Pregnant, traveling with 2 yr old, to Oregon - mad?

[ReshapeWhileDamp]

DH has a conference in August in Portland and we'd planned to go out as a family (DS will be 2.5 by then) and spend some time driving in Oregon. I'm just having trouble getting my head round travelling there! DS hasn't flown since a quick trip to Portugal aged 5 months (when he was EBF and very portable!) and I will (hopefully) be about 4.5 months pregnant. I presume we have to book a seat for DS because he'll be over 2 (but would rather do that than have him squirm on our laps). Can you ask for bulkhead seats (so he could play on the floor) for a toddler or are they reserved for smaller babies?

And is this just mad? What about jet-lag for him - do small children tend to be as afflicted? Do airlines tend to charge less for children in seats, given that they're taking up an adult space?

Go for it - I did a longhaul flight (NZ to Boston) when DD was that age and I was 5 months pregnant. She had her own seat and loved it. Bump still wasn't big enough to cause much discomfort, just got up and moved around plane regularly.

How was jetlag for your DD?

I'm still not sure we can actually afford it . Just did a check and prices have really gone up since the last time I checked!

We are going to Oregon in August with our 2.5 yr old DS too!

We've travelled longhaul with him a couple of times, and have been surprised at how much he was affected by jetlag - it really threw him for quite a few days.

He'll need his own seat (full price, eeek). You can ask for a bulkhead but different airlines have different seating policies. We flew BA last summer and it was a real pain - they wouldn't allocate seats more than 24 hours in advance.

Hope you still go -have been reading lots about it and it looks gorgeous.

according to dh oregon is leftie and lovely and i would like it there..

Which routing are you going to take? Were you on a thread before, when I suggested BA direct to Seattle, then down to Portland either by train, driving or commuter flight?

Not sure if routing ? for me or OP, but we're flying up from the Virgin Islands where we live to San Francisco and driving up to Portland, flying back from there. 3 flights to get there, 4 to get back...ugh.

Sorry, I meant the OP.

Wow, that's quite a trip Tolalola. Is is fab living in the VI?

Sorry, forgot to watch this thread!
Chippy, it might have been me. DH has a conference in Portland and our plan is to go out about a week beforehand, flying in to Seattle because it's the closest airport doing international flights (I think) and hire a car and drive towards the Bend area (probably). My brother lives in Nevada and has his eye on a move to Bend (when the US property market picks up!) and says it's wonderful round there.

Tolalola - I think I'm right in saying that only BA flies direct to Seattle? Tickets are really expensive for that flight (and scarce) but it would almost be worth it - 7.5 hours (can that be right??) as opposed to, say 9.5 to Houston and another 4.5 to Seattle... I presumed that younger babies would be given priority over bulkhead seats, and quite right too.

I think overnight longhaul flights are best for that age (2-3) - then hopefully they'll sleep!

We have occasionally put a blanket on floor (by feet) and laid very tired toddler down. Airlines sometimes don't like it but they sleep better than in chair. I think they give younger people needing cot Bulkhead priority?

Takes a few days for them to get over jet lag. When we flew to California kids spent first 4 days waking at 2am... eeekk

younger children

i have done several long haul flights when pregnant and with a toddler, and on my own to portland specifically! it was ok and you'll have the added benefit of a direct flight to seattle. i'd try and fly direct if poss than going through say chicago. (have done that too!) it's a killer having a fairly long haul flight followed by another 4 hour flight.

you'll love portland / seattle and it's well worth the trip.

Guess living in the BVI has its ups and down like anywhere, Chippy - great weather, corrupt government, low taxes, no shops, outdoor lifestyle, crap healthcare...you know the type of thing .

Reshape: yes, BA flies direct London to Seattle - have you looked at direct flights to Vancouver? May be cheaper and really not much further than Seattle. Redflipflops is totally right about overnight flights being better, if poss. Toddlers are so great, they'll sleep bloody anywhere when they're tired.

Hmm, Vancouver. Not a bad idea, although we might still have to fly out of Seattle, as DH's conference is at the end of the holiday and is in Portland. That, or budget for another couple of days to drive back to Vancouver. Suppose we could fly.

Only drawback in going via Vancouver is we'd be tempted to stay in the city and never leave! I love that place.

There seem not to be any overnight flights to the States, only back from.

Portland to Seattle driving takes about 3 hours, Portland to Vancouver around 5 hours, so could in theory be done in one day. Might not really be worth an extra flight, what with the faff of getting to the airport/checking in and everything.

We are only having one day with a 5 hour drive during our trip, but it should be ok with lots of stops for running around along the way, I hope reckon.

Dunno if it helps, but we did UK-Vancouver with 3.5 yo dd1, 18 months old ds and me 5 months pg with dd2, hired a camper van, drove through the Rockies and back through the Okanagon to Van again and not one thing went wrong, it was great.

2 years later we did UK-Guatemala-Canada-UK with dd1 5.5, ds 3.5 and dd2 16 months, again pretty much no complications, even when backpacking round Central America!

My only huge advice is don't do Air Canada for little kids - nofacilities at all and we were lectured by the stewardess from 1st class (3 rows and a curtain in front of us) as our kids were noisy!