Tips for Travelling Alone with Young Children!

As any parent who travels solo with their children can attest, you need a plan!  This week, our resident travel-mommy extraordinaire, Amy, was kind enough to share some of her secrets for a successful and minimally stressful trip; as a parent who routinely travels solo cross-country by plane with her two children (ages 4-years and 21-months), she knows the tricks of the trade! Check out her pointers below!

My Survival Bag for Travelling Alone with Young Children:

We try to be local and organic most of the time so a plane ride for my kids is a HUGE treat. Once or twice a year makes a little junk food, TV, and toys okay in my mind, and it makes the travelling part of the trip something they really look forward to! Below is a list of the items I won't leave home without:

• 2 empty sippy cups.
• Snacks, snacks, snacks snacks. Salty snacks to load up the kids before takeoff so the younger one wants to drink – helping his ears equalize. Each snack comes out once, until they’re bored with it then goes away. When you’re desperate, pull out the big guns – tootsie pops.
• Veggie snacks for some nutrition.
• Treat snacks for the last couple of hours.
• Change of clothes for both kids.
• 2 backpacks (so each has something to dig in and pull items from).
• Paper back books – hit a scholastic book fair – gold mine! Most are too old for my son, but I just make up the words and he loves it. 
• Hole puncher and card stock and shoelaces for the 4 year old - she makes her own threading cards. Best part is is that she loves to make them and he loves to undo them!
• Triangle crayons – God’s gift to plane flights. THEY DON’T ROLL!!
• ITouch – there are so many great books, movies, and apps for the ITouch. Just make sure to get child friendly earphones. Adult ones aren't regulated and kids can hurt their sensitive ears.
• For my 21-month old son I’ve wrapped items in a bag (like little presents); little cars wrapped in way too much paper that take a while to open are great for keeping little hands and minds occupied!
• Sticker books – look for movie promotions – the Cars2 movie is coming out and our local supermarket had them on sale for 1.99.
• Baby Magna doodle.
• Small ringed notebooks.

And for more great ideas for how to keep your sanity when you get there, click here…

Safe and happy travels!

-Destination Mom