How We Survived 18 Hours In Transit With An 18 Month Old

Pro tips for transatlantic travel

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Gone are the days when what I dreaded most about a transatlantic flight was the boredom. It’s no longer a matter of which movies I’m finally going to see, or if I will get to finish my book.

I won’t get to do any of those things.

Instead my fears revolve around temper tantrums, sleep schedules, and if my daughter will scream so much that we’ll be deaf by the time we land.

Traveling with a toddler is no joke. Everything changes once they learn to walk. It’s both miraculous and exhausting. And while I would normally champion the developmental leaps my daughter is taking — the idea of being crammed with her into a tin can for 10+ hours is enough to activate my stress dreams weeks in advance.

Fortunately, we managed it! Aside from trips to the U.S. and from Europe when she was a baby, we’ve now managed to fly transatlantic with a toddler. Twice.

Here are five tips for how we did it.

Let them eat snacks

I read before that you need half as many activities as you think you do and twice as many snacks.

This is completely true.