Travel hacks and advice

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Originally Posted by californiagrown

Please tell me you don't do this on plane trips.

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What's worse than a kid kicking the back of your seat throughout a flight? A kid kicking your seat AND farting throughout the flight :)

On the excessive carry on topic, I was traveling back from San Diego last month and saw a family of three: two adults and a young child who looked to have three items per person at the gate. They definitely had more than two each. I thought for sure they would be questioned at the gate, but nope. Get on the plane and they're in the row behind me. They had both their entire overhead bin and the one in front of them completely full with just their carry ons. Fuck everyone else on the plane, I guess.

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Originally Posted by nickwm21

Backpacking pack carryon gang sometimes gets the added karma of when caught - strappy pack goes through the bag well and gets shredded…


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There's a travel hack for that. Keep a heavy duty black trash bag or two in your pack and a length of cord (both also potentially useful for other things).

Bag the pack and then lash it with the cord like you're tying up a pork roast--holds it together nice and tight and gives the baggage handlers something to grab onto rather than shredding the plastic. Keeps your straps and lightweight backpacking materials safe.

40 L ski pack is great for carry on, I think 60 might be pushing it

sink laundry for sure, black T-shirts don't show stains/ Hawian shirt to dress it up

I had a friend have issues traveling with his patroller pack several years ago because of explosive dust/resin. I imagine a soap/water cleaning of the pack will remove that stuff, but something for some to be aware of, right?

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Originally Posted by bodywhomper

I had a friend have issues traveling with his patroller pack several years ago because of explosive dust/resin. I imagine a soap/water cleaning of the pack will remove that stuff, but something for some to be aware of, right?

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I got stopped one flying out of SLC for the same reason. I guess I had skied through enough blast powder to set off the detector.

I wouldn't trust soap and water, I think whomever you are throwing the bombs for should be giving you a pack to use

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Originally Posted by alpinevibes

Checking in from a parallel universe: my twin boys just turned 5 a few weeks ago. We flew to ORD-BCN this summer and they've done quite a few longer flights previously, most originating from Aspen with transits through bigger hubs. My takeaways:

- We try to give the boys equity and decision making power in the process of travel. We let them pack their own backpacks with a few each of toys, snacks, lovies and clothes to bring on the plane. They have their own kid headphones for ipad/movies. They carry it and they manage when they play with stuff, within reason. Let them choose their meal options, etc. We have them pack jammies to change into once it's after dinner and time to start moving towards rest/sleep.

- Bring some surprises: small toys and treats/snacks to change the dynamic if things start going south

- audio books: our boys love audio books and will sit engrossed with them for hours. Big win on flights and a nice change from screens.

- Movies/i-Pad: we have about 2-4 hours of screen time a month for the boys at home, but we allow whatever works once they're on the plane

- Sleep: Heading to Europe, we've found it helps to have them be/end up tired so they fall asleep and "sleep" once you get to your destination, versus working hard to keep them on their current schedule, while flying, by forcing/fighting sleep. We've used melatonin for sure to help some sleep, but also kinda let them fall asleep when they fall asleep. The first overnight sleep and morning wakeup in Europe is hard for everyone, but you just need to set a reasonable alarm time and stick to it. The second morning is still hard, but by the third you're good. The return flights are a different story and I would use melatonin.

- Boarding: we always wait till late in the boarding process if possible and try to keep our carry-on's limited and manageable for intl flights. Let the kids play and run around a bit before the flight.

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That all sounds good - and yeah, the audio books have served us well on a few road trips recently. Good thoughts on sleep too. Personally I always adjust pretty quickly going east and get fairly wrecked coming back west.

It's mostly something about planes. In the car, our guys are fine. We've done plenty of long drives with them without any real issue. Maybe it's just that planes are an out of the ordinary experience for them and more stressful. I'm sure some of it is also that if they start melting down in the car, there aren't 300 other people in close proximity.

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Originally Posted by XXX-er

40 L ski pack is great for carry on, I think 60 might be pushing it

sink laundry for sure, black T-shirts don't show stains/ Hawian shirt to dress it up

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I'm pretty sure that my 42L pack is bigger than at least one of the allowed dimensions on most flights if fully loaded. It's usually not much of an issue due to lack of enforcement and will fit reasonably in the overhead bin (ie top towards aisle, not taking up what should be three bags worth of space in the other direction), but as noted previously, getting it weighed is problematic.

Patagonia black hole 40L duffle. Tough, has pockets, is compressible, has removable shoulder straps, fits in a lot of carry-on checkers if not chock full - but can expand a bit beyond 40L if size isn’t factor.

