I am heading to South Korea with my three kids and mom to visit her home country for her birthday and Sophie’s first birthday! We are traveling for two weeks and visiting several locations, so it’s important that I pack on the light side since it will be just my mom and I transporting all of our luggage. But, I need to make sure I pack enough to entertain the kids for the long flight!
In this blog, I will be sharing what I have found to be really helpful for a long international travel with kids, and will update it when we are back from our trip with any new things we learned!
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5 Essential Must-Haves for International Travel with Kids:
Here is what I carried onto the flight to help keep the kids comfortable and entertained!
- Umbrella stroller! We got this Bugaboo Butterfly Stroller one that can be put in the overhead bin-but you can also gate check strollers at no charge. We have had a stroller damaged by gate checking so if you do gate check, make sure you have a protective bag!
1 Back Pack:
- Extra outfits for each of us (came in handy!)
- Diaper Bag with diapers, wipes, diaper cream, extra outfit for the baby, and a baby blanket to put down on a changing table
- iPads for the older kids with headphones
- Baby carriers from; I had one packed for both the baby and 3 year old in case he was out cold when we needed to get off the flight
- Charging cords
- Snacks for kids
- Drink cups with lids
2 Roller Bags for the Kids:
- Inflatable Travel Bed
- Neck Pillow
- Light Blanket (the ones on the plane were too thin)
- Zipper Bag of Toys (play doh, building toys, small cars and toys)
- Coloring Supplies
- Portable sensory bin
And most importantly-extra help! I traveled to South Korea with all three kids AND my mom! Plus other folks were all really helpful for me when I was getting on and off my flights.
I was super thankful!
1. Passports and Documents
This one may be obvious, but you need a passport to travel internationally. Depending on the country you are visiting, there may be additional document requirements, such as visas. One thing we learned when applying for passports for our kids in the United States is that both parents need to be physically present to apply OR you must have a notarized form signed for each passport you plan to apply for. You will also need to present proof of citizenship, which is usually a birth certificate.
It can take a few weeks before you get your passport back, so plan accordingly! We took our first international trip when our baby was around 3 months old, and we were able to get her passport very last minute (which was very stressful) because there were delays in getting her birth certificate and then her social security number. I would personally recommend to NOT plan international travel until you have at least applied for a passport for a newborn, to ensure that your travel plans won’t be canceled due to delays in any documents, but you can risk it like I did and just be super stressed.
2. Travel Stroller and Baby Carrier
If I forget everything else, I would not want to forget something to transport my children around in, such as a travel and a baby carrier. Since we are going to be visiting multiple locations in South Korea, we are only bringing one heavy-duty umbrella stroller and two carriers.
I normally travel with our Uppa Baby Vista stroller, which has two seats and a kick board, but this stroller is BULKY, so if I am going to be flying and traveling a lot within a country, I am going to want something that is light and easy to travel with. I found this Bugaboo Butterfly Stroller that I have been loving! It is easy to open and close with one hand, and small enough to bit in an overhead bin.
But, you can gate-check strollers for FREE when flying, so you can always gate-check it if you don’t want to get on the plane with the stroller. This can be helpful for larger strollers (what we normally do with our Uppa Baby). Having a bag to protect your stroller is a must if you are gate-checking! The biggest downside of gate checking is that your stroller could be damaged (which happened to us once, fortunately on our way back from our trip) and you have to wait for the stroller to be unloaded and brought to you, which can delay you getting to your next flight.
Another really helpful item to transport your kids around is a baby carrier! I am bringing my Scout carrier (for the baby) and Onbuhimo (for the toddler and little kid) from Sakura Bloom.
I plan to baby wear my baby onto and off the flight to be hands-free and when traveling around the country if there is a not stroller-friendly area. I have the Onbuhimo carrier that is waistless and designed for toddlers and little kids, to carry the older two kids if they get tired and want to be held. This is really helpful when getting off long flights if my toddler is sleeping!
3. Entertainment for the Flight
We are traveling from North Carolina to South Korea, which means we have some long flights! I have packed a lot to entertain the kids, but also have to keep it minimal as we do need to travel light! For the baby, I have packed some of her favorite toys including her Lovevery switchboard from her play kit subscription, a light-up pop-it toy, and her baby doll. I also found these window spinners that she LOVES to play with to use on the airplane windows. She will probably need the most attention from us on this flight!
We also got YouTube premium so we could download some of her favorite videos on our phones, but since we can’t put the volume on the video we are experimenting with headphones (or will just play the videos on mute) to change up her entertainment.
For my toddler and little kid, we have done a lot of flights and traveling with them so I already know a few things that they will be really excited about playing with during the flight.
The top toy is play-doh. They love play-doh. They can’t get enough of it! And it’s really easy to bring on the flight. I like to bring mini containers of it, so I can bring a lot of different colors. They have also been big fans of putty, so we packed a few of their favorite tins of putty.
The next toy is coloring books and art supplies! I will pack a box of crayons and markers and then a sketch pad and a coloring book for them. If there are stickers, even better. They love stickers!
I found some smaller toys for them to play with as well, such as tiny cars, and building toys such as these interlocking mini puzzle blocks for kids. I’ll throw of all these toys into a zipper storage bag, which makes it easy to throw in their back packs for easy access during the flight.
And then our last go-to is their iPads. We make sure we have games downloaded that don’t require wifi and any videos or movies they want to watch are already downloaded to their iPads, as well. Since they are a little older, we pack their headphones so they can listen to the movies too! Our favorite games are the Lego World game, it has puzzles and they can build different creations in the game, and Toca World.
4. Comfort and Sleep are Important During an International Travel with Kids
Since we have a few very long flights, the kids will probably want to sleep at some point (hopefully). It can be uncomfortable sleeping in a seat, so we packed each of the older kids a blow-up flight bed! This extends their seat into a mini bed! We used it on our flight to Hawaii last year, and it was great. There are some great options on Amazon that are easy to blow up and deflate. You will likely need to wait to blow it up until after the plane has reached a certain altitude and deflate it before initial descent. There may also be requirements for seat belts to stay on at certain parts of your flight, as well.
In addition to our flight beds, we packed each kid a light blanket (although some flights will supply a blanket and pillow), and an eye mask so they can sleep easier on the flight.
For the baby, my mom and I will rotate who holds her to sleep, or we will try to squeeze her on the flight bed with her siblings. I also have the option to place her in the carrier to sleep, as well!
5. Pack Light!
Because we are going to travel to a few locations within South Korea, we are packing only one small suitcase and backpack for me and the kids, and then my mom will have her own suitcase and backpack. On the way back, we may grab an extra pack to pack anything we buy while we are in South Korea to bring home.
I am only packing three outfits for each of us since our Airbnb will have a laundry option. We will bring one pair of shoes (that we wear on the flight) plus one extra outfit in our carry-on backpack for each of us. I’ll also be packing a diaper bag for my baby, that includes her diapers (we use disposable when we travel), wipes, a thin blanket to put down on changing pads, and an extra outfit. And anything else that we need, we can always grab in South Korea (which is our plan for all of our toiletries).
Safe Travels!
After we get back from our trip, I will update this blog on any new things that we learn! We have done a few flights with the kids (baby included), so I feel confident that these tips will work well for us, but we learn something new each trip. My biggest advice is to be patient and remember that you and your kids are allowed to take up space in public places. They will probably get upset at some point, and it is okay. You got this!