Last month, we were able to take a short family vacation to the Pacific Northwest – Seattle, Washington! I left home a few days earlier for several work events, and Mr. Checkers was brave enough to fly solo with our two-year-old to meet me there.
Toddler Checkers has now been on a couple of short flights, one at 18 months old and another at 28 months, and we have been able to gather a few traveling tips along the way.
- Choosing a flight time – When we first flew with Toddler Checkers, we thought picking a time during or close to nap time would be the best, since then she could just nap on the entire flight and be rested when we landed. In theory, this would have been great, but we quickly realized our child is over-stimulated by new things/people/experiences, and so she was even more awake! This time we chose early evening flight times, which worked well on the departure flight (since she had a 3 hour nap that day), but poorly on our return flight (which ended up being delayed 45 minutes and she missed her nap that day). Our flight was only 2.5 hours, and I am scared to attempt anything longer!
- Entertainment – iPad, stickers, coloring books/crayons, books – We packed anything and everything we could to provide loads of entertainment. Of course, the only thing of interest was the iPad, which lasted for about 15 minutes.
- Other carry-on items – Diapers, wipes, extra outfit(s), pacifier (or lollipop or your boob for take-off and landing), lovey, and plenty of snacks
Packing
Packing lists will obviously change over time as your child grows and their needs/interests change. In the early days, we felt like we were just short of packing up our entire house (bottles, swaddles, sterilizer, formula, books, toys, travel crib, diapers, wipes, etc.) anytime we decided to travel. We soon realized we did not need to pack many (or any) toys since she was more interested in exploring her new environment and playing with cups, remote controls, paper and tissue anyway.
Since she will no longer sleep in a travel crib, I mainly focused on making sure I had enough weather-appropriate clothes for her. We are used to living in a climate that averages 70 degrees year-round, and as I was packing for the trip I realized I had ZERO winter clothes for Toddler Checkers. At home we can get by with leggings, long-sleeve shirts, and a thin jacket in the winter – not so in Seattle! I purchased a couple of essentials (a warmer jacket/parka and boots) for the trip, and we survived! A Southern California native, I am a cold weather weakling and I am certain I would freeze to death in temperatures below 40 degrees.
Napping/Sleeping
- Be flexible – I have always been a schedule-oriented person, and when we are home, I try my best to protect her nap and bed time. For special occasions and when we travel, we are much more flexible with these times. Toddler Checkers, who is normally a two to three-hour napper at home and a poor napper elsewhere, surprised us by taking naps in her stroller and carseat on the way from place to place. This was not ideal, but it was the best way to maximize our time out while still making sure she was able to get some rest.
- Sleep situation – If you recall one of my recent posts about co-sleeping (i.e. no sleeping) on our last vacation, you might understand the anxiety I was feeling about our sleep situation on this trip! Co-sleeping has never worked for us, and one of my friends suggested using the sofa bed which worked beautifully for us! There were a couple nights she wandered into our room half-asleep, and she was able to fall back asleep with us right away. On the other nights, she would sleep on the couch all night, and climb into our bed in the mornings.
Exploring
We have definitely had to change the way we vacation with the addition of a child! As an individual or a couple, you can pack in numerous sights, excursions, places to eat, shopping, etc. and have full days. We decided to stay in Seattle for several days so that we would not feel rushed, and we could enjoy doing a couple of things each day without stretching ourselves too thin.
We spent most of our mornings scrounging for coffee and spending time with friends.
Seattle has a variety of kid-friendly activities, many of which are centralized in the Seattle Center. Seattle Center holds a number of tourist attractions including the Space Needle, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Seattle Children’s Museum, Pacific Science Museum, and a number of different exhibits, fountains, lawns, and room to run around. We visited Seattle Center two or three times on our trip, including the Chihuly Exhibit and the Pacific Science Museum, and Toddler Checkers loved it there!
Overall, we had a wonderful, eventful trip (not without a visit to Urgent Care to treat Toddler Checkers’ allergic reaction to some antibiotics she had been taking prior to the trip) full of sightseeing, food, and time with friends. Traveling with a toddler is always an adventure!
