Hi,
I found this forum really useful whilst planning our first holiday abroad with our 19 month old. We've just got back from a week in the Algarve and I wanted to share some tips for travelling.
I was particularly worried about the logistics of flying and how my toddler would cope with flying.
We had an early morning flight from Gatwick North Terminal. As my son is under 2 years old we weren't able to buy him a seat and no in flight meal was provided.
AIRPORT HOTEL
I would highly recommend staying at the Sofitel London Gatwick if you have an early flight from Gatwick North Terminal. We booked a package which included valet parking. This helped make things easier as we had our son, the buggy and all our luggage to carry. The hotel provided a travel cot for us to use so we didn't pack our own.
FOOD
We bought snacks e.g. croissants, muffins etc from the cafes after security. I also packed mini boxes of Cheerios and Shreddies for my son.
DRINK
I called up Boots (after security) a week in advance and reserved some bottles of Growing Up milk to carry in my hand luggage. Boots (after security) also sell pints of full fat milk and even UHT cartons. Evian is low in sodium and safe for young children to drink. It's worth packing a straw for any water / juice cartons the airline might provide.
ENTERTAINMENT
Unfortunately there was no entertainment at all on our flight as it was just a small chartered plane. Luckily we were prepared and packed lots of kiddies magazines (eg. CBeebies, Waybuloo, In the Night Garden) that my son is interested in. They also have lots of stickers and free toys which you won't mind losing. We also did action songs to pass the time on our 3 hour flight. It was also good to have a window seat so my son could look out of the window.
Ear pressure
I had a carton of juice ready for the take off and landing to help equalise ear pressure. However in the end my son was happy with munching on his packet of raisins.
Buggy
Take your (umbrella) buggy with you up to the door of the aircraft and buy a bag to protect it. Don't fold the buggy up until the last minute as you may need to walk across the tarmac to get to the plane.
I hope this helps. Good luck with your travels