So as we get closer and closer to my due date – we’ve already begun making plans for life with baby, as a family of 5, (wow that feels and sounds weird!) We’ve been looking at tickets to go back to the US next summer to visit family and introduce our new baby girl. It’s hard to believe the boys haven’t been back to the US in over 2 yrs. That’s about half of “Peter Pan’s” life he’s now spent in London. In any case – I’ve been looking at getting 4 seats and then a bassinet seat for “Tinker Bell.” This would be her first flight and she’ll be around 6 months old.
I think the flight to the US is harder than the return, as the return is a night flight and heading out there it’s just a really really long day. I don’t know what kind of baby she’ll be yet, she could be mellow or this could be a real ordeal. I’m probably less anxious about flying with a baby this time around – but of course the fear still lingers. Not just – will she be ok, but, will she be ok enough not to really annoy all of the nearby passengers?
I’m not alone in my anxiety about this – I often think the anxiety parents feel as they fly with a baby, trying to keep it quiet etc, is worse than any annoyance felt by nearby passengers when it’s clear parents are doing their all to keep the baby quiet and resolve the situation if baby is fussy.
A few weeks back I was reading an article about some other parents who were flying for the first time with their new babies – and they created little goody bags to share with nearby passengers. It actually seemed to positively influence those nearby passengers. Not just the sweets to brighten their day – but clearly showing that these parents were anxious to try and do the right thing, to not inconvenience other passengers, and be sincere in their apologies if they did inconvenience them.
These new parents of twin gave people on the plane candy (and offered earplugs too!). It’s a bit unclear from the articles I read whether they gave these to the whole plane or just the people seated near them.
“Hello!
We’re twin baby boys on our first flight, and we’re only 14 weeks old! We’ll try to be on our best behavior, but we’d like to apologize in advance just in case we lose our cool, get scared, or our ears hurt. Our Mom and Dad (AKA our portable milk machine and our diaper changer) have ear plugs available if you need them. We are all sitting in 20E and 20F if you want to come by to get a pair.
We hope you have a great flight!”
The pre-apology goody bags came to public notice when a Reddit user on the flight who received one posted it on Reddit. ‘Brilliant and thoughtful parents handed these out to everyone on my flight,’ the appreciative traveler wrote on Reddit
The parents, Christina Diaz, 38, and Michael Rubinstein, 32, were flying with their 14-week-old twins Arrow and Jasper. The boys – didn’t even let out a murmur throughout the five-hour flight from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. making the pre-apology unnecessary. One fellow passenger reported, ”the parents were fantastic, and the kids were better than would be expected.”
What do you think of the pre-apology goody bags for fellow passengers? Good idea or bad? What would you do differently?
Tags: candies, children airplanes, flights with babies, flying with kids, goody bags on airplanes, sweets, tips for flying with babies
There’s been a lot of discussion in the news and online lately about whether children should be banned from certain flights or certain sections of flights. A recent Frommer’s article pondered
When it comes to red-eye flights, who has more rights — the crying baby and the parents, or the tired passenger who desperately wants to sleep?
When I read that I think – um hello, isn’t a baby a tired passenger too? Having regularly flown with babies and kids I know those kids are not on the airplane for free. Even if I do the the under 2 option of having a baby on my lap I still have to pay taxes etc. which on international flights still works out to a few hundred dollars.
Interestingly, reading the comments on that article – most of the people seem to acknowledge that just as frequently (if not more so) than encountering crying babies or poorly behaved children, there are poorly behaved adults.
This summer, Malaysia Airlines (www.malaysiaairlines.com) introduced a no-kids section some aircraft flying between Kuala Lumpur and London. And another Malaysian airline, AirAsia X (www.airasia.com), announced it would create a “quiet zone” in the first eight rows of the economy section of some aircraft starting early next year. Both moves seem designed to let passengers sleep on overnight flights.
