TRAVELING BY PLANE
Here I am pictured traveling with Anders (my 15 month old at the time) on a 4 hours solo flight from Portland to Houston. Notice how much crap I have to carry all by myself because traveling alone with a toddler is as I imagine, as difficult as running a marathon is! I have never ran a marathon and never plan too but this is as close too a marathon as I will ever be. You have got to get your game face on, dress and plan accordingly and know it is a long haul from leaving one place --> loading the car -->getting to airport ---> getting kid out of car seat, unloading car --> getting set up to do some walking --> check in, drop of bags --> take everything off go through security --> put everything back on, grab bags, balance holding kid, bags and pushing things ---> dropping everything at gate to just pick up everything again to board plane --> Then arrive and do the reverse back to your final spot.
Ok maybe a running a marathon is less complicated! You tell me runners?
The thing about traveling with a 12 months + toddler is you can still have them as a lap infant up until their 2 year old birthday. If you are flying with someone else this is still somewhat manageable to keep them a lap infant because you can trade off holding them. I would still bring a baby carrier like The Ergo Baby 360 carrier. You can't have them in the carrier during take off or landing but in the in-between I would wear it and it would help him fall asleep to be held closely to me.
BUT for me it was impossible to keep my kiddo somewhat still and in my lap flying solo. At around 12 months old if I was flying alone with him, I always purchased him a seat. Yup I forked out twice the cost it should fly us because my child is wild and doesn't do will with being restrained by me for 4 hours. So if you have a wild child or just have the extra funds, do yourself a favor and just bit the bullet and purchase his/her own seat.
Then bring your FAA approved car seat (Check your airline website info and side of the car seat label for the FAA approval notification) on the airplane, place facing forward and strap that kid in. This is especially helpful when you have to use the restroom other wise you are bringing that kid in to sit on your lap while using it and holding your breath while they attempt to touch every inch of the dirty airplane bathroom and somehow wipe yourself at the same time.
When traveling with a car seat you have a few options on how to carry it...
-You can patiently hold it on top of your stroller like I am doing in the top picture. This was a pain in the ass but I had him strapped in the baby carrier and at that time this was my only option.
- Car Seat Luggage Strap, you strap your car seat onto your rolling carry-on bag. Unless I am traveling with my husband I usually don't take a rolling carry-on bag, just too much to push with a stroller too.
- Brica Smart Move Car Seat Travel Cart, it is essentially like a dolly for your car seat. You just attach the straps to car seat like you would installing in the car and push or pull. You can even put your kid in the car seat and push this way if you can forgo the stroller.
and last option,
-J.L. Childress Ultimate Backpack Padded Car Seat Travel Bag, Check your car seat and hold your kiddo as a lap infant or chance it without a car seat in the airplane seat. Obviously much less to carrier but I would only do this if your child can and will sit in seat with seat belt for take of and landing. I don't trust my 2 year old to do this yet, so we always use the car seat on the plane. This is not a bag for gate check, read my other traveling with baby post for gate check bag.
SHOP CAR SEAT ACCESSORIES
SHOP TRAVEL STROLLERS
ACTIVITIES
It is all about the snacks, more snacks, and then more snacks. Seriously! I love to give Anders an apple on the plane because it takes him forever to eat the whole thing and he will eat an entire apple. Pack easy access snacks. Like dried fruit in small snack bags. I try not to give Anders an entire new bag of snack because that is just setting us up for half the bag to find its way to the floor.
Veggie straws, goldfish you know the drill. Ask the flight attendants for plastic cups and you can place small amounts in the cups for them to hold since toddlers love some independence.
I do not like to bring those squeeze puree food if I don't have to, it is also something that will end up on the floor or squeezed out on the seat and then used to paint with.
Stickers! Sticker books, Stickers to put on window and everywhere! These sticker books keep Anders occupied for a while. Also added some other fun toys and activities we have used on planes and car rides. The key here is get some sticker books or the water coloring books and then only use them for travel. They will be new and exciting again and guarantee extra occupied time over something they usually get to play with.
Videos, Movies, Screen time you name it, give it to them!
Sometimes he will wear headphones and sometimes he won't and not having sound doesn't seem to bother him. But if you are going to use headphones make sure to give them the headphones before at home to practice otherwise they will spend the whole time taking them on and off and well maybe that isn't a bad thing either probably occupies another 15 minutes of flight time.
