In about eight days my mother, my child and myself will be embarking on an international adventure to Northern Ireland. We are going to visit my family that live there (my mother is Northern Irish and immigrated to America to marry my American father). It has been ten very long years since I was last there and I am so very excited to see them all, especially my lovely little Irish nanny.
Preparing for international travel is no joke and preparing for international travel with a five year old is even less funny. My daughter, Lily, who is a pretty fantastic traveler, I think will probably do well on the flight but I think by the time we hit our seven of eleven…might be a different story. So how does one prepare to try and minimize airplane meltdowns as much as possible? Well I have a few thoughts for you on what I do to prepare. Enjoy!
Packing Prep
- Children’s Medicine. Did you know that many over the counter medicines are only available by prescription in other countries? When your kid is running a fever or has an earache having readily accessible medicine makes all the difference, in both peoples worlds. Make sure to pack a travel size of children's Motrin or Tylenol to have on the ready.
- Pack with meaning: Just like with an adult you don't want to pack a ton of random clothes because they are cute or you hope she gets a chance to wear it so everyone can see, you pack with meaning. I like to lay out all my daughters outfits on my bed, match an outfit together, roll it all together and pack it. This makes your life so much easier when you need to just grab an outfit and get going out the door for the days events. I also only pack three pairs of shoes; sandals, sneakers, dress shoes (for church on sundays).
- Important Documents: Make copies of your child's passport (and yours!) and scan and email the copies to yourself. This is also a good idea to do with their birth certificate. If the passport gets lost or stolen it can become a huge headache dealing with the Embassy to try and get a replacement and get home.
Plane Ride Prep
- Parental Entertainment. I use this time on flights to talk to my daughter about where we are going, what to expect when she gets there and ask her about a zillion questions about what she thinks it will be like. I have her draw pictures of places I have only described to her. It is important to realize that on any flight you are your child’s primary source of…everything. On flights with my daughter I wait until she goes to sleep before I break out my book or device. I find that if she sees that she has 100% of my attention, she is a little more well behaved.
- Electronic Entertainment. I am packing my daughters iPad (she has our old one, don’t judge us) with movies, TV shows and her favorite games that don’t need an internet connection. Also on the international leg our our journey from Chicago to Dublin each seat comes with a personal TV for people to watch. They have such channels as the Disney channel and some animated movies. You can check your airlines website to find out what is playing so you don’t double up and put that on your electronic device also (variety is the spice of life).
- Nurture the Artist within: My daughters backpack carry on will have a few favorite toys, a blanket and some art supplies. I have packed her a blank notepad that she can fill up to her hearts content and then also two very different coloring books (princess’ and animals). My daughter will get so caught up in coloring that she will ignore you for very long periods of time. Win.
- Potty Time/Stretch Time. Use potty time as a time for not only taking care of nature’s call but a chance to stretch your legs. On international flights the plane larger and there is usually more room in the bathroom area towards the back of the plane. I plan on letting my daughter and myself stand and look out the window at the back of the plane for a few minutes before returning to our seat. It is also fun to chat with the flight attendants if they are not in the middle of something, they usually have funny stories and respond really well to children (read, give them free stuff to entertain them).
- Sleep time. It might be hard for your little one to settle down and I judge no parent for the steps they have to take to survive an international flight with a small child. What I like to do for long flights it bring a favorite sleep toy, a small pillow and a small blanket of their choice. I make a big freaking deal about letting my kid pick it out as we pack, this gives them a sense of the importance of the item and are less likely to reject the item at sleep time on the flight. My daughter also quite enjoys listening to soft lullaby sounding classical music at bedtime, I shall have this on the ready for her also.
Don't Forget about You!
In addition to all the fun stuff we get to haul around for our kids, we can not and must not forget about ourselves. Even when I traveled to Ireland myself as a college graduate I walked off that plane in complete misery. With huge time zone differences to deal with along with a small cramped seat that your have been occupying for the last eleven hours, its hard to be in high spirits and want to deal with…well anyone. Well you got a five year old in tow who more than likely got more than just one or two hours of sleep and is feeling grand. SO, I have decided I will not be Heather pissy-pants when we land but at least a somewhat functional human being. This is how I plan to make it through.
- Neck Pillow and noise canceling headphones. Seems like common sense right? Well the key here is quality. Nothing will tick you off faster than watching your companions and the whole rest of the freaking plane sleep and you can’t. And anger is not a good emotion for trying to get to sleep. I purchased my wonderful, amazing neck pillow from www.cabeau.com. It is a memory foam pillow that provides great support all around your neck and can be adjusted based on how you sleep. And bonus! folds up into a small little travel bag. The Noise canceling headphones can be tricky because of how bulky they are. I found a little travel headband on Groupon with built in headphone, that wrap snuggly around your head. I figure if I can have some soothing sounds of rain I am good.
- Snacks: Now this goes for everyone you are traveling with. I have had situations that I have just been starving upon arrival because the airline food was just not that great. This time I plan on packing granola bars and some gummy fruit snacks (clearly for the kid…clearly) for us to munch on. Again…trying to avoid Heather pissy-pants upon arrival.
Again, this was not an all inclusive list but just some thoughts regarding getting ready for travel with a child. I am so excited to get the adventure underway! Pass the sugar!
