Guest the aitkens Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 Hi all, This is our first thread, so here goes... Currently residing in Scotland and soon to be embarking on our new life in Perth, myself (29), my wife Louise (30) and children Ruby (4) and Ella (2) have our 457 visa granted (took 29 days!), flights are booked (27th July) and temporary accommodation sorted (Butler). Can anyone offer any practical suggestions as to how we keep the children entertained on our flight? We are flying with Singapore Airlines as direct as they fly (Manchester-Munich-Singapore-Perth) with no overnight stopovers en-route. Many thanks. Alistair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockDr Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 There is a good range of childrens films and TV programs, as well as games in the screen in the seat in front. I would recommend getting a couple of trunki cases for the little uns, gives them a seat when you're in queues, and they can help pick out the toys/books that will go in them for the flight. Try to avoid overly noisy toys. Do remember they'll need toys/colouring books/something to keep them entertained in the waiting lounges, and keep aside a new toy for the last leg of the flight in case they've got bored with the other stuff already. Do bring their favourite pillow/teddybear and PJs for them to sleep on/with. Try to replicate their normal bedtime routine on the plane to help them settle. In Singapore there's plenty to go and see, the butterfly garden, or the swimming pool, or the fish pond are particularly good with kids. If you've got more than 2hours, definitely pack the swimming costumes, as swimming is a great way to tire them out for the last leg, and gives the adults a chance to stretch out and rehydrate a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JK2510 Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 Someone suggested to me which I thought was a great idea. They brought their kids a few little surprise gifts from Hawkins bazaars and wrapped them up and gave them the gift every few hours. I didn't bother as mine were older and were more than happy to have their eyes glued to the inflight entertainment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Having flown with a 22 month old I have to say that their interest generally isn't held for long by anything. Luckily we flew Qantas last year so they had a fair few CBeebies programmes he would watch for 15 minutes at a time. We got the night flight from Lon-Singapore so he slept for 8.5 hours about an hour after take off which was great. Made it a lot more bearable than having to entertain him during a day flight. I also second keeping their bedtime routine (we got son ready for bed while waiting to board), took his sleeping bag and put him in it once we had taken off. It really helps if they have their night clothes on and a familiar routine. We also took a few mini packs of Weetabix as son wasn't on the baby meals they served and had the older kids meals. We figured if he woke up hungry and they were not serving breakfast for another 2 hours it'd be good he had some brekkie we could give him. Also some snacks foods. And a couple of mini cartons of UHT milk. Be sure their bags can hold their toys, a few small books, change of clothes and so on. The airlines usually provide a goodie bag with some colouring stuff in or some such. Fine for older one I'd think. Perhaps get a couple of kiddie magazines for your oldest also. With activities, stories and so on in. I'd also suggest veering away from sugar loaded snacks. Nothing worse than them cramming in sugary stuff and then having an energy burst to wear it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Bottom line - dont panic and travel light. They probably arent going to need much entertaining as the motion of the plane tends to send them off to sleep. Take a small special friend (and make sure it goes in the bag whenever you get off the plane otherwise it might find itself on its own foreign journey) and a few little toys - new ones are good and my granddaughter on the last flight got a lot of mileage out of a little magnetic doodler. This time she is going to get an ipod full of her favourite stories (she'll be 4) because she loves audio books. However the inflight entertainment is usually good for a few hours. Some snacks are a good idea and get them to drink something on take off and landing to help with ear popping. Best advice I can give you though is to suss whether they might need travel sick pills - and if they do, then try them first because some brands can hype kids up (they wont be sick but they will be bouncing off the walls!). Nothing worse than travelling with a kid who is chucking whenever the plane bounces. I'll be flying with a 4 year old and 10 monther in a couple of months (grandkids) having done it many times with my own kids on my own over the years. My d-i-l is far more stressed about it than ever I was but there will be 4 adults to the two kids this time so hopefully it will be easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S92LAME Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Slip them a few valliums! maybe take a couple yourself! Alternatively, book them onto a different flight from yourselves! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Slip them a few valliums! maybe take a couple yourself! Alternatively, book them onto a different flight from yourselves! LOL did I mention that I am going first class and consigning the DH, DS, DDIL and kids to sardine class? (In my dreams only!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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