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
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