I'm not afraid to travel with my toddler. He's 18 months old and has already been on 10 flights.
Traveling with a toddler is exhausting, but I don't let that fact stop me from hopping on a flight.
My 18-month-old has already been on ten flights and we've learned a lot along the way.
Flexibility and packing lightly — but with a few essentials — are the keys to making it work.
When I told a friend we booked tickets from Salt Lake City to Auckland, she stared at me like I'd lost my mind. "Why would you do that to yourself?" she asked incredulously. I get this reaction a lot when I share my travel plans. And honestly, I understand why. Traveling with a toddler is exhausting.
And yet, I keep doing it because travel brings me joy. It shifts my perspective and shakes me out of my routine. Motherhood is consuming in the best and hardest ways, naturally changing how we move through the world. For some, that means setting into the rhythms of home. For me, it means continuing to explore.
Travel has always been something that makes me feel most alive, and I knew that becoming a mom didn't mean I had to let go of that.
More than that, I wanted my son, Lukas, to grow up knowing that the world is bigger than his own backyard. I want him to see that the world is filled with ways of living, thinking, and being that are different from his own.
So, we started traveling with him early and often. By the time he was 18 months old, he had already been on 10 flights — and we all survived.
My son took his first flight at 8 weeks
Lukas was 8 weeks old when he took his first flight. It was Christmas time, and I wanted him to meet my grandfather — the man he was named after. Seeing family and friends has always been a priority for me, and I didn't want a baby to change that.
But that didn't mean I wasn't nervous. What if he cried the whole 3-hour flight to Houston? What if people glared at us? What if I got stuck changing a poopy diaper in the tiny plane bathroom?
And yet, that first flight was actually easy. Shockingly easy. Lukas, traveling as a lap infant, mostly slept curled up against me, lulled by the hum of the engines. He fussed a little, but it turned out my biggest obstacle wasn't having a baby with me, it was my own anxiety.
That flight taught me something important: Lukas would be as adaptable and ready to travel as we were. Traveling with a baby wouldn't be as streamlined as before, but the extra effort was 100% worth it.
By the time Lukas turned one, he'd been with me while I hiked in Utah's national parks, walked through Times Square in New York City, biked along the canals in Amsterdam, and swam in both the Pacific and Mediterranean Oceans.
Long-haul flights are nothing to be afraid of
I think long-haul flights get a worse rap than they deserve. Let me be clear: I'm not saying they're fun, but long-haul flights aren't the impossible, sanity-shattering experiences people think they are. They're just — long.
My partner and I approach them with a strategy. We divide and conquer. We trade off holding Lukas, so neither of us reaches full burnout mode. And we always have snacks ready to go. A well-fed toddler is a happy toddler, so we pack more food than we think we need. We also bring things that will be helpful along the way. A bottle of milk is always a sure way to soothe him. I also have an iPad loaded with educational shows (we don't worry about screen time on flights), and a few of his favorite books on hand.
And even with all that, sometimes he still has a meltdown at 35,000 feet. That's just part of the deal. And although you get a few annoyed looks from other passengers, most people seem to empathize. On a few occasions, Lukas has even snapped out of a tantrum because he was distracted by another passenger smiling or making a silly face at him.
Along the way, we've learned that less is better
Despite all the international travel we've done, we never check bags.
The less stuff we bring, the less overwhelming traveling feels. We arrange cribs and car seats to be at our destination ahead of time so we don't have to lug them around. And we buy diapers, wipes, and formula when we land. I avoid packing unnecessary gadgets, too. More often than not, the best toy is the plastic iced coffee cup I get before the flight or the zipper on our diaper bag.
We embraced a new way to travel
The way we travel has changed, and that's okay. Now, I build our travel days around my son's rhythm instead of packing them full. We find joy in early morning walks and mid-day nap breaks. Travel looks different, but that doesn't make it any less fulfilling. Maybe it's because travel is part of his routine (we fly about once a month) or maybe it's just who he is, wired for movement the way I am. Whatever the reason, Lukas loves this as much as I do.
I saw it in the way he charged into the ocean in Greece, unbothered by the cold water, and in how he crawled through Moab's red dirt, covered in dust but grinning ear to ear. I see it every time he looks out the airplane window, just as excited as I am to be in the air.
We will keep going
Sure, the flights are exhausting, and late evenings at an airport are hard. But every time we travel, I'm reminded of how much my child gains from it.
He's learning adaptability, like how to sleep in new places and embrace unfamiliar foods. Travel is also teaching him resilience, showing him how to embrace discomfort without losing his sense of joy. He's learning to navigate the unexpected, whether it's a delay, getting stuck in traffic, or something else out of our control.
Travel creates memories in ways that everyday life doesn't. Like when we traced the letters of his last name on a Holocaust memorial in Amsterdam together. He may not remember these moments, but I'll carry them with me always.
Our relationship with travel will keep evolving as Lukas grows. Maybe if we have another child, the chaos will double and feel impossible. Maybe one day, we'll decide we want the comfort of our routine at home. But for now? This thing that so many people don't understand — the thing that makes them shake their heads and ask, "Why would you do that to yourself?" — is exactly right for the three of us.
Read the original article on Business Insider
