not have to do it on the grimy floor. The kind I love best is the SKIPHOP brand at Target. Its so skinny that it fits easily in most purses.

  Regarding car trips: My husband and I have found the convenience of bibs with the button up pockets. We put those on our kids ( age 1 1/2 & 3), in the backseat and throw food in it. When there are times when we just need to keep driving and can’t stop to eat somewhere, they are portable troughs!

  We have our first big car trip coming up ( Springfield MO – chicago- minnesota- and back!). I plan on packing a diaper bag with Mcd’s toys that I’ve collected without them noticing. A new toy goes a long way on a trip!

  Hope this helps someone!

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• I had a great experience with my daughter when she was 11 months new. We hopped on a plane to Maui with a backpack, tent, blanket, sleeping pad, and a baby sling. Everything we had fit into the backpack, including 12 cloth diapers! I carried her everywhere and her first steps were on the sandy beach. I did regret not having a car seat as local transport was not always easy, but we managed to always get safely wherever we were trying to go. We were there for 4 blissful weeks and would do it again in a heart beat.

• I’m planning to take two regular books (his beloved ones), few tiny sticker/coloring books, crayons,notebook, little wooden toy car (as we prefer wooden toys, but it would be too hard to take few wooden regular size toys 😀 ) and will think about buying a dry erase board. My son also loves homemade ‘cards’ with letters and number on them, so he can tell me letters, numbers, change the order of them etc. I think that would be quite good and light to take on board.

• Thanks a lot for such a great post!! You gave me confidence not to pack too much stuff as I will have a transAtlantic trip in few weeks, just me and my 2.5 year old, so I’m a bit worried about it…well, we had flights with our son before, but it was either three of us (me, my husband and our son) or it was shorter trips/flights.
  Will have your post and comments in mind, when I pack my bags :))

  • Just back from my transAtlantic flight and I got some great suggestions here. We did the stickers, a mini travel set of playdough, small rolling toy and I ended up bringing my laptop for him to watch tv. It was still an exhausting fight but I always had something to amuse him. I will say this: tv works for getting kids to sit still. I guess that is one of the evils of too much of it.

    Hope you have the same flight luck as us. We had 3 seats for just us (me plus son under 2). It really helped to have all that room.

• LOVE THIS! I appreciate such great ideas. Mine are school aged now, but still young enough they want to bring along their babies and blankets. So I allow them to fill a backpack full of what they choose, and it helps keep their treasures to a minimum. For your little guy, it would sound like crayons and paper would make a fun treat. At his age, blank paper is great and limitless…and you can make your puppet from his drawings 😉 wrap gifts with them or make them into a little booklet for him to flip through. A tiny chalk board or dry erase board could be used over and over but might prove harder to carry. I have used a dry erase pen on a clear page protector. You could put one sheet of paper in a page protector (or clear contact paper) and use a dry erase crayon (regular crayons sort of work but require more elbow grease to remove) and wipe it off with a tissue to reuse over and over.

• Just took our first trip with Baby Betsy over the weekend! Tried to pack light but think it could have been even lighter – thanks for the tips! The one item I couldn’t have lived without was the ergo… love that carrier!

  • Congrats on the trip =) Same here, the Ergo is fantastic. Henry is almost two and 27 pounds and we still use it all the time.

• Great post Rachel!
  We have done the long flight when my son was 6 months old with no problem. On the way back he was 11 months old and wanted to go everywhere, it was really not comfortable him being on my lap (or hubby’s). I think we were singing a lot.
  We are going again in a few weeks and he is 3 now. Our flights will be 7 hours and 3 hours. On the way there it is a night flight. I will buy some small toys and he will get them every 2-3 hours or if we need to wait (our layover will be 2 hours). I find that lots of stickers will keep him busy. This summer I bought a preschooler magazine that he really liked: coloring, stories, matching and counting. For a 1-2 year old books with flaps or interactive elements could work well, and fun snacks, like cherios!

• Hi there!

  I have flown back and forth from Vancouver to Australia 6 (!!) times with my kid(s), starting when I only had my first son (those were the days!) at 8 months old… then again when he was 17 mos, then again at 22 months, then again when he was 29 months and my second son was 5 mo … you get the idea! I am also in the ‘pack light’ club, and managed to pare down to carry on only for our family of four, plus a Maclaren umbrella stroller, and Ergo carrier. To amuse my older son, over the various trips the most valued items have been (as others have said): crayons and a small note pad with lots of pages, a couple of books, a small new toy (eg: a tiny pull-back tractor… that thing saved me on one leg), and stickers! Stickers are very packable, and if you buy a few sheets of small ones, they can provide lots of amusement. When he was 17 mos, the act of picking the stickers off the sheet was difficult, but kept him engaged for ages. You can use them to play games as well (eg: hide the sticker somewhere on your body, memory games, etc). Oh – meant to say that in terms of books, I’d bring a couple of “full size” favourites, and then a few miniature new ones that my son hadn’t seen (in Vancouver I could find these mini books at any book store.. they were often Robert Munsch stories…not sure if you’ve seen them before but they are tiny! I keep a few in my purse at all times for unexpected doctor’s office waits, etc.)

