Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand Aug / Sept 2017: The Kids & Family Issue | Page 50

TIPS FOR FLYING WITH YOUNG CHILDREN Flying long-haul to visit family and friends in far away countries is a significant part of expat life. While traveling with young children may not be the dream, there are ways to make it more enjoyable for your darlings and more bearable for you. by LIZ GRAY 1 ARRIVE EARLY Rushing through check in and security is stressful at the best of times, but throw a couple of babies, three-nagers or sassy seven-year olds into the mix and you might have yourself a high pressure situa- tion. If you usually get to the airport two hours in advance when travel- ing alone, consider making that two hours and 45 minutes or even three hours, leaving buffer time in case of spills, urgent bathroom calls or di- aper changes — or any number of events that pop up unexpectedly when traveling with kids. PACK FOR 2 WORST-CASE SCENARIO When packing hand luggage, it pays to have at least two extra outfits for them and a spare top for you. Pack more nappies than you think you’ll need and remember to take wet wipes, sick bags and some form of pain relief, be it naturopathic, ho- meopathic or pharmaceutical. (It wouldn’t be the first time a stom- ach bug, fever or flu presented itself on takeoff.) And if your child has an existing cold, their little ears may be 50 WANDERLUST quite painful with the change in air pressure so pain relief on takeoff and landing may be necessary. If they have a favorite toy or comforter, for- get it at your peril! TRAVEL 3 PREVENT BUGS According to John Gobbels, COO of Medjet Assist, commercial airlines are only required to deep clean their aircraft after 100-hours of flying, or every 30 days. Even then, it is often by third-party cleaning companies whose priority is a fast turnaround. Take matters into your own hands and travel with antibacterial wipes and hand sanitizer. As soon as you board, wipe down the tray tables and arm rests as well as the handles on the toilet door and toilet seat (especially if your child is a thumb sucker). And, if you have the opportunity to select your seats, always choose to sit up front, as air gets filtered from front to back. 4 SEATING ARRANGEMENTS If you’re traveling with two or more children, speak with them in advance about window versus aisle seats. See what each family mem- ber would prefer and try to map out your seating arrangement ahead of time. Though it won’t always be possible to make everyone happy, it could help to avoid in-flight bick- ering over who sits where, and an agreement reached beforehand lets the kids know that they can each get the chance at the coveted win- dow seat. If you’re a family of four with two kids, you could even book your seats so that you split the parents up in rows, meaning each child gets a win- dow seat the entire journey, with the added benefit of some one-on-one parenting time. 5 AIRBEDS Getting your child to sleep on the plane doesn’t have to mean fore- going 70 percent of your own seat. The Fly Tot is an inflatable cushion that allows your little one to lay down flat in economy, effectively trans- forming a seat into a bed. It takes just three minutes to inflate (using the pump included with purchase) and supports a maximum weight of 75 kilos. Best of all, the deflated Fly Tot cushion and the foot pump are light-weight at less than two kilos WWW.WANDERLUSTMAG.COM