Flying Carry-On Only: Toddler Edition
Because my husband and I love to torture ourselves, we often find ourselves making many cross country trips with our toddler. Gone are the days when our sweet little babe would sleep in our arms and we could WATCH A MOVIE during a flight. Now we hold our breath and pray that she will sit still for the cumulative 20 minutes the plane takes off and lands.
My biggest tip is: keep your expectations low. Like really low. Just know that you’re going to be entertaining your child in 30 second increments…for 5 hours. The airplane is not the time to win parent of the year. It’s time to give your kid free access to the iPad and all the videos they care to watch. Also, drink wine.
Some tips for travel-friendly toddler toys include:
Scarves (wear one!)
The in-flight magazine (great for shredding to pieces)
Updating my previous post about how to travel carry-on only with a baby, we’ve now switched to a convertible car seat and I was extremely worried about how we would get this done. We bought the Cosco Scenera Next carseat and it has completely changed our life.
It costs $45, has high safety ratings, a latch system, sits both forward and backward facing AND it’s only 7lbs. We not only bring this car seat on the plane, we take it in uber rides across town if we ever need to.
You can also strap this car seat on top of the Mountain Buggy Nano.
This makes it super easy for us to zip through the airport with both the carseat and the stroller that we will need at our destination. We also bring the car seat on the plane to give her a safe and cozy space to fall asleep in.
Here's our little one in her car seat, strapped onto the stroller at the airport.
PRO TIP: Get yourself Global Entry, or at the very least TSA precheck. Global entry includes TSA precheck and allows you to skip customs lines if you're frequently flying in and out of the country. Note that your little one DOES need their own global entry pass. TSA Precheck allows you to keep on shoes, belts, light jackets and keep laptops in their bags, which a HUGE help when traveling with a baby.
Happy travels!
