Travel lessons learned

You know I love to travel. Having kids hasn't stopped me from doing that. This past overseas trip was yet another learning experience for myself and my family. As it was, I anticipated quite a bit of difficulty traveling with two young children for extended periods of time. We had long flights ahead of us and I did my best to prepare us for the trip.

I'm a notorious list maker, which makes Excel, my best friend. As in previous posts, I encourage parents to make a list of all the things they need to bring for their kids when traveling. We had a very busy holiday season and had to leave for our trip within a week and a half after New Year's.

My strategy was to buy pasalubong (gifts given to family when visiting abroad) right after Christmas and the New Year (sales!sales!sales!). There was no way I had enough time, nor energy and patience, to shop for that stuff before Christmas. Are you kidding me? I wrote a rough list of who I wanted and needed to buy for. Due to a large number of my mom's relatives still living there, and given financial restraints, I limited my gift-giving to mainly nieces/nephews and a few Aunts/Uncles I knew were going to be helping to take care of my family and I. How you go about buying what type of pasalubongs for your relatives is strictly up to you, but I suggest going about it in a practical manner. Factor in your budget and make sure it's something that won't take up too much room and weight in your luggage. The latter being key.

I also had to think about how much luggage I was allowed (know your baggage limits, sizes, and weight before packing) and what gear (if any) I wanted to bring. I know I didn't want to make it difficult for us to be mobile because we had two kids with us and a few long layovers. In the Philippines it's not mandatory for children to be in car seats (though some stores do sell them) or any type of restraint when riding in cars. Scary, right? Especially, when you see how people drive there. 

Many friends who've traveled there with their kids warned us this and assured us that we wouldn't need it. I was fairly certain we'd be fine, but nothing is guaranteed. If anything happened to my kids while there, I'd never forgive myself. Especially, when I could easily have prevented an injury or lessened its severity. It made for an easy decision. We brought Micron's rear-facing car seat and bought this booster (a steal at Walmart) for Micro. We fit the booster seat comfortably in our travel bag for Micron's car seat, so everything was in one bag. There was no additional cost to bring this bag on the airline since it contained car seats. 

The first two days we didn't use the car seat/booster due to certain circumstances, and both kids had difficulty sleeping in the car when they were tired. It was not great for us either, because sitting in traffic for lengthy periods of time with two kids slouched all over you is uncomfortable. Once we began using the car seat/booster, the kids were able to sleep comfortably during car rides. We did have a dedicated driver and SUV while there. 

Mr. Fliz totally uncomfortable

In terms of what we brought to keep the kids occupied on the plane. That was a more difficult matter. Visit the travel sites listed on my blog roll for ideas. I learned that bringing a coloring book doesn't bode well for airplane rides. My toddler wanted to take out all 3 crayons I brought at the same time and they continued to roll off the tray. I was not fond of having to search underneath seats and bags to look for them. Had I brought more crayons, it would've been a disaster. Clearly my eldest was not into coloring and my youngest had no interest in coloring in the book, but rather the tray. I brought 2 books each for my kids to enjoy, and that killed about 20 minutes. 

The portable DVD player and iphone did more to keep my kids interested for longer periods of time. Don't think hours, think in increments of 10 to 15 minutes. My son received a leapster 2 that had a few games on it which helped a lot. This time around, I didn't have time to (nor did I want to) purchase additional toys--especially after receiving a slew of them from the holidays--to surprise the kids with on the plane. HOWEVER, during Christmas shopping, I bought several CARS 2 toys that my son wanted, but held off giving them all on Christmas. I reserved two for our trip as "last resort" rewards to keep him in line. It worked.

My daughter was the hardest to keep entertained. She was at the time, 16 months old, and only interested in walking and talking. There have been no toys (except for musical ones, and those aren't appreciated on an airplane full of people who just want to sleep) she's shown any particular fondness for. Best we could do, was allow her her freedom.

Micron--one of the few times she fell asleep

When traveling with infants or young toddlers, getting the bulkhead seating is a huge plus. You have the option to use the bassinet (which attaches to the wall) for your baby and there's ample room for the kids. No worries about them kicking the seat in front or needing walking/crawling space. Unfortunately, our daughter barely fit in the bassinet, but that was ok, because she didn't like it anyway.

This has been too long a post. So I'll stop here for now. Should my mama brain come back and realize I forgot a few key things, I'll write it in another post. But as I've said before, the web is crawling with travel advice for trips with kids, just do your best to research beforehand. Remember, traveling is rarely always smooth, so for those trying moments, take deep breaths. 

Micron contemplating his next airplane ride. I hope I instill in both my kids a sense of adventure throughout our travels.