Back from our trip

We are all back from our trip to Germany and the UK. I hope to write about my travels soon. Currently I am still a little out of sorts and having difficulty with organizing my thoughts. It seems like the trip happened a long time ago, instead of a week ago.

The plane travel went well. Better than I expected, in fact. I really liked flying with British Airways, they are a good carrier to take for a long haul flight. There is definitely a difference in service between American and British airlines.

In my last post, I wrote about my concerns in regards to flying with a toddler, so I thought I would start with answering my questions from the last post.

1.What kind of toys to bring (can't make too much noise, have wheels, take up too much room, too precious to loose, etc). I brought one gallon ziplock bag of toys. We had a few small dolls/stuffed animals, two wobbly toys, two finger puppets, a bandanna, and a receiving blanket (since it is small). The airline also gave Addie a coloring book and crayons, which were a hit. We did buy another coloring book and crayons when we were in England.

2. which seats are the best location wise for a child. The airlines decided where we would sit, due to having a child. We were behind the bulkhead on the way there so we could use the baby seat and on the way back we were not able to get a baby seat, so they put us right before the bathrooms, which is nice as we did not have anyone behind us then and there was a lot of traffic to entertain Addie. Addie also entertained the people waiting for the bathroom. On the short stop flights, it did not really matter where we sat.

3. how to deal with possible ear pain. No problems with ear pain on the flights. On one short haul flight from Germany to England, Addie slept through the take off, the flight, and the landing.

4. how much food to pack, what you can and cannot get in the ways of food and drinks for your toddler on your flight. I did not bring any drinks on the way there and brought snack bars and cheerios for the flight and that worked well. Addie shared my meal on the long haul trip and the airline helped with extra food and snacks. They also had juice boxes on the flight and that helped.

5. how many diapers to pack (especially if there is a possibility of getting grounded-ever see diapers sold at an airport??) I packed three days worth of diapers and we were more than fine.

6. sit on your lap vs dragging a car seat around everywhere for 2 weeks (that was answered for us as one of our carriers will not allow a child under 2 to have her own seat)

7. how to reserve a carry cot (a bassinet for us Americans). The airline has that all set up when they plan their flight. We were able to get one on the way there, but there were not enough on the way back, so we did not have one. There were 3 sets of twins on our flight back that were under 2 years of age. Luckily they moved the person next to us to first class and we had a seat for Addie for most of the flight.

8. Body scan vs having a stranger 'pat down' my almost 2 year old. I would opt for neither if I had the opportunity. I was holding Addie through security and they shuttled us past the body scanner/body pat down line both times. Warren got to experience the scanner though.

9. How to explain that the monkey back pack she adores has to go through the scanner with a minimum of screaming and tears (she shrieks when I take it off). We made it a game and since we had to put our stuff on the moving line too (we all three had back packs), Addie wanted to do it too. In fact, Addie could have kept her shoes on, but wanted to take hers off too.

10. Can I or can't I bring milk? This question varies by the airline carrier and by the day. I don't want to have anything in the sippy cup as I don't want it confiscated, so we will bring a little milk in a sealed bottle and hopefully I can open it and have it tested as opposed to having to have it taken from me . I just didn't bring milk. I did bring some leftover juice through security and they strip tested it.

All in all we had a good trip. Addie had a few meltdowns on our travels with planes, trains, and automobiles, but that's to be expected from a toddler. Addie was really good at being happy and super cute at the beginning of the flights, so we got excellent service from the staff who would sometimes come by just to wave "hi" to her and see how she was doing. There were a lot of cranky children/babies on the way back, which made Addie even more adorable to the staff. The staff was wonderful with trying to help the parents with the cranky children on the long haul flight.