Family Travel Archives - Marnie Johnston

June 26, 2023June 26, 2023

Top Tips for Flying Long Haul with a Toddler

We recently travelled from our home in the UK to Australia to visit my family – a 36 hour door-to-door journey, with a 2.5 year old in tow – including two long haul flights.

I was super nervous, as I had no idea how my daughter would cope with the long journey, considering she’d never been on an airplane, or out of the country, before this trip.

I’m pleased to tell you, the transit went way better than I was expecting, and our mini traveller exceeded all our expectations, not just during the flight, but throughout all legs of the journey.

In my last post I shared with you a breakdown of everything I packed in my carry on bag to help the journey go as smoothly as possible for our family, and now I’m going to share with you my top tips for long haul flights with a toddler.

July 31, 2022July 31, 2022

What’s in my carry on bag: Long haul flight with a toddler

We just got back from a wonderful trip visiting my family in Australia – a 36 hour door-to-door journey from our home here in the United Kingdom.

Not only was this possibly one of the longest long haul transits we could have done, it also happened to be my 2.5 year old daughter’s first international adventure/first time on a plane ever.

Needless to say, I was very nervous about making the trip, and made sure to research all the things that would help make the journey as smooth as possible for us as a family, as well as our fellow passengers.

During the transit (which involved a taxi ride, two hours on a coach, 13.5 hour flight, layover, 7.5 hour flight, then a 2.5 hour drive) I would have been lost without my “bag of tricks” to keep my toddler entertained, fed and content – which it most certainly did! Honestly, the journey went way better than I could have ever hoped!

I thought I would share with you what I packed in this “bag of tricks” in the hopes that it may help your family on a long journey too.

March 22, 2022March 22, 2022

Toddler’s first theme park experience! Our weekend at Gulliver’s Land

This past weekend we took our 2.5 year old daughter, Ada, on her first ever theme park experience, at Gulliver’s Land Milton Keynes.

We had such a wonderful time that I thought I would share our experience with you – despite the fact that I haven’t made a YouTube video in two years! (I know, I’m sorry – having a baby, battling postnatal depression and anxiety, then a pandemic hitting wasn’t exactly the most conducive situation for content creating)