Ava had her first plane ride and we all survived! I panicked over this since booking the flight, over 2 months ago. All that panicking was for nothing.
Does this look like something worth panicking over? (Thanks, Dan for the super flattering shot).
Here are a few things we did to try to make the flight a little more bearable.
1. Since we were traveling to Hawaii (a 5 1/2 hour flight from LA alone), we decided to break up the flight. We flew to LA (just over 2 hours) first, spent the day in LA and then got up and took the first flight of the day to Hawaii. This was great for the way there, not so sure it was totally necessary for the way home. The flight was substantially cheaper this way and we got to spend a little time in LA as well. Ava got to meet Keith (and spent some time in a bar for the first time:))
2. Carrying extra bags without extra hands was a bit of a challenge (Ava is not quite ready to carry her own bag). Avis was awesome! Something I bet many of you don’t know; if you rented a car and have a car seat set up, Avis will have a driver take you to the airport, so you can keep the baby in the car seat. Not all Avis locations do this, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Also, those little Smart Carts were total lifesavers.
3. Travel with the Ergo (or baby carrier of choice). I used this when trotting through the airport, but it also worked miracles for putting Ava to sleep. When she was having a hard time, I put her in the carrier and walked around the plane a little. She was OUT in no time. I went back to my seat and she continued to sleep for almost 2 hours. This worked on the flights to and back from Hawaii.
4. We bought a smaller stroller. I have a Baby Jogger that I LOVE, but it is a little big. We went out and bought a Combi Cosmo Stroller. It is much lighter and smaller. It also folds very small and quick, which was great through security and at the gate check.
5. We packed a ton of toys, but we really didn’t need more than 1 or 2. Ava had fun just playing with us, napping, and just staring out the window. She is very social, so she also enjoyed meeting some of the other passengers (who were amazed at how well behaved she was on the plane).
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