What’s the longest layover you would do with children?

[Anonymous]

With elementary aged kids I never did longer than 3-4 hours. Once it was going to be longer and we just made it even longer and stayed overnight in an airport hotel.
With a teen we did a 6-8 hour layover. Teen had wifi service. No problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We never do layovers.

The majority of the world is only reached via layovers.

Yeah I mean DC has a lot of access to direct flights but there are still plenty of places that need some kind of layover, including major cities in South America, Asia, Australia, and even some in Europe. Heck there are plenty of small places in the US that require a layover from DC. I am confused by never having one period.

I assume this person vacations in the Outer Banks and occasionally Orlando.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We never do layovers.

That’s sad. You’re missing out on a lot of great destinations.

[Anonymous]

We used dayuse.com for 10-12 hour layovers this past summer, and it was great! So nice to be able to shower and lie down in between long haul flights, and it allowed us to arrive at our destination, and back home, relatively refreshed.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the children. Mine adore layovers. We turn them into adventures. 6 hours in casablanca; lets explore! 23 hours, we will make a whole new trip. My step kids are totally different, however, as they were taught to see obstacles instead of opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the children. Mine adore layovers. We turn them into adventures. 6 hours in casablanca; lets explore! 23 hours, we will make a whole new trip. My step kids are totally different, however, as they were taught to see obstacles instead of opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Planned layover? I'd be willing to do 10-12 hours because if you know ahead of time you can do things like book a room at the airport hotel and hit the pool, or just leave and go to a restaurant or mini golf or something nearby. A longer layover is actually easier in this scenario because you have time to leave and come back and go through security. A 4-5 hr layover is the worst because there usually isn't time to leave and you're just stuck there.

Unplanned is brutal though actually the last time we got stuck at an airport for 5+ hours, our elementary age kid did the best of everyone because she's still young enough to be totally enamored with airports and thought it was so fun when we, for instance, posted up at an overpriced restaurant for 2.5 hours in a booth and played cards while ordering round after round of appetizers and drinks. She also loves going shopping in the airport stores. She did eventually get cranky but that's because we didn't board a plane until 11pm (original flight which was canceled had been schedule for 2:30, delayed twice, then cancelled, then we were standby for a 7pm flight and then finally wound up on the 9pm which was delayed until 11pm). But even with the late night crankiness, she was definitely the least unhappy of all of us. She also passed out right after take off whereas the rest of us cannot sleep on planes.

[Anonymous]

Two tweens, and we just did an 11 hour layover in a European country. Took the train into the city, and explored and has fun (bags checked all the way through, day packs put in lockers). Took the train back.

Because we arrived early morning, we grabbed food before we left the airport, had a full meal in the country, grabbed a late snack in the country and took the train back to the airport. Tired us all out before taking our connection - in a good way

We also were once stuck at DCA for like 6 hours when the kids were in k and 2nd grade. Plenty to do and see if you just keep moving - one parent sits, one moves woth the kids, switch, repeat

[Anonymous]

We got stuck in San Francisco for 12 hours once and I was by far the biggest baby. My daughter was 8 at the time and was completely unphased.

[Anonymous]

we had a six hour layover in Minneapolis. Kids went to mall of america with DH and had a blast. I sat in the Amex lounge and caught up on work email. But with other airports with nothing nearby that would have been more painful. So I would say that - as with most things - it depends.