  Happy travels!

• This is great, looks exactly like my kids closets!!! They each have two long and two short sleeve tops and two long and two short pants… and a hoodie for the cold. People often ask how on earth we travel and I say: “Yeah, we have to take everything!!!!” It really takes one bag for the whole family… if something gets awfully grubby you can usually wash and dry it overnight. My kids were so entertained by the inflight gear that we didn’t need toys… they read and pointed the “in air safety card” for ages!!!” It really doesn’t have to be awful to travel with kids and there is nothing worse than being burdened with baggage!!!

• We’ve logged 7 countries with our two-year-old and our packing list is almost identical except for what I call the “watermelon outfit.” It began after unlimited watermelon at a free hotel breakfast buffet stained her pink from nose to toes. 😀 It’s just a designated shirt and lightweight, easily-packable pants for mealtimes. It goes in the daypack, takes up almost no space, and I change her into it before mealtime so those clothes can bear the brunt of toddler stains. It means I can really maximize wearings of her other clothes too!

• Good for you! It’s really a myth that families can’t travel light and the more one travels the easier it becomes and the lighter we travel.

  We’ve been traveling the world as a family non-stop since 2006 ( 43 countries on 5 continents on $23/day per person) so have had lots of practice as we started traveling with our extremely active child ( started walking at 6 months and ran faster than me at 9 months) when she was 2 weeks old.

  This last year we circled the globe over 12 months ( 26 airports, 13 countries) and only took a small carry-on bag each and that included 3 laptops and homeschool supplies!

  I wrote some tips here:

  http://www.soultravelers3.com/2010/02/15-best-tips-for-family-friendly-travel-airplanes-airports-vacation-roadtrips-long-term-family-trave.html

  I think two keys could help you. Prepare you son by talking a lot about the plane ride and the parameters. (Works with museums and adult entertainment like plays with toddlers too).

  We never used a stroller ( or much traditional baby stuff) so that can save you hassles and I think it is good for kids to learn to walk on their own as much as possible. I’ve been amazed to see huge 5 and 6 year old kids in strollers..a big disservice to the child imho, so best never to start. Walking is much healthier and 2 year olds can walk much longer than most realize…miles!

  We just used an easy to pack cotton sling if transport was needed even for a toddler, but it certainly came in handy for our world travel that she was a good walker. She could walk much longer than me, even at 5 and was an eager walker even at 1 and 2 during travel and at home.

  I am not big on electronic toys but we did get the leapPad and small portable dvd player for our trip and they have come in handy from time to time with travel (but not essential so usually left in the RV). If you are bringing a laptop for you, that would work even better.

  Color coordinated, dark clothes that wash and dry quickly allows one to pack less. Do teach him the art of hand laundry early and wash a few things when you shower! 😉

  Having many healthy snacks and small tiny surprises go a long way. Maybe wrap them for added fun and reward for good behavior from time to time.

  Have fun!

• AHHH travelling with kids… as my MIL and parents both live a 4 or 5 hr plane ride away (in different directions) my kids are now expert flyers. This summer I took my kids for 7 weeks to 3 different climates (hot, cool and variable) we had 2 checked bags, which could have been reduced if I did not have to take 3 life jackets along.
  When they were younger we had a ipod like machine that we had about 20 movies stored on, that way if there was no inflight movies etc, they could watch on it. A laptop would work too.
  Playdough and small toys like lego or playmobile were good too.

  As we are now older, they pack their ipods, a pair of noise cancelling headphone (they were an awesome gift) and snacks. A pack of cards is great too so they can play with each other.

  You can never have too many snacks, always better to be prepared. We once had a 5 hr flight turn into 8 as we sat on the runway for 2 1/2 hours before even leaving and had further delays in air….

  As well, after learning the hard way that my oldest gets airsickness, we ALWAYS take a change of clothes for all of us. Along with any important sleep items (blankets and stuffies) as if they were lost with luggage it would mean sleepless nights. This also helps with longer flights as they feel more comfortable falling asleep with their own stuff.

  Sorry for the long winded response… I realize now it does not sound too minimalist, but I hope it helps, and glad to see you back!