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Originally Posted by toast2266

That all sounds good - and yeah, the audio books have served us well on a few road trips recently. Good thoughts on sleep too. Personally I always adjust pretty quickly going east and get fairly wrecked coming back west.

It's mostly something about planes. In the car, our guys are fine. We've done plenty of long drives with them without any real issue. Maybe it's just that planes are an out of the ordinary experience for them and more stressful. I'm sure some of it is also that if they start melting down in the car, there aren't 300 other people in close proximity.

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Seriously though, don't sweat any possible melt downs. If people don't have noise cancelling headphones or earbuds at this point, it's on them. And truthfully you'll find more sympathy from the other passengers than the one or two cranks who don't like kids even under the best of circumstances.

And as a former kid wrangler, I think Benadryl is awesome.

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Originally Posted by I Skied Bandini Mountain

Seriously though, don't sweat any possible melt downs. If people don't have noise cancelling headphones or earbuds at this point, it's on them. And truthfully you'll find more sympathy from the other passengers than the one or two cranks who don't like kids even under the best of circumstances.

And as a former kid wrangler, I think Benadryl is awesome.

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Agreed with all of this.

Worth testing your kids at home with the dose of Benadryl you’re gonna use. 99% of the time it knocks kids out - but there is a phenomenon called paradoxical reaction where a dose of Benadryl will turn a kid into an out of control Tasmanian devil. Think running up and down the aisles screaming sorta deal.

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Originally Posted by I Skied Bandini Mountain

Seriously though, don't sweat any possible melt downs. If people don't have noise cancelling headphones or earbuds at this point, it's on them. And truthfully you'll find more sympathy from the other passengers than the one or two cranks who don't like kids even under the best of circumstances.

And as a former kid wrangler, I think Benadryl is awesome.

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One of the kinder things a stranger has ever said to me was a simple "Hey... nobody on the plane cares if your kids start crying. So, don't sweat it." We were just having a snack in the terminal and she dropped that one me as she passed. Seemed random at the time, but it's still remembered for how much it relieved my fear.

You know who travels with giant luggage? People who have other people to carry their luggage for them.

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Originally Posted by old goat

You know who travels with giant luggage? People who have other people to carry their luggage for them.

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So…wives?

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Originally Posted by I Skied Bandini Mountain

Seriously though, don't sweat any possible melt downs. If people don't have noise cancelling headphones or earbuds at this point, it's on them. And truthfully you'll find more sympathy from the other passengers than the one or two cranks who don't like kids even under the best of circumstances.

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I think what we all have a lot less grace for is when the kids are being little psychos and the PARENTS are just completely checked-out, totally ignoring their kids. That's when I get annoyed. Like when kids are violently kicking the seat in front of them and the parents act like nothing is happening. On the flipside, when a kid's having a meltdown BUT the parents are engaged, making ANY effort to be present and do something, then I have all the patience in the world and if anything, offer to help in any small way I can.

I doubt anybody here is like the former, so truly, it's all good. Kids will be kids, there will be good times and bad, and that's totally ok. Nobody will judge you.

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Originally Posted by singlesline

So…wives?

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Beat me to it!

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Originally Posted by gaijin

One of the kinder things a stranger has ever said to me was a simple "Hey... nobody on the plane cares if your kids start crying. So, don't sweat it.”.

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You’re saying you met a sociopath…


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As we're deplaning this guy starts reaming out my wife for not controlling our kid who was supposedly kicking the back of his seat nonstop the whole flight. (I had been sitting across the aisle.) Wife tells the guy she was the one sitting behind him. There is no way I can capture the flavor of her response in words so I won't try. Suffice it to say I felt no need to come to her defense and the guy had no more words.

If kids on planes bother you don't fly Jet Blue in the summer. It seems to be the preferred airline for taking kids to see the grandparents.

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Global Entry is now free for crumb snatchers under 18. Price has been bumped up to $120 for adults, but most travel cards cover the cost.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/global-entry-free-kids/

Global Entry lets you submit a renewal application after 4 years (GE term is 5 years), so so long as your application is pending, you continue to receive GE benefits. I recently renewed Mrs C's GE, which was approved in 3 days, no interview required. The renewal extended her current GE expiration by exactly 5 years.

So if you have TSA Pre or GE and are in your 4th year, I'd go ahead and submit that renewal - - no reason to wait.

My GE application was declined a year ago. No idea why.

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Originally Posted by liv2ski

My GE application was declined a year ago. No idea why.

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they're reading what you post here? :tongue:

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Originally Posted by liv2ski

My GE application was declined a year ago. No idea why.

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It's the weed, maaaaaaan... :D