As a Mom who frequently travels back and forth to the US (which means a day flight of 9 hrs to the US and a night flight of about the same back to the UK) I much prefer the night flight. It’s on the night flight flight that my kids sleep and don’t need to be kept busy for hours. I’d book night flights both ways if I could!
Some of the comments to the Frommer’s article raise the question:
Who would you rather sit next to — an unruly child or an unruly adult? (Feel free to share your opinions in the comment below.)
- “It’s a real dilemma. Except for the one time I flew and my daughter was 13 months and made some noise … they have always been good. I have been on some miserable flights with multiple crying infants but also some miserable flights with noisy drunk and not drunk adults. What can be done about them?” –RuthDunn
- I think there should be at least one airline that is totally “Kid Free.” Too many entitled and spoiled adults currently act out on flights, and additional screaming kids are just too much, thanks to parents that have chosen to ignore their kids and close their ears to the screaming and running around. I am not anti-kids, I am a pediatrician and I’ve witnessed it all way too many times…–Hula1
- …As for banning kids from certain flights, sections, etc, then what happens if there are earlier cancellations and the banned flight is the only rebooking option? Are parents with kids to be expected to endure extra-long delays and missed connections more than other travelers? Which will only serve to make the kids even worse behaved when they finally do get on a plane?–Njmomto
- I hate to agree to this but “child free” will not solve this problem. Most of us have been on flights where the “adults” act worse than children. Some decide to party all night long or have loud conversations…–darkside
- I think a better solution might be to have families with young children sit in a designated section of the plane.–Gwen Humphries
And then – what if they did actually designate a “family section” of the plane? If it’s anything like the family section on Eurostar, I’d do my best to avoid it. Would that mean I couldn’t fly on that flight if all the family seats were full even if other areas were empty? Or what about Business Class? When possible I’d prefer to fly there, and having paid the same as other passengers (since there are no children’s fares on airlines these days and certainly not for biz class) aren’t my children just as entitled to a peaceful journey as other passengers?
The hardest thing is – for those rare exceptions when your child is crying, from the discomfort of ear pressure due to altitude, over-tiredness or whatever else, you as the parent are generally trying to do your best to comfort and care for your child and quiet them down and are oh-so anxiously sensitive to the noise or disturbance you’re causing and are already feeling horrible about it. I think you as the parent almost feel worse about the whole thing!
Personally, I’ve found a brilliant solution for dealing with noise from other passengers – whatever their age. Noise canceling headphones. If you want to sleep on an airplane and or not be disturbed by other passengers I highly recommend you get a pair – it’s so worth it! It blocks out other people’s baby screams just as well as the person next to you snoring loudly.
So what do you think? Should there be adults only flights and or family sections on airplanes?
Tags: travel kids_free_flights no_kids_on_airplanes
Travelling with Car Seats doesn’t have to be a logistical nightmare. Our boys each started travelling with us at around 6 weeks of age. Since then we’ve been going non-stop. Amazingly, babies come with a bunch of stuff! Who knew?
One of the things we found most challenging if it wasn’t a road-trip was what to do with our car seats?
When we first flew from Chicago to Belgium with both of the boys to visit their Grandparents – the Grandparents were confused about why we wanted to either bring carseats – or have them borrow a set. Why couldn’t the kids just take the 45min journey from the airport in our arms? *Sigh*
So we’ve found whether it’s visiting in-laws, or flying and renting a car, often it’s easiest to take our car seats and booster seats along with us.
Different airlines have various rules about 1. if the carseat can come on-board, and 2. if sent as luggage, whether there is a charge or not. It’s best to call the airline ahead of time to get that info. Even if you have that info – don’t be surprised if you get a different answer from the the ticket agent and then again at the check-in desk at your gate. If possible come prepared with a printed copy of the airline’s policy from their website. It will be harder for the airline employee to argue with their company’s publicly printed policy.
So if you are bring your carseat along on vacation with you here are several things to keep in mind.
It doesn’t matter how expensive and amazing the carseat is – expect it to be handled like a sack of rubbish. So, being armed with this knowledge in advance, take necessary precautions, because as I’m sure you know carseats aren’t cheap!
