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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.

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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.

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A Day In Transylvania, Romania

Transylvania often conjures pictures into ones mind of great looming castles and murderous vampires that transform into bats and fly across the mountains.

Well, one part of that is correct at least (hint: It’s not the vampires).

Some people don’t even realise Transylvania is a real place, not just a made-up land from storybooks. However, it is – and until the Romanian Unification in 1918 it was its own province.

The region of Transylvania located in the centre to north west of Romania, and is bordered on the east and south by the Carpathian Mountain Range.

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Bucharest’s secret treats – Romania

Home to around 2 million people, Bucharest is both the capital and largest city in former Communist nation, Romania.

I’ll admit, while I’ve had the urge to explore Eastern Europe for some time now, Bucharest as an individual location wasn’t high on my priority list.

But just a few days in this history-filled city that was once known as “Little Paris” was enough to have me recommending to everyone I spoke to that they give Bucharest a try.

From the expanse of social, political and cultural history on offer, to the friendly people, good food, abundance of beer – especially in the beautiful Old Town area (not that I could enjoy it, as I was pregnant at the time) – and ease of accessibility to get around on foot or subway, there were so many things that made Bucharest a winning travel destination to me.

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The funnest marathon on earth? Marathon du Medoc, France

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A marathon where you are encouraged to get tipsy, and it’s mandatory fancy dress – is it a dream or a nightmare?

For thousands, it seems, it’s a dream – and one that they get to live out in reality once a year near Bordeaux, France.

Marathon du Medoc, held every year in September, includes more than 20 wine stops along the 42km track plus offers specialities such as oysters, steak, and ice-cream too.

This year I got to head to Paulliac, the small village where the race starts and finishes, to experience Medoc for the first time – From the sidelines, of course! I had the cough very important job cough of being cheerleader to my fiance, Dan, that kept me much too busy to run it myself.

That, and the fact that I’m extremely unfit and the idea of a marathon gives me shivers…

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Incredibly grand AirBnB in Bordeaux, France

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Paris France is always a good idea, right?

Definitely!

And the beauty of living in England is that I can pop over whenever I damn well please… Although, it’s more likely whenever my bank balance pleases… I think all of us here know the struggle to live on a ordinary salary with the extraordinary urge to travel.

In fact, last week I got to visit France for the first time since I moved to the UK just over a year ago, which I find astounding, as the land of the French is just so accessible to us here in Great Britain.

I just hadn’t gotten the chance yet.

But anyway, the point is: I FINALLY got around to going there (Again – I visited back in 2013 on my first trip to Europe) last week when my fiance, myself, and a few of our friends headed to the Bordeaux region for a marathon Dan and two others in the group were set to run (More on that next week!).

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A wicked weekend at Alton Towers theme park

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The sun wasn’t out, but our guns were!

As a foreigner living in the United Kingdom, it’s almost a rite of passage for me to visit Alton Towers, one of the major theme parks in England.

Practically everyone who has grown up in the UK, or lived there for some time, has visited the park before.

But, after almost a year living in Bristol, I (an adrenaline junkie and rollercoaster lover) had somehow not gotten around to it yet!

So, to combat this problem, recently Dan, our friends Will and Elyse, and I headed to to the Towers for a weekend of fun.

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Lantern Parade and Fiery Finale lights up Lismore

Photo Credit: Peter Derrett. Sourced from Lismore Lantern Parade’s Official Facebook Page.

Once a year Lismore’s streets are lit up with hundreds of handmade paper lanterns, carried through the town to the collective sounds of awe and cheer, as the annual Lantern Parade brings together the region.

Running for over 20 years now, the Lismore Lantern Parade and Fiery Finale is a volunteer-organised and run event which celebrates everything wonderful about the Northern Rivers region, and marks the Winter Solstice (the longest day of the year).

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My Top Five Travel Tips

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France, 2013

If you’re new here: Hi, I’m Marnie, and I LOVE travel.

Over the last five years, I’ve traveled to 36 countries, and I’ve learnt a lot along the way.

I’ve grown from a naive young girl on her first big trip, to a confident female traveler.

Here I wanted to share with you my top five travel tips, which you can find in the video below.

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