Red eye Tips- Traveling with Children

[Anonymous]

We do this when we visit our parents in Paris: Arrive, deposit bags at their place, take it easy, trying not to nap until dinner time, then go to bed and have the full day the next day. Everyone is in better shape than me, because for whatever reason I can never sleep on airplanes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I book the hotel for the prior night and allow two hours for napping in the late AM on arrival. People are still tired when they wake up but don’t feel like total crap anymore and can make it to nighttime.

I do something similar, but we nap after lunch and set alarms for an hour.

Booking the place for the night before so you can go straight there is some of the best money I spend on vacation. Totally worth it.

[Anonymous]

Kids are better than adults. You sleep as much as possible on the plane, then you don't sleep until late when you land. Go, go go.....then crash. Works so well.

[Anonymous]

Obviously there are very different strategies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get an early check-in and plan on doing nothing the day you land in London, because your kid will sleep that whole day. Nothing will change that.

I have done this trip 5-6 times with my kids between the ages of 3-8 years old. I agree with early check in, you may have to book a day early just to ensure you have the whole day. But do not sleep the whole day!

Try to get your child to sleep as soon as possible on the flight out. When you arrive, get breakfast at the airport, check into the hotel and take a nap for 2 h max. Don’t close the blinds or even turn off the lights for the nap. Rally as hard as you can and go out for lunch and plan one activity for the afternoon. Get an early dinner and then early bedtime around 7-8 pm.

If you are flying into terminal 5 LHR, Gordon Ramsay’s plane food is a nice calm place to get breakfast. If it’s terminal 2, there is the queen’s arms or caffe Nero.

For the flight back, if you are on the afternoon flight, have your child wake up early that morning and then get your child to nap for the first 2-3 hours of the flight. Then wake them up for the remainder. By the time you get home, they should be ready for bed at 7/8 pm.

+1 to this.

[Anonymous]

We your for a few hours and then head to the hotel for an early bedtime. No naps. We adjust just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We do this when we visit our parents in Paris: Arrive, deposit bags at their place, take it easy, trying not to nap until dinner time, then go to bed and have the full day the next day. Everyone is in better shape than me, because for whatever reason I can never sleep on airplanes!

We do this, too. Your kid will probably sleep on the flight and we aim for a very leisurely day of eating, playgrounds, toy store to reward good behavior on the flight, and strolling, and then we go to sleep no later than 8 pm.

I will say that the next morning may be rough. Let your kid sleep in and rest and have simple snacks and liquids on hand (crackers, bread, cookies, cheese, juice, water). My kid would get so excited/exhausted from the flight that she wouldn't eat (she also gets air sickness and almost always vomits during landings), and then she'd wake up in the middle of the night at our destination and throw up and just feel terrible for the first 24-48 hours. Encourage your kid to drink plenty of liquids and eat what their stomach tolerates to avoid this.