When planning for travels with kids, I always scour pinterest and mom blogs for helpful tips. Well, I’m excited to bring you what I have learned allll in one place. You see, traveling with kids certainly takes more preparation – but it truly is such a rewarding experience to explore new places together as a family.
If you caught my last blog post (Our Travel Itinerary with Kids: Banff, Jasper & YOHO National Parks in the Canadian Rockies) then you know we just returned from our first international trip with two children in tow (and one in the womb). While we just went up north to Canada from our Ohio, USA home – passports were still required via air travel! So we’ll be covering everything from what you can fly with internationally to customs to in-flight entertainment to logistics.
At the time of this trip, my children were 4 years old (daughter) and 22 months old (son). Plus, I was 20 weeks pregnant with our third child.
My husband and I were joined by his mother and father, both in their late 60’s. This certainly gave us helping hands at times and was hugely beneficial! If you have a relatives who are interested in joining your travels, this can be such a special way to create memories together. Plus, this can give you and your spouse some kid-free time when traveling. More on that later.
We have also done many trips where it is *just us*. Thus, I will highlight how you can perform challenging tasks without extra helping hands, and how we have navigated that in the past.
Packing when traveling internationally with kids
First of all, take advantage of FREE checked luggage! Each child is allowed a car seat and child carrying device (ie. stroller, hiking backpack). Here’s what we checked for FREE:
- Front facing car seat
- Rear facing car seat
- Hiking backpack carriers (stuffed two in one bag)
Within each of these bags, we stuffed the nooks and crannies with the following items:
- Package of diapers and wipes, attached via seat belt in one of the car seats
- My husband’s coat, placed in canvas bag to keep clean and attached via seat belt in other car seat
- Snacks zipped into allllll the different compartments of the hiking backpack carriers
*Note: when traveling internationally, customs will inquire if you have any fresh food with you. Ensure all snacks are pre-packaged and none of which are fresh items, unless they have a sticker that specifically states the item was made in the USA or Canada (in this instance).
Check this video for a highlight of the snacks we brought!
- Canvas bag of supplements, prenatal vitamins, electrolyte powder and collagen. Stuffed into child carrying compartment of hiking backpack and clipped inCheck this video for a highlight of what I included!
Each of our three larger, bulky items were placed in a travel bag to keep them clean and to ensure our extra belongings stuffed in were safe. Here’s an example of a travel bag we used.
When arriving to the airport, you need to check your bags. This is a challenging task with two kids in tow! My husband dropped the kids and I off with all the luggage as he went to park the car. Thankfully, my mother and father in law had already arrived! My mother-in-law took the kids as my father-in-law and I waited in line with the luggage. If we did not have helping hands, I would have had my husband take both children with him to park the car and shuttle over while I handled the bags on a luggage plinth available at the airport. Once I got the three bulky bags checked, we were left to simply our carry-on luggage.
Here’s what we had for carry-ons:
- Diaper bag on my back with snacks for all, AirPods for me, diapers / wipes / change of clothes for my son and two light muslin blankets for naps on the plane or to lay on the floor for the kids to play on during a layover. Also, water for the kids and I plus all four of our passports and boarding passes!
- Backpack on my four year old daughter with toys she picked our for her and little brother. This included little trinkets they’d won at the local summer fairs that would be totally fine if lost on a plane or airport. We do not travel with any sentimental toys! Also a stuffy for each child to rest with, water coloring books and small coloring books with crayons
- Backpack on my husband with two ipads (screen time is unlimited when on a flight IMO), headphones for kids and himself, travel documents, water for him.
- Carry-on suitcase with all the kid’s clothes, pulled by my four year old daughter
- Carry-on suitcase for me
- Carry-on suitcase for my husband
FLIGHT DELAYS: HOW TO HANDLE THE UNEXPECTED
Our daughter did a great time managing her own little suitcase for the first leg of our trip and to kick off our layover in Chicago. Then, she got tired. Our 1.5 hour layover in Chicago O’Hare turned into a 10 hour layover thanks to a delay on our flight out of our home Columbus Airport. We ended up having my daughter sit on my suitcase as I pulled her and our son sit on my husband’s suitcase. My father-in-law then pulled my daughter’s suitcase in addition to his own. Check out the madness of a 10 hour layover with kids here – we certainly made the most of it!
