I'm pulling my hair out about packing ºoº

[SandraC]

I'm at the point where I think I'll just bring my bathing suit and cash!

dh is packing for myself.

I am packing for myself, dd 7yo, and ds 1yo. ds needs babyfood and diapers and of course a giant box of Cheerios so that takes up lots of room.

I did a fast pack and rolled the clothes to see if everything will fit and I think it might. I am doing the laundry for the trip now!

I am trying to get everything in one giant suitcase (which better not get lost!) and one carry on. The carry-on will have the baby essentials and couple small toys for the kids, colouring stuff for dd and the baby food, so it doesn't brake!

The carry on bag I am using is EXACTLY the dimensions the airline will allow and it weighs the maximum limit!

We also are bringing the baby car seat and stroller.

Of course dh will have one little, teeny, weeny, itsy, bitsy, micro-bag! AND STILL ASK IF I CAN PACK HIS SWIM SUIT! LOL!

How do you all do it! How do you get to the airport with luggage, babies, children, stroller and car seat! I am tired just thinking about it!

SandraC
º0º
1975 - off site
1977 - off site
1987 - Indian Rock Shores
1990 - Holiday Inn International Drive/Daytona Beach
1998 - KIDS VILLAGE, GIVE KIDS THE WORLD, Make-a-Wish trip with 4.5 year old daughter born ill),
2001 APRIL - CBR - ON SITE FIRST TIME! YIPPY! With dd 7 years old, ds 15 months old!

 

[padams]

I would bring in a carryon bag the baby food and diapers you need for 2 days, I would buy everything else in Orlando. We always did that when we were in the diapers, baby food, etc. stage. The other alternative is to check on line to see if netgrocer or webvan (online grocers) deliver in Orlando. My SIL is visiting for 2 weeks and staying at MIL's house. SIL ordered all of her baby food, diapers, and other grocery needs on line and had them delivered to MIL's house (MIL would never buy the "right" stuff. Good luck!

 

[robinb]

I agree that you should only bring enough baby stuff for a couple of days. We've did that even when we traveled to England and Japan with our baby. Doing that pound to kilogram conversion was lots of fun .

I would also suggest that you leave some clothes at home. Pack enough clothes for a couple of days and plan on doing laundry. Laudry is not the most exciting thing to do on vacation, but the washers and dryers are near the quiet pools. You can relax while your clothes are spinning. I usually bring some dry laundry soap in ziplocks along with dry Clorox 2 and dryer sheets. CBR has laundry soap for sale, but it's $1 per mini box, IIRC.

I bought a car seat bag for my car seat and a cheap folding luggage cart. The car seat goes in the bag and the bag on the cart. I can push my stroller with one hand and pull the car seat with the other . We fly without a confirmed seat for our 19 month old daughter. If we're lucky we get a seat for her and the car seat comes on the plane with us. If we're not lucky the car seat gets gate checked with the stroller.


-- Robin

 

[skeezixspud]

We learned this on overseas flights. We use one BIG rolling pullman that has the whole family's clothes in it, including some diapers. There are a few rules. 1) No more than 2 pr. shoes per person, plus watersocks. 2) All clothes must match at least 2 other pieces. 3) No more than 4 days' change of clothing for an adult. We do laundry once. Little kids get extra changes for spills, etc. I would add to this, if you know you are going to buy clothes there, leave some home accordingly. Because of the way we schedule our trips we are always in a different hotel the first night, so there is a thin duffel with one day's change of clothes on top inside the suitcase.

We carry on one bag for DH & I with toiletries, valuables, and ONE change of clothes that either one of us can wear (baby is a spitter!) We carry one other bag that contains diaper stuff/kid entertainment for the flight/airport. The carseat goes in a carseat satchel with backpack straps. (This leaves a hand free to hold a child's hand.) DH carries the heavier carry-on and wears the carseat, I carry the second carry-on and push the stroller with the baby in it. The big case is checked. If it does not fit, we don't need it!

When children are too young to carry their own stuff (let alone themselves) my formula is to count the number of adult hands available, and don't have any more carryon pieces than that. Subtract a piece for the stroller and for each walking child whose hand you'll need to hold occasionally. Two adults, two kids, one stroller? 4 hands, minus two = two carryons. I find that it's not a good thing to try to push a buggy *and* pull a rolling bag, very awkward. My carryon must be light enough to actually *carry* on my shoulder.

