Flying with toddlers: going the distance

Guest blogger Emma Folz recently returned from a trip to Perth, Australia with her easy-going (lucky her!) 11 month old. Here are some of her insights in to flying around the globe with little ones.

The Journey

* Planning is everything. We booked our flights early and were able to get bulk head seats on all our long-haul flights. Having that extra space in front of you is very helpful for both you and your young ones.
* Break up the flight. Don’t try to do it all in one trip. Stay for 1-2 days at each connection point or after the long haul portion to have some time off the plane and get some decent sleep. We had a 15 hour flight from Vancouver to Sydney and then a 4 hour flight to Perth. Having 2 days in Sydney helped get us adjusted and made it easier on 11-month-old Joah
* Pack a sling and a baby carrier in your carry on. Also, a small umbrella stroller can be checked at the gate on most airlines. I used them all at different times for different reasons
* Sleep Training. Teach your baby to go to sleep in your arms with a trusted nursery rhyme before the trip. It will pay off on the plane
* Safety. We took both the Baby B'Air and CARES harness
* Toys and books. We packed a set of stacking cups and some plastic blocks which turned into many play combinations and doubled up as bath toys. We also packed a hand puppet. The plastic emergency instructions and paper bag in the airplane seat pocket were also a big hit. Lift-the-flap and pop-up books gave hours of delight
* Carry on what you need, but not more. Take a good-sized carry on for your baby items: food, toys, diapers, wipes, creams, medications, clothes and books are critical. Don’t feel like you have to fill the bag right up, this will come in handy when you are looking for items quickly. Pack similar items in separate mesh or plastic bags within your carry on. Take lots of plastic shopping bags or ziplock bags for garbage etc.

Jet-lag

• Sleep before! We didn’t keep our son up late in the nights leading up to the flight. Let them get as much sleep and rest as they can prior to the journey.
• Have a good sleep routine. I truly believe in a good sleep routine at home, which translates in to a good sleep routine when you are away. After bath, milk, teeth and storytime, it was clearly evident to our son that it was bedtime… time to sleep all night.
• Adjusting to jet-lag. The first three nights, if Joah woke up and wouldn’t go straight back to sleep, we allowed him one hour of play and some milk (no food) before back-to-bed. After that, it was non-negotiable; he had to go back to sleep. It only took 2-3 days for him to adjust. It was easier to adjust going east-west, harder coming back this way!

Tips for travelling with baby

Travelling with a newborn can be daunting, but in fact young babies are often good travellers. Here's an article I wrote for The YummyMummy Club out this week with some tips for travelling with newborns.

The Carry-on Conundrum

...or what to pack when flying with kids. These tried and tested tips should help you avoid many of the usual carry-on pitfalls. The key is to travel as light as possible. Borrow or rent key baby items (check out www.baby-equipment-rental.com) at your destination.

• Before you travel outside of Canada, check the expiry date of your family's passports: some countries require that your passport is valid for at least six months beyond the date of your expected return. If you're travelling to the US there's no such requirement. Just make sure that your passports do not expire before you're due to return!
• Baby food, formula, milk, water and juice in reasonable amounts for your itinerary are exempted from the liquids restrictions if you are travelling with a baby under 24 months.
• Keep the following documents to hand for everyone in your travel party (even infants need ID): passport, SIN, birth certificate (for infants & children), health care number, aeroplan card and vaccination record. If travelling without your partner, carry a signed consent letter (and a copy of their driver's license) to prove that you have permission to travel with your child/children. A sample consent letter is provided on www.voyage.gc.ca (follow links to "Children and Travel"). Keep a photocopy of the original documents in a checked bag and another copy at home.
• Put contact information on every piece of luggage, including carry-on bags, strollers, car seats etc.
• Pack a diaper bag with a spare change of clothes for parent and baby, several diapers, plenty of wipes, Ziploc bags, a refillable bottle and snacks, and a few simple toys. Backpacks are a great choice for carry-on baggage because they leave your hands free. Kids over three can carry their own little backpack with a stuffie, a couple of toys and a drink bottle for the trip.
• Toys such as transformer robots that resemble firearms or toy weapons such as water guns are not permitted in carry-on baggage.
• Ensure that your carry-on bags conform to airline size/weight restrictions so that you aren't surprised at the gate and forced to check any of them. Check your airline's policy if in doubt.
• Infants without a seat are usually permitted a baggage allowance of 10 kg / 22 lb, but policies vary by airline. Air Canada and WestJet allow two items of baggage per infant (for example, a car seat and a stroller).
• If you're taking a car seat onto the plane, check the car seat before you leave home to make sure that it has a CMVSS 213 or 213.1 compliance sticker on it. Most airlines require the car seat to be installed in the window seat and only one car seat is allowed per row. If in doubt, call the airline to confirm their policy. (On a recent British Airways flight with our 11-month old who was still in a rear-facing infant seat, we were told that we could only install the seat in a forward-facing position.)
• Consider renting or purchasing a CARES harness for children aged one to four years (weighing 22-44 lb) sitting in their own seat. It does the same job as a car seat, but fits in your purse. CARES are available in Canada from Little Traveller.
  
