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Traveling with a 13mo: short or long layover?

3K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Theleastofthese 
#1 ·
Anyone who has experience flying with a little one: are short or long layovers better?

We're looking to get from NC to the UK and can't find any direct flights, and our options for layovers are either less than 3 hours or more than 10. The layover will be after a 2-3 hour flight, and we'll have a 7 hour flight afterwards; it'd be the reverse on the way back. We're leaning towards the longer layover, but I'm really not sure which is better.

With the short layover, my biggest concern is delays. I very keenly remember having a severely delayed flight and then having to dash across O'Hare to barely make it for the final boarding call, not something I want to do with a baby in tow!

The long layover seems like a better idea- give a break from the plane, time to decompress and have freedom of movement. We've never tried staying in a hotel on layovers, though, so I'm not sure how to make that work. We might be able to get "comfortable" on the benches, kiddo has gotten into the habit of falling asleep on one of us on the couch, although that's not ideal.

Anyone with experience/advice about surviving both layovers and travel in general with an active toddler?
 
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#2 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by sillysapling View Post

Anyone who has experience flying with a little one: are short or long layovers better?

We're looking to get from NC to the UK and can't find any direct flights, and our options for layovers are either less than 3 hours or more than 10. The layover will be after a 2-3 hour flight, and we'll have a 7 hour flight afterwards; it'd be the reverse on the way back. We're leaning towards the longer layover, but I'm really not sure which is better.

With the short layover, my biggest concern is delays. I very keenly remember having a severely delayed flight and then having to dash across O'Hare to barely make it for the final boarding call, not something I want to do with a baby in tow!

The long layover seems like a better idea- give a break from the plane, time to decompress and have freedom of movement. We've never tried staying in a hotel on layovers, though, so I'm not sure how to make that work. We might be able to get "comfortable" on the benches, kiddo has gotten into the habit of falling asleep on one of us on the couch, although that's not ideal.

Anyone with experience/advice about surviving both layovers and travel in general with an active toddler?
Oh a 10 hour layover sounds like hell on earth, honestly. My son was terrible about sleeping anywhere but his crib, though, so that would have been a disaster for us.
 
#3 ·
I've travelled quite a bit with my toddler, since he was very young. I think a 3 hour layover is actually pretty perfect, though I understand your worries about delays. It's long enough to stretch, but not so long that you start to lose yourmind. 10 hours in an airport is long! I've done it, though, when DS was about 6 months. It was at night and he fell asleep on my chest (after finding a dark, quiet dead end hall somewhere...airports are very stimulating!). We've also gotten a hotel room overnight, and with airport shuttles, it worked quite well. I much preferred it to sleeping in an airport! A chance to change clothes and even have a hot shower!!

I found that in airports in Central America, people and other kids were happy to help entertain my toddler. In N. America, though, they all tend to avoid eye contact! I guess my best advice would be to let your LO move around as much as possible on the layovers. Between people watching and plane watching, window shopping and airport art, there is always something to distract them!

HTH. Safe travels!
 
#4 ·
We did a 6 hr layover when DS was 14 mos old and it was too long. He wouldnt sleep and ended up running around the airport because it was past his bedtime. He did sleep on the flight after the layover, though.

3 hours sounds perfect. We just flew this week with DS (20 mos now) and we had about 2.5 hours and it was perfect. We left the secure part of the airport to eat something. DS had some time to decompress and play around, and it wasn't so long that he was bored or running around like crazy.

We have flown alot with DS (long flights too, mostly cross country and intl flights) and I usually look for 2-3 hr layovers. Anything less isnt enough. Anything more is tedious.
 
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