Last December, I wrote a blog post about travel hacks when traveling with kids within the USA and mostly short flights. We recently had the chance to travel to Argentina and enjoyed an 11 hour direct flight from JFK. I learned some new things that I wished I thought ahead of time, so I am now sharing with you. This post pairs well with the last one, so check that one out if you haven’t already!
Top 7 hacks for international travel with kids
- Direct flights – I cannot emphasize enough how amazing it was to be able to get on one plane and only go through immigration, security, luggage drop off and pick up only once. I realize direct flights are not always a possibility but get creative if you can. Search nearby airports or different airlines. If you must have a layover, make sure you have enough time between flights. Two hours is not enough if you have checked bags and are traveling with young kids.
- Overnight flights – if your flight is over 6 hours, I highly recommend trying to catch a night flight. I don’t know if we are super lucky or if most kids will just easily fall asleep anywhere but the kids slept like logs during both flights.
- Preferred home foods – I grew up in Argentina and loved the food there so much. In fact, I still do and I have never stopped missing it. Imagine my surprise when both my children decided that all food in Argentina (except chocolate ice cream and other sweet treats) is gross. I had packed a lot of snacks for the trip but I really wished I would have brought a jar of peanut butter and some other non-perishable things they eat here to have some options to give them other than bread and butter (which they also really enjoyed).
- Strollers – I had not thought to bring strollers given my children are 5 and 6 years old but they are free to check and would have come in handy. If your destination is a city where walking is common, you may want to do the same. My oldest daughter, who is almost 7, did pretty well but my son really would have benefitted from an umbrella stroller. I mentioned bringing boosters in my last post but those were not really needed in Argentina.
- Kid headphones – we brought our tablets, of course, but what really was a highlight for both my children was watching the little TV screens on the back of the plane seats. The headphones that are provided by the airline are not comfortable and they keep falling out of their ears, so make sure to bring the kid headphones that can go over their head!
- Accommodations – if you are able to have a room for you and a separate one for your children, I highly recommend. We all slept much better and my kids did not come out of the room even once through the whole trip!
- Home things – don’t forge to pack anything that is absolutely necessary for your children to fall asleep or do any other ADL (activity of daily living). I always travel with a night light, kids’ stuffies, preferred night time books, and a couple of preferred toys. This is probably obvious to most but I did not always travel with a night light and I definitely learned my lesson early on!
Wishing everyone a chance to travel as a family, on your own, or with your partner!! Happy Spring!! I would love to hear any of your international travel hacks!