It's Survive a Plane Ride Week!

First, wow I have fans! Sometimes I thought I was writing into the great ether, but Im so glad to hear that at least some of what I've written has helped! Sorry it's taken me a bit to get back but things have been a changin here in the Young household. Soon after my last post we packed up and went to a wedding in Seattle, then Maya started kindergarten and my brain went to mush adjusting to having to actually think about fixing food for someone a day before they're going to eat it and making sure she hasn't squirreled anything away in her backpack. Darn you mommy brain!

In an effort to make the blog a bit more coherent Im trying out a new idea which is theme weeks. This week is Survive a Plane Ride Week because it is indeed something you have to survive through to get to where you're going, sometimes barely surviving. I've heard and experienced all kinds of horror stories about traveling so hopefully this week I can help you survive a few of those horrors.

My first tip of the week is a little something I like to call a "plane pack." One of the tips I always give to other parents is to put together a pack of toys, games, etc. into a small, mesh bag or other kind of bag you can quickly take out of your carry on and put underneath the seat in front of you. This keeps you from having to get into the overhead constantly which is both annoying and a safety risk. The size of your plane pack will depend on the length of your flight. Something like the one pictured below would be good for a flight of several hours...well for Maya at least lol.

This is Maya's plane pack closed up. I prefer to use mesh zipper packs so I can see exactly what I'm looking for. This is a small version. Maya has a slightly larger one that she takes on international flights that holds more but this will give you an idea of what Im talking about. This pack is about the size of a 5x10 photo so it's small but it has a lot in it.

As you can see, these plane packs can pack quite a bit. I can fit Maya's dolls (and yes, I have great personal shame for the brand of dolls *sigh*), a zippered bag of markers and crayons, a mini watercolor set, and a small pad of construction/scribble paper. It's enough to give her several different things to do while not taking up a lot of space.

Obviously, now that she's 5, Maya's needs are different than a smaller child but you can easily fill a plane pack with toys appropriate for any age. The key is having them in one pack that you can quickly take out of your carry-on. Believe me life is much easier when you dont have to have stuff all over the floor at your feet or up in the overhead where you have to scoot in front of the guy snoring away in his seat.

Later this week I'll have a video on packing your carry on and some more tips and tricks to get you through so keep reading!