Asides

Traveling can be so stressful, especially when you add a toddler into the mix. Having a plan can decrease the anxiety that comes with traveling.

• Under 2? I still recommend getting kiddo their own seat. Why? Because it saves your sanity and then you don’t have to check your car seat and worry about how it is treated. Budgeting your trip with the number of seats you will need down the road helps to create a sustainable trip 🙂
• Speaking of car seats we have used two options to get through the airport. We have used this bag that carries the car seat like a back pack. A better option we have used is this car seat stroller. TSA will have the car seat go through the scanner if it will fit otherwise they will inspect it. Avoid an embarrassing situation and vacuum the car seat out prior to traveling, this will avoid littering the airport carpet with goldfish and other snacks.
• Bring a stroller! We have brought our jogging stroller and check it at the gate. The downside to this stroller is it is big and and doesn’t always stay closed. We bought a strap off of amazon that helped. Be prepared to work with TSA during the screening process. This has been handled a number of different ways, sometimes they ask us to take the wheels off and send through the scanner and sometimes they just inspect it. It is annoying but just deal with it and get through the process.
• Depending on the age of the little one the options for traveling through the airport are numerous
  • infant car seat in the stroller and then installed on the airplane
  • infant car seat in the stroller and kiddo in carrier with one parent
  • kiddo in stroller and convertible car seat in the backpack or on the car seat stroller
  • kiddo in car seat strapped to car seat stroller and pushing stroller that is holding carry ons.
  • AVOID letting kiddo walk until through TSA. Once checked bags are off loaded and through TSA the anxiety decreases and kiddo can walk through the airport.
• TSA PRE-CHECK! sign up for this. This is amazing when traveling, the lines are usually shorter, no removing shoes, no removing ipads, no removing liquids. This is a lifesaver when traveling with kiddos.