Hive: How did your little one sleep when you were traveling?
blogger / nectarine / 2608 posts
I love reading about how families make travel work for them. Mr. T has put us on a travel freeze because Lorelei is so rambunctious these days. I have travel-amnesia because I don’t seem to remember all the sleepless evenings and meltdowns, just the fun new things we were able to see and do. You make it look so fun and easy!
coffee bean / 32 posts
Love the plane tips! But I have a question. I know you didn’t change time zones, but we have a trip (to Seattle!) from CST to PST coming up and would love to know how others have handled this with a 2YO. Any tips?
blogger / cherry / 192 posts
Looks like you guys had a lot of fun! I’d love to take a short trip somewhere soon with the kiddo, possibly NYC to visit some friends. She doesn’t sleep in our arms or stroller anymore… so it might get tricky! Thanks for the tips.
blogger / persimmon / 1220 posts
@bschus: I have been too afraid to attempt crossing time zones (mainly due to long flight times), but maybe Mr. or Mrs. Bee can chime in?
blogger / clementine / 998 posts
urgent care ohmygoodness!
persimmon / 1345 posts
question: how did you get her to fall asleep on the couch?
My LO is like yours. Hasn’t co-slept before. We’re traveling for holidays and I’m dreading it.
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
FUN!!! Traveling with toddlers can be so stressful, thank the lord for the iPad!
cantaloupe / 6086 posts
We’re traveling for both holidays coming up and I’m afraid. At my mom’s she has a crib and does well. At my in-law’s we stay in a hotel. Last hotel trip was awful and we left early to go home! Trying the sofa bed this time and hoping for good things. Think we may put the pack n play mattress on the floor for nap time and try it like she does at daycare. I can’t imagine the pack n play itself will work any better than it did 4 months ago …
apricot / 370 posts
We recently flew to Seattle too last month, from San Francisco, with our 2 little ones—our 3 year old, and a nearly 1 year old. It was a fun time, but not gonna lie, it was a tough tough trip travelling with 2 little little ones. If it wasn’t 1 kid crying or upset about something, the other 1 tag teamed and took over hahaha. It wasn’t like that all the time, but often enough, and coupled with our all day out and about excursions, and poor naps, there were more than a few tears, tantrums and misbehaving. We chose to do a trip to remain in the same time zone which would be the least disruptive for the kids, and also a 2 hour plane ride was doable. Flying with 2 was a whole new level for us.
Going to Seattle, we should have just checked in all the things that we didn’t need, we should have checked in the double stroller and the car seats. Instead we opted to bring all of ‘em, since we thought we could just roll all our things on it, and the kids would be in the stroller, and all would be easier, and our car seat would be better taken care of if we checked it in at the gate. Instead, they ripped our car seat anyway, and we were *those* parents in the security line, holding everyone up, because we had to get the kids out of the stroller, compact the stroller, take the car seat out of the car seat bag including all of the 10 things my husband thought he’d stash loosely in there, unload all of this onto the security conveyer, and then put allllllll of this back when we got through security. Dumb dumb dumb. On our flight back, we learned, check the stroller, check the car seats in, bjorn the baby, carry your carry-ons, and it was sooooo much easier and faster going through security. We chose late morning flights, which worked out well for us I think. The airplane ride wasn’t too bad, the baby went to sleep for the most part, and the 3 year old amused herself with a leap pad, some toys we brought along, and the drinks and snacks we got onboard. The only hard part on both flights, was the descent and the pressure changed, the 3 year old got really fussy and didn’t listen, and we did our best to try and relieve the pressure, but it only stopped when we actually landed. The baby slept for the most part, so the pressure changes didn’t affect her. Most of the gear was for the baby (bottles, blanket, diapers, wipes, bottle rack, etc etc etc baby stuff); the 3 year old was very easy to pack for now that she’s older, no more diapers or wipes or bottles, so it was just bringing her stuffed animals that she likes to sleep with her. I wish we brought toys for the babies that we could clip on easily to her high chair or car seat, which would have at least entertained her some while we were eating somewhere.
We rented a van, this is what we drive at home, so it just was easier to have a van while we travel, it’s so convenient and so much space for whatever our needs are. Both kids sleep in their own room, so the baby is at an age where she isn’t used to sleeping with us, so we stayed at a vacation house where we could spread out, and the baby had her own room to sleep in in a portable crib. The house was kid friendly and had all these toys there already which was a big plus. The 3 year old slept in our room on a make shift bed I made for her on the ground, next to our bed. She loved it, and was so tickled to be sleeping in our room, but she got her own little space for her to sleep.