 

[SandraC]

WOW! You have it all under control. I am a basket case today! I just finished all the preparation on clothes. We originally thought we could take:
(1) one large suitcase: my clothes, 7 year old dd clothes, 1 year old ds clothes, diapers, wipes, extra food (granola, cheerios), toiletries and camera gear and film

(2) my carry-on: immediate needs, a few diapers, wipes, baby food, wallet, tickets, dd's crayons and paper, the extara heavy baby food (only taking about 8 jars)

(3) dh will pack on suitcase for himself that will be checked.

(4) infant car seat will be gate checked.

(5) stroller will be gate checked.

So that's my dream plan.

OMG! I LOST CONTROL! I can't get ANY THING in these cases. I am at the point of eliminating clothing and I think I'm taking the minimum. We are staying 9 days. Baby has 8 shorts, 8 shirts (he's a messy kid), 4 sleeper and 4 tiny t-shirt to sleep in. 6 pair socks, and 2 sweat pants/shirt combos. dd has 4 dresses, 4 shorts, 4 shirts, PJ's, 2 bathing suits. I have 3 dresses, 3 shorts, 5 t-shirts, 1 bathing suit, PJ's. This isn't a TON of clothes for 9 days! HELP ME!

SandraC
º0º
1975 - off site
1977 - off site
1987 - Indian Rock Shores
1990 - Holiday Inn International Drive/Daytona Beach
1998 - KIDS VILLAGE, GIVE KIDS THE WORLD, Make-a-Wish trip with 4.5 year old daughter born ill),
2001 APRIL - CBR - ON SITE FIRST TIME! YIPPY! With dd 7 years old, ds 15 months old!

 

[skeezixspud]

For starters, how big are your check-in suitcases?
The one we have is a Samsonite EZCart, 30 x 14 x 20, w/ 4 wheels. It holds a LOT! If you are dealing with more normal-sized cases, let's say you have 2 of them, maybe 22" and 26"?

There is a way to cheat, I know because I use it for winter travel overseas w/ sweaters. Walgreens has compression bags. They are large ziplocs with an airvalve. Pack, then sit on them gently to get the air out. That will give you 30% more space. They are ~$5 for pack of 2.

My first rule is that one person packs. I get laundry baskets and have DH put his things in one, I do one, one for each child. Then I put each stack on our big bed and start packing. I find that when one person packs, it's easier to avoid unneeded "just in case" duplication, esp. of toiletries. Also, my DH never remembers to check for missing buttons, etc. (Don't forget dish soap for the sippies and no-tears chlorine shampoo! Also, a thin cloth diaper makes a really useful sunshade and cleanup/cooldown cloth for baby.)

Put baby outfits and prob. 7yo socks, etc. in ziplocs, press the air out. This helps because their clothes are small. Resign yourself to laundry just once, 2 loads (premeasured ziplocs of detergent). For 9 days, you and DH take max. 5 changes each, double for baby, 2 extra for DD. Be RUTHLESS! Rolling helps fight wrinkles, but it takes up more room; I recommend over-folding instead. Lay out a dress half out of case, then lay another perpendicular. Fold one over the other, and so on. Heavy items MUST go at the rear bottom of a rolling case if you want to be able to steer it! Reserve the bulkiest shoes for wearing on the plane.

Your carry-on sounds OK. Tip with the baby food; put them in socks to protect from breakage. DD should be able to cart her own backpack at that age, with her flight toys, my DS thinks he looks cool with his backpack. Any way to combine all clothes into a big checked case, then DH can carry a small case with Camera gear, toiletries, etc? (I'm paranoid about checking either category.) Use the carseat on the plane if possible, with a toddler that age it's a Godsend. If not, stash a trash bag under the cover on the carseat, with CARSEAT written on it, then bag the carseat at the gate to prevent it getting wet or dirty. Bring a bungee to loop around the stroller for the same reason (comes in handy, anyway).)

Lastly, if you have a thin cloth duffel or bookbag, squeeze that in for extras you may have on the way back. Bon voyage!

 

[SandraC]

I really appreciate your help! I just measured my big suitcase, it's 19 X 28 X 9 deep. My carry-on bag is pretty big, I measured it and it's exactly the maximum allowed by the airline. I packed the baby food jars in a big ziplock bag. First I wrapped each jar in two paper towels, then I placed a diaper at the bottom of the ziplock bag, I gently placed about 8 - 9 jars in the ziplock and another diaper at the top of the bag. I'm bringing the babyfood jars on the plane so they are less likely to break. I am already starting to think of items that aren't coming. A big item is the Cheerios ~ but I think ds will DIE without Cheerios! I'll keep you posted!

SandraC
º0º
1975 - off site
1977 - off site
1987 - Indian Rock Shores
1990 - Holiday Inn International Drive/Daytona Beach
1998 - KIDS VILLAGE, GIVE KIDS THE WORLD, Make-a-Wish trip with 4.5 year old daughter born ill),
2001 APRIL - CBR - ON SITE FIRST TIME! YIPPY! With dd 7 years old, ds 15 months old!

 

[skeezixspud]

Must be the plain kind, no Honey-Nut for DS! We do always carry them, but we put them in ziplocs of a cup or so each. DS tends to not want to eat when travelling, but Cheerios are the failsafe fallback. Then except for one bag for the flight, we put them in the packed shoes! (Weird, I know, but they don't get crushed there.) One other odd thing I pack -- a large plastic cup for rinsing the little one's hair. (Again, it travels filled with Cheerios, or rolled socks!)

 

[minnie mouse]

Boy do I know how you feel!!!

Last year after a week in Disney we (husband and two daughters 2 & 3) rented a condo in Fort Meyers. And since my two year old still sleeps in a crib I had to take along a pack and play for her to sleep in. So now I had two car seats and double stroller and a pack in play to take with and this is not counting our luggage.

So I tried to pack as few clothes a possible and planned on doing laundry. I only took enough diapers and wipes for a few days and bought more in Florida.

So I am looking forward to the days where I can just pack clothes and no car seats or strollers.

And another thing we always do when we first get to the airport is curb side check-in. It saves time and the trouble of lugging the stuff around.

 

[SandraC]

It took over two hours, but last night I packed just about everything.

I was very hard on myself. I started with my clothes. I tried on everything I wanted to bring. If it was the least bit uncomfortable or showed FAT it was in the NO GO pile! I originally was planning on packing 4 dresses, but only two looked and felt great so the other 2 WENT BYE-BYE! Same with shorts. I have a couple pair that look good, but they were not perfectly comfy, BYE-BYE! I added the VERY comfy shorts, but I look like a boxer LOL! Same with t-shirts! Any back-fat and GONE! I tried to match as many clothes as possible. Once I was packed, I started on 15 month old ds. I packed 7 short/shirt outfits and most mix and match. I packed two overalls for cooler weather. I packed bathing suits for all! After ds, I started on 7 year old dd, got many of her clothes in. I even had room for two beach towels, 34 pack diapers, wipes, sand toys, hats, toileries! dh is packing a small case for himself to check. We are heavy on the carry-ons I's afraid to say. One backpack holds all food (we travel with this green backpack EVERYWHERE and dh loves it) dh will wear it. The second carry-on has a couple diapers, generous portions of one day baby food, travel documents, a couple tiny toys and drawing stuff for dd, bandaids and little first aid, the kids both get a surprize gift on the plane (book for dd and LT tool for ds), medical documents, meds for dd (she's got congential heart defects). The third carry-on will have one change of clothes, pj's, cameras and swim suits because we are flying to Orlando, but driving to Daytona Beach for one night. dh will wear green backpack and carry one other carry-on, car seat fits in the stroller and the third carry-on will fit under the stroller. The carry-ons aren't that big. We can gate check the stroller and I hope take the car seat on the plane. We will check two bags. I think we'll end up upgrading out rental car to fit everything! LOL! THANKS A BUNCH!

SandraC
º0º
1975 - off site
1977 - off site
1987 - Indian Rock Shores
1990 - Holiday Inn International Drive/Daytona Beach
1998 - KIDS VILLAGE, GIVE KIDS THE WORLD, Make-a-Wish trip with 4.5 year old daughter born ill),
2001 APRIL - CBR - ON SITE FIRST TIME! YIPPY! With dd 7 years old, ds 15 months old!