Managing Travel with a Toddler
I take my son, Archie, to Scotland once a year to see our extended family (and to give my wife a break — she deserves it), and have done so every year since he was six months old. The trip is brutal: three flights and two connections totaling about 24 hours door-to-door. I should be a walking collection of travel horror stories in human form, but thankfully I am not.
In the last few years, I’ve been integrating my knowledge of business, lean management, organization, and productivity into my family life. In fact, recently, my son and I created a factory floor Visual Management board and a Standard Work checklist — it’s cooler than I’m making it sound — to help him understand his week ahead, and the tasks of the day. It has been a huge success, and so, with the summer months upon us, and family travel in full swing, I’ve put together a few tips for managing travel with kids, applying the same kinds of techniques.
Packing list
First off, use a reliable place to keep a packing list. In my case it’s on my phone. I use the to-do list/productivity app I created called Completo. The key to a successful packing list is when you start the list. It’s always best to start early. Weeks, or even months, in advance I often think about things I need and add them to the list, and by the time the trip comes up I’ve remembered pretty much everything, versus waiting until the day before which almost guarantees you’ll forget stuff.
Packing
I always have my son pick out his clothes for the trip and a bag of toys. This gives him a sense of ownership in the task (an important part of delegating) and when he’s on the trip he feels like he’s mentally more prepared for it as well as being an active part in getting organized. Start early with this too, as the more notice they have, the better they will be on the trip.
Speaking of toys…
The third tip is my wife’s and I’ve used it plenty of times now. When I fly with my son I always buy new coloring books and some new toys. I don’t go crazy price-wise so lots of little items are better than something big. Then, I tell my son that he’ll get a new toy every two hours on the trip as long as he’s good. The last trip we were on, I gave him a new car character from the movie Cars, they were only a few bucks but I swear he was so excited about when he would get the next one, it made the trip more interesting for him. Then we played with them too so it got us both involved. Bonus Tip: Avoid sugar like the plague. Treats may seem like a good tool for bribing, er, incentivising them, but sugar for a toddler on a plane is only going to hurt you in the end.
Connecting flights
My son always gets tired going through airports for our connecting flights and inevitably he wants me to carry him or to help with his bags. I’ve been there and it’s a total nightmare for your back and arms. You have to be smart about it: I invested in a ride along bag. It has wheels, my son can sit on it and I can pull it. Then he has a backpack that will stay on. Meaning I can just pull him along as one compact thing instead of carrying my bag, his bag, and then him.
Long layovers are your friend
Take a trip with slightly longer connections. I know it can mean a longer layover to entertain your kid but that is better than trying to carry all the bags and rushing across an airport or through immigration when you only have minutes to spare. This is not a business trip, (even though by now you are business-managing the hell out of this family trip!) and all those things you learned about how to get through security more efficiently, allowing you to shave off connection time, are useless when you travel with a kid. Take a bit longer, relieve the stress and you’ll be glad you did.
__________________________________________________________________
Matt Girvan is the co-founder and president of My Gung Ho, LLC, which creates apps that help individuals and small businesses thrive, using the same strategies that help large companies succeed. Download the to-do list/task management app Completo and the freelance/small business management app Yaldi.