• Lightweight or combo strollers are a must for most airports if you child is under four (or bring a baby carrier for young babies). Confirm in advance that your airline offers a "claim at gate" option. This option is not usually available for international flights -- strollers have to be picked up at the baggage carousel with the rest of your luggage. (I travel with a Quinny Zapp that folds right down and comes in a compact carry case with a handy shoulder strap. I sling this over my shoulder before boarding and stow it in the overhead lockers. It makes for a quick and easy transition when we land.)
• Some airlines (but not Air Canada or WestJet as far as I know) are starting to charge for large items, such as car seats, that are gate checked. Check with your airline in advance so that you can avoid additional charges.
• Pack winter coats at the top of your checked bags so that they are on hand when you land, and just carry on a warm sweater for you and your children. This saves you battling with big, bulky jackets.
• Bring your own cheap headsets for the kids so you don't have to wait for the flight attendants to offer them. Consider bringing a compact, portable DVD player so that you have more flexibility over what your children watch and when.
• Customize the look of your bags to make them easy to identify on the carousel.
• Keep the stubs from your checked luggage. Immediately report the loss of luggage to the baggage agent on duty.
• Prepare to deal with a lost bag. Pack so that you can continue your trip with the loss of one of your bags. Distribute key items like diapers, formula or underwear so that you can get to your destination.

For more information, head to these sites:
www.airsafe.com
www.flyertalk.com
www.voyage.gc.ca

Some interesting travel blogs...

It's that time of year when everyone is back from a great summer of adventuring and are starting to plan next year's adventures. (At least, that's what I do when it starts to get cold and I need something to keep my mind off the impending winter months!) Here are a couple of recent blog entries that offer some useful tips:

Nerd's Eye View posted "Mistakes Rooky RVers Make" about RVing around the southern Gulf Islands in BC.

Away.com posted an article called "Top Five Tips from a Five-Month Family Road Trip."

And if you're heading farther afield, check out Stuffyourrucksack.com. They have connected with 187 organizations (in 78 countries including Mexico) that need stuff -- stuff such as clothing, toys, stationery and other items that you could squeeze into your suitcase before you get on the plane. What a great idea!

Need to rent baby equipment?

Have you started travelling again now that your little ones are a wee bit older? Or perhaps your kids are school aged but your sister is visiting with her little baby? If you find yourself in need of some compact baby equipment in Calgary (or pretty much any city in the world) then look up your local baby equipment rental company. But before you make the phone call, read my tips on renting baby equipment that were published this week on UrbanMommies.com.

Little Traveller rents baby equipment in the Calgary area. Our most requested items are convertible car seats, CARES airplane harnesses, playpens and high-chairs.

Travelling while pregnant

I came across this informative post today by pregnancy/parenting expert Ann Douglas on Canadian Babies about travelling while pregnant.