If you are going to take your carseat onto the plane – remember you’ll need to carry it throughout the airport. Also remember you’ll be dragging child, carry-on, purse and any other sticky stuff your child hands you. Thinking about this in advance – it may be good to take something that will help you carry the carseat. While you could take the low-tech option of strapping it to your carry-on while you stroll with a ropes or cords – you may want to consider something specifically designed to carry a large car seat. Strangely – I’ve found not so many options for sale here in the UK so I’ll share some of my favorite American options – which you can order online.
1. Think of it as like a carseat “dolly” or cart. Britax offers their own version – to go along with Britax car-seats, but other brands also come highly rated. (cost is about $60 USD)
2. Throw it over your shoulder. Whether you’re attaching it to your bag, or on your bag – there are options to either carry it in a bag, or back-packs specifically designed to carry your large car seat. My favorite option for this is the “Pac Back” (cost is about $30 USD)
3. Strap the car-seat to your rolling suitcase. Special clips have been designed for that. (No need to resort to ropes or bungee cords). (Cost is about $15 USD)
If you are checking your carseat – consider purchasing a carseat cover. While you can purchase one of these new, depending upon how frequently you think you’ll use it, this is one item that can be purchased lightly used on Ebay that will yield a considerable savings!
Booster Seats
While I wouldn’t normally recommend purchasing a car-seat used, if you are travelling and need a booster seat for your child – think about buying a set you could leave or discard at your destination.
On our recent ski trip with the kids to Switzerland – we were told that it would be 10GBP ($16 USD) per day, per child to rent booster seats. That means it would cost approximately 140 GBP ($224 USD) for 2 children to have booster seats for the week which I think you’ll agree with me is pretty outrageous!
While I do understand the dangers of purchasing a second hand car-seat and fully support not buying a used car seat for the following reasons:
- you don’t know how old it is
- you don’t know its history
- you don’t know if it’s been in an accident
In my personal opinion (of which you should make your own informed choices and I’m certainly no expert on the subject) I’m ok with second hand booster seats.
Here’s why in my opinion I’m ok with it – for booster seats, the point isn’t to protect the child from impact etc, it’s to boost them up higher in the seat so that the seat belt can fit them properly. The child needs to continue to use the booster seat until the vehicle’s seat belt lies correctly across the child’s chest and lap. The belt should sit comfortably across the lap, hitting the upper thighs, and the chest strap should cross the child from the shoulder and not the neck.
So for our recent trip to Switzerland – what I did was purchase 2 used Britax booster seats from Ebay (3GBP each) and throw them in a plastic carry-all which we checked as part of our baggage allowance. We then had 2 booster seats there at the airport ready to use when we arrived to pick up our rental car, which we had no trouble leaving behind. (Especially since on the way back our baggage increased with purchases, souvenirs etc. )
These certainly aren’t the only options – and I’d love to hear your ideas on how you all have managed travelling with car seats. I’d love to hear about your experiences and any tips or advice you have to share!
So, as added incentive I’m creating a giveaway for a “Pac Back” car seat carrier giveaway!
Please share your ideas and or experience in the comments below – and you’ll be entered to win a new “Pac Back”
About the Pac Back: Conveniently transport your car seat from one place to another while keeping your hands free. Designed by a mother who frequently travels with her children, the Pac Back is an easy-to-use car seat carrier system. Lightweight and durable, this innovative carrier is manufactured from materials that are built to last: tough, high-density nylon with heavy gauge shoulder straps. A padded waist strap, padded hip protectors and soft padded lumbar support provide comfort while carrying. The Pac Back fits all car and booster seats.
It has numerous positive reviews on Amazon (which is why I bought it in the first place )
“The Pac Back made it possible to carry the car seats and still have both hands free. ” quote from Amazon review
Prize Eligibility
Only persons residing in United Kingdom who are at least 18 years of age can enter.
