Travelin' Toddler Style

We travel quite a bit. We don't always take a VACATION, but we do take many trips. For the past 2 years any time we have gone somewhere, so has Andy. My sweet boy has proven time and again that he is a champion traveler. I'm often asked how we manage, so I'll share a bit here.

First of all, I can only take about 10% of the credit. The rest belongs to Andy. Seriously. He is just that much of a champ.

I'll start with airline travel. I've flown with Andy to Omaha twice and Baltimore once. I've learned that I never want to drag a carseat on an airplane again. Oh, I didn't mind the little infant carrier type of carseat, but a full on regular carseat? Never again! We use the CARES harness to keep Andy in his seat safely and then check our carseat with our bags. We also take along his big stroller to keep him contained when necessary while we wait in the airport. It's super easy to check at the gate and it's really nice to have to pile all of our junk in.

Road trips are a different story since I don't make any effort to pack lightly. The big trick is to bring an assortment of stuff for the little guy. I put a bag in the backseat with all sorts of little toys like his cellphone, cars, books, etc.
I also bring along bunches of his favorite snacks, like goldfish crackers, dry cereal, apples, bananas and stuff like that. As evidenced by this next picture, giving him just 1 blue m&m was not a good idea. Funny, but not one that I will likely repeat.
My boy is a champion napper in the car, and we can count on him snoozing anywhere from 1 to 3 hours.
Sleeping while away from home is always difficult. Andy is such a go-getter that he literally goes until he drops. When we stay with Brian's parents we have learned to leave the house at bedtime. That's right. We go out for date night and leave Brian's mom to be the bad guy. We don't go back to the house until we know he is asleep!
We have another trip next week to Omaha, so we'll see how things go. Right now Andy is a huge fan of airplanes and we are getting him all hyped up to go on one for a ride. I hope I didn't jinx ourselves by telling all of you what a great traveler he is!