An eBook about flying with kids is in the works. More very soon!

If you’re flying with kids and  have to change a diaper in an airplane bathroom, everyone on the plane will thank you for using a disposable diaper bag.  I don’t care if it’s #1 or #2 in the diaper, just use these. There is nothing worse than a smelly airplane bathroom.  When you can control the smell, it’s your duty for the sake of the rest of the airplane passengers. And you know how full those bathroom trash cans can get.  There’s nothing worse than trying to throw away your paper towel and discover you’re pushing the trashcan lid down on a dirty diaper.  Yes, that’s happened to me.  It’s infuriating because it is so avoidable.

The Munchkin Arm and Hammer Diaper Bag Dispenser, pictured above, can be clipped on to your diaper bag or changing mat. It’s small and fairly easy to unroll. Put the diaper in, tie the top and voila. You may also buy Munchkin Arm and Hammer Bag Refills. I will warn that it is tempting for young kids to totally unroll these colorful bags, so keep them out of reach.  These are easy to find at Toys R Us or Babies R Us.

Eco-friendly parents might prefer these Summer Infant – Biodegradable Diaper Sack. They are scented too and a biodegradable diaper disposal bag.  I had to order mine online.

There is so much bad press out there about parents flying with kids that it’s every parent’s responsibility to prove people wrong.  Also, let’s face it, this is for your benefit too, as the parent. There’s quite a bit of juggling that remains after the diaper comes off. Put the diaper and the wipes in the bag right away. Spare yourself from inhaling what you don’t need to while you get your kid dressed and wash your hands.

This product is a travelers dream.  My daughter keeps herself occupied on airplanes and long trips by playing preschool appropriate apps on her iTouch or my iPhone.  There isn’t anything worse than her being in the middle of something and freaking out when the battery dies.  This problem is eliminated by the iGo Charge Anywhere.

Here’s how it works. You plug it into a wall outlet to charge.  The plug folds into the device and you can put it in your pocket or purse when you leave the house.  It has two short USB cords that you can use to charge two devices on the go, but for me I always just take one USB cord.  All you need to do is have the right tips for the end of the USB cord to power the device you have.  I have iPhone/iPod tips and need to get a different one for my digital camera.  The latter is constantly running out of batteries when we’re traveling and I’m looking forward to keeping it charged.  You won’t notice any extra weight by carrying around the iGo Charge Anywhere.

We all know it doesn’t take much email checking and internet surfing to suck all the battery life out of an iPhone.  The iGo Charge Anywhere would be great to have on road trips, long business meetings and more.

iGo has a ton of other travel solutions including solar devices that power your phones.  This would be great when camping or similar. I’m buying the iGo Netbook Everywhere Travel Adapter and will let you know how it works on my next American Airlines flight in a few weeks.  I did receive the iGo Charge Anywhere complimentary to try for my other site, La Jolla Mom.

We were in Los Angeles a few weeks ago visiting family and booked the  Hotel Amarano at the last minute.  We had our hotel loving daughter with us.  She’s easy to travel with so I didn’t pay much attention to the amenities listed on the website.  It looked nice, was a good price, and in the neighborhood we wanted to be in.  Hotel Amarano has a discounted rate for California residents and it’s near Universal Studios.

The hotel was fully booked so we were upgraded to a junior suite.  I didn’t see the junior suite option on the website, but it seems a little nicer than the Deluxe King description. My daughter travels with a Disney princess blow up bed with attached sleeping bag that she prefers to sleep in at hotels.  That’s fine by us so we can have a king sized bed rather than two doubles.

My immediate thought about the junior suite was that it would be perfect for family travel.  It has a kitchenette with mini stove, microwave, sink refrigerator, utensils and more.  This would be so useful when traveling with babies and having to warm up milk, etc.  The living area was pretty spacious too.  The Hotel Amarano website says that kitchenettes are available in some Deluxe King and Double Rooms too. They have packages that vary, but at the time of this writing this room a Deluxe King or Double is 30% off of $209.  Not bad if you need the kitchenette.  The hotel is modern and clean.

Valet parking is $28 per night.  There was so much street parking in the residential area around the hotel that we just parked there.  The neighborhood seems fairly safe.  In fact, when we arrived my husband noticed that someone had left a microwave box on top of their car.  The next morning it was still there.  There is a grocery store, Starbucks and Togo’s right across the street from Hotel Amarano.  However, they have complimentary Starbucks coffee available near the dining area.

My only complaint is that we thought the shower part of the bathroom was a little dated.  It seemed like the rooms had been renovated but they forgot the bathroom.  We will probably stay here again but might ask if all the bathrooms are like that, I get the feeling they are not based on something I read somewhere.  I just think this is a nice boutique hotel that’s reasonably priced hotel for family travel.

www.hotelamarano.com

Families travel to Vermont throughout the year. The green mountain state offers year-round fun whether it is leaf-peeping in the fall, skiing in winter or boating on Lake Champlain in the summer. But the only way in and out our little state is through Burlington International Airport. There are two hidden treasures for your little aviation enthusiasts. The restaurant, One Flight Up is the perfect place for a meal . When my kids were little we were regulars there. The pre and post meal entertainment is invaluable. They have floor to ceiling windows perched above the runway and plenty of aircraft memorabilia around the restaurant to look at. And to boot, the food actually isn’t half bad.

