Travelling abroad with 4yo and 10mo, tips please!

[Fernsinthegarden]

We’re really excited to be travelling abroad this year with the kids for the first time and I’d love to pick the collective mumsnet brain!

Please could you tell me your best buggy/strollers for travel abroad. We’ll need one that can lie flat for the airport and late dinners etc (DD will be 10 months.)
I’ve looked at the Joie Nitro so far as it looks a bit more sturdy than some of the other options - we’ll be doing a bit of off-roading. I’ve also considered a backpack/sling but we are travelling hand luggage only (meeting family at the other end and staying in a villa so minimal stuff required.)

Are Trunkee suitcases worth it and are they too young for a 4.5yo? Am I just better off getting another hand luggage sized suitcase?

Also, if anyone has nappy brand/formula recommendations for Cyprus, I’d be happy to hear them!

I’d really welcome any other tips that you might have for keeping a 10mo entertained on a plane, 4yo will have a kindle tablet/colouring etc and she’s pretty easy going so I’m not too worried about keeping her happy (reckon she’s just going to be caught up in the excitement of airplane, going away etc!) but just slightly filled with trepidation of keeping 10mo DD who is extremely nosy and wriggly, happy! She isn’t walking yet but confidently cruising so could potentially be doing some wobbly steps by then. We are planning to book our seats with a hope of getting aisle seats so we don’t have to climb over people to do the hundred toilet trips.

Snacks for the toddler!

UV rash suits for the day times so minimum fighting to out suncream on.

Do NOT buy a trunki, unless it's the backpack style one, and you need a booster seat at the destination. They are bulky, and you will end up carrying it afyer the first 5 mins of novelty wears off. Rucksacs were my prefered choice, as they left hands free for kids and paperwork!

Thank you! Good to know re Trunki, they don’t look like they have much actual space inside. We’ll be renting a car with car seats for both kids at the other end anyway so I’m not worried about booster seats. Planning on backpacks for me and DH and then was thinking a small suitcase (hand luggage sized) for both kids with easy access for nappies/wipes etc

Dont wear anything remotely special on the plane. You can guarantee that one of them will wet themselves on you, or spill something down you, or smear food over you. Or all three.
(Can you tell I did a lot of (necessary) flying with babies/young children?)

There are lidls in Cyprus for nappies/wipes. Where are you flying to?

I've flown with Ryanair a few times with a baby. If you have the baby on your lap they/that adult has to be in a window seat and you can't sit in seats at an emergency exit. You get given a seatbelt extension that, for us, was honestly the trickiest part of the flight - wriggly babies do not want to stay in seatbelts! 😂

I recommend new toys for plane. Buggy books are great if your baby likes books. Make sure you can hold on to any toys so they don't end up all over the cabin 😂 Give baby dummy or feed them at takeover/landing to help their ears pop. You can normal take a buggy right up to the plane, which is great. We put ours in a cover so it does get dirty when in the hold.

Every time we've flown there have always been other babies, so it's unlikely you'll be the only ones with baby on your flight. Baby might make a new flight friend!

Oh, yes. Have two sets of emergency clothes for baby. Exploding poos at airport security do happen! 😬😂

Just travelled with a 9mo. I would recommend taking baby to the gate in a stroller then folding it down and putting them in a sling at this point. I found it much less stressful than trying to fold it down when I got to the plane and it also meant I had 2 hands free for getting up the plane steps with hand luggage and finding my seat. I tied a bungee cord type thing with clips on around the stroller to make sure it didn’t come undone.
I would also try and give water in a sippy cup for landing to help with ears popping.
It is also worth checking with the airline whether you can take a car seat in the hold for free. This saved us £90 on car rental and meant we could afford to take a checked in bag too which meant less stress of carrying bags around the airport

So pleased to hear there are Lidl’s! I didn’t even consider Lidl, all I could think was the cold dread of having to pay a fortune for bloody pampers when she’s usually in Tesco f&f or Aldi! We’re flying to Paphos.
I’m going to start collecting a few bits and bobs for the plane then and keep them to one side, really good to know re window seat only. DD4 won’t even be seeing the kindle until we get to the airport so figured that would be a great novelty!
Probably going to travel small DD in a babygrow and big DD in shorts and T-shirt with a fluffy onesie over the top so she’s comfy for the flight and then can strip off for arrival.
I live in fear of the poosplosion on a plane 😂
Yeah, I’m really sure there’ll be other kids/babies on the same flight, familyfied destination and in the summer!

@Realisticrhubarb ooo fab advice re car seat, that would probably make life easier! I’ll look into that.

If you are flying in the summer holidays PREBOOK YOUR SEATS.

Take a sling, even if not using as a main firm of transport, because you don't always get your pushchair back straight away.

Suncream... again Lidl. Another cheap shop for toiletries, pool toys etc is called Jumbo. Its a place of wonder.

Cypriots love kids. We had a lively two years there, but the other end of the island.

All in one UV suit for eldest, she will need it in summer, its hot. Very hot.

Driving... they drive on the left. But speed/distance is Km. Cypriot parking is... interesting.

Triangular crayons - won't roll away on plane.
Piriton for sun rash
Sippy cup/ plate/ spoon
Chunky jigsaws
Toys to open on the plane
Thin light books
Headphones for tablet and practice first.
Sudacrem
Black out travel blind.
Travel fan

If you’re on a special brand of milk they may not have abroad but you can order nappies and milk to boots if they have one. As this is past security it doesn’t count towards your hand luggage! You can take car seat and stroller at no additional cost. We invested in a good second hand carrier and filled it with our loose nappies for extra padding.

I was worried about taking powder and ready to feed formula but had a long trip. Had no issues at all apart from on the way back from USA. As I wouldn’t let them open all the bottles (meaning they’d have to be used in 2 hours!!!!) they had to drug swab the outside of every bottle and give me a full over clothes body search In front of everyone.

Thank you you lot, I’m making lots of notes! I wouldn’t have even thought about triangular crayons!

I’m going to leave the driving to DH as he’s been driving for longer and I’d prefer to be the one to have a nice glass of cold wine at dinner 😂

@ChickinMarango how ridiculous with US security and ready made bottles 🤦‍♀️

Is tap water safe to drink or is it bottled water only? So many questions that I’d never have been bothered about travelling on my own and I’m now in slight overdrive because I’m taking kids 😂 they are both very easy going laid back kids so I’m probably overthinking everything, but I’d like to be prepared!