Flying with the tot

Schlepping our way through JFK

Well, we just got back from our cross country vacation. I of course am no expert at this, but I thought I’d share my thoughts on traveling with my one year old, beginning with flying.

I was told several times to keep my son in his stroller in the airport so I could bypass the long security line. This worked at LAX, but no such luck in Orlando. There, I was stuck in the long line, with everyone else, with a screaming child. I still had my carrier on, so I strapped little dude to me, but schlepping that stroller through the line was so cumbersome. When we left from JFK, I made the decision to check in my stroller with our cargo bags. Every airport & every attendant is different, but I will say I was rather impressed that morning with how helpful everyone was. One of the agents saw me carrying little dude in my Beco while pushing the stroller so she let us cut to the front of the line. We checked everything in & headed to security, where once again, we were ushered to the front of the line. Who needs a first class ticket when you have a baby, right?

As for the flight itself, Andrew did pretty well. We bought him his own seat for our own sanity. On the first two flights, he did not want to stay in his car seat & instead spent most of the flight cruising between the hubs and I. It was in that moment that I was very glad we coughed up the cash for his seat because it would’ve been crazy just trying to keep him off the random person in our row. Thankfully, he stayed in his seat for most of our return trip home to LAX. I brought some of his indestructible books. He loves the texture and I love how they are thin, yet hold up very well no matter if he crumples it up or decides to snack on it. I also brought one of his birthday gifts, some nesting bowls. I loved them since they collapsed onto each other, which made them perfect for travel.

He always loves playing with our laptops & iPads at home, so we brought both. He liked playing with a Fisher Price app, but I’m glad to say that I didn’t have to spend any money on apps since he was perfectly content swiping the screen on the iPad & pushing all the buttons on the laptop. As far as non- toys go, he was also perfectly happy playing with a plastic cup too.

Being one of the first people to board definitely helped. We also were the last to leave the plane since we had a bunch of stuff. The timing worked well. By the time we headed to baggage claim, our bags were already there.

I’m so glad that our first family trip was a success. The worst part of the flight was schlepping all the baby things through the airport and security, but I know it could’ve been worse!

How about you? Have you gone on a trip with your little one? How’d it go?