Must haves for flight and holiday abroad with 15month old

[Ginfilledcats]

Hi oh wise ones!

We are flying to a family villa in 2 weeks with our 15m old.

Has anyone any top tips or recommendations for us to make the journey and the trip as stress free as possible.

We're having to take a stroller and a cot as there's none at the villa, first of the family to be taking a wee one.

Interested in what toys/entertainment to take for the 2 hour flight?
Our stroller doesn't have much of a shade canopy on it, should I get an extra canopy off Amazon or something? What about a mosquito net?

For the flight DH and I are both going to take backpacks, can the little one also have a "carry on" bag do you know (Jet 2)

All advice is most welcome!

This

www.littlelife.com/products/travel-eat-and-sleep/arc-2-lightweight-travel-cot

is infinitely better than any other travel cot.

for the flight, snacks & smiley parents & one new toy are plenty of entertainment.

After easyjet broke our proper stroller, I used to take a v cheap folding maclaren type stroller just for flights & trips. That was much easier than taking the proper big stroller.

are you hiring a car with carseat? or taking your own? they are v heavy to carry but expensive to hire & normally filthy.

I found going to the pound shop before hand and getting a few items really helped the plane journey as could bring something new out every once in awhile. A slinky actually provided great entertainment! Snacks also, all the snacks.
You don't say what country you are going to, some places I found that highchairs were hard to come by in restaurants. Maybe one of those universal sling seats?

Thanks for replying, oh I hadn't seen that one when I was looking for a travel cot! I love that brand too!Yeah we're taking a cheapy stroller we got in a super market!

I think the masks we have to wear for the duration will hide the smiley faces! I'm worried I'm going to have Mark's from where little one pings the mask against my face repeatedly for 2 hours haha.

Thanks for your help!

@ShoppingBasket ooh now there's an idea, pound shop! And who'd have thought of a slinky! Thanks!

We're going to Spain! I've had the same concerns so have bought one of those travel booster seats that attach to their chairs that I can Chuck under the stroller!

Definitely a buggy sun shade for Spain at this time of year!

I took my daughter to Greece last year when she was 17m. From my experience:
-definitely get a sunshade extension for the buggy, but don't bother with a mosquito net. Vie mozzie spray is safe for little ones and very effective.
-if your baby sleeps in the car, they will 99% sleep on the plane.
-no hand luggage for infants on laps.

Take something for your LO to suck on during take off and landing to relieve pressure. If you take a dummy, use a dummy clip too.
When my DC was that age, he loved playing a game where we'd stick post-its all over the back of the seat in front of us and he would peel them all off! He also loved sticking post-its on himself and me! Amused him for ages.
Take a small bit of bubblewrap for popping if you have some at home. Pipe cleaners can be taken in hand luggage and are fantastic fun.
Put some snacks in little envelopes for LO to tear open. Raisins and Cheerios work well.
A small set of stacking cups (great for playing games with hiding snacks)
Early Learning Centre Chain Links
A high chair toy. We found a really good Lamaze toy with a suction pad that we could stick on the tray table.
Two or three finger puppets or a hand puppet
Fisher Price snap lock caterpillar
Sticklebricks

It depends on your child but my dds loved playing with my purse and taking all the debit cards out so a ‘toy’ that I gave them was an old wallet with expired library cards nectar cards etc! They’d pull everything out and put them back . Great toy for journeys! And sheets of stickers to decorate the tray table in front 😁

@Ricekrispie22 great minds with the stickers!

With two adults and one child you only want two bags.

Spare clothes for you and the little one.

If you are struggling with baggage allowance order nappies to collect airside at boots and put them in the buggy bag with the buggy at the gate