My Experience Traveling with a Toddler

NEVER AGAIN without my husband. I swear.

1. Leave yourself LOTS of time to get through security. Getting through security by myself with Alton, his car seat (which I ended up not needing) the stroller, my backpack, and carry-on luggage... 30 minutes, and at one airport they actually made me take his Robeez off. It did not help that I was traveling with a laptop in the backpack either. But seriously, trying to maneuver all of our stuff one handed while I held Alton was not a good time. I HIGHLY recommend taking your Baby Hawk or sling type to get through security at least. Next time I will also just pay the $25 per leg and check a second bag. Stupid airlines.

2. BUY YOUR TODDLER A SEAT!!!! When I bought my ticket to go, Alton was still not walking. About a week before the trip and the day before I called the airline and both times the ladies talked me out of buying Alton his own seat. "There is plenty of room on both flights, save your money!" On our trip out, there were 19 people on stand by. So our infant block was removed and though I'd made it through the entire airport with Alton's Britax Marathon car seat, they took it from me at the gate and he had to lap sit. Alton is not a cuddly lap sitter. :( About half an hour into our flight, I noticed and empty seat and thankfully a very nice gentle man traded seats with me. But since they'd taken the car seat away, Alton wasn't restrained and kept taking his seat belt off. He ended up playing on the the seat while standing on the cabin floor.

On the way home, we had an infant block and I was able to get his car seat installed in the seat and we were about to take off and a dude came up the aisle and said "You are in my seat." His arrival made the plane late and I had to rearrange all of our stuff and take Alton out of his car seat and put him on my lap. He needed a nap and the plane body was MUCH smaller than the previous plane had been so there wasn't room for him to play by my feet. He cried for about an hour on that flight. The dude who arrived late and took our extra seat had the nerve to tell me, "Yeah, I was lucky to get on this earlier flight, I was supposed to be on the three o'clock flight. Now all of my connecting flights are messed up though." Boo frickin hoo, hold my nap deprived toddler.

What really skeeves me about that whole situation, was that I was willing to pay for a seat for Alton, and the airlines sales staff talked me out of it!!! Next time I will just buy him a ticket and leave nothing to chance.

3. Take a LOT of toddler snack food. I mean a lot. Alton went through almost a whole bag of Veggie Bootie. True, at least a third of it ended up on the floor (Take that Alaska Airlines) but he was his happiest when he was stuffing his face. On the plane ride to Seattle, I had a snack container (I think it is meant to be a formula dispenser) filled with Graham cracker fish, Cheerios, and Gorilla Munch. That kept him happy and boy oh boy did he love the graham cracker fish.

4. Traveling with an infant toddler = you can bring on your own bottled water. WHOOT! No waiting for the stingy flight attendants to dole out your 4 oz of water in a plastic cup. I don't know if it is an iron clad rule, but I was able at both SeaTac and LAX to bring on a 1 1/2 liter bottle of Smart Water because it was "for the baby."

5. Bring new toys or books. I bought Alton toys that I would normally not approve of, but they kept him entertained on the plane, except during the last hour on the trip home.

6. Take your spouse or significant other! It's a lot of stuff to carry, a second set of hands during security alone is golden.

We had a good time, and I think that if I had slept better the night before, the return trip would not have been as bad a time....