This is going to be long! I just completed my 4th flight overseas by myself with my two boys (once was just with my oldest before #2 was born) and I have to say that this last trip back was different than our trip moving overseas and the trip early last year before we moved here. The difference is how to keep them occupied at the gate and on the airplane.

Checking in and going through security is a breeze now for me. I have it all planned out so that even if we're taking long to get through it's much smoother now and takes less time. What really helped is that both of my boys enjoy sitting in the stroller. I can't tell you what a relief that is! I just can't imagine them running along side while I check in or wait around for this or that. They understand that they have to get off when we're going through the security line. I always put the stroller through first, then unimportant stuff like diaper bag, boys backpacks, and my shoes and important bag (I use a cross-body bag that goes with me everywhere including the bathroom) last so I don't lose track of where it is. I'm so busy with everything that i usually don't see the all the bags go through except for my important bag. Oh, and wearing shoes that easily slip on and off helps a lot too! Kids don't have to remove their shoes now. And they allow you to bring the kid's water through as well now. I think they even let me bring mine in too! They just ask to open it to smell it.

Usually before our flight I will find a seat closest to the entrance of the gate and fold up the stroller, put it in a bag, and lean it on something while waiting so all I have to do is wheel it to right outside of the airplane and leave it there when we walk in. The great thing about living in Asia is that they will take it for you. So... while we're waiting for our flight I usually give the boys a little something to eat, nothing big so they aren't starving by the time we get on the plane. I also try to hydrate them at the same time, even if it means needing to go to the potty which I usually do right before we get on the plane anyway. I am careful to not give too much in case they get motion sickness which, thankfully, they haven't had and I hope they never do. Now that my youngest is older and is watching the iPad now I had to bring two iPads with me this time and load different movies in each so I had a variety for them to watch if the airline didn't provide a screen for each seat like one of them did on the 12 hour flight to our connecting city! My oldest figured out (while I took a little nap) that United now uses wifi to let you watch free shows and movies on a browser. I guess that makes up for not having individual screens. So if you have a laptop, tablet, mobile phone, or an iPad you can connect using a browser for free. If you want to check your email that'll cost something.

This time I didn't have to pack two ziplock bags of toys for my youngest (which I had to do twice before). I did still have to pack two big zip lock bags full of snacks though. Since they are into similar toys now (yay!) I let the boys pick a couple of their favorite toys each to put in their backpacks and those were the only toys they would have during our three week trip. They chose ALL of their Transformers Rescue Bots. I packed each of their backpacks with never before seen (by them) coloring books, sticker books, and bought them cool new Transformer pencil cases and put some crayons and coloring pencils in there. I was surprised that they used it all. There were stickers everywhere. Thankfully, just on their stuff and not on the tables, arm rests, and seats. I let them decide what they wanted to do and they always wanted to do the same things together and, unfortunately (for me!), none of it involved sleep. They just switched back and forth between it ALL, including the iPad. However, my youngest... he was tough. He never watched anything to its entirety. He kept asking to watch to this and that b/c he wasn't very comfortable doing it himself. He would have mini meltdowns if we couldn't understand what he's saying. It doesn't help that he says everything is "purple thing!" This is a HUGE downside to not letting your kids watch more iPads. Then he would get tired and get irritated while watching the iPad. Oh boy... And he was like this the entire time going to the states and on our way back. At least on the way to the states my husband and I took turns sleeping and tending to our youngest. On the way back I don't even remember if I slept! I was so delirious by the time we got back I couldn't even think. Our oldest was really good except when he kept bothering his little brother. That's when the screaming and fighting would happen... I kept having to shush them to not bother everyone sleeping.

During our first overseas trip with both boys I was nursing our youngest so had to take that into account and figure out when to nurse him and when to give him solids. I remember he hardly ate his solids and just nursed the entire time. He wasn't walking then either so I Ergo'd him everywhere, even when I had to go use the restroom. Thank goodness for leggings! I didn't have that much to bring except for toys for the boys and iPad for my oldest. During our second overseas trip my youngest was walking but he had only been walking for 3 months so still not stable so I still Ergo'd him, but this time had to figure out how to entertain him b/c he wasn't watching any electronics then but yet mobile enough to want more entertainment. I just let him do whatever he wanted for the most part which was reading books and playing with whatever toy we had, sometimes even magazines. I did, however, have to pack bottles and formula for him which added some bulk to our carry on bags. Actually, I brought an additional bag just for his stuff. My oldest just watched the iPad and movies the entire time.

So all three trips were quite different in the entertainment area but mostly with my youngest since he's still figuring things out at his age. He's just tough overall. I won't even get into the massive meltdown he had during our 3.5 hour flight back here from our connecting city. He was clearly tired from not sleeping during our initial 12 hour flight and 3.5 hour layover and being up since 6:45 A.M. that day. I'm hoping that by the time he's 4 he'll be just as easy as my oldest is on the plane and will have figured out how to use the iPad. He already is starting to play "games" on it and watch some youtube videos on my iPhone. We started him out a little later b/c I just didn't like the meltdown my oldest had every time I took it away when before. I still don't like them watching TV or using the iPad.

And this is unrelated to this post, but I find that the two have bonded so much during our three week trip to the states b/c they hardly watched TV or used the iPad. It was more work for us/me but who can turn down going to a new playground every couple of days, free ice cream at Facebook, Please Touch Museum in Philly, Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, petting starfish and baby manta rays at the Aquarium, riding the cable car and MUNI trains in San Francisco repeatedly, playing with their cousins, seeing grandparents, seeing their favorite aunt (my sister), and seeing their old friends and jumping on their moon bounce (that I didn't bring to Asia) at our own house?! Yes, we did a three city tour! They played every day for a month that my oldest didn't want to go back to school after we got back. I even gave him a week off to play some more to get over jet lag. I was completely exhausted by the time we got back but I would do it all over again! Just not anytime soon!