After the unqualified success of our first trip with Lil’ Chandra, we tempted fate again and did another two week trip with her!

Have a plan for the plane

When Lil’ Chandra was last on an airplane, she was a tiny nugget, easily contained, easily pleased with a bottle, and happy to snuggle on your chest and fall asleep. None… none of those things are true anymore. There are opinions, there is a schedule, and there is mobility. For our 9-hour flight, she skipped her nap, was delirious for four hours, and then collapsed two hours before landing. Both ways. Aside from the basics (food), I recommend bringing the following:

• Vinyl stickers. We had a big book of Melissa & Doug stickers and they could be applied to many different surfaces. Or wadded up in a ball! Also very useful in the hotel room, we got a lot of mileage out of them.
• Screens. It’s easy to fall into the performative parenting trap of “Oh well our Jayden only watches the finest Sanskrit puppet shows made from organic wool.” I find Screen-time to be a tool and the less it is used the more effective it is there for when you really need it. Like a 9-hour plane flight! I downloaded some episodes of Baby Bum Kids. It’s–uh–British. And animated. And is a little creepy. But it was stone cold captivating for an hour straight. You can’t put a price on that.

Bring the Grandma

I’ve long been a proponent of three being a very stable number for travel. You have a tie-breaking vote, one can just sit and recharge and two others can go hit a 37th museum, etc. etc. The Wolf Pup adjusted her jet lag very quickly, but that meant it was 7pm bedtime. And sometimes it’s nice to go out to a concert or just a scoop of ice cream. Bring the grandma! Find a good Airbnb with 3 bedrooms and you can have a guilt-free evening out.

The Return of the Food Pouch

Lil Chandra is a pretty good eater but any sort of extended travel results in pushed schedule. We’ve graduated beyond food puree for almost over a year, but the food pouches were absolutely critical for when we pushed her just an hour too far. Buy them in the grocery store and always keep a few on hand.

Adjust Expectations

(Or: ride the escalators repeatedly)

Toddlers are very charming organisms but they are less so in areas with lots of social norms. Like museums, concerts, etc. Even a quiet two-year old is Very Loud in a museum and that’s something that is stressful for everyone. We had a goal of 1.5 events per day. Maybe it was the kid-friendly Vienna Aquarium (shockingly good!) or the very un-kid-friendly Albertina Museum (I rode the escalators 20 times with Lil Chandra and then hung out in the coat room for an hour) but it was one per day before researching the post-nap afternoon playground.

This dovetails nicely with the Bring the Grandma point above. As before, you’re really just spending time as a family. Just in a new place! Two can go do something cultural while the third wrangles a small child.