Travelling with Young Children (Long distance)

We have just done an amazing race of our own by travelling thousands of miles with just the 2 of us and 3 kids. The conclusion is; it is tough and tiring.

The reason for the travel is to bring the kids to visit their grandparents back in Belfast. The grandparents are  already in their 80's. The grandparents came to visit us for the 2 consecutive years. So, we feel it is our turn to travel back and visit them, so they have the chance to hold and talk to their grandchildren. We do skype - video call with them every week. Watching from a distance will not be as good as holding them yourselves.

Long distance travel with your children is not an easy task, proper and early planning is important. Here are some of my experience or tips to share:-

1. Booking of your travelling plan

2. Packing

3. Handling
4. Coping with Jet lag

Booking your traveling plan

I have booked the air ticket about 4-5 months ago to enjoy the discounts. However, there are mainly no flexibility i.e changing date/pre-book seats and etc. with the discounts. So, you have to be very sure prior to booking. 

Our original plan was to bring a maid along with us to help to handle the kids (remember, I have 1.5 years old twins and a 3 yrs old son). I have booked her ticket prior to getting her visa. I have earlier consulted the officer for UK border agency prior to the booking. However, as we starting to compile documentation for submission, we have encountered various problem with her application and a fee of RM1500 to be paid upfront. Finally, we dropped the idea of taking her with us and will have to learn to cope between the 2 of us with the 3 children and the luggage to handle!

As result of that, I have lost an air ticket and has called for kind consideration for refund. As I bought the MH Low air ticket, they can't do any refund but they suggest I appeal via email through ibesupport@malaysiaairlines.com. I told them that we really struggled to save up the money for the children to go for a visit and they were kind enough to refund me the money with RM200 admin charges.

Again with this MH Low tickets, we were not allowed to make any advance seat booking. I made the effort and tried to call a week prior to my departure and again they were kind enough to reserve the seats for me considering I have 3 kids and 2 bassinets were needed.

So, I would give credit to Malaysia airlines for all the assistance and support rendered.

Packing

A checklist of items is essential on items to bring along:-

1. Medication

2. Food/Milk Powder

3.Clothes and 

4.Others

5. Bag to board / carry along

I have started to work on the list 2 months ago prior to departure. We have restricted ourselves to just 2 bags to carry on so that we still have 'hands' to manage the kids.

Medication

Standard medication e.g for cough, cold, fever 

Ointment

Cream for nappy rash, minor cuts

measuring spoon or syringe for the medicine

Food

Biscuits, baby food, milk powder, their favorite tit bits/snacks

Clothes

Jackets/Coats, long pants, shirts if you are going to a cold weather country. others like socks, underwear, lots of hand clothes, blankets

Others

Baby monitor, thermometer, toys, baby stroller (if your kids still using them)

Carry on bags

milk bottles, milk powder, thermos, biscuits, tit bits, drinking water and bottle, coats (to wear when land), few change of clothes (just in case the kids sick and need changing), diapers, baby wipes and toys to keep them entertain.

So, we ended up with 3 trolley bags and a box to check in and 3 bags to carry on including our own coats and some computer gadget for the children to play.

I am a fond user of baby sling, so there were also 2 slings packed together.

Handling

• on board the plane
• going through immigration

on board the plane

This is a real challenge of your patient. You need to be calm and patient at all time. The flight journey was not too bad as they were late night flights, the children went to sleep after 1-2 hours after the plane took off.

The tough bit in the plane was to handle 3 kids and trying to get them to eat in a very narrow space. We ended up not eating ourselves and concentrate in feeding the children. The last 2-3 hours of journey could last like ages. I think we have done OK! We kept them occupied with their toys, movie, games and food.

going through the immigration

We need to remove things like boots (if you are wearing one), belts, separate the electronic gadgets, all children's drinking bottle, thermos and etc. Imagine you have to carry the children, trying to remove all the stuff and trying to put them back all together. Patient, patient, calm and calm again is the key thing. Of course, again, the children will be all over the place, crying and screaming at the same time.

We were unlucky due to the change of connecting flight time and up to a delay of 6 hours. We decided to book into a hotel even just for a couple of hours of stay so the children could have a bath, change clothes, have their milk or snacks and also a lie in.

By the time we get on the connecting flight and landed in Belfast, the overall journey took about 22 hours (from door to door).

Coping with Jet lag

If you can try to get the children can adjusted to the time in that country. However, no matter how hard you try, you will the one least enjoying your sleep. The scenario is always the children will sleep whenever they want and when you are ready to sleep, they are awake. The children took about 4-5 days to get adjusted to the different time zone and we took about 2 weeks to catch up our sleeps and we have lost our temper with the kids occasionally due to lack of sleeps.

After this trip, we decided we are not going back for a visit in another 5 years time till the kids are a bit order and able to receive instruction better and a bit more independent. However, it was good to be able to visit their grandparents and all the aunties, uncles and cousins back at home.