I recently travels with 3 kids ages 4 and across country. Below I share my tips on how I kept them entertained (with minimal screen time) and avoided meltdowns.

Mission:

MISSION: Travel from Los Angeles, CA to Philadelphia, PA with 3 children ages 4, 2, and 10 months old.

DURATION OF MISSION: Destination Flight: Flight 1 – 3h 27 min. Layover – 1H 45 min. Flight 2: 2H 3 min. Visit: 5 Days, 4 Nights Return Flight: Flight 1 – 5h 15 min. Layover 50 min. Flight 2: 1h 25min

A post shared by Melanie Darnell (@fitmomma4three) on May 14, 2018 at 11:35am PDT

Nowadays, there’s a universal standard procedure to get ready for airplane travel. Pack light, bring a book or something to work on, maybe a snack or two, and make sure you have your wallet. Of course there’s security, but let’s be honest, as soon as you get through that it’s pretty much smooth sailing from there. All you have to do is sit and wait for the plane to be ready to board. But what about when you add KIDS to that equation? In addition to making sure you have everything you need, how do you keep small children happy and busy during a long flight?? Read on to learn about how I prepared for flying across the country with 3 small children!

Perspective and Mindset:

After successfully flying with Milo back in January when he was 7 months (check out my tips on my YouTube on how to travel with a baby: Part 1 and Part 2), and flying with Olive and Sage over the years, I had an idea of what to expect for our trip. However, regardless of those trips, I had never traveled with ALL 3 KIDS – and not to mention by myself! Naturally, I was a bit nervous, but I felt ready to take on this challenge!! It’s all about perspective and mindset. Though it sounds relatively simple and straightforward, having a positive and realistic mindset about your travels can have such a wonderful impact on the experience for you and your kids. That’s not to say it will be relaxing for you (you can pretty much guarantee to be exhausted by the end), but seeing it as an adventure is crucial to being able to adapt and go with the flow. Overall, my kids did great, no epic meltdowns, screaming, or being reprimanded be strangers. And honestly, I can say with 100% confidence that the planning and preparation I did, approaching our travels with realistic expectations, communicating those expectations to my children, and combined with flight time coordination with sleep schedules had a huge positive impact on our trip.

My mom flew with us from LA to Philly, and my sister flew with me from Philly to Phoenix (flight 1 of our return flight). But our last leg from Phoenix to LA I was riding solo. To make this work, I knew I had to be prepared.

Here’s a few things I packed, along with some tips and tricks that helped make the trip go as smooth as possible!

What to Pack

• Suitcase:
  • LOVE the @dakine split roller suitcase. The individual sections on the inside make it a breeze to pack all the clothes for yourself and the kiddos in one bag.
• Car/Car Seats:
  • We rented a minivan at our destination and with the car rental rented 2 carseats. That way we only needed to travel with one convertible travel car seat case. We opted for the J.L. Childress Ultimate Backpack Padded Car Seat Travel Bag – $36 on amazon for our travels due to its price point and light weight.
  • FYI you can check a carseat for free at the ticket counter
  • If you are traveling with an infant I recommend traveling with your infant carseat and stroller and gate checking both items before boarding.
• Stroller:
  • I like to travel with a stroller and the @ergobaby carrier. The stroller (while a minor pain to get through security) makes it easy to carry things and kids through the airport. I gate check stroller before boarding the plane. Traveled with my @uppababy vista, love the large basket to hold bags through the airport.
• Food/Snacks:
  • Packing snacks for the plane is essential but the trick is to try and think of things not ‘too messy’. I packed @foragerproject yogurt (say it’s for the baby to get through security, if you have a baby), applesauce pouches, raw carrot sticks, banana, seaweed, clementines, @larabars, @mammachia pouches, White bean and Kale sandwiches, @lovegrown Power O’s in @munchkininc container.
    

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• Travel Activities:
  • We packed age appropriate travel activity boxes for each kid. The boxes included legos, magnets, pipe cleaners/beads, paper/stamps/stickers/crayons, play dough, small building games, threading for Milo.

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• Diaper Bag:
  • Diapers/wipes, change of clothes, nursing cover, wet bag (for dirty or soiled clothes)

Tips & Tricks

• Add responsibility: I had the bigger kids be responsible for their own carry on. Small backpack for my daughter (2) and a small roller for son (4). They felt empowered and responsible. Their carry ons contained their activity boxes along with their lovey and/or blankie. We packed a tablet for my son along with headphones.
• Stretching/Exercise During Layovers: Of course we had to fit in some exercise on our layovers! Even just a little bit of movement can really make a difference and give us a chance to get the blood pumping after sitting still in a plane for hours. Make it fun – the kids will love it and I promise with all those endorphins being released you’ll feel better too!!
• Set expectations: Explain to your children the process of traveling, prepare them for the trip, the airport process, airplane courtesy and explain the why. I approached it as a team effort, explaining mommy can’t do this trip alone and I need their help. I think feeling empowered and bearing responsibility helped them remember their listening ears throughout the trip.
• Coordinate travel with Sleep Schedules: Try to travel around their natural sleep schedule

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• Explain safety: I went over the importance of staying close to mommy and holding hands. We also reviewed things like my first and last name and who to look for if we were to get separated.
• Accept help! Good Samaritan award goes to the nice couple that helped me carry Olive off the plane at our final destination. This was the leg of the trip in which I was flying solo with 3 kids from Phoenix to LA. It was a late flight and both Milo and Olive were asleep before we even took off, I’m talking deep deep deep sleep. When we landed, I was unable to wake Olive up to walk off the plane. Since I had Milo strapped on in the @ergobaby carrier, the nice couple across the aisle offered to carry Olive for me. I accepted their offer. They waited with me for the stroller to arrive and placed Olive in the stroller for me. Olive and Milo never woke up.

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Ultimately, our trip was a success. Being prepared and having a positive mind frame was vital. I think if you go into the adventure with that mindset, it truly helps. Also, don’t worry about taking your time, making people wait with through the security line or getting on or off the plane. Slow and steady keeps that trip moving smoothly. But it was a relief to see Daddy waiting for us at baggage claim when we returned home. What are your best travel tips?