Flying with Kids

I’ve recently accrued some serious frequent flier miles, as have my 3 kids. And in the process, I’ve put forth considerable thought into how to make the experience a positive one. I read numerous articles, online and in the newspaper, and talked to countless people who offered all sorts of advice on what to do, and what to take, on a cross-country – or overseas – flight with young children. And so, with this knowledge, I thought I’d compile it all into a handy place so 1) I don’t go crazy trying to reinvent the wheel next time I travel, and 2) other people can benefit from my experience (or laugh at my folly, whatever).

First a little background. I traveled with 3 boys, ages six-and-a-half, three-and-a-half, and almost one-and-a-half. First we flew from Cleveland to San Francisco, then drove down to Los Angeles, drove around LA a lot, and then flew back to Cleveland. Our second trip was from Cleveland to Mumbai, with a layover in Newark, lots of travel within Mumbai (taxis, cars, and even auto-rickshaws – oh what fun!), and then, of course, flying back Mumbai-Newark-Cleveland. I will henceforth refer to these as the California trip and the India trip. We don’t like to carry a lot of items onto the plane, but typically, we have a diaper bag, a small bag with some snacks, and a rolling backpack for the kids. For the India trip, we took along one of those carry-on suitcases with a change of clothes for everyone, extra toys, extra snacks, and a toiletry bag (although we stupidly kept full-size tubes of toothpaste – both ours and the kids’ – in there and had to get rid of them after the security screening. Oops).

Packing snacks is always a debacle for us, because the kids are so picky that they never want what I pack. Or maybe I just suck at picking snacks. But as long as I don’t think of the food as being just for the plane ride, but rather for the trip, it evens out – generally. Before we went to California, we stopped by at our favorite local bakery and picked up some goodies – sticky buns, chocolate croissants, almond croissants, scones, giant chocolate chip cookies – which everyone in the family loves. This collection, the assortment of flavored snack crackers (peanut butter and honey, grilled cheese, etc.), and the snacks in the basket that my brother’s wife’s family left for us when we checked into the hotel for my brother’s wedding, gave the kids their pre-breakfast that tided them over until we could all wake up and get presentable enough to make it down to breakfast. Granola bars never got eaten. The mini packs of ring pasta (Spaghettios) was tossed by security (oops). But the kids love buying things, so get them a yogurt at the coffee shop at the airport and they'll be happy.

Jumping back a bit chronologically, I want to mention that we bought three identical t-shirts from On The Rise (our favorite local bakery), and dressed the boys in them – with long sleeved shirts underneath – for traveling. They wore them on both legs, and as we arrived in Cleveland, a flight attendant waiting at the gate actually recognized them, mentioning that she remembered their shirts. The benefits, as I see it, are two-fold. 1) By dressing the kids in identical shirts, if by chance one would accidentally be misplaced (for lack of better word), we could grab the closest brother and ask passersby, “Have you seen someone that looks like this only smaller/bigger?” and 2) We’re helping support local business.

We try to stick to our regular routine as much as possible when we travel, so the kids feel somewhat comfortable in every new place (and in India, there were quite a few new places). So we packed a couple of their favorite books to read (when they didn’t fall asleep in the car), and we had to pack at least one “animal friend” for each of them, in case they needed one. While for the most part, they did fine without, we didn’t want to risk a meltdown. They understood ahead of time that we wouldn’t pack a) anything too bulky (takes up too much luggage space) and b) any of their absolute favorites (cannot risk losing it) – so Cheetah, Doggy, Kitty Cat, and the little bear that the middle one got when he was in the hospital – were off limits. However, they had to be important enough that they would serve the comforting needs as required (a.k.a. second-tier animal friends, or animal close-acquaintances?). So Baby Simba and the two grownup Simbas came with us – and they did come out to play.

To be totally honest, the flight to California sucked. The little one was totally exhausted and couldn’t fall asleep and spent way too much time crying to let any subsequent sleep make up for the beginning of the flight. And frankly, had we not already purchased our India tickets before that trip, we very likely would not have gone. But that would have been unfortunate, because there was something that we had not taken into account.

We took direct flights for our California trip. This is very important to do, as it makes no sense to subject young children (and their parents) to a seven-hour journey when a four-hour option is available. But our second criterion was cost, not schedule. So the times when we were on the plane were not optimal. Our return flight left LA at 7am, so we got the kids up early, let them sleep in the car, and roused them for the day just as they were confined to sit in one place for the next four hours. And having them do silly obstacle course exercises – twenty jumping jacks, hop from here to there, do a silly dance – at the gate to get rid of their energy only helps so much; they recover from their physical exhaustion well before the flight is over.

In contrast, our flight to India left at 8:40pm – after their normal bedtime – and the return flight departed at 11:40pm. That meant that the boys stayed awake late, and then got onto the plane ready for a good night’s sleep. And since they sleep about 12 hours normally, we could count on at least 8 to 10, which effectively cut the flight time in half. After that much of the flight has passed, you’re mentally more capable of handling the challenge of managing three young, energetic boys on the plane. And that is where the supplies come into play.

First, fly on a Boeing 777-200e (note the e). It’s a nice plane. Each seat has its own video screen that has movies, shows, and games on demand. The 777-200 is nice too, with the individual screen, but it’s not on-demand and the games are less plentiful and the controller harder to use. This may not be something you can control, but if you can, do so. The upgrade is worth it. So that said, you can eliminate portable DVD player and video game console of the list, right? Well, our six-year-old got a Nintendo DS for Christmas, and that did come in handy as well.

I’ll do a separate post reviewing different toys that we packed for the kids. But we did pack a lot of toys, and on the trip to India, kept about a third of it in our other travel bag, so we could offer a fresh selection once they went through all the original items.

They have yet to use all their toys on a trip. I packed a moleskin journal for my six-year-old to chronicle his experiences in India. Perhaps one day I'll post the one entry he did make. But to end on a nice, cheesy note, one great way to pass a lot of time on a plane is to sit and talk to - and listen to - your kid. Finally, with nothing else to do, with no other distractions and no multi-tasking possible (leave those computers at home!!!) I could finally sit and listen to those endless stories that they're just so eager to tell.

Wait, this was supposed to be about how to make the flight seem shorter, right?