10 hour plane ride and stay abroad... any tip?

I think I posted a few months ago... We're going to Paris in June to see my family. We ended up getting flights with a stop, not what I wanted but it was MUCH cheaper... but now we're looking at a 13 hour trip (probably 14 if you count the ride to the airport).

Any tip to survive it? We got the kids mobigos that they won't get until the trip... I'm thinking of taking their backpacks with us and put those in them, plus snacks, crayons, color books etc... although I know they'll be bored with those pretty fast probably... bad idea? Should I just buy a bigger handbag for me and put everything in there? (I need to buy a bigger handbag anyway!). The first stop is one hour so we won't have time to do much, but the next one is 3 hours and I'm dreading it.

Any kind of tips from mom who's been there, done that, would be greatly appreciated. We're staying at my sister's so at least that's taken care of.

 

What airport is your three hour stop at? I pleasently discovered that a lot of airports have play areas now!
Also my girls were 4 when we first travelled abroad, not as long of a total trip, but we had three lay-overs and short flights. There were so many things that facinated them in the airport that the lay-over was not at all difficult. I really don't think you should dread the layover. It was a chance for them to get to see so many things, the planes out the big glass windows, the trams that transport people from gate to gate, artwork in the airport, even the shops and food courts were interesting--but we are kind of small town bumpkins so they had never even been to a mall before that.


On my last trip I saw these really cool kid carry-on bags that are hardsided ride ons for making connections!

This is not it but also cool http://www.rideoncarryon.com/

This is the one I saw http://www.trunki.com/

 

Yeah I was thinking about those, but the reviews are pretty bad on amazon

 

When we were traveling at Christmas we saw a ton of kids on those ride on things at the airport. They all seemed to be doing really well, but I think your kids would have to be the right size for them.

 

We went on a 20 hour trip when my girls were 7 months that was brutal. We also did a much shorter trip to Hawaii (8 hours) when they were 15 months. The layovers were definitely the easiest part! The hardest part was to entertain them for hours on end in a tiny seat.

We're going to Hawaii in a few weeks again (wahoo!) and I'm hoping things will be easier now that they are older and have their own seats. I don't think I'll bring that much stuff on the plane because my girls are so distractable that I don't think they'd play for long periods of time with any toys. I am planning on bringing a portable DVD player, headphones and my laptop with toddler games on it. And snacks - lots of snacks. I'll let you know how it goes!

Are you planning on bringing their carseats on the plane? I've been debating this - it'll be a pain to carry them around the airport, but it might be worth it to have them strapped in as being strapped in calms them down. Plus, they're used to napping in the car, so I'm hoping they might nap in the plane a bit...

 

We're not bringing car seats, it's illegal to use US seats in Europe anyway, so we were not going to bother. I was looking at CARES harnesses but they'll be pretty much too big for them by then. We're renting car seats there - which I really HOPE will be big enough - the only options on their site are boosters for kids over 40lbs, and convertible seats for kids under 40lbs and 40 inches... and my kids will be under 40lbs and probably 40 inches by then. So I hope it's big convertible seats and that their shoulders will not be under the top harness slot...

 

I'm suprised the trunki's got bad reviews, all the kids I saw on them last July seemed to LOVE them, even some who looked too big. My son was with with and after intently watching one little boy with one he tried to climb onto my regular wheeled carry-on.

 

We've been doing the whole abroad thing for the past three years since my twins were 9 months old. We live in Japan and travel to see family in the states and other countries on average about 3 times a year. My advice for the long plane ride would be to bring one big bag full of stickers, books, little toys, art supplies, etc that they have never seen before and then dole them out as needed. Same goes for snacks. Pick ones that they think will be a real treat and do the same thing. I would also bring at least one change of clothing for each passenger. Also, if you have them, my girls love their iPads and iPhones. I usually load new shows and apps that they have never seen before on beforehand and they literally are entertained for hours! If you can, I would try and keep them awake (if they still nap), so they will hopefully sleep on the plane. For us, the long plane rides have never been too much of a problem, it is the jet-lag that is a killer. Getting them on the new time zone will be the most challenging! I would definitely put them on Paris time as soon as possible even if that means keeping them awake when they are brutally tired. During the "sleeping times" I would avoid car rides or stroller rides, keeping them as entertained as possible. I'm sorry to say, but it could take a while. For one of my girls, she adapts right away, but the other ... ha ha, sometimes it takes 2 full weeks to get her back on track! Anyway, that is just my two cents! You can do it believe me. It's tough, but doable!

 

We've done two trips to Italy since the boys were born. They were 9 months old the first trip. The second trip they were 3.5 and Annabella was 22 months old. You can do this!! Our trip to Italy the first time was a total of 24 hours. We were in Rome for a good five hours before our next plane took off. That was a two plane trip to Italy. Our second trip to Italy with three kids was a good 30 hours total. That was three plane rides! We went from Hartford, CT, to Pennsylvania, to Rome, to south Italy. We survived though!

The Mobigos-I would honestly give them to them about a week prior or so-so they can get accustomed to them. We got the boys Leapsters for Italy, and we gave them to them prior to so they could learn the controls/games, etc. They each had their own backpack that I STUFFED with stuff(I'll admit-it was too much...lol). They had snacks galore, crayons, coloring books, those giant pages from the look-n-find books, stickers, playdoh, matchbox cars, arts-n-craft stuff. I went to Michaels and looked for things in the discount areas. Or the Target $1 bins.

While we were in PA and Rome, we walked around the airport, they watched the planes, videos(do you have a portable DVD player-I would highly recommend one!), played their Leapsters, ate, etc.

Honestly-take it all in stride! Have no expectations-and things tend to go better in my experience! Tire them out in the airport and maybe they will nap on the plane for you. When we left PA, it was bedtime, so in theory they were to sleep on the plane. It's not comfortable for me, and certainly not for them. So-they got VERY little sleep on the plane. I think, no more than 2 hours of sleep in over 30. They were good though. As soon as we got in the car and in their seats, they passed out. They slept until NOON the next day.

As for carseats, dh's mom got word around that we were coming and was able to get three carseats(sooo not up to our standards here lol), as well as pnp's, etc.

Good luck and have fun!

If you have any more questions, pm me or ask here!