Tips for Travelling with Kids Part 1 – Carry-on Luggage for Air Travel
At the moment on our Facebook page we have been having a great time reading and sharing lots of fantastic tips and advice from parents about travelling with children. Check out the brilliant posts and share your own too, feel free to leave a link to your post of just simply add your top tip in the comments below the photo pinned to the top of our Facebook page (further details are on our post from yesterday – Share Your Tips for Travelling with Kids).
The idea to start this discussion on Facebook came about as a result of a series of posts I am currently working on. We love to travel as a family and we have been lucky enough to visit many fantastic places over the years. As we have a number of trips coming up soon I thought that this would be a good time to share our tips for and our experiences of travelling with young kids. Part 1 in our series is all about carry-on luggage for air travel but to be honest our carry-on is almost exactly the same for when we travel by car, ferry, train etc.
Here’s what our carry-on luggage looks like at the moment with a 4y.o. and a 2y.o.
We also usually take a stroller, at the moment we are using our Quinny Buzz with a buggy board attached for Doodles, before this we used our all terrain twin buggy (which was huge but still accepted free of charge on all airlines), plus two car seats (usually the strollers are free and you pay for the car seats, on other airlines e.g. Aerlingus, you can take either a car seat or stroller per child for free and then pay extra if you need to take the other piece too). We used to take along a baby carrier too. We have a light weight fold up stroller but we rarely use it, I prefer to bring our full size buggy as it is far more comfortable.
Thankfully we no longer need nappy changing supplies, those days are gladly behind us! We used to take our usual changing bag, packed with lots of extra nappies and clothes and bottles, formula etc.
Our mini first aid and medicines pack contains:
- Calpol and Neurofen (children’s paracetemol and ibuprofen)
- Phenergen (Promethazine Hydrochloride – our son suffers really badly from travel sickness, this is an antihistamine and also helps with nausea and vomiting and works well for our son’s travel sickness – BUT check with your doctor first!)
- Asthma inhalers and medications for me and Doodles (due to the severity of my asthma in the past I always carry a full course of antibiotics and steroids prescribed by my doctor)
- Other prescription meds the children and I are prescribed.
- Plasters
- Antiseptic wipes
- Antispetic cream or spray
- Sunscreen
(We also pack a more substantial first aid and medicines kit in our checked luggage)
We try to limit our carry-on luggage to one bag for us all so as to minimize the hassle of boarding and disembarking with kiddies in tow. I always wear a small cross-body bag which holds all our travel documents – passports, tickets, boarding passes, insurance documents, European Health Insurance Cards, money etc.
Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? It’s not really, most items are small and compact and are well worth taking in my opinion for a smooth, relatively stress free journey!
I would love to hear your carry-on “must haves” and travel tips.
Posts in the series:
- Tips for Travelling with Kids, Part 1 – Carry-on luggage that will keep children happy!
- Tips for Travelling with Kids, Part 2 – Packing Tips and List!
- Tips for Travelling with Kids, Part 3 – General Tips & Ticks
Please share your tips in the comments below or link your posts about travelling with kids to our Facebook page and we will share them on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.
Happy Travelling
Ciara x
Linked to:
Our Little House in the Country 
Ciara, great list. I’ve shared on My Big Fat Happy Life’s facebook page
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Thanks Paris, that’s really great! Thank you too for sharing your link on my page! X
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Great list! I definitely agree with the first aid kit! Even if we don’t end up needing it, I always am glad to have something just in case. Pinned 😉
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Thank you Yuliya! Always great to be prepared!
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I am going to need all of this information soon! We are going on a trip on a plane for the first time with our kids in two months. It will be an adventure, but we’re excited!
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Hope you a great time and a safe trip! Prepare for the worst but to be honest it’s usually not that bad at all- I’ve probably just jinxed myself now! We have flown numerous times, relatively hassle/problem free but will be flying again next week!!!!! Lol ! Thanks so much for stopping by! 😀
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Awesome post. When my kids were younger we always added foam stickers which I allowed them to stick ANYWHERE (they come off easily). Phenergen has the opposite affect on my Miss5 so try it before you are on the plane! Happy travels
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It’s funny about the phenergan- It makes my daughter very hyper but thankfully she doesn’t need it, whereas it makes my son very dopey! Thankfully he is turning 5 so we can use more typical travel sickness remedies now. Love the foam stickers idea, must try on our next trip!
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The first time we flew our kiddos were 6 months and alongside the big stack of nappies and copious babygros we also had to carry formula which weighed a ton! Our next flight is in November and while we will still need nappies I’m so glad to not have to be carrying the milk – which of course will make space for colouring books, play dough, toy cars etc. I’m saving your list for when it’s time to pack!
Our last two trips have been to Disney World and we just took the littles in their baby carrier car seats and then rented a double buggy when we got there. This year we’re taking our two tippitoes strollers – of and the big kid car seats which could be interesting to carry! We fly with Virgin and they let you check a buggy and car seat per child. Last year we flew with a travel cot too (cheaper to buy one off ebay and leave it behind than to rent an additional cot while we were there!) – even though Miss E didn’t have a seat she did have a baggage allowance and the travel cot was checked in as her suitcase!
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Depending on the age of the kids, have each child bring a small backpack filled with their toys and goodies for the flight. Avoid those really cute pull bags, as inevitably they turn as the child pulls, the child gets upset, and you end up carrying a very unmanageable bag in addition to your own carry-ons.
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I agree totally, ours both have Trunkies but we don’t ever bring them on flights as it’s no fun hauling them on the long walk through the terminal to the gate!!!! Thanks for adding your tips 🙂
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Very useful list, I agree completely on them, I wish somebody told me these things before I’ve had my three kids!
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Thanks for the helpful post.
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