Despite how much we travel, I dread travel days. I’m an anxious flyer, I’m susceptible to extreme jet lag, I have trouble sleeping on planes, and I’m always afraid we will get sick! Despite all this, I have tricks to make travel days awesome less awful, and more enjoyable 😉 While most of these tips pertain to air travel, many are applicable to long road trips as well!
Screen Time
Our kids don’t spend much time on screens, but I make an exception on airplanes. We take breaks to do sticker books, and play games, but because I am an anxious flier, if our kids are happy on screens, I can watch a movie, which helps me relax. I ALWAYS travel with downloaded content. Our children find many of the inflight movies scary, so I ensure I have their favorite shows and movies pre-loaded on a tablet. If your children are sharing a device, buy a headphone splitter. Also- Make sure you know what headphone jacks are on the plane. Not having the right headphones when your kids DO want the in-flight content is an unwelcome surprise.
Make travel days more enjoyable by having what you need! Read this to find out what I pack in our kids’ carryons. For the under 18 months crew- check out my friend’s guide at Hey Terra Travel
Food
We love sugar and junky foods from time to time, but I do not give our kids these foods on airplanes. It’s unfair to their bodies to feed them crud when they need to sit for 12 hours. I pre-pack snacks that don’t need to be refrigerated, or I bring a soft cooler. Our staples are carrot sticks, pbj sandwiches, apples, cheese sticks, hummus, hard-boiled eggs, jerky, dried fruits, pretzels, or nuts. I make travel days more enjoyable by picking foods that keep our bodies nourished.
Medication for Mama
I do not consume alcohol or caffeine on the flight, nor do I take medications that would make me tired. Flying is hard enough; I don’t need uppers/downers to make it more challenging. Water is my best friend. I often bring herbal tea or an immunity/electrolyte tablet to enjoy something besides plain water. I take resveratrol to offset the radiation from the plane. The plane radiation contributes to the post-flying funk. Taking anti-oxidants helps!
Schedules
To make travel days more enjoyable, I keep our children on their schedule. If our flight departs at noon, 6-7 hours later, they are getting ready for bed (even the 11-year-old!). A rested child is a happy child. The same goes for babies. I also like to take breaks for some family chair yoga. Moving our bodies together is fun, even for just a few minutes.
My favorite Sleep Accessories
My favorite sleep accessories for planes are:
The Plane Pal. I LOVE this thing. I have tried the knock-offs and I promise they aren’t the same. Read the list of approved airlines before buying!
The Yogasleep Hushh travel noise machine – Nothing is worse than when the flight attendants come by with the drink cart just after your little one has fallen asleep. With this noise machine, your child won’t hear a thing. It’s small and the noise is low and perfect.
Sleep Hack:
Create a tent by pinning a light blanket to the seats. The less visual stimulation your sleeping child has, the better. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of this set up but it works so well. It keeps your little one sleeping when all the lights come back on! Now that our children are older, we have also started using sleep masks but our four-year-old would prefer the tent!
Relationships
Our kids do well on travel days because they know what to expect. We don’t bribe them, threaten them, or trick them. We honor their feelings, we spend time connecting with them, they know they can trust us and we’ve got their backs. You will get into trouble if you are in an “us vs them” dynamic with your kids OR YOUR PARTNER. The most successful days are when everyone is on the same team! Travel is stressful; please show them and yourself some empathy.
For more tips, check out our post on Traveling with Young Children!
To make travel days more enjoyable, slow down, allow plenty of time for everything, take deep breaths, and have what you need for success!