Giveaway Entry Period Starts
May 6th, 2012 @ 06:30 am (BST)
Giveaway Entry Period Ends
May 15, 2012 @ 09:00 pm (BST)
- Only those over 18, who reside in the UK may enter.
- Entrants must be over the age of 18
- Entrants must be based within the UK
- 1 winner will be selected at random to win a prize
- Entrants must comment on this blog post to qualify for entry
Entrants can enter the Sweepstakes for free by emailing transatlanticmom @ gmail (dot) com and requesting details about alternate registration.
(disclosure – I purchased this item, its new, never used – we ended up not taking the train trip we’d intended for it then the boys grew out of car-seats and on to booster seats. I have been in no way compensated by this post by any of the brands or products mentioned.)
Last week while visiting the Grandparents in Belgium, my 4yr old came down with an earache. It was Sunday, late – and a holiday weekend to boot. This meant there would be absolutely nothing open. No place to get pain meds for a child. It’s not like they are anti-meds, they whole a whole cupboard dedicated to meds – it’s like a small pharmacy, but what they didn’t have was pain reliever or fever reducer for children. (It is times like these I truly miss the 24hr stores in the US – and in the UK we live within a block of the only 24 hr pharmacy) I think there are very few things that make you feel so helpless as a parent as when your child is screaming in pain and crying and all you can do is hold them.
When I was a child – I remember my parents putting warmed almond oil into my ear to have the heat help soothe it – but we didn’t even have that handy. So I did what every geeky Mom does and reached out to other parents via Twitter.
Within a few minutes I had several credible suggestions including: warm water bottle or washcloth against the ear, warmed olive oil. Unfortunately my guy didn’t want warm he wanted cool – so instead of fighting him to try and soothe him, we asked him what would make his ear feel better. His first suggestions was “cold” so we put an ice-cube in a plastic bag, wrapped in towels and let him apply that for a while.
Do you know that thing from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” where the Dad puts Windex (window cleaner) on every ailment as a cure-all? Well my 4yr old feels the same about cold wet towels. Any type of scrape, scratch, itch, bump, freckle must have a wet towel applied to cure it. So it was only with a cold damp towel over the side of his head, wrapped up in my arms, us sitting upright did he eventually fall asleep. I remember sitting up, holding him, trying to sleep thinking – how wonderful it would be if they made baby swings in his size. (or wait, better yet – come to think of it, mine!)
The morning came quickly – although he had fitfully fallen asleep around 2, he still woke up bright eyed at 6am feeling perky and wanting to play. Not so much me. How do kids do that?
In hindsight – we’ve become rather lax with all the kiddy accoutrements. Once we shed that baby bag – we’ve been trying to pack light ever since. (Hence we only brought 2 suitcases, 3 backpacks, 1 messenger bag and 1 carry-all on a 1 wk trip to Belgium :0) ) We brought children’s toothpaste, decongestant for the trip and sleeping buddies as well as clothes and toys – but didn’t bring the children’s fever/pain medicine. It will definitely be the first thing we pack from now on.
It’s not like we don’t have a stockpile. Not only have we learned about Children’s Calpol and other UK children’s meds – but each time I travel back and forth to the US I stock up on that melt-in-your mouth cherry/grape/bubblegum flavored Children’s Tylenol (or generic equivalent). My guys never liked the syrup – so having one that melts in their mouth is quite handy. Finding new meds/the right meds in a new country can be kind of daunting but luckily I’ve had a great network of UK Mums who’ve helped guide me through Motherhood in the UK.
Tags: ear ache, ear infection
So we’ve taken the boys on plenty of flights – that best way I can describe it is “it’s like aligator wrestling.” There’s a whole lot of flailing and sometimes teeth involved – and when you least expect it they can turn on you! It’s not just the flight though – usually by the time we get on the plane we’re already exhausted by what it took to get there. The days of the kids asking – are we going now? The packing, the making our way to the airport, through security, past all the shops with amazing stuff they want to buy. By the time we get on the plane we are ready for that extended sit-down. Them, not so much.