When you are all done, be sure to head down the hall to the old control tower which is now the Observation Deck to get a real bird’s eye view of things. You can see the runways with all the planes taking off and landing. You can hear what is going on in the control tower too. But be forewarned, it’s a steep climb up the stairs and no elevator for your stroller.

*This post was written by Dana Freeman of www.findandgoseek.net and was originally featured on the Kids Fly Happy Ning group.  Find&GoSeek is parent’s trusted source in northern Vermont. With fresh ideas everyday, we keep you in the know with weekend events, after-school activities, camps, festivals, story times and so much more. From teens to tots, we have something for everyone.

Dana is Find&GoSeek’s Editorial Director, aka Miss Magpie. In real life she is a wife and work–at–home mother of two active kids who constantly keep her on the go trying many new things. As someone who likes to share her family’s experiences, Miss Magpie is out there taking copious notes on what the family encounters. Think of her as your eyes, your ears, your finger on the pulse of what are must see, must do things.

I’m embarrassed to say with all of the years of travel and “HEAVY” baggage tags, I’ve never seen the Taylor Luggage Scale.  This would have saved me a ton of headache.  I usually weigh myself and then weigh myself plus my luggage together.  Subtract my weight, and then I would know more or less if I maxed out the 70lbs for international or 50lbs domestic flights.  When traveling with a baby/toddler it’s easy to blast through 70lbs!  Usually if I was a pound or two off they’d let me slide, probably due to my frequent flier status or class of travel.  But I would always sweat it at the check in counter.  Anyway, using my old method is tough because sometimes I’d have to re-adjust my weight to see the display as holding the luggage would block it.  This throws off an electric scale, so I’d have to repeat it multiple times.

This is a Taylor Luggage Scale.  You attach it to your luggage and hold it up. You attach it to your bag and the scale will beep when a measurement is taken.  Voila – a luggage weight measurement that travelers claim is pretty accurate.  The baggage scale has very good reviews on Amazon.com and I just picked one up at the Container Store Travel Sale.  If you want to travel with it, no big deal.  It only weights 1/2 a pound.  Taking it with you is a good idea because, well, we all shop on vacation and bring stuff home, don’t we?  Or maybe you can squeeze in an extra outfit into that overstuffed luggage. 

So far I like it.  It’s already stressful enough traveling with kids.  Why worry about how heavy your bags are too?

I received my Skip Hop Pronto Diaper Changing Kit (pictured) as a gift that was bought at Pottery Barn Kids.  You can find them all over the place from Target to Amazon.com.

Let’s face it, public restrooms can be gross.  The airplane changing tables can be too.  Not only that, but if you have a large baby or toddler, they will find the airplane changing tables really uncomfortable. My daughter has always been tall and it was awkward trying to bunch her up enough to get her to lie down on the changing table.  The top part (solid pink in the photo) folds over to serve as sort of a pillow for my daughter. I never thought that feature would come in handy. Even in business or first class bathrooms, I’ve always been grateful for the Skip Hop Pronto.

If folded completely flat, you’d see that’s where the diapers are stored and there’s also a zippered compartment for diaper wipes and diaper disposal bags.  Don’t forget the disposal bags, it’s only polite.   I’ve picked up scented ones at Babies R Us and they are available overseas, at least in specialty baby stores.

I can’t begin to tell you how many scenarios I’ve used the Skip Hop Pronto – restaurants, my car, airplanes, the park, friends houses and more.  It easily disinfects clean on all sides.

I should file this under things I could not have lived with out, especially at the low low price.

I flew alone with my daughter a lot so I didn’t have anyone else to help me juggle her, especially when she was a baby. I bought this gadget thinking it would help on the plane. At least I could free up a hand if I didn’t have to hold on to the jar while I was feeding her. It was hard enough keeping her upright long enough to get a jar down.

For some reason, it doesn’t stick to the tray table or the center console (in business class). I tried it on 2 airlines before I declared it a waste. The spoon is a good shape so we at least used that after I gave it away the jar ring. I didn’t have a high chair for her to use it on since we pushed our Stokke Tripp Trapp up to the dining room table. It is supposed to stick to a regular high chair tray.

It wasn’t very expensive, thankfully at around $10. But if you think you might try it on the airplane (and think you’re a genius for thinking of it), don’t bother. It’s one less thing to pack.

I wrote an ebook a few months back giving away every single tip I have about flying long haul with babies and toddlers. It’s basically the inspiration for Kids Fly Happy. I’ll be revealing every single tip in the ebook here over time, but if you’d like it in a more organized format, it’s on Lulu.com.

As my daughter is young, I always need to pack extra clothes and diapers for her in my carry on bags, especially on a long haul flight. When she was little, because she had acid reflux, I also packed extra cloths to clean up whatever mess that might occur at a time when other napkins, towels weren’t available. All of this I compressed really tightly in Ziploc bags. I squeezed every spare speck of air out of the bags. This enabled me to get more into less space in my carry on bags. It was amazing.

The other benefit to this strategy is that in the event a disaster occurs, you have a sealed trash bag. For example, when my daughter had a reflux incident, I sealed her dirty clothes into a Ziploc bag. That way the smell didn’t leak out or the goop didn’t touch anything else. So eventually, I’d use whatever change of clothes, etc. and the Ziploc bag never went “empty”.

On a long haul flight, I believe Ziplocs are totally key to survival. My mom even told me that Martha Stewart packs some of her clothing in Ziplocs for various reasons, including to avoid her clothes wrinkling!