Taking a toddler over to China for holiday

[Neil_H]

Hi,

We are planning to go back to China in September or October with our daughter who will be around 18 months. Her Chinese grand parents want to meet her again as do the other relatives. The long haul flight to China from the UK is about 11 hours with the option of a non direct flight being 1.5 then 10 hours. How have fellow parents coped with taking the young ones all that way? It is a long flight for an adult so I am worried about my daughter who is a very active little girl. :rolleyes:

[jbradfor]

We've taken our 2.5-year-old on 3 trans-Atlantic and 3 trans-Pacific trips, so I (improperly) consider myself a bit of an expert on this B)

Not to worry you, but I've found 18 months to be the worst age thus far. Younger, and they sleep a lot and are not very active. Older, and more things entertain them.

I could go on and on, but I'll just stick with my two main suggestions.

1) Don't worry about it, you will get through it. And, as long as you are trying your best to keep her quiet, I've had no issues with nastiness from other passengers. In fact, on one (short) flight in which she was whiny the whole time, at the end of it the older lady in the seat in front of me turned around and kindly said how well behaved she was. [i think she was just totally lying to make me feel better, but it's possible her hearing was going....]

2) If there are TV programs or DVDs she likes, buy a digital media player and copy all her favorite programs onto it. We bought her an Archos 405, which is pretty cheap (we got it refurbished for USD 75, new price is often USD 100-150), but there are probably other good ones. We also bought these headphones for her, and they have worked out great. It worked out great during our recent trip to Japan, especially on the 13 hour flight MSP -> NRT during which she watched it for about 6 hours, and slept most of the rest. Also been useful on the train rides, dinners, etc.

And post again if you have more questions.

[xianhua]

Bread sticks and a portable DVD player saw us through with our 22-month old. Also, try and choose late evening or night time flights if possible (although admittedly I've never seen a night time flight from the UK to China) as she will sleep through with a bit of luck. We did this on our return journey from Hong Kong (midnight flight) and she slept for the majority of the journey.

If you are having the debate about whether to book a seat or not for her, we didn't, and didn't regret our decision since she spent most of the journey either on the floor asleep, or running into first class (at which point the stewardess suggested we moved to the ample free seats at the back of the plane).

[Neil_H]

Thanks.

She is at that annoying stage where even TV no longer interests her and only running about seems to work. Must be like having a puppy!

Virgin seem to do a flight around 8pm departure which would fall in with the sleeping plan.

The next nightmare is how to stap her in safely in those taxi's. I remember another post on this but that was with the grand parents car and a child seat.

We can probably get a relative to collect us from the airport so it should not be too bad.

[jbradfor]

Regarding buying a seat for her, some parents do, some parents don't. And afterward, most parents think they made the right decision. So whichever way you decide, it will be the right decision for you.

That said, we always purchased a seat for her, even when she was only 9 months old. [And we think we made the right decision ]

Mostly, it is a comfort issue. When we fly, we bring her car seat on the plane with us, buckle her seat into the plane seat, and then she sits in her seat. She seems most happy this way, more happy than sitting on our lap, and it makes it easier for us to rest or do other things when she is sleeping or watching DVD.

There is also a small safety issue. In case of turbulence, or a crash landing, she is much safer in her seat than being held by us or on the floor. However, the probability of that is so small that I do not view a parent as negligent if they decide not to. [unlike being in a car, in which the probability of being in a crash that one can survive in a car seat but not survive if not in a car seat is so many orders of magnitude higher.]

[jbradfor]

She is at that annoying stage where even TV no longer interests her and only running about seems to work.

You could try other DVDs. We just borrowed all the DVDs we could from our public library, and bought the ones that held her interest. If that doesn't work, I have some suggestions.

The next nightmare is how to strap her in safely in those taxi's.

Assuming the taxis actually have seat belts, you could try this product.

[xianhua]

The next nightmare is how to stap her in safely in those taxi's.

And don't forget that most taxis in mainland China appear to have been designed solely with people carrying one small suitcase in mind (and anyone else is a major inconvenience). Four items of hand luggage, two large suitcases and a buggy will just about fit in one but you'll need a fair bit of the back seat too.