For the international, long-haul travellers...

Having just returned from the longest long-haul I will probably ever 'enjoy', I thought I would share a few things I have learned about travelling with Miss (2 years) and Master (1 year) - without Papa or any other adult.

• Infant meals - must be requested at least 48 hours in advance of your flight (if you want a child's meal otherwise your under 2 year old may not be offered ANY meal).
• Bathroom visits - an unfortunate child:adult ratio means some careful juggling - one child on the change table, one on the toilet and a Mama squished in the remaining space. Unless it is likely to be required by someone with a greater need, try using the disabled bathroom as it will have slightly more space. Having said this, the disabled toilet on the A380 seemed to me to be the same size as a regular bathroom on a Boeing.
• Spare clothes - if possible, select garments that are appropriate for both/all Misses and Masters to reduce your cabin baggage weight and size.
• Wet clothes - dry quickly on inflight television monitors.
• 1 piece pyjamas - at first I thought this was a stroke of genius, one garment (per Miss/Master) to locate in cabin baggage. Wrong. I should have thought ahead to nappy changes and bathroom runs. Our return journey pyjamas were actually tracksuit trousers and a comfortable t-shirt (which also served as additional spare clothes). Much smarter.
• Play areas - at Melbourne International (MEL) departures the incredibly marvellous play area near gate 10 was a magnet for families and kept children active and busy pre-flight. Other terminals with play areas include: London Heathrow LHR (all terminals), Singapore SIN (all terminals). Singapore SIN also boasts multiple outdoor gardens & a butterfly enclosure.
  

• Luggage - although I could have travelled a little lighter, I did choose the right piece of luggage. I know I can push two buggies at once, and I know I can push a buggy and hold Miss's hand. Courtesy of a recent weekend away (and a 10 minute struggle in the car park before help appeared), I also know I cannot concurrently push a buggy and drag a suitcase. The solution was obvious - I would return to my days of footloose, fancy-free backpacking and promptly dusted off my old 65 litre backpack.
• Emirates kiddie haul - includes delightful items such as magnetic sketch pad, blankets, coloured pencils, activity book, story ("Oh, the Places You'll Go", Dr Seuss) and travel journey with pen and note paper. Incidentally, Emirates also have an amazing pack for infants which includes a disposable change mat, good quality wipes, skin cream, spoon, rattle and bib.

• Drawstring consumables bag - this is one from an earlier post (6 toddler travel tips) and it was no less helpful for this journey. Master had on his rosey-red teething cheeks which usually means many, many nappy changes, so I took a huge nappy stash and I was not afraid to use them! Although my stash of consumables steadily reduced during the journey, the consumed items were replaced with the Emirates kiddie haul (see above).
• Travel documents - I worry about my travel documents being in order. We have an extraordinary number of passports in our family and our long-hauls usually involve more than one flight (this last trip was 6 flights in total). So, keeping our passports and boarding passes in order was something I mastered in the early days of family travel. I invested in one brightly decorated, clear-sided plastic pencil case which holds every passport, ID card, boarding pass and luggage receipt, plus pens (for all those departure and landing cards) and blank business cards (last used for slipping my contact details into our baggage and for making notes mid-flight). My 'travel document case' has never failed me. *update: after the arrival of a new Master I upgraded my travel document case to a two-compartment version of similar size; it separates the passports 'in use' with boarding cards (we don't use every passport for every trip) from the remaining documents (EU health care cards, ID cards, pens, etc). It works like a dream...

• The buggy dilemma - the last but most certainly not of least importance; it is all the more important to know which airports have airport-use buggies when travelling and transiting with a negative adult:child ratio. Master fell into a deep sleep immediately before landing twice and on both occasions there were no airport-use buggies. I plan to ask Father Christmas for a couple of those Trunkie (wheeled) cases so that next time I have a little less to carry.
• The haves: Dubai DXB (airside), Melbourne International MEL (airside arrivals) - all regular sandwich-fold buggies; Singapore SIN (airside) - purpose-designed to carry baby+bags!
• The have nots: Melbourne MEL (departures), Kuala Lumpur KUL, Johannesburg JNB.

For the record, the flights home were easier than the flights away. But perhaps that was because we all knew we would be giving Papa a big hug when we made it to the arrivals hall.

Do you know of an airport with play areas? Perhaps you know whether buggies are available in an airport you have transited? Please share your knowledge with the rest of us using comments!