We believe that traveling adds a lot of value and spice to life, and we didn’t want to wait until our kids were older to start tackling our travel to-do list. We absolutely hope to have opportunities to travel sans-kiddos as well, but it’s important to us that our kids get to have some of these experiences too. 

We recently took our two boys (ages 3 and 1) on a trip to Thailand! More details on the entire trip and how we managed here! For now, I want to focus on the real beast of the experience: the flights. Our longest flight was 13 hours (San Francisco – Taipei). But on our way there, that was only one of FOUR flights, totalling approximately 30 (THIRTY!!) hours of flying/airports. That was ONE WAY! Luckily, we had great layovers (2ish hours each) – just enough time to go to the bathroom, go through security/customs/whatever, and hop on our next flight.

Here’s a collection of things I learned traveling long distances with two kiddos on planes. 

Check your Expectations

(Ha, get it?) But seriously, leave your expectations at the check-in counter and go with the flow. Do not bring them with you on that plane. While I’m by no means an expert on this, I believe the key to success (or at least sanity) on long plane rides with small children is realistic expectations. If you plan to sleep and watch movies during transpacific flights with small children, you will be sorely disappointed. We went in with high hopes and low expectations, so we had room to be pleasantly surprised when things were going smoothly. 

Kids can sense your mood and they will feed off of whatever energy you’re harboring. So roll with the punches, keep a smile on your face as much as you can, and laugh at the chaos! It’s not easy to do, but attitude really is a choice, and your kids will learn from you how to handle stressful situations with grace. When your attitude slips (which it inevitably will – I know mine did), model for your kids how you can choose to turn it around, see the good, and find the fun.

What we Brought 

A mother in my neighborhood gave me good advice: she said that kids want new toys for a long trip. They don’t need to be fancy, but they do need to be new. She recommended stocking up at the dollar store before the trip so the kids could be enthralled with toys they’ve never seen before. While we didn’t go the dollar store route, I found this to be great advice! For weeks before the trip, I did a lot of shopping around for simple little toys I thought would be fun and didn’t reveal them until the kids started getting fussy and bored on the plane. Not all of the toys we packed were new, but many were.

I received one other piece of advice that I have found to be helpful – ration toys. Only give your child one toy at a time, and cycle on to the next toy only when the first toy has completely exhausted its usefulness. I would add that it’s best to save the best/most reliable toys for when you need them the most!

Here’s what we packed to keep the kiddos busy:

• Amazon Fire Kids tablet for our three year-old. We loaded it up with movies and games that we approve of, many of which are actually educational! Make sure these apps/videos are downloaded beforehand! I recommend waiting for a good sale to invest in one of these. They do 40% off fairly often! We brought these kids over-ear headphones for him to use with it. We like the plug-in kind, because they don’t require charging/batteries and can be used to plug into the plane, too!
• Suction cup spinners – another mom with kids the same ages as mine recommended these and I am so glad she did! Both kids loved them and played with them throughout our entire 12-day trip. Money well spent. Probably the toy MVP of the trip.
• Water Wow Books – They’re reusable and mess-free!
• Lots and lots and lots of SNACKS. When all else fails, snacks will save you. While I am an advocate for healthy snacks, please please bring reliable, tasty treats. Tried and tested ones (like fruit squeezes and fruit snacks for us) are necessary, as are new and exciting treats. 
• Small cars – My boys are vehicle kids, so these were a necessity. The Hot Wheels/Matchbox Cars go everywhere with us.
• Foldable felt car board – ours was gifted to us, but it was a similar idea to this. Ours looks like a little city with roads, and the little stick-on felt pieces are cars and road signs. They like driving their toy cars on it too.
• Busy board  – There are so many options. We just got the cheapest one we could find, and both kids spent some time with it on the flights. 
• Fidget popper
• wiki sticks (I got a no-name brand from walmart) – These are a cool, less messy alternative to something like play doh. My three-year-old liked bending them and making shapes out of them. These would probably be even more fun for slightly older kids.
• Finger Puppets – I liked that these can stand up on their own, so they can be played with as action figures as well (since I’m not very talented at puppet showmanship). And they’re familiar characters I thought my boys would be excited about. These didn’t get as much play time as the other toys, but they came in handy a few times.
• Coloring Books – we hardly ever pulled these out. Our three-year-old likes coloring at home, but was much more interested by the tablet and Water Wow books on this trip. 
• LED Doodle Toy. We have a couple of these at home but we chose to bring this one because its pen is attached and can’t get lost under an airplane seat 🙂
• Gel cling stickers. We got cheap seasonal ones at Joann, but there are tons of options on Amazon! T had lots of fun sticking these all over the window, wall, seat, and tray on the plane. Some (easy) cleanup involved 🙂

Get Moving

If multiple hours sitting still is difficult (and painful) for adults, it’s near impossible for small children. While flight crews might cringe at this… I say, WALK! Get up out of your chair and walk the aisles with your little one while the seatbelt light is off. My one-year-old liked being carried around on laps around the cabin, and he also liked when I held his hands and let him walk down the aisles. A couple times, we let him play on the floor in front of our seats, too. If you can get away with it, you can even try letting your kiddo play for a couple minutes in the wider emergency row or in the back of the plane. It’s such a relief to stretch your legs and get a small change of scenery! Mobile babies are used to moving around while they play, so sitting on your lap for long periods of time probably isn’t realistic. 

Make layovers a respite for your kids by having them do anything but rest (unless they’re really needing it, of course). Find a kids play area, or just encourage them to jump and run around. This will really help them sit through the next plane ride. 

Some Random Tidbits

• Wear slip-on shoes. Security with two kids is a huge handful, so you’ll be grateful when you don’t have to hand off a little one to sit down and tie your shoelaces. 
• Consider bringing a baby carrier! Yes, you have to take it off at security but if you aren’t using a stroller (or have two kids and only one umbrella stroller like we did), it was amazing to stay hands free at the airport and beyond!
• Bring an extra change of clothes for both kids. We had only anticipated potty accidents and were alarmed when we had a vomit incident and only extra undies and baby clothes in our carry-on. T ended up going shirtless through half of a 6-hour flight and while we scoured the Korean airport for a kid-sized (overpriced) T-shirt. 
• Cordless headphones. My baby is obsessed with the cords and there’s no way they could stay in for more than a couple minutes at a time while he was awake. So to maintain sanity while your busy baby is awake, I recommend getting a good audiobook (check out Libby or Overdrive!) or downloading some music and podcasts and bringing your wireless earbuds. If your baby is anything like mine, plane movies are just not happening while he/she is awake. 

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Our travel days with the kiddos went a lot better than we thought they would. By no means easy, but absolutely doable. I hope you got some ideas that will help with your next big excursion with kids. You may feel like you’re in over your head, but you can do it! Just schedule in some high quality down-time when you arrive at your destination, and you’ll be set. A good attitude and realistic expectations will make all the difference. If you’ve done long flights with small kids, leave your ideas in the comments – we need all the help we can get!