Although we may not fly as often as some, we fly for very long periods of time.  We have already been on a plane for five hours by the time we get to Los Angeles.  Then, the flight from LA to Brisbane is another 14 hours long.

When you are somewhere over the Pacific with about 9 hours left on your flight and your toddler or preschooler tells you he “wants off the plane now“, you’d better be prepared!

When traveling with kids there is so much stuff that you need to take to be prepared “for anything” it seems like, that there are just certain items that are good to have.  Some are necessities (like diapers!), some are to make the travel itself easier, and some are for on-board entertainment.

Everybody who travels has their ‘must haves’ that they always pack for a trip and it will vary from family to family.

Here are our 10 Things that we do not leave without when we fly to Australia.

1.  A great carry-on bag to organize everything.

We use the Baby Sherpa backpack and I cannot say enough good things about it.  It holds a ton of gear without getting to hard to carry or get in/out of the overhead compartment.  It has an insulated food compartment, a padded DVD player compartment, a changing pad, and all sorts of other little places to stick things.  What more could you want?

I will say though, I probably wouldn’t use it for everyday use as it’s a bit overkill, but for travel, it’s fantastic.

2.  Your child’s comfort blankie/toy.

Oh my word.  I don’t even want to think about what would ensue if we forgot our son’s blankie.  Good lord.  We actually have an extra one that we pack in the checked luggage “just in case”.

3.  Favorite snacks.

A hungry child is an unhappy child.  Don’t rely on the airline to have anything your child likes.  We pack dried fruit, savory snacks like pretzels or crackers, sunflower butter/jam sandwiches (again, it’s a long flight), and snack bars.  On international flights they usually have fresh fruit, so that’s often an easy one to get on board.

4.  Two changes of clothes for your child(ren).

And at least one extra shirt for you.  Accidents happen.  ‘Nuff said.

We also take jammies for our son to put on before boarding the flight to Australia, because it’s an overnight flight.  We want him to remember that it’s night night and time to sleep, even if it’s on a plane.

5.  Books/activity books/stickers/toys.

Any small, entertaining thing that might keep their attention for a while.  Take new things they haven’t seen before and some old favorites.  Some people suggest wrapping them as presents for them to open, but that just seems like a waste of paper to me.

Some ideas that have worked well for us are:

• A few crayons in a ziplock bag and some blank paper or single sheets of pictures for drawing/coloring
• Stickers – last year I got some car stickers and we drew a racetrack and decorated it with stickers.
• Paperback books (lightweight and thin)
• Mini board books (I like to find mini lift-the-flap books that he hasn’t seen yet)
• Small travel games or card games – I found a mini, wooden memory game in the $1 section of Target last year that I played with Big D for ages.
• Brainquest - these are great for travel because they are small and they have them for nearly every age.
• Nesting/stacking cups – these worked great at 18 months.
• I Spy books – these can take up all sorts of time looking for things

6.  Cares Kids Fly Safe Harness.

This harness rocks and is so much easier than taking your carseat (we rent or borrow a carseat at our destination).  Because our son is used to a 5-point harness on his carseat and stroller, this was no biggie for him to wear.

7.  DVD player and your kid’s fave shows/movies.

When all else fails, pull out a movie!  This is a lifesaver on a long flight.  Sometimes they will just fall asleep while watching…one can only hope, right?  We bought a player with a 12 hour battery, but you can also find battery extension packs if think you need it.  The international flights we fly on always have children’s channels on the tv’s, but sometimes our son wants to watch one of his faves.  Whatever works, I say!

8.  Gummy candy.

I know, weird.  But after our son started screaming because his ears hurt on a flight and we couldn’t get him to drink anything or eat the raisins we had brought, now we always take gummy candy.  He will always eat those.  We reserve them for take off and landing times only to help with ear popping.

9.  Scented disposable diaper sacks.

There is nothing worse than being trapped on an airplane with a bad smell.  So, for the benefit of the other passengers, we carry these scented diaper sacks to put our soiled diapers in (we use disposables on planes) before we put them in the bathroom trash area.

They also came in very handy when we had to change our son’s diaper at our seat because he used to freak out on public changing tables and wouldn’t stay on them.  These bags mask any smells quickly (they smell like baby powder) and are super convenient to just stuff into your diaper bag.  I got mine at Kmart.

They are also great to have if you are changing a diaper at someone’s house who doesn’t have young kids (or a great place to throw away a disposable diaper) and for storing soiled clothes on the go.

10.  A recent photo of your child.

God forbid you lose track of your child in a busy airport, but just in case, have a recent photo of your child with you, preferably with the clothes he has on that day.  We take our digital camera on board with us, so this is easily done.

So, those are our 10 must haves…what do you always take when you travel?

This post is linking to Works for Me Wednesday at We Are That Family.

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04/15/2009 | Australia, Travel.

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