As the minivan bumper sticker touts – I used to be cool. Before children, I traveled the world, from studies abroad in Africa to cruises on the Baltic Sea. A 19-hour flight and 6-hour time difference impacted me about as much as missing a catnap after a late night.
For the past five years, I’ve stayed closer to home and fretted over the impact that a week on the Gulf would have on my children (1-hour time difference, gasp!). So when family invited us to spend Christmas in California, my initial reaction was: “nope, can’t do it, we won’t sleep for a week.”
Eventually, my husband succeeded in convincing me that I was being ridiculous. So, tickets booked, I decided to use the opportunity to document and share what worked to make the experience as painless as possible.
- Book your flights strategically.
Decide what time you want your children to wake up the next morning in the new time zone, and book accordingly. Our wake-up goal was 7 a.m. Pacific. We booked a 6 p.m. flight from Atlanta and arrived at 10 p.m. local. Going to bed that late gave us the best chance of them not thinking it was morning at 4 a.m.!
On the way home, we booked a 6 a.m. flight from California and arrived in Atlanta at 3:30 p.m. local. Although their minds told them it was three hours earlier, they had woken up so early that they were still ready for bed at a decent hour.
- Make it a (tiring!) adventure.
Kids become giddy at airports. Nourish that excitement by arriving early and creating an adventure. See how many different forms of transportation you can take: car, subway, escalator, elevator, moving walkway, etc. Walk between the Atlanta security checkpoint and Concourses A/B – the exotic sculptures and scenes will amaze them (and you!). Find a spot on the concourse to watch planes take off and land. Guess what? You’ll find it makes the experience more fun for you too. After all, what is more delightful than experiencing the seemingly mundane through a child’s eyes? Oh, and, it tires them out – they will be ready to sit still and relax on the long flight ahead.
- Keep them (mostly) awake.
This tip relates back to Tip 1: you want them to go to sleep and wake up on local time. So, contrary to what many parents think and do, you want them to stay mostly awake. Take our trip: if they had slept for the entire flight, they would have been wide awake when we arrived at 10 p.m. local. This isn’t to say that a catnap or two is bad – just don’t let them sleep for the entire flight.
But how? You’ve booked a flight either at bedtime or the crack of dawn and exhausted them by gallivanting around the airport for an hour! It’s easy: snacks and movies. Keep the snacks coming – healthy ones of course! On the movies: even those of us who avoid screen time like the plague have to make exceptions; and trust me, this is the time. Important note: many airlines now use apps versus personal TVs for in-flight entertainment. In that case, download the app in advance and bring your devices – or, download movies in advance onto your tablet or phone.
So now, with these tips in hand, fear not: go forth and travel the world, little ones by your side!
