We're going to be flying to the US soon and it's the longest trip we've done with our child. It's an 8 hour flight entirely during daylight hours, and I am slightly (read: very) apprehensive about the chaos that could unfold. Any tips or experiences?
Once took a recently turned three year old on a two hour flight without too much issue. Obvs at that age an extra year is a huge difference, but he was genuinely loving the take off and once you’re up it’s basically a big ol’ white noise machine. We had a tablet and books handy for him, though he still got restless towards then end
I imagine with yours being younger and the haul being longer it might be more problematic, but I would treat it like any other boring-for-kids situation. Books, activities, hey duggee on the tablet. Hopefully they’ll sleep at some point.
Other than that, just be aware that the people on the plane will be furiously twittering about parents and children and planes. But they’re probably cunts, so fuck ‘em.
I’m an adult, and I still think takeoff is the best part, by far.
Flying with mom for the first time was especially funny. She had never mentioned being afraid of flying (or takeoff, at least), but she white-knuckled the armrests. I was old enough to notice, but too young to realize that the situation called for a bit more empathy on my part.