Flying with one child should be relatively easy, on a short haul flight anyway. Travelling with a toddler, a baby and an over excited husband is probably another thing all together! I wanted to make our short flights as easy as possible, short of sitting on my own with Arlo and leaving Sam to entertain Athena, there are a few things I’ve put together to make the airport/flight and subsequent mini bus transfers as fun as possible for Athena and as stress free as possible for us!
Obviously we told her what would happen when we went on holiday, she’s always pointing out aeroplanes when she sees them flying above us so I’ve been telling her we’re going to be going on one soon! I tried to look up a few videos on Youtube to show her what it would be like inside too but she didn’t seem that interested! 
Here’s what is in her carry on:
- My tablet – Athena doesn’t really use a tablet or my phone much so it’s still a bit of a gimmick for her! It’s a small 7″ samsung and I pre loaded it with the CBeebies app and as few episodes of Bing/Charlie & Lola!
- Headphones– Kid sized headphones with volume limiting so as not to damage tiny ears!
- Charger for tablet – A portable pocket sized charger, this will recharge the tablet fully at least once, so no tears when the battery runs out!
- A few new sticker/activity books I grabbed these from The Works, they had a pretty big selection but I went for things that were small and easy to carry. There were only a couple of pounds each so I bought a few more for the return journey!
- Magnetic doodle board A bargain at £5, it was an impulse buy when I was doing the food shop at Tesco and Athena spent take off and landing saying ‘I draw you mummy?’ and doing so! Possibly the best £5 ever spent!
- Cuddly pillow/headrest cute, cuddly and practical! Athena was able to use this little monkey as a pillow when she napped.
I ended up popping all of this in a small backpack for her, as I needed the space in the trunki for the kids coats/gloves and hats, and it meant she could keep the bag on the seat next to her rather than one of us having to get it out of the overhead locker all the time! It was great for travelling in the airport though!
The Headphones, charger pack and Monkey neck pillow are all from Go Travel, who have a great selection of products to make travelling with kids easier! From mosquito nets for travel cots to microwave steriliser bags they’ve got it covered; along with the fill range of travel accessories for adults too like suitcase locks, travel adaptors, waterproof pouches and baggage trolleys.
I also put in her empty drinks bottle (we filled it up with bottled water after customs) and some snacks to keep her going! On the way out we had an hour and a half delay, but thankfully all of this kept her happy, plus she got to go and see the pilot on the flight deck as he welcomed all the kids on the plane to keep them happy during the delay, cheers BA!
Thank you to Go Travel for sending us some items to make travelling with a toddler a lot easier!
This is really helpful, wouldn’t have even thought of the doodle board! We’re off to Crete in May when indie will be 2.5 and Parker 9 months.. Wish us luck haha xx
Thanks for the carrier ideas we are going away in November for our first family holiday abroad so your ideas will come in handy to entertain Blake..
Love the doodle board idea! Ive included this in my brit mums round up for june, thanks for sharing
Thank you!