And not only survived, but we covered ALL the activities in our own itinerary, and on top of that all of us enjoyed ourselves! (more about this later)
So I think I have a teeny little bit of experience to share some traveling/flying tips on how to survive with kids. :)
TRAVELING TIPS WITH KIDS
1. Washi-fied passports for easy identification
I got this idea from here and I thought this is a brilliant idea! I've got loads of washi tapes. All I did was to take a bit of washi tape and label the spines of our passports.
We've got 4 of us travelling, and it was always a hassle to flip open to see who's passport belongs to who. So once I've 'washi-fied' our passports, it is just so easy to distinguish our passports.
For ours, pink floral's mine. Yellow checks' hubby's. And dark chevron blue's Shern's, while light chevron blue's Khye. :)
2. Packing snacks for kids while at airport lounge/in plane
Food served in the plane isn't always suitable for kids. For us, we were taking Air Asia, and they've got nothing suitable for Shern. So I brought our own snacks for him. I packed some chocolate cookies and Cornflakes in small airtight snack pots. And some candies to pacify him just in case.
I ended up not giving him any on our flight from PEN-SIN because he just had McD's nuggets before we boarded the plane. And our flight was just slightly over one hour.
But during the wait at the lounge from SIN-PEN, I gave Shern some candies while waiting to board the plane as we went early to the airport.
3. Activity kit on low-budget airlines
With Air Asia, there is no tv screen in front of your seats to watch movies or to play games. So we need to prepare our own entertainment.
I also packed a new toy train bought from Daiso.
And guess what kept him occupied the whole time in the plane there? The new train of course. He used the drop-down tray in the plane and was zooming his train there. The activity kit was ignored.
Luckily the acvitiy kit proved to be a success when we were in Singapore because this kit kept Shern occupied every time we were in a restaurant waiting for our food to be served!
4. Babywear for hands free
We only took one stroller with us, because we felt that we couldn't care for two strollers. And with luggage and diaper bag, and 2 kids, it was a bit too much for us if we were to take another stroller.
So we chose to take only one stroller, and to babywear Khye on my Ergobaby Performance baby carrier.
So when Shern is too tired to walk, he can sit on the stroller. And Khye will be hugged on to me like a Koala Bear :)
Way much easier this way as my hands are free to hold those passports and boarding passes, while hubby just needed to push the stroller with Shern in it.
5. Go to the toilet before boarding the plane.
I make sure all of us (except for Khye) go to the toilet before we board the plane. This is especially for Shern because Shern sometimes only tell us at the very last minute that he wants to go 'shi shi'. And I know in the plane there are limited toilets available and it may be all occupied when Shern needs to go. So it is better to just go to the toilet before boarding the plane, as our flight is only slightly more than an hour journey.
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| Source: http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/airports-a-hotbed-of-germs/story-e6frfq80-1225866527262 |
6. Plan your itinerary, but still be flexible.
We were there for 6 days 5 nights and so I planned for place to go for each day, and the rest of the day is to see as it goes.
Eg: Day 2 - Singapore Zoo, Day 3 - Port of Lost World, Day 4 - S.E.A Aquarium, etc.
This is so that I have a plan and get organized and also make the kids excited on what to expect the next day. And Shern also likes to be prepared and informed on our plans, so is nice to lightly brief him with the next day's plans and also to remind him of things he need to do like following mummy/daddy closely, and no whining etc.
And I also researched on how to get there, because the last thing you want is to have 2 kids with you and then only you start scratching your head on how to get there, and which MRT line to take and which station to alight.
But after we do our sightseeing, then we just went with the flow. Stop whenever we are hungry and eat wherever we see an interesting restaurant.
7. Pack for protection - Bring sunnies, hats, sunscreen, umbrella,
Because we went to tropical Singapore and water play and outdoor plans were in most of our itineraries, so sunnies, sunscreen and hats proved to be so invaluable. And it even drizzled on one of the days there so a light umbrella was good to get us to the next sheltered area. We brought light raincoats for them too but ended up not using it because it was just a slight drizzle.
So with kids around, it is always good to pack for protection, as we want the kids to be well protected.
Overall, traveling with kids can be so fun! I didn't know this before this trip! Now I know ;)
OK, so I hope these traveling/flying tips are useful to those who plan to fly with kids soon!
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