Our tiny little
family has been on the go since K’s arrival just over a year ago. With a med
student (now resident) for a daddy we have had a lot of practice living out of
suitcases. In fact, the past year featured over three months of us living
places other than home! And while this may have been a nightmare for routine
development (that we continue to pay for), K has become pro at sleeping just
about anywhere (so long as he has his trusty pack and play and snuggly
blanket). So when planning what to do for D’s final break before residency, we
decided to give a jet setting, ferry-boating, rocky-mountain driving adventure
a try (and boy was it an adventure)! While this trip, by no means, makes us an
authority on travelling with a toddler, I’d like to think that our making it
home with everyone in one piece grants us access to the super cool exclusive Have Baby Will Travel Club! As one of
the newest members of this is super exclusive club (be jealous), I would like
to share with you a few things learned while obtaining this elite membership.
Flying with a toddler:
1. Pray for at
least one vacant seat on the plane. The person lucky enough to be the third in
your row will take it from there (i.e. spy it and ask to be moved- in our case
this took approx .6s).
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| Baby Avioner |
2. Flight
attendants like flirty toddlers. Flirting early on in the flight allows for a blind-eye
to be turned/or funny-face making assistance when dealing with the inevitable
toddler crankiness later in the flight. It also gains your whole entourage
extra cookies at snack time, score! (And yes, I called “in-flight refreshments”
snack time… haha).
3. Pack more
wipes than you think you will need (then add a few more). You never know when
you will have to manage a 9/10 poop-tastrophe mid flight that will leave you
wipeless (and fearful of the wrath of every bite of food consumed by your tiny
human for the remaining 3hrs of flight).
4. Don’t spend
any extra energy worrying about the other passengers on the plane. You will
need every ounce of it to come up with new entertaining activities that can be
done with the limited number of resources at your disposal
(toys/Tupperware/napkins/plastic cups/TV buttons). It is surprisingly draining
to come up with activities that can be done in 1ft by 0ft radius. Besides everyone
loves to tell their epic story about that nightmare plane ride they had with
that 1 year old, you don’t want to deprive anyone of that experience, nor do
you want to be the reason Mr. Big Shot Financial can’t one-up his buddy at the
bar.
Ferrying with a toddler:
1. Find the
children’s play area, and then take solace in knowing that, like at any
playground, your child will not be the worst behaved. Also, take a few moments
to bask in the adorableness of your toddler interacting with other kids. K has
a real thing for “older” women, he had a 6 year old wrapped around his little
finger- and scored some exclusive toy truck playtime out of it!
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| Chillin' on the smoker's deck |
2. If you find
yourself with a sweet view and minimal wind while out on deck- you’re probably
in the smoking section (in this case, it’s best to take the baby back inside
D).
3. Wait until
the final “call for passengers to return to vehicles”. We still had plenty of
time to get back, and it beat having K all strapped in his seat with nowhere to
go (since lets just say K’s “singing” leaves a little (earmuffs) to be
desired)!
Roadtripping with a toddler:
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| All smiles in the car |
1. Just do it!
The good thing about toddlers is that they all seem to have vehicle-induced
narcolepsy.
2. Having a
toddler along for the ride also kept us on top of stretching and meal breaks.
This kept us feeling good!
3. Find a hotel
chain you like, and stick with it! Also, when selecting a hotel, look at the
floor plan to ensure there is a playpen-sized alcove (unless you want to “hit
the hay” at the same time as your 15month old). Entranceways double
surprisingly well as a baby’s room. For us this was the Holiday Inn Express
(bonus: includes a free full breakfast every morning). Our only regret is not
joining the loyalty program as we stayed there four different times (dang).
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| Kelowna at Sunset |
Overall we flew
a total of 6056 km and drove approx 1570 km with our little man in tow. We had
a great time and would highly recommend a trip to through the Rockies to anyone
looking for breathtaking vistas and family fun adventure (note: it could
definitely be done much less G-rated for all you single and/or childless and/or
too cool for PG-school people- you know who you are). We will remember this
trip forever, in fact, when we are old and grey and living with dementia, there
is a good chance that this trip is where I will believe myself to be (and I wholly
look forward to that).
Until next time
my friends,
It looks like you have a pro traveller already - which is great. I think teaching kids to sleep anywhere is a skill that serves everyone well! I did sports growing up and got very good at sleeping on busses, planes, in airports, sitting down, through noise - you name it. My husband wakes up to anything. Me? Unless it's my kid screaming (there's something about that as a mother), I'm out.
ReplyDeleteAnd in small world things - we've also flown both our kids out to Kelowna (last year for a wedding). Our youngest was about a month old and our eldest was 3. It went well. Key to flying with kids is prep and distractions!