Well, we finally did it and I can safely say 14 months old is certainly NOT the best age for long haul air travel! The cheeky monkey decided to learn to walk during our travels and so during our five hour lay over in Chicago all he did was run around the airport non stop! He ran into areas he wasn't allowed, stole some guy's phone, unplugged one kid's Nintendo DS and tried to run off with one lady's suitcase.
Flying with a kid is certainly a lot different than flying without. Usually I'd watch at least two films on the way to the USA but with little J constantly turning my screen on and off it took me nearly 4 hours to watch one film. And if you thought it was difficult to eat your dinner on one of those tray tables normally, try doing it with a small child on your lap who insists on sharing it all with you.
In the last three weeks we have been on 5 flights, two 5 hour bus journeys and two 4 hour car journeys. The boy has coped pretty well considering and we have learnt a few things along the way that I thought I would share with you.
1. Sticking to normal routine was really helpful. I was dreading how Josiah would handle jet lag and sleeping in weird places. We managed to book flights that worked well around his nap time, took his teddy bear and used breast feeding him to sleep as my ultimate sleep aid. (Breast feeding during take off and landing also stopped him from yelling due to his ears popping.) During the travel, I kept to his usual nap routine according to UK time and then when we got to USA I kept him awake until his normal bedtime by USA time. The result was he slept all the way through the night from day one instead of waking up at 2am like I expected.
On the way home we had an over night flight and little J was awake for all but the last hour of it! We arrived in Heathrow at 8am all looking pretty shocking and red eyed. Even though we all just wanted to sleep, we instantly reverted to normal UK routine and went for breakfast. We kept Josiah awake until the start of our 5 hour bus journey home which nicely coincided with his usual nap time. We all slept on the coach home but were still so tired when we got home that we had no trouble falling asleep at our usual UK bedtimes.
2. Take plenty of snacks. We all get grumpy when we're hungry right and eating is a great way to cure boredom too. I took what I thought would be way too many snacks and the boy munched through them all. Don't give too much sugar to a small child confined on a plane though! On car journeys I found the best snacks were ones he can feed himself (bananas, fruit pouches, oaty bars) to save keep reaching over to him.
3. Book 'sky cots' way in advance. We were told to just ask when we checked in. When we got there we found there was only one sky cot available on our flight of over 200 people and it had already been booked! If you're wondering if your child is able to use a sky cot, they are usually fine up to 24lbs, but check with your airline to be sure.
4. Pick the right airline. During our travels we flew with three different airlines. Before having kids all airlines seemed much alike to me apart from some having slightly better movie choice. This time around I noticed a massive difference.
British Airways gave us seats near the front and over to the side so we had more space. They even moved the lady who was supposed to sit next to us so Josiah had his own seat. As soon as we arrived at the gate they ushered us through to priority boarding and got us on ahead of everyone else. US airways were equally good at allowing us to board early and offered us sandwiches for Josiah even though we hadn't paid for a seat for him.
American Airlines however, really don't know how to handle kids! No announcement that passengers with kids under 5 years old can board first (though when we did push to the front on the recommendation of another passenger the lady did let us through). Our seats on both flights were shockingly bad. First flight we were right at the very back, furthest away from any fire exits and last to get off. The engine noise was really loud and we were totally unable to hear any announcements (not sure they even did a safety briefing!). The second flight was an 8 hour over night flight and for some reason they decided the best place to seat a wriggly one year old would be in the middle of a row of 5 people so he can annoy not only his parents but several passengers either side. The poor guy next to me was trying to sleep and Josiah was trying to lean over and poke him and work out what the face mask he was wearing was all about. The seats all had TV screens in the back and Josiah wanted to lean over and see what the other passengers were watching too. It was a very looooong flight!!
Next time we fly I will definitely ask for more details about where our seats are when we check in and try to switch if needed. To find out about the layout of your flight and the best seats for your family, you can use this handy little site.
Despite all the challenges of travel with a little one, we did have a great time. Little J had all kids of adventures - riding tractors, chasing puppies, meeting new friends, staying out past bedtime and running around getting used to the freedom of walking. It was definitely worth the effort :)
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