Confession: I suck at traveling with kids

[Deleted]

We are flying to Los Angeles next week with both kids to check out our new home city and perhaps find a rental house. This is going to be our first time traveling anywhere with both girls and the first time DD1 has been more than one time zone away. I did a solo flight with DD1 when she was 14 months to visit a friend in Chicago.

This trip is going to be kind of intense; we are spending 4 days out there and will definitely be doing a lot of house hunting. I'm a little worried about the logistics of juggling two kids, DD2's naps, and the 3 hour time difference (I really don't want to have to retire to the hotel room at 4 PM so DD2 can go to bed at her usual east coast bedtime of 7) along with all our to-dos out there. I'm figuring we will need to just go with the flow and be prepared to have one parent take one or both kids back to the hotel for rest time as needed while the other continues looking at homes.

Hit me with your best advice for traveling cross-country with the kiddos!

[holly116]

Do your kids sleep in the car okay? Because I would imagine that naps will be happening on the go. We've travelled a bit with the kids and honestly, retiring back to the hotel for pnp naps has always been a bit of a crap shoot and they're pretty good sleepers. Too many new and different distractions.

Embrace going with the flow! It will be alright.

[Deleted]

Jan 15, 2014 8:43:13 GMT -5 holly116 said:

Do your kids sleep in the car okay? Because I would imagine that naps will be happening on the go. We've travelled a bit with the kids and honestly, retiring back to the hotel for pnp naps has always been a bit of a crap shoot and they're pretty good sleepers. Too many new and different distractions.

Embrace going with the flow! It will be alright.

Even if it sucks, it's just 4 days

The car naps are a good point. DD1 doesn't nap anymore (though she might out there, she is a bad nighttime sleeper when traveling) but DD2 will happily nap in the car. It will be totally convenient for them to nap on the go anyway since H and I can take turns waiting in the car while the other one looks at rentals. 

@barefootbarista, I didn't make an announcement about moving, I just slipped it into a randoms post on MM

[holly116]

Jan 15, 2014 9:18:24 GMT -5 @carmensandiego said:

Jan 15, 2014 8:43:13 GMT -5 holly116 said:

Do your kids sleep in the car okay? Because I would imagine that naps will be happening on the go. We've travelled a bit with the kids and honestly, retiring back to the hotel for pnp naps has always been a bit of a crap shoot and they're pretty good sleepers. Too many new and different distractions.

Embrace going with the flow! It will be alright.

Even if it sucks, it's just 4 days

The car naps are a good point. DD1 doesn't nap anymore (though she might out there, she is a bad nighttime sleeper when traveling) but DD2 will happily nap in the car. It will be totally convenient for them to nap on the go anyway since H and I can take turns waiting in the car while the other one looks at rentals. 

@barefootbarista, I didn't make an announcement about moving, I just slipped it into a randoms post on MM

It's going to work out just fine! Sometimes I feel like I spend more energy worrying about the schedule and trying to adhere to a schedule when really sometimes, it just ends up easier to do what I need to do while dragging the kids along. My kids, and I think most kids in general, are more breezy than we give them credit.

I would be open to the fact that there might be one day out of the four that someone is going to have to just give in to the kids entirely, but they may surprise you and be awesome and pull through.

Or it may be horrible, and if it is, you're right, it's only four days and you'll all survive. Either way, there's little you can do to prepare. At least that's what I'm telling myself today, three days before we leave for Disney with three kids, three and under. .

[mswax]

Can you get a sitter while you are out there? House/apartment hunting with 2 kids who are away from home and off their schedule sounds awful to me! I'm assuming you are moving for a new job, so could someone at the new job recommend a sitter so you can leave the kids in the hotel and look at some places?

[dbsk8dance]

Where in LA are you going to be?

Car naps and iPad for dd1 would be my solution. We have a standing no tv limit when on vacation or long car trips.