In crossing the Atlantic with kids – I think the trip from US to Europe is easier- it’s generally later in the evening and is a night flight so we can generally get them to sleep. The other direction however is just a really really long day. So I was definitely interested – when I heard about an Airplane Nanny the other day.
Basically it’s a service where they help match you up with people on your flight who have Nanny or Childminding experience who are willing to watch your kids on the flight – it’s called Nanny in the Clouds.
For me though – after the first thought (more of a daydream really of me in first class being pampered) – the next thought is well who are these people. My suspicious nature next thinks of creepy people and or drug smugglers – hmm.
What I think is missing is some kind of social vetting – kinda like an ebay trust score, but rather using this persons real social graph or network. Perhaps they should license this Whit.li API – to integrate into their service. “Whit.li creates a portable psycho-social identity for consumers. Using context-based pattern matching algorithms through our API, we enable companies to organize users based on compatibility to create a faster, more personalized online experience”
So what do you think – would you pay for an Airplane Nanny? Ever convinced someone on a plane to watch your kids?
Tags: airplane nanny, travel
One of the hardest things while traveling for work is keeping in touch with the kids. You’d think in this day and age it would be easier than it is – but with timezones and tech it can often be a challenge.
The hardest is when I’m on the West Coast in the US and trying to chat with the boys back in London – it’s almost a half-day away in terms of timezones, so there ‘s almost never a convenient time to connect between my meetings, their school and sleep schedule.
When I do reach out – I prefer not to use my UK cell phone, due to roaming charges but instead use FaceTime on my iPhone to connect with the boys/family at home via iPad or MacBook – or use skype on my phone or computer. Both of these options (FaceTime and Skype) require a good internet connection, so it’s essential to find a good wireless hotspot.
Often – when I try and connect with the boys via FaceTime, I get rejected, as they’ll be playing their games on it – I try and ring through and they hit the cancel or reject button! Arrrgh. After trying to get through multiple times I finally resort to calling the house phone (using my expensive roaming phone) to tell them to stop rejecting me and pick up my call. Then when I do get on, they’re like Mummy I miss you but can you go away I’m playing iPad. Then I hear later that they cry because they miss me and didn’t get to talk to me. I think there’s no way to win on that one.
How do you keep in touch while traveling – any advice?
Tags: Facetime, phone, travel
On a recent ski trip to Switzerland, we realized we had 10+ hrs between hotel checkout and needing to be at the airport for our flight. So upon suggestion from our hotel we decided to stop at the Callier chocolate factory in Broq, just outside of Gruyere.
It being a Sunday we were a little concerned that they might not be giving tours, but as we approached the building we could see a steady stream of people parking and approaching the building for tours as well.
You sign up for the tours (free for kids, roughly about 7 GBP, or 10 USD for adults) which includes a tour in your language as well as a chocolate tasting at the end. The tour starts and ends in the giftshop of course. So while we waited for ours to begin it was everything we could do to keep our kids from diving headfirst into the bins of candy eggs or throwing themselves at the chocolate bar wall like the human fly.
So the tour takes you through the history of chocolate, from the ancient Aztecs, through the Conquistadors and Royal Spanish Courts to the French Revolution and on to the invention of milk chocolate in Switzerland and the founding of Nestle and Cailler.
It’s a delightful tour with special effects and fun for all ages. I think the kid’s favorite part was trying every type of Cailler chocolate.
After Cailler, we headed over to just outside of Gruyere, to La Maison de Gruyere which is a Fromagerie, where they make the delicious Gruyere cheese (you know, the kind that goes on top of French Onion Soup!)
This place is definitely set up for tourists – it has bus parking in the lot and automated phone tours in many different languages. Besides the tour of the Fromagerie they also have an attached restaurant and shop. While it’s interesting to see how the cheese is made now, they also do a presentation outside of how it’s been historically been made by hand in a cauldron over a fire. With your paid admission you also receive a cheese sampling.
