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5athome
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We will be on a long plane trip with three of our little ones -- any ideas on great diversions during the airplane ride?
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Mary G
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What ever you do, don't fly Luthansa -- when we flew back from Austria, they kept giving my then 3-1/2 yod candy and then couldn't understand why she was so hyper, loud and wouldn't sit still. Wheen we finally got her quieted down, she fell asleep and they made us wake her up as she had to sit up for landing. NOT a pretty picture. 
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5athome
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Mary:
Great - at least I know what to expect for our Lufthansa flights!  Did they show any movies or have movie screens on the seatbacks?
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Erica Sanchez
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Trying to think of things that would be small and easy to pack as well as quiet.....
I had read somewhere that a bag of pipe cleaners is great for keeping little hands busy - they can create lots of different "things" from them. What about pads of paper and pencils, those mini etch-a-sketch things, special snacks and juice or bottles of water....let's see, what else.....some of my little ones love putting stickers on paper....maybe a lotto or bingo game...my kids love tape and the littlest ones could spend a while simply putting tape on a piece of paper or cutting paper and taping all the pieces together - they would be absolutely thrilled to have their own tape dispenser!
Where are you going? Good luck!
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(dh)Cash, Emily, Grace, Nicholas, Isabella, Annie, Luke, Max, Peter, 2 little souls ++, and sweet Rose who is legally ours!
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Mary G
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| Posted: Oct 18 2005 at 6:43am | IP Logged
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5athome wrote:
Mary:
Great - at least I know what to expect for our Lufthansa flights! Did they show any movies or have movie screens on the seatbacks? |
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That depends on the equipment-type they've got on your flight. You can call and ask about amenities. Also DON'T stress about walking them up and down the aisles -- it helps them to move around a bit and the airlines are supposed to encourage movement (of cours, mine always want to race, , but if you can just walk them, no one minds).
The easiest is if you are heading into the night as they'll sleep (pretty much); just hold onto their food that the airline brings if they're asleep -- they'll want it when they wake up!
Also, you might request either kids meals or special diet meals (check with the airline) as the food is better and doesn't cost you anymore and the kids will eat it.
Good luck
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Karen E.
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My kids played a lot with Magnetix on our last car trip.
Mini white-boards/markers
Stickers and paper
Paper dolls
Little dolls, such as Pollys
We listen to a lot of books on tape in the car (esp. since one daughter tends to get carsick and can't read, write or draw in the car.) We also bring along headphones for some individual listening to books on tape, along with picture books and favorite music (and of course you'd have to go the headphone route on a plane.)
We rented (please don't throw anything at me) a portable DVD player so that the kids could watch The Incredibles and Blues Clues in the car. We didn't let them spend the whole day watching TV, but there were a couple of times I was very grateful for the rental ....
Also, check out this website for lots of ideas (geared to road trips, but lots can be adapted for air travel.)
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Kelly
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For long air trips, each of our children has their own back pack with lots of goodies especially for the trip. They can't open their ruck sacks until we're on the way. For the non-readers, I might include: stickers; small spiral bound notebooks; brand new gel pens; colored pencils & pencil sharpener; coloring books; paper stencils; small velvet pictures that come with pens (from the drug store, lots of good projects for the road, and cheap); magnetic chess or checkers;hand-held uno; a little tape recorder with earpiece and a few fun Barney type tapes-this is a big crowd-pleaser; wrap-ups; fandex (tho a little heavy); a couple of little books; travel puzzles. For the slightly older, you can augment this with battery-run hangman and monopoly, and paper back books.
I always find good, small, travel stuff at the drug store. Generally, I try to stick to projects that are self-contained, like the hand-held uno. My kids don't have any hand-held game things as a rule, or headsets, so getting these when we travel is a REAL treat.
I also always travel with Dimetapp, in case of colds or stuffiness, especially for takeoff or landing. Seems to help.
Oh, if you are traveling with up to age three, I HIGHLY recommend traveling with your own carseat. My children are so used to their carseat, it works as a nice comfort-zone on the plane (they're already used to sleeping in it!!!), and they're already used to it when you arrive and move it into a rental car. Yes, it's a hassle hauling around the airport, but well worth it the rest of the time. Once, we accidently left the carseat at customs, and had to endure the entire overseas flight sans carseat. It was miserable. The stewardess told us that we had to quiet the tired, wiggling, whining two year old because the other passengers (and I quote) "hated" us! It was a looong trip.
The best carrier we've flown, vis a vis children, is Air Austria. They really seem to like children (as compared to Delta, what a bunch of grumps) and my brother swears by Alitalia for general airline joie-de-vivre.
Kelly in FL
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guitarnan
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Kelly has some great ideas. I won't repeat our versions of them...but they do work.
One thing that has always helped us (my children are veteran trans-Atlantic fliers!) is to tell the children, no matter how young they are, what is going to happen at each stage of the flight. I used to start about 2 weeks before the trip. I'd describe the big airplane, the seats, the food, the tiny window, etc. I'd talk about how we had to stay in our seats, how we were going to eat dinner and go to sleep on the airplane, etc. Even a toddler will absorb some of this if you talk about it simply and do it several times over a 2-week period.
Some airlines have kid meals. Order them in advance. Plan to bring portable snack food because the children always get hungry at non-meal times (like landing!).
Virgin Atlantic gave our kids backpacks with a book, crayons, etc. and had kid-oriented meals. Rarity. They loved it.
One fellow passenger, many years ago, told me she had trained her children to change into pajamas, brush teeth, etc. She said it helped them settle down and fall asleep. It works!
Some European carriers require you to add a baby seat belt to your lap belt and strap it around an infant or toddler held on your lap. I found it annoying but you aren't given any choice; you have to use it.
We usually bring our umbrella strollers right up to the door of the airplane; the flight attendant can hand-check it and they will get it out for you just as you land/deplane. Great for racing to your next flight. Much, much easier than carrying babies or (even worse) heavy toddlers through the airport.
Some trans-Atlantic flights are really, really cold. Don't know why! Bring layers for the kids to wear (a pain, I realize, but necessary). Bring extra socks in case something gets spilled on the floor  so that your children will have dry feet. (My kids always, always take shoes off on planes...and everywhere else...)
Hope this helps. It'll be a challenge, but if you can teach them to handle long trips like this now, life will be great when they get a little older. (We've lived in Italy and driven all over Italy and Germany...kids did fine even on 12-hour trips...)
Oh, don't forget the Motrin...for you!
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MacBeth
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| Posted: Oct 18 2005 at 2:46pm | IP Logged
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guitarnan wrote:
Virgin Atlantic gave our kids backpacks with a book, crayons, etc. and had kid-oriented meals. Rarity. They loved it.
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Libby and Trip got these when they flew to the UK when they were 4 and 5. I tried to emulate these great backpacks no matter whether we were on a plane, rain, car, boat, wherever and however we travelled.
I also included disposable cameras (they loved these) and playing cards.
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5athome
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| Posted: Oct 18 2005 at 6:22pm | IP Logged
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Thank you for all the wonderful ideas! It has helped alleviate a bit of my apprehension for this trip. I know once we conquer the long flight it will be a great vacation.
(Erica, we are headed to Germany, Switzerland and France or as the children say Legoland, Playmobil and Disneyland)
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Topic: Best Travel Tips
