Picking your Battles
I was planning to take a trip out to San Diego with my boys to meet up with my husband while on a two week business trip. Once I sat down and did my pre-planning for the trip, what was once excitement quickly turned into anxiety. And I let my fear talk me out of buying the tickets for us.
Now I’m not one to usually talk myself out of things, I usually throw caution to the wind and deal with challenges as they come along instead of wallowing in hypotheticals and scenarios. But this time I did a completely thorough job of walking away from the plank and settling for staying home instead of exposing my children to all the beauty of Southern California. And now I feel like a schmuck for it. I just felt like this was a battle I didn’t want to fight.
I started thinking about me tugging the 5 year old along with one hand while pushing the 1 year old in the stroller in the other and pulling our luggage with my invisible third alien hand, all while maneuvering a smaller carry-on of snacks and milk along with a car seat. I then imagined getting to the gate where there were no seats or if there were seats, we’d lose them because my 1 year old would be more interested in racing down the long airplane corridors to test his Olympic baby sprinting skills while I chased after him pulling my 5 year old and our luggage because God forbid I left that sitting by itself, someone would think we had a bomb in it. Then I imagined my five year old having to use the bathroom if not being a 1-2-3 stop and me, the baby, the stroller and the bags in there waiting for him. Next I thought about being on a packed flight with a screaming young toddler because it’s his first flight and having to get up and walk the narrow airplane aisle with him on my shoulder and the 5 year old towing behind me.
Once I created all of these mini horror films in my mind, I was convinced that this would be a Travel with Kids story I wasn’t quite ready to experience. My sanity says that I was right but the optimistic adventurist in me says I was wrong. Once I was past the 14 day-advance ticket window, I decided to sit and think about the solution to the mental problems I had created for myself. After the emotions of it all dried up, here is the grid I came up with showing the challenges and solutions to traveling on a plane by yourself with small children.
| Challenges | Solutions |
| Needing to do an extended bathroom break | Avoid fruits, dairy, and fibrous veggies |
| Carrying multiple car seats | Rent them from the rental car company |
| Towing carry-on luggage | Just pay the baggage fee and forget about itTake a huge pocketbook & let that be your only bag |
| Olympic sprinter toddlers | Use a kiddy leash |
| Managing both kids on plane | Request to sit in the rear of the plane so that you can get up and walk in the back easilyBefriend a stewardess |
| Getting to the gate with no seats available | Arrive earlySit at the nearest gate with no scheduled flights |
Okay, so why couldn’t I rationalize all of this 14 days ago? Well, now I know and I’ll be ready with the boys for the next flight out.
I went through the same anxiety when I planned to take both preschoolers to St. Croix this past april. I bought one of the back-pack carriers to help me free up my hands but in the end, I chickened out and just went with my 3-year old and left the baby home. The back-carrier is now collecting dust….
I only have one child and am deathly afraid of traveling long distances with him. My two year old has become a card carrying member of the meltdown club. However, I think its all about timing right? Perhaps traveling at night might work best since he can pretty much sleep anywhere when he is super tired. I guess this is something to consider in the future when we visit our friends in Germany.