travelling

gonker

Has anybody travelled long distance with kids. My sister is travelling to australia with her 4 kids (8, 4, 3 and 2) this month and is looking for some advice....Anyone out there got any?????
gonk

crazy angel

good luck to her!

gonker

"good luck to her!"

My thoughts exactly

Nevyn

what ages are the kids?
most airlines will assign a flight attendant to halp families with what ever they need.
It is a very very long flight.
trying for one that leaves late in the evening means they might sleep
some of the way and she will need a well kited out bag with snacks, changes of clothes, wipes, drinks, light fleece blankets, fav toys and new small toy and new small books to keep them intrested.

FatherTed

As someone who travels yearly from New York to Shannon with 3 kids (5,5 & 3), get new books, games, coloring books with crayons etc, tape player with headphones. Also this past Christmas I got my oldest 2 Leapsters with 2 games, kept them quiet most of the trip! Also, past some non-sugar snacks such as crisps, crackers, fruit.

I think it's important for your kids not to be tired at the start of the flight especially the younger ones. Remember, it's not just the flight, but also dealing with checking-in, luggage, hanging around for the flight, more queue etc. In the past I've tried to adjust the sleeping patterns of the kids for a few days before the trips so they would sleep on the plane and/or have less jet-lag but it's never worked. NY-SNN flight are usually around 7pm and get in 6-7am-ish, the last couple of times they've napped on the way to the airport for an hour or two so by they time they get to the airport, they were not tired.

Kernel32

Four kids, I thought travelling with one was bad! I have a 28 month old and we have made several trips from Boston to Shannon since he was 4 months old. I don't have much to add for suggestions as they are all good. On one trip we had a load of stickers for him which he hadn't really seen before. By the end of the flight he had covered himself head to toe in stickers, it was very funny.

On our last trip which was Nov '04 we had an incident regarding bringing a car seat on board. We had used the seat several times on Aer Lingus flights no problem and it fit perfectly in the seat and was easy to strap in. On this occasion some woman who was very unpleasent inspected the seat and said we couldn't use it because it was missing a sticker. I asked to see documentation about this sticker which she couldn't produce, she basically said she knows it when she sees it. I was really really pi$$ed because I felt we should have been told about this when we booked the flight and Aer Lingus were extremely unhelpful in the whole matter. Anyway, the moral of my story, before my blood boils again, is if you are bring a car seat on board then talk to the airline about it.

gonker

I personnally think she is mad :eek: too but she got a good deal €3000 for the six of them. Thanks for all the suggestions stickers might be a good fun. I might lend the eldest my godson my walkman and some tapes that should keep him happy.
gonk

ps they are two boys aged 8 and 4 two girls aged 3 and 2.

limbovski

bring a tranquiliser gun with plenty of ammo... :eek: