A Trial Trip to Los Angeles - Part I

We are planning a 5 week long trip to China and Australia with our son Drake but in the past 6 months one thing I have learn is that babies can be a bit unpredictable. They are in a constant state of change (and that is also why they are so amazing!). Hubby and I decided to do a trial trip to Los Angeles over the long weekend to help us and Drake better prepare for the big one.

Here is what we learn during the trip.

1. Airport - Learning the airport routine was the major reason for us taking this trial trip.  I feel much more relaxed now I know:

• I have to take Drake out of stroller and hold him through the metal detector while his stroller is being examined.  
• There is a security line up especially for families.
• Traveling with a baby means pre-broading. This may seems trivia but I didn't expect how much of a stress defuser it was! You don't have to fight for overhead cabin space and tons of time to get settled.
• Do diaper change before boarding. The lavatory on the plane was small and had no changing table. Of course for our long flight the lavatory will not be avoidable, but at least we will minimized the time in there.
• Wait to feed until on board, well, during take off.  This will help with the ear thing. 

2. Sleeping with noise - A few weeks before the trip, we started played music while Drake napped. My favourite is the World Beat channel on one of the cable channels.  We stayed in Venice Beach which was very noise with cars going by and people singing and yelling during the day, Drake had very little trouble napping through all that.

We downloaded an App called White Noise that played airplane noise and we would play the App while Drake fell asleep every night. Both of flights we took were night flights.  Drake had a little trouble falling asleep going to LA, but still managed to get some sleep.  It was his first flight after all!  Coming back he was an angel, slept the whole time including taking off and landing.  The ironic thing was he woke up only once and it was due to the guy sitting behind me clearing his throat really loudly every 5 or 10 minutes.

3. Packing - We brought 4 outfits, 2 pjs, and 5 bibs for the 3 day weekend.  Drake only went through 3 outfits, 1 pjs and 4 bibs.  Of course it is always good to have extras.  I brought a rubber bib (to put on top of the cloth bib) for feeding time which was great in saving Drake's outfits.

We only packed one toy for Drake. There were already a lot of new things and people for Drake to look at that we didn't need tons of toys to keep him amused.  One thing we were really glad we did is keep the toy on a string.  The string simply kept the toy from dropping on the ground.  It was especially helpful on the plane!  No more smushing my face against the food tray while fishing around blindly on the oh-so-clean airplane carpet looking for the toy that Drake wants to place in his mouth constantly.

We also made sure we packed Drake's sleeping blanket. Whenever I cover Drake with his blue fluffy doggy blanket he knows it is sleepy time.  On route to LA he was being a Mr. Screaming Pants but as soon as we put the blanket on him he calmed down and fell asleep. One or two items of comfort and familiarity was a must for Drake.

To be continued...