In May, after 19 months of living overseas, we traveled back to Iowa for the first time!! There was so much anticipation in our family leading up to this exciting day.
We would see some family that we hadn't seen in almost two years! We would meet two new nephews and a niece that were born while we were gone. We would eat food we hadn't tasted in what seemed like forever. We would reacquaint ourselves to driving again! We would gather around tables and converse with friends and old co-workers face-to-face! We would vacation with family. Easton would play T-Ball. We would spend summer evenings around campfires roasting marshmallows and catching fireflies. We would take hundreds of pictures and make endless memories. There was so much we were looking forward to.
Traveling Internationally with three kids can seem daunting and stressful.
For me, preparation starts about a week beforehand with packing and gathering ideas in an effort to make sure the kids have plenty to do on the plane. Each big kid has a backpack filled with a few of their favorite things, as well as a few new things to keep their attention on the long journey. Keep in mind their ability to carry their own backpack while trekking through the airports!! Mom and Dad can't carry everything :)
I feel it's important to have at least one familiar thing especially when going to an unfamiliar place, or in our case, multiple unfamiliar places! This may be a special blanket, a book you read every night before bed or a special stuffed animal. For my boys, it's their stuffed puppies and a Children's Bible that we read before bed every night. Routines are important and give children a sense of stability and predictability.
After packing a backpack for each boy, loading new games on the iPad and making sure I have PLENTY of snacks, it's on to the adults. A rule of thumb I have when packing carry-ons; have as many free hands as possible! I usually take a backpack or a bag that I can easily carry on my shoulder and don't necessarily have to use my hands for. We all know with three littles in tow, there are plenty of hands to hold!!
Another way I love to travel with littles, is with my ERGO. It not only frees up my hands, but my babes usually fall asleep soon after being snuggled in, as long as I don't have to take them off to walk through security:)
There are times we travel with our stroller, but usually check it with our baggage so that we don't have to deal with it at the plane gate.
When we arrived home, everyone wanted to know how the kids did on the flight.
Here's how our journey went:
-10 minute taxi ride from our apartment to the Train Station
-Hour and a half train ride to the nearest airport
-45 minute taxi ride from the Train Station to the Airport
-First flight: one hour
-Second flight: 6 hours
-Third flight: 8 hours
-Fourth flight: 1 and a half hours
So, as you can see, it takes awhile to get home! Despite all of the various forms of transportation and the connecting flights, not to mention the 8 hour time zone difference, our kids did great!!!
We were blessed with the Bulkhead on both flights to and from the States. It was something we didn't ask for, but happened to be seated there. It was huge to be able to put Nile in the bassinet to sleep and not have to hold him the whole time. So thankful.
One great, or not so great, thing about International flights are the movie options. Usually each passanger has their own TV screen in front of them. While movies helped pass the time, it also kept them awake. We shut their screens off after a time, but they just looked at the next screen over!! For that reason, our oldest didn't sleep at all on the flight to the States. The return flight was different thankfully. The above picture was the one moment that all three were sleeping at the same time on our return flight!! Victory!
This was the result of 24 hours of no sleep:(
When meeting our family at the Airport, he ran to hug his Nana and somehow missed. He hit his head on the cement floor and had a huge bump instantly. On our short drive to our hometown, he wasn't tracking with us. It very well could have been because this poor boy didn't sleep for 24 hours, but we took him to the ER anyway to make sure he didn't have a concussion. Thankfully it was the one and only time we had any hospital visits over the summer!
Overall, our trek back to the States was great, and filled with lots of excitement and anticipation!!
