travelling with a 22 month old for the first time

[Ellisisland]

I am going on a last minute booked holiday to Tenerife at the beginning of December and it will be the first time we (husband and me) have travelled with my 22 month old and the first time he will have gone on a plane.
Does anyone have any packing tips, ideas for things to keep him occupied on the plane, taking a buggy with us on the plane or not?
Any help at all would be gratefully appreciated!

Buggy: you will be able to take the buggy up to the gate but where you get it back will be depending on the airline and the airport you arrive. Most times we got it together with the rest of the luggage so you need to be prepared for a slow walk or to carry your child.

On the plane: take some food, all dry food can be taken through security. We normally buy a bottle of water at Boots or WH Smith for the flight. Some securities allow a sippy bottle with water, some don't. i normally don't take the risk and don't take any liquid since DD is not drinking formula anymore.

Do not take noisy toys or small ones. The first not only drive everybody else crazy but you as well. The second ones will be dropped all the times. We normally take cheap crayons and get DD a magazine plus we take a small doodle pad. A couple of new books help as well. If you have a tablet, download some cartoons you can play without sound and some apps. Even if you don't think a toddler should do it, plane journeys count as emergencies.

Take more nappies than you think you will need, we had once a 2 1/2 hour delay at Heathrow. The toilet cubicle is tiny, change just before boarding and only if really necessary. Take a full set of spare clothes plus a shirt for you and your partner. Think layers, a plane can be coldish, pack a cardigan or jumper.

if your child has a cuddly toy it can't sleep without take it in the hand luggage as well. Your child won't have its own hand luggage allowance so take two bags as large as possible.

Thanks hadn't thought about delays so good idea about extra nappies etc. we are flying from Bristol airport so think it's quite small (only ever flown from gatwick/Heathrow before) so will have to make sure we have plenty of games etc in case of delays as not sure what they have there to keep him entertained. Thanks again

Unfortunately there is nothing to keep kids entertained at bristol airport.

Yeah I didn't think there would be. Fingers crossed for an on time flight!

Would love to hear how you get on, I am flying to Lanzarote with my 2 yr old grandson in January from Bristol, so any additional tips would be very gratefully received! Have a great holiday.

Oh DD was exactly that age when we had a flight to Jersey. This has gone down in family legend.

It wasn't the first time she had flown - the year before I flew to Sydney with her single-handed and all went well. So perhaps that made us blase - Manchester to Jersey, Pff, nothing to worry about.

We were soon to realise that flying with a toddler and flying with a baby are two very different scenarios. I won't go on except to say that the tantrum that ensued while our flight was delayed for takeoff was so epic that the cabin crew requested that the steps were brought back and I was asked to take her off the plane until it was nearly time for us to go......