So how did we manage a 10 hour unexpected layover while traveling internationally with kids?
My husband waited in the Customer Support line while also on the phone with United to determine which flight we should be switched to. During this time, I had the kids nearby and we colored, looked at a dinosaur statue and ate a snack. This is where dividing and conquering works best! They would have gone CRAZY waiting in line for 1.5 hours, so finding a home base for us while my husband figured out the logistics was huge.
From there, we were all starving for lunch as our morning had started at 5:30 a.m., and by this time it was 1:30 p.m. So we took our time with lunch, then found the Kid Zone. My friend, this is a GREAT place to bring your kiddos if you have an extended layover. The area was gated in with soft floors. We set our bags down, took off shoes (socks on) and let the kids run and play without fear of them running into travelers walking briskly through the airport. This area was families only and we met a number of friendly families during our time there.
During all of this, my husband had helped the kids and I find the Kid Zone, then went off to talk to another desk about getting switched to an earlier flight out.
This desk was outside of the security area, so he had to go out of and then back through security. It was SO NICE not having to do that with the kids. We just got to stay in a safe place with them while he handled all things flight logistics and reroute plans.
Once he came back from all of this, it was my turn to take a walk, grab a coffee and a snack, and have a little mental break from mom mode. I returned refreshed and we all were ready to find a place for dinner at this point. So we took our time walking to find another eating spot, then made it to our gate FINALLY ready to depart for our intended destination – Calgary, Canada.
The kids were truly such troopers during allll of these unexpected delays. My daughter said as we were on our final four hour flight of the day – “I wish I could fly all day, mommy”. Well, with a 20 hour travel day, we nearly had!
CUSTOMS WITH KIDS
Once we *finally* made it, we had to go through customs in Canada. This was a pretty seamless process, we had to present passports again. We also had to confirm we were not bringing any fresh produce or nature items with us, had no drugs and no large amounts of cash (like, thousands, in cash, on us). This was all with an electronic scanning machine, of which I have used in Europe as well which move you through super quickly. Then, off to baggage claim!
My mother and father-in-law went to get the rental car while we awaited and gathered our bags onto a luggage cart. If we did not have helping hands, we would have done this step together as a couple still, then my husband would have gone independently to get the rental car while I waited with the kids at the pick up zone. The less you have to navigate with the bulky luggage, the better!
CAR RIDES WITH KIDS
Throughout the trip, we had a number of car rides spanning about an hour of car seat time between stops. This is where the toys my daughter had packed in her suitcase came in handy as they had on the airplane. We also allowed screen time with the ipads. Also snacks. Lots of snacks. I was able to take the snacks out of all the hiking carrier nooks upon arrival at our hotel and sort them into one of the extra canvas bags we had brought. This was placed at an easy to grab from place in our car to pull from throughout the trip.
RETURN CUSTOMS TO THE USA
When returning to the USA, we actually went through customs *in Canada*. Yes, the USA border control was in Canada. They asked us all the same questions as mentioned above and check our passports. This was super nice because we did not need to do this upon arrival into the USA at Chicago O’Hare (a customs that would have been WAY more crowded and lengthy). So, keep this in mind when planning your arrival time to your departure flight from Canada and with planning for layover time upon entering the USA.
What questions do you have about traveling internationally with kids? We are excited our little ones have passports now, good for five years! We hope to take advantage of that when trip planning in these years ahead. While it does take more planning (and the investment of getting a passport!) this trip was similar to those taken within country in terms of prep work, logistics and navigation.
Where is your favorite travel destination with kids? We are always looking for new places to explore and would love to hear your thoughts!