We did some similar things—Space Needle, Seattle Aquarium, Pike’s Market, Olympic Park, Fremont Troll, Chittenden Locks, Argosy Harbor Cruise, Big Wheel. The days where we weren’t out all day, and came back to the house by mid afternoon, were the best and less stressful days. The kids didn’t like the on-the-go all day pace, and on those days needless to say, by the time dinnertime rolled around, the toddler misbehaved plenty and the baby was very very fussy. My 3 year old remarked several times during the trip when she was especially tired, how she just wanted to go back home (like home in San Francisco). And even when we got the kids to bed, we still had to clean up, wash all the bottles, and get stuff ready for the next day. I was beyond exhausted by the time I was able to hit the bed. Similarly, I never drank so much coffee before! It was colllld in Seattle, so we did bring our Tahoe type of clothing with us—insulated jackets, gloves, thermal pants. Some days in the afternoon were warm, so layering was key. But it didn’t rain at all, I was very happy about that. The best things for me in Seattle was all the wonderful fresh seafood—salmon, oysters, clams, fresh fresh seafood. An exciting trip for sure, but next trip, I’m bringing my parents, those extra hands will be nice to have.
I’d like to mention that this was the first time I used packing cubes, and they are such a great thing to have when travelling, especially with little ones. Before I’d have a suitcase for the kids and by the 2nd day, all of their clothing would be 1 big jumbled mess, and it’d be so hard to find that 1 bib or that onesie I need. I separated the girls clothing into their own organized cubes, and it was such a snap finding their things. At one point, I used the suit case stand upright like a dresser, and the packing cubes as individuals drawers, and I could easily grab what I wanted from the different layers.
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
We’re traveling with DS next month for Christmas and there’s a 2 hour time difference!! I’m nervous how this will affect him! He’ll be 5 months.
blogger / pomegranate / 3300 posts
We always have trouble with sleeping while traveling. We always have to find a place to stick four little kids. Usually we just wing it and try to tire them out as much as we can during the day so they can’t help but fall alseep
blogger / persimmon / 1220 posts
@Mrs. Train: This was another solid piece of advice I received from a mama of 3! Tiring them out is great (although if we can’t get home in time before the overtired crankies come out, it can be tough)!
blogger / kiwi / 675 posts
We went to NY last Summer for my cousins wedding and it was a fun/eventful trip (full of ups and downs sleep-wise)… on the flight back home from phili to la, as we’re walking through security, Gemma has an allergic reaction and breaks out in hives… ahhh, it was so scary , I had no idea what it was from and we were about to board a 5h+ flight so I was a little freaked out. We decided to just give her beneydryl and hope for the best… thank heavens she slept most of the way home and the hives dissipated.. it was scary I kept thinking what if it got worse mid flight what are we going to do… yikes.
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
@bschus: they adapt really quickly. the fastest way to battle time changes is to eat at local time. kids are way more resilient than adults. it’s also easier going there than coming back!
blogger / persimmon / 1231 posts
So glad she did better sleeping! And that you guys enjoyed seattle
we’re driving back up there to be home for Christmas. Scared to death of wrecking her sleep but oh well!
blogger / pear / 1563 posts
Great tips! Sorry you had to go to urgent care! That’s stressful!
blogger / pomegranate / 3491 posts
I’m glad the sleep went better for you guys! We are gearing up for Thanksgiving travel, and sleep is what I am most worried about. I’m pretty sure that at 18 months, C isn’t going to be too happy in a PnP, but I don’t think he’s ready not to be in a crib, and we don’t have that option… hopefully all my worry is for naught! Thanks for sharing all these tips!!
grape / 84 posts
@bschus: I agree with Mrs. Bee. My LO is 27 months has flown 4 times from EST to PST and has never had an issue adjusting to the time difference. Even when we’ve arrived on the west coast at 11pm or later (2am east coast time!) He does better than we do.
coffee bean / 32 posts
@mrsbee @kimbed Thank you!! The tip about eating meals makes a lot of sense, and it’s so nice to hear that kids adapt well. Fingers crossed: we take off Tuesday!
pomegranate / 3383 posts
@bschus: we’ve traveled from EST to PST and MST several times and the time shifting has been pretty much a non-issue. The only time it was really terrible was when I traveled alone with my 4-month old from EST to PST (3 hours backwards) and he woke up at 5am for 2 days in a row…but sleep was crappy at that age anyway!
Like Mrs. Bee said, kids are super resilient and I would just adapt to the new time as soon as you land. For us, it helps that my son doesn’t really sleep long (or at all) on a plane so he’s usually wiped come bedtime if we are traveling east, or he will take a quick catnap to get him to bedtime when we are traveling west. Hope that makes sense!
blogger / persimmon / 1398 posts
Yay for some sleep on this trip!! I think that is always our struggle with Mini while traveling… the sleep! And I’m terrified of what taking him halfway around the world is going to do to his schedule… eek. (That’s a 14 hour flight and a 13 hour time change… in case you wanted to stress out with me.)
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
Aww I love her in her little coat. Im totally like you a cold weather wimp though I live in a much colder area than you.