It has 3 different age levels and 3 different degrees of saltniness. While my sons preferred the no salt, aged 6 mos,my favorite was the full salt, aged 10 months.
The cheese was delicious and worth the trip alone.
I loved seeing not just how the cheese was made, but how it’s stored and turned regularly. It was also fun to see there used to be a “cheese route” similar to the ancient spice routes – where the cheese would travel by land and see to satiate palates far far away… Who knew?
After visiting the fromagerie, we decided to head up the hill to the medieval village of Gruyeres. We were only able to drive part way up the mountain before we were diverted into a parking area and made to walk up-hill in the snow the rest of the way.
The town itself has been pedestrianized and only has 107 full time inhabitants. It’s absolutely lovely, even in the snow, and wet (watch out for those cobblestones though!) There are plenty of restaurants and shops and the beauty of the village alone makes it worth a visit. The castle has been converted into a museum. On this trip, the boys being 4 and 6 we skipped it – thinking it might not be fully appreciated by them, in favor of taking them to a different museum located in the town. {Queue bad parenting decision here…..}
My husband REALLY wanted to go to the HR Giger Museum. We had picked up a brochure in the fromagerie and he decided we couldn’t leave town without swinging by. I like Giger, I do, but wasn’t thrilled about going but was willing to go along since he was soooo excited about it. I was thinking the images might be a little scary for the guys, I had in mind the aliens from Alien. I hadn’t realized how prominently genitalia are featured in pretty much ALL of the work. So we went into the museum, we paid for ourselves and the kids were free, yay! The boys took in the work and brayed like little donkeys and cackled loudly like hyennas, the sound reverberating through the galleries and up through the 4 floors. Of course they didn’t notice the naughty bits – they were focused on the silly scariness of the aliens, and babies in suitcases etc. Meanwhile my hubby and I realized what were seeing in the context of having the kiddos with us. Plus, every room we went to, I counted mutters and comments in 5+ languages about how inappropriate it was to have kids in this museum. Good times! After several rooms worth of stink-eyes and death-glares and us trying to avert and distract the kids from certain images, my husband was ready to admit defeat and we beat a hasty retreat out of there.
Honestly, it’s a really interesting museum, worth a visit if you like HR Giger, and are leaving the kids at home. But, I think we’re lucky we didn’t get chased down the village street with burning torches and pitchforks.
After we left the Museum we took the boys to get their first tattoos and afterwards, to a bar for shots to celebrate. (ok not really, we got in the car and headed back to the airport – but it felt like that should have been the next logical step given the reactions by the other museum patrons)
Even though we only had a day in this city – it’s definitely a place we’d love to come back to. I’d especially like to see it in summer. If you’re interested in learning more about the area, you can follow this link to the Gruyere tourism website.
Tags: Cailler, cheese, chocolate, Gruyere, gruyeres, Switzerland, travel, vacation
My eldest son J who turns 6 next month has become aware of that childhood mecca – Disney (land/world). He’s been asking us to tivo the commercials for Disneyland Paris, asking us to write down the phone number and sneaking up on me at odd times to gravely let me know that Disney is currently on sale and that he as a child can stay and play free.
Good job Disney – clearly your marketing has reached your intended demographic and is resonating well. I wonder how long it will be before you see a return on that investment (ok fine, we’ll cave soon).
In a way I’m surprised it’s taken him/them this long to ask. But having lived in Chicago previously to London with the kids – it wasn’t like there was a Disney nearby. We’re actually closer now, here in London to Disney (Disneyland Paris aka Euro-Disney), than we were in Chicago to the 2 in the U.S.
I have a friend in the US who is/was on the Disney Moms Board – but I think he may have turned in his mouse-ears and stepped down. Not sure if there is something similar here in Europe. Anyone happen to know? I’m starting to information gather for our upcoming (as of yet unscheduled) visit to the Magic Kingdom and any sites/resources/blogs you know of would be great if you could share them or your experience and tips and tricks for Disneyland Paris
