Managing Solo Travel With Kids

Travel Tuesday

In two days, I'll cross an airplane jetway with two preschoolers. We travel pretty often with our 2- and 5-year old daughters, so I've got the routine down. But that's not to say I expect solo travel with kids to be easy!

The first step in managing solo travel with kids -- especially little ones -- is to set realistic expectations. I bring no reading material for myself because I expect to be 100 percent occupied with the children. I get plenty of sleep the nights before the trip so that my tank of patience is on full.

And I say a prayer for understanding, friendly passengers to be seated around us.

On our first big plane trip with my then-baby girl, I brought way too much stuff. I had an entire wardrobe for my daughter and myself, in case she ruined all our clothes. I had a bag of books, a bag of toys, a bag of food and an entire bag of medicines for her and the adults. I never used 90 percent of the gear because it was stowed in the overhead bin.

Now, I pack everything in clear plastic bags so I can see the contents, and I bring the bare minimum. Of course, the bare minimum for two children can be quite a bit. Here's my carry-on packing list for Thursday:

• Diapers, wipes and a change of clothing for each girl

• Children's Tylenol, children's Benadryl, Advil (for me) and an Epi-pen Jr. (My 5-year old is allergic to peanuts.)
• 4-5 lightweight children's books that neither girl has read recently.
• 2-3 small toys that don't make noise and neither girl has played with recently.
• A couple of sheets of stickers, washable crayons, 2 coloring books and a pacifier.
• MP3 player loaded with kids' music and books on tape. Two headphones and a signal splitter.
• Soy butter sandwiches, string cheese, pretzels and sippy cups. Travel-size hand sanitizer.
• Hairbrushes and hair bands -- airplanes usually make my girls' flyaway hair even more static-y.
• Cell phone, wallet, information about hotel and car reservations and my laptop with some kids' DVDs.

Parents differ on whether it's more hassle than it's worth to bring car seats and a stroller. I bring our double stroller and a car seat for my toddler. My kids have slept through airplane connections because we were able to load them into the double stroller asleep. If they're awake, you can load the gear into the stroller and let them run off energy in the airport.

This flight is only two hours and it's early in the day, so my kids should be fresh and relatively tractable. Wish me luck! And please share your own travel tips or horror stories.