Things I've Learned from Traveling Internationally with Children

Oh the joys of traveling internationally with children and the jet lag that ensues. I think it's wise to have very low expectations, to be extremely flexible and adaptable, and for grace to abound. And to remember that the cranky kids and the sleepless nights will come to an end and in the end it's all worth it.

I think the hardest part of traveling with children though is everything that happens before you get to your gate. You just have ALL of your stuff - your suitcases, your carry ons, the stroller, etc, and once you check your bags, you then have security, which entails unpacking all your stuff you had just packed that morning, and taking your shoes off and your coat off, all while wearing a baby, and then having to pack everything back up, put your shoes back on and your coat back on and that baby back on. It's just complicated and I dread it every single time. But once you're through security, everything after that just feels easy.

The flight over here wasn't bad at all. We departed Seatac around 1:30 PM and flew straight to Amsterdam. We were incredibly blessed with a row of four seats. Jack had his own seat this time around and Ryan was on my lap, but once the plane took off, I was able to put Ryan in his own seat. It was so nice to have my lap if even for a short time. The flight to Amsterdam was about 10 hours, and I know some of you may be thinking that is SUCH a long flight with two kids, but honestly, I'd take a long flight over a shorter one any day. It allowed us to truly get settled in as we knew we would be there awhile! And it also allowed the kids to sleep a bit.

And they did really good for the most part. Jack watched a few movies, behaved himself for the most part, and finally fell asleep about an hour or two before we landed. So he was an absolute mess when we woke him up to get him buckled in for landing, and he proceeded to whine/cry for the next 30 minutes (or maybe longer) while we landed and taxied on the runway. It felt like a lifetime, but I suppose it could have been worse. I just kept saying, "I know...you're just exhausted" hoping that would excuse his behavior while I tried desperately to calm him down. Ryan was a little bit more work and required a little bit more entertaining, but that's just his age. He's such a wiggle worm these days and wants to be everywhere at once. But when we got off the plane in Amsterdam, I was so relieved! I turned to Peter and said "We did it!" The longest and hardest part of our journey was over. I assumed the rest would be easy.

And I was right. We had a two hour layover, which flew by and then our next flight took us from Amsterdam to Dublin, and it wasn't even a two hour flight. But somehow Jack managed to sleep nearly the whole flight. That kid was exhausted! As was Ryan, but that kid just wanted to take everything in and smile at everyone rather than close his eyes and sleep. And before we knew it we had landed in Dublin and Peter's sister Ruth was awaiting our arrival and all we had left of our long journey was a 2 hour drive to Belfast. As far as I was concerned our journey to Ireland was more or less finished and the next journey we would embark on would be adjusting to the 8 hour time difference. But the jet lag journey deserves it's own post for another day. As far as I'm concerned, jet lag is a beast that takes far too long to tame and for the ease of international travel, I wish it didn't exist, but alas it does.

Here are nine things I've learned from traveling internationally with children.

1. Book a flight pattern with a LONG flight and by long I mean more than 6 hours. I love LONG flights and I'm perfectly happy to do a direct flight to Amsterdam or London every time if that's an option and a reasonable price as a 10 hour flight vs a five hour flight provides you with more opportunities for the kids to sleep and more movie time for the parents. You guys, I somehow managed to watch three movies, from start to finish.

2. Even better, book a LONG evening flight. An evening flight is probably more ideal than an afternoon flight, but again, only if that's an option and a reasonable price. We would have had to pay a couple hundred extra to leave at 6 PM, so we passed on that option, but if money wasn't an option, we'd book the evening flight. Again, increases the probability that the kids will sleep and more movie time for the parents.

3. Pack your carry on wisely. I thought I had, but realized after the fact that I packed WAY too much stuff for them on the flight over and there were quite a few things we didn't even touch like blankets and toys and books.

4. The little screen on the back of the chair will be your best friend. Announce to your toddler that today there is no limit to screen time! Your toddler (and everyone else on the plane for that matter) will benefit from the additional screen time said toddler will get. It's okay if he watches 2 movies in a row. It's not the end of the world and tomorrow is a new day!

5. Little wrapped gifts may be a waste of time? I had wrapped up a bunch of little presents for Jack to unwrap as the flight went on. And if I'm incredibly honest, he wasn't all that intrigued by them and they didn't really entertain him for all that long. I won't be doing that again.

6. Test out Benadryl or drowsy medicine before you fly. We had bought some Benadryl for Jack to take for the plane in hopes of making him drowsy. And he was sick before we left, so I gave it to him a few times at night time, and let me tell you, it had the opposite effect on him and actually made him hyper.

7. Bring our own car seats. This is something we have never done, but we will definitely do this next time in order to save everyone the hassle. The car seats are different here, which seems strange to me just because every country has car seats and I just imagine that they'll be just like ours, but they're different I tell ya! The brands might be similar, but the make of the car seat is actually different.

8. And bring a stroller. We never use to travel with one, but now that we have two kids, it's glorious to have one at the airport so that you can strap one kid in and wear the other.

9. And lastly, extend grace to your kids and to yourself. And know that patience and flexibility goes a long way during your travel journey and when you arrive.

And that's all I have for now folks. I'm sure I'll learn even more things after our journey home.