Long haul air travel with toddlers

Going on a long haul trip (as in 6h+ flight time) with a child aged 18 months to 3 years is probably one of the most challenging travel experience you can have as a parent. Obviously many of us do this but the difference between wanting to fling yourself off the plane and getting a few hours of sleep is all in the preparation. Check out some essential travel secrets for long haul trips with a toddler.

Here's our long-haul survival list (in order of keeping you sane)

#1 The most essential toy for air travel is a Doodle Pad. It's the most versatile, unmessy, imaginative and inexpensive toy you'll ever buy (you can get them for about $10). It's a true life saver as you can draw stuff, erase it and draw some more for quite a while. Most importantly you can use during take off / landing and when passing through turbulent weather (unlike some electronic gadgets).

Babies on planes

I used to hate them ... babies on planes. Yep – I confess. Now that I'm a dad things are different of course. I tend to feel a bit more empathetic towards the totally stressed out parents trying to calm them down. Although I haven't actually flown with my son yet I can see how it can be tough.

To start with, when is it safe to take a baby on a plane? I know parents who have taken their babies as soon as 2 weeks after giving birth (scary thought). I've heard from others that it's probably safe after 3 months? Who knows – I guess the various ages have their advantages and disadvantages. Early on obviously babies sleep a lot more ... given the monotonous sound of a plane engine, chances are that they just fall asleep. OR they freak out because something’s wrong with their ears (pressure, high-pitched frequencies that usually only dogs can hear, etc).

The ultimate dad test # 39 - stuck on a plane with a sick child

Like thousands of travellers across Europe I got caught out over the last few days with my travel plans completed disrupted. The difference for me was that I was on my way back from Spain picking up my 3 year-old who had just come down with gastroenteritis. I had just gone through the 5th nappy-change and second set of clothes as we were waiting for take off when the pilot announced that all airports in northern Europe were closed and we had to spend the night in the airport. So I thought OK ... if ever there was a "dad test" ... this is it.

Travelling business class with young children

I've been doing a bit of travelling recently and have noticed that airlines appear to have made some efforts at improving lounge services for travelling parents. A good example is Air New Zealand who feature dedicated "Kids Zones" in their business class lounges. So I checked out their kids room at AKL airport and it's actually quite good. They had lots of stuff for children of all ages. The selection of toys and possible activities was well thought out and provides a safe and clean environment to let the kids loose.

It's very common these days to see young children travelling with their parents in business class or using the lounges. So it makes sense to offer some entertainment for kids and relief for parents (and probably other people in the lounge). Nice to see that lounge environments are getting more kids friendly which makes it more socially acceptable to take kids along.

Plan the Best Family Holiday

Planning a family holiday that makes everyone happy can be real pain, especially when all the travel planning seem to fall one way, your way!
However planning the perfect family vacation is not pain as long as you know what everyone in your family enjoys from their holidays and what travel options are available for you have at your disposal. Before you start the planning process of for your family’s next trip, their are some great sites and just running simple search on the “best family holidays” should yield you some terrific family travel blogs and forums to help in gathering those ideas so you can build a great family vacation with the kids.

As many of the you may know I’m a father with two little nomads and understand the process required with creating a family trip that appeals to everyone, but with a little homework and planning you should be on your way to taking a great family holiday in a perfect destination that fits everyone needs.

DIYFather top 5 amazing transport videos

If you've got children who are totally fascinated by different types of transport ... check out our list of TOP 5 youtube transportation videos. We've compiled them here for easy access so you can watch them with the little ones and see how they react!

At number 5 - it's ... a high speed train coming out of a tunnel!

At number 4 - it's ... a truck convoy!

Daddy cool - travelling with toddlers, part 3

The last part of my mini series on travelling with toddlers is all about keeping your toddler entertained on those long haul flights. So we had 12 + 10.5 hours to get through in one go ... which is probably about the most extreme flying experience with a toddler you can have on planet earth. So I feel well qualified to sharing some tips and tricks.

Our little man is now 2 years old, which in our case means he is too young to fully appreciate the in-flight entertainment (which Korean Air doesn't even offer on all routes @#&*^@*&^#!!! so on some flights you are stuck with 2 inappropriate films which are shown on a big screen right in front of the bulk-head seats where you will most likely be sitting). But he's also old enough to want to be entertained non-stop.

So - here's the long-haul survival list (in order of keeping you sane)

Daddy Cool – Travelling with toddlers part 2

The second time I realized I’m definitely not the coolest traveling dad was when I came across the “Air-O-Swiss Travel Ultrasonic Humidifier” (you gotta love the name). It’s the latest must-have gadget for “keeping it fresh” while traveling. The Air-O-Swiss Travel Humidifier is a small device that humidifies a room (surprise) ... BUT here’s the cool feature: You can use just about any water bottle as a water tank. It also comes with a range of different plugs and adapters for most countries (you’d ever want to travel to). Finally with a slick and clean design it really is the iPhone of Humidifiers – perfect for creating a healthy micro-climate in your office when you’re not traveling (it’s also a great conversation starter or distractor for all those awkward HR conversations).

Where Are The Dads With Minivans?

I drive a Honda Odyssey minivan. I actually like it. Why shouldn’t I? Because it’s not manly? Please. It’s not like the 4 door Civic I drove last year, before getting the minivan, was any more manly. And I don’t care what car you’re driving, snot on your shirt and cheerios stuck to your pants are not going to be cool.

The minivan has leather interior, 5 CD changer, and doesn’t struggle when you drive up a hill with the AC on. It’s a shiny new car. So why is it so bad for a dad to drive one? I don’t get it.

When I pick up the Things at preschool every day, most of the cars are minivans. But I never, and I mean never, see dads driving them. Except me. Are all they all laughing behind my back? Or maybe they’re secretly jealous.

Those who serve, those who wait

Military men and women sacrifice much for their country... and so do their families. It’s been said that freedom isn’t free – and that’s true. Even the children of soldiers pay the price, as they experience the absence of their dad or mom, who is serving overseas.

As you watch this touching video, take a moment to remember all of our military families who sacrifice so much for our country’s freedom and safety.

Posted with permission from www.allprodad.com