• We traveled from the Western US to West Africa with a 3 and 5 year old. I would recommend a carrier such as the Ergo for kids up to 5 years old for such a long adventure. I used mine at 2 am with a heavily sleeping five year old, delayed flights, gate changes and a crowded airport among other times….don’t know what I would have done without it and it is compact for times when it wasn’t being used. We also took a small box of crayons and small but many paged notebook to color, write, draw, share with a new found travel friend, game with mom or dad…for one direction and a coloring book for the other. We invented games, etc with these…We also had small (when packed 2″x4″) wooden puzzle for one way which we used in creative ways from building things to the puzzle itself and cards for the other. Then we utilized what we found on the plane, such as magazines, music, socks, etc. The other thing we did was bring a box of granola bars for each direction for times when food wasn’t available but the kids needed something to not be cranky. If I was traveling to a place that I was more familiar with I would have bought the snack for the way back when we were there. In this case, I didn’t know what would be available so I brought them from home.

  • Hoping there are other young kids on these flights as that would really help the time go by. I’m thinking of packing a small colouring book after all of these suggestions. Henry is still often in an eat it vs. use it to draw mood with Crayons. But it’s small enough that it is worth a try. And yes, already have a list of snacks to bring. If I can’t amuse him with a toy raisins will be offered.

• Hi Rachel, welcome back. For us play-dough works a treat as a toy when travelling, easy to carry around and we can make fun shapes, animals etc out of it. Also, once the kids start walking, they tend to walk around and play with other kids on the plane. For long-haul flight, when the kids were small (under 3) we booked night-flights and they slept through 7 hour flights from take-off to landing. 🙂

  • Play-dough is a brilliant idea.
    We flew overnight on the way over here and it was a breeze – Henry slept through the whole thing. For this trip I have an overnight on the way back but day on the way out. Should be interesting with 27 pounds of toddler in my lap.

    • I agree, when my kids were smaller and not stuck to the in flight TV, play dough was THE BEST! I do not usually allow it in the house so I would take 3 small pots of it and it could entertain them for hours. It has saved me several times.

• We’ve got two little ones and have yet to travel by plane. However, we have done long car trips. For that, we borrow a travel DVD player from my parents. It hooks up in the car for power. To keep it small, we take a small CD case of DVD’s. We’ve found it’s about the only thing to keep kids happy for that long of a time. With two VERY active boys, toys & books just don’t cut it. Sadly, movies are the only thing to hold their attention long enough.

  • In the same predicament with my toddler. The books and toys will be worth maybe 15 minutes every hour. Not sure I will find a portable DVD player to borrow before we leave. We do have a new toy for him that has a little screen and seems to amuse him. Hope it works!

• We have always traveled lightly even with our kids. Now at 13, 11 and 7 they know how to pack lightly themselves. Teach Henry well and he will too. A friend once told me that when we pack for a trip we only wear 20% of our clothes. I learned not to pack by days or outfits, but to pack clothes that work together.

  • Guilty of the only wearing 20% rule for quite a few vacations. Since really cutting down my wardrobe I don’t have the same problem. I really wear everything I have and “know” my clothes well. With a larger wardrobe I would back things that I rarely wore at home and, of course, then didn’t wear them on vacation.For this trip I packed:
    – 1 pair jeans
    – jean pencil skirt
    – yoga pants
    – 1 t-shirt
    – 1 layering tank
    – 1 lightweight jumper/sweater
    – 1 lightweight cardigan
    – yoga pants
    – running shoes
    – walking sandals
    – plus underwear, etc

    Also brought a lightweight jacket which became a casualty of the trip. It was slung over the stroller and must have fallen off somewhere between our hotel and meeting up with Katy on O’Connell street.I wore the jeans and yoga pants two days each and the skirt once. The weather was a bit unpredictable so I was glad to have brought the jeans.

• Great post! I’m all about not packing a lot for trips. I have three girls and always pack a minimum for them (everything must fit in one bag). Quick question… where do you find dri-fit onesies?

  • We’ve had Halo brand dri-fit onesies in most of the sizes from 0-18 months. I found some online and then was given a set as a gift. We really like them and I believe I kept a few of the smaller sizes for when/if we have another baby. Breathable and makes putting layers of clothing on easy. Also great for travel as you can wash them in a sink and they dry fast.

• We’ve flown several times with our three young children, and have taken minimal things like you. Once they were old enough our kids each carried their own backpack with their clothes and toys in. Paper and pencils are good for entertainment, got my daughter (when aged 5) to keep a diary of what she’d done each day, kept her busy in the hotel room! Can recommend Teeny Little Families toys or similar, where you have a tiny house etc. with tiny characters, furniture etc. inside it, small to pack but gives lots of entertainment in hotel room.

  • We also let the children each choose a magazine from the WHSmith in the departure lounge, which kept them entertained for quite a while on the flight!

  • Love the diary idea. When Henry is that age I will definitely get him a little book to fill in.

    One of the toys we brought was a little cow with wheels on it. Got some good mileage out of it waiting at the gate. Will keep an eye out for Teeny Little Families. Sounds like something Henry would like.

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