Like many parents, I was super eager to throw money at anything that promised to lessen the ordeal of flying with a toddler. I had good luck with plenty of suggestions but some just did not work out for me.
Obviously, YMMV, but here are some of my travelling fails.
A Trunki
We got this at the last minute for a flight to Singapore, and halfway there, during a 6 hour stopover at Taipei, I was 100% sure I had made a pricey mistake.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of a suitcase a kid can ride and zoom across airports. It sounded like so much fun and the thought of not having to carry my kid on my back sounded like a great convenience.
In reality, towing my kid around on a Trunki in the airport was impractical and exhausting because she insisted on getting off every few feet to inspect something that’d caught her eye.
Even if your offspring is old enough to scoot around on the suitcase on their own, chances are their little legs will tire soon and guess who’ll have an awkwardly-shaped, hard suitcase to haul around. Yep, that’ll be you.
Toys with loose parts
Honestly, I don’t blame any kid who spills toys all over the aisle on the plane.
It’s not like they have a large flat surface to play on and if you don’t want to bend over to pick up Lego blocks or god forbid, jigsaw puzzle pieces, do not even think about bringing any kind of toy with lots of loose pieces.
Once, during a flight, a very sweet flight attendant gave my kid a small bag of brain flakes to play with. After bending over about 500 times to pick up the pieces, I finally had enough and hid them away from my kid. Forever.
Lots of candy and juice
A lollipop or two is fine and totally acceptable for popping little ears during takeoff and landing.
But letting them kill off a bag of M&Ms on their own? Just don’t do it.
Too much sugar will make them hyper and you know what’s worse than a hyper kid stuck in a pressurized cabin?
Umm, pretty much nothing.
My usually calm toddler turned into a seat-kicking-wall-climbing maniac after downing a juice box and a handful of Skittles.
Dole out the sugar at your own risk!
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