It's also a good idea to pack a big box of your preferred heartburn/indigestion remedy of choice. There's nothing like the combo of travelling, disturbed sleep and unfamiliar foods to enhance that uncomfortable pregnancy side-effect.

Happy travels!

The scoop on Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop

Like all celebrities, Gwyneth Paltrow has done more than her fair share of travelling. To share her knowledge and insider tips, she publishes a weekly newsletter that features her personal travel tips but also recipes, crafts, fashion and much more.

If you want your children to experience life in the celebrity fast lane next time you're in New York, LA, London or Chicago check out this newsletter on kid-friendly restaurants. For something more wallet-friendly, bake some of Gwyneth's favourite cookies with your little ones this weekend.

You can sign up for her newsletter through her web portal Goop.com.

Calgary Stampede Tips and Tricks Part II

When I am out for the day with my children I tend to get a little stressed about what we're going to eat. I find the day is so much more enjoyable if we can manage regular snacks, drink plenty of water and eat a decent lunch with a chance to sit down.

If you get to the Stampede early (before 8am) on Family Day July 5 or Kids Day July 8 then you'll hopefully get to sample the free pancake breakfast that is served to the first 20,000 people. Head to the grandstand to take advatange of the free food and a show.

Although the Stampede is supposed to be a trans-fat-free zone this year, there is still plenty of junk food around. If you want to avoid it for lunch or dinner, try The Range food court on the lower level of the Big Four Building for a selection of fast food. It's open from 11 am to 11 pm.

While I don't believe there are any sliced grapes or peeled apple slices in these packs, the souvenir Stampede Packs do contain a juice box, bag of Munchies, sunflower seeds and more. In other words, you probably won't need to hunt for snacks. For $12 you get a colourful kids backpack filled with goodies. There are several pack options for older kids. To get yours, head to the BMO centre Hall A.

For more insider tips to the Stampede, email a request to Little Traveller for our 2009 cheat sheet.

Get all the latest parenting books...

...summarized and delivered to your in-box by ParentsDigest.com! What a great way to get through the pile of unread parenting self-help books you bought in a moment of "why is my kid suddenly behaving like this?!" a few months back. If you like the sound of the summary, you can go ahead and purchase the book and read it from cover to cover, if you have the time.

Flying with baby -- the Delicious way!

I thought about compiling a list of all the little things you need to consider when flying with babies or toddlers. But then I found this page on Delicious Baby (www.deliciousbaby.com) written by Debbie Dubrow, a mom of two from Seattle, WA. She's thought of everything so you don't have to. There's a section on how to breeze through security with kids and how to nurse or pump at high altitude, product reviews and more. Take a peek... when you have a spare hour or two.

The Mother of all Packing Lists

Packing for a family vacation takes a lot of preparation. I take the opposite approach to my husband and start making lists of things to remember weeks before I go, but I'm a serial list maker (and I tend to get very excited about upcoming trips). Here are a few websites with packing lists you can print out to help take the strain:

The website www.HaveBabyWillTravel.com has a pretty inclusive packing list to help you in this mammoth task. Consider renting the last four items on the list when you arrive at your destination, if that's an option.

There are a number of tailored packing lists at About.com including a Disney packing list and a camping packing list.

Listorganizer.com has a form to print and fill out so you can personalize your list according to baby's needs and the length of your trip.

For help with what to take pack in your carry on, check out www.havebabywilltravel.com again as well as the US Transportion Secutiry Administration's advice page, and the Canadian equivalent with a detailed list of what is and isn't permitted in carry on baggage.

Happy travels!

A Baby Guide to Calgary

In my life before children I was a publishing exec and I love books. So Little Traveller has partnered with the author/publisher of "A Baby Guide to Calgary" to offer you this jam-packed guide to all things baby related at a discounted rate. Even better, it's free from us if you spend more than $200 on rentals. The book has 20 informative chapters and covers everything from surviving the first six weeks to shopping with baby to child-friendly hikes and activities.

The author, Paula McGarrigle, was featured on City TV's breakfast show today (December 8) in an 8-minute slot.

Check out Paula's web site at: www.babyguidetocalgary.com