Long Haul Airplane Travel With Young Kids, Part 4: The Packing List and Last Thoughts

If you are just joining the series, start at Part 1.

We had the priviledge of flying Cathay Pacific business class in February. This is a photo from that flight of La Jolla Girl in her “pod” complete with DVD player and half eaten cheese plate on tray, Crayola Color Wonder paper and kids seat belt above the TV, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on TV and a silk pillow. Not a bad way to travel.

Speaking of business class, here’s some seating advice if you’re lucky enough to have your choice of seats. If the seats in business class are in a “v” formation, kids are better off in the first row (or “bulkhead”) by the window. If only one parent is travelling, they should take the aisle seat directly across from your child. This seat has the best line of sight into your little traveler’s pod, though it’s not perfect. It’s counter intuitive as you would assume the window seat next to your little traveler would be better, it’s not because the partition makes it hard to see down into your child’s “pod” without standing up. Also, if you need to help your child with something, it’s more bothersome to the other passengers to get up out of the window seat and do a “u turn” into your child’s pod. With the aisle seat, you can just duck in and out and no one will really notice. Remember in this “v” formation there is one seat against the window, then the aisle, then the aisle seat. Four seats total in a business class row. I am taking the photo above from my pod across the aisle. If two parents are traveling, take these seats and then the second adult should take the window seat next to the child’s seat. You can see what I mean on www.seatguru.com where you can check the seating configuration by airline and airplane. That’s a great website. It’s worth a call to the airline to double check where you should sit.

I had a few other after thoughts that I’ll mention before I get into my packing list.

Warming bottles or food:  Do test the temperature as flight attendants are busy or maybe don’t have babies at home.  I’ve had a few scalding hot bottles redelivered, but it doesn’t upset me as the flight attendants are doing their best.  Just be mindful.

Sippy Cups:  If you can, remember before take off or landing to very slightly unscrew the tops.  The change in cabin air pressure can sometimes cause the liquid to start squirting up everywhere.  That happens with my daughters Nuby straw cups.  If I don’t unscrew the top and the straw is flipped down, when I flip the straw back up, juice squirts everywhere with force.  It can be a total mess.  Or if we’re holding the cup, I just slightly squeeze the straw open to relieve the pressure as we’re ascending or descending.

Strollers:  If you happen to have a Bugaboo Cameleon or Frog that rides in that big nice transport case, be aware that it might be considered over-sized baggage.  I had no idea.   I’ve never had to pay any extra $$$ (however, check with your airline before flying).  At LAX it has to be picked up at a special side area that’s not the regular baggage carousel.  This can be a pain because my bags usually come off first and then I’m stuck there with a tired kid waiting for the stroller.  Oversized bags can take a while and sometimes they are just unnervingly laying there for anyone to take.

I check a cheaper stroller at the gate, I’ve heard stories about strollers getting broken when checking at the gate.  Mine have always been totally fine. It’s also always helpful if you have stroller hooks to carry your bags, etc but unless they velcro or are securely on, I would take them and anything similar off your stroller before checking it at the gate because that kind of thing is likely to get lost.

Packing:  To try to get everything to fit in my carry on bags, I use gallon sized Ziploc bags to pack diapers, clothes, etc.  I then squeeze all the excess air out to get the clothes and diapers to compact as tightly as possible.  This really helps.  This also helps you to organize so stuff isn’t flying all around your carry on.  Diapers in one Ziploc bag, my clothes in another, etc. The bags also double as dirty clothes holders too if your little traveler spills orange juice or whatever and needs to change clothes.

Diaper Cream:  If you are travelling with a sitting baby or toddler I would highly suggest that you apply as much of this as you feel comfortable.  I’ve had some really terrible diaper rash emerge after long plane flights.  It’s a lot of sitting.

Yours will probably be a little different but here’s my packing list (aside from passports, tickets, cell phones, and similar)

Me:

1. Change of dark colored clothes (Gap Body long sleeved T shirts because they fold tightly and a pair of nice, not bulky soft cotton pants – I go comfy)
2.  Toothbrush and toiletries (if flying business or first class, these are likely provided for you)
3.  Socks (will also usually be provided in business or first class)
4.  BandAids
5.  Moisturizer and Lip Balm
6. Saline nasal spray
7.  Eye rewetting drops
8.  Extra contact lenses (if you wear lenses on the plane, they can dry up in your eyes or get really irritated with the dry cabin air) and solution.
9.  Afrin or some kind of decongestant as I have trouble with the dry cabin air sometimes
10.  Gum – helps with the pressure and helps hide any breath sins
11. Antibacterial wipes, spray and/or gel
12. Nail file
13.  Surprise gifts for La Jolla Girl when she gets fussy (see Part 2).
14. Ergo carrier or sling when she was very little and I wanted to hold her and keep my arms from cramping. The sling was invaluable on the plane during the early years.

Numbers 1-12 plus a few of La Jolla Girl’s items fit conveniently into a small makeup bag that I keep within reach at all times.

La Jolla Girl:

1.  3-5 changes of clothing
2.  3 pairs of socks (she loses socks all the time on the plane)
3.  DVD player, external battery and DVDs
4.  Whatever small, lightweight toys she happens to be into
5.  WASHABLE Crayons and paper OR even better, Crayola Color Wonder products. They don’t make a mess because the color only appears on the special Color Wonder paper. Perfect for the airplane. The last thing you need to be doing is scrubbing the walls of the aircraft.
6.  Cloths to clean up whatever mess, never hurts to have a few extra.
7.  Diaper disposal sacks, wipes and more diapers than I’ll ever us
8.  Diaper Cream
9.  Changing Pad (like the Skip Hop)
10.  Infant Tylenol
11.  Snacks – a motherload
12. Toothbrush and toothpaste (no matter what class you’re flying, they don’t have kids toothbrushes typically)

I also wrote a post about how I try to get my skin back to normal after a long flight. That post is here.

The most important thing you can remember as a parent is that you will survive. Seriously. I know how stressful it can be in the days leading up to the first few flights. I was so worried, but as I already mentioned, I eventually got to a point where I enjoyed the flights and have no problem hopping on a plane to go anywhere with La Jolla Girl.

If anything else comes to mind, I’ll update these posts. That’s it for now. Happy travels and thanks for reading!!!

Here are links to the rest of the series:

Long Haul Airplane Travel With Young Kids, Part 1: Planning Your Flight and Jet Lag
Long Haul Travel With Young Kids, Part 2: What to Bring
Long Haul Airplane Travel With Young Kids, Part 3: Getting Little Traveler to Sleep on the Plane and Gear

I have also tagged this series as my favorite on Tip Junkie!

Tagged as: Airplane, Baby, Kids, Long Haul Travel With Kids, Travel