As you have seen by now, our family LOVES to travel. We love exploring new places and heading back to our family’s favorite destinations. There is something so fulfilling about sharing our love of travel with the kids – it’s the best! That moment when you set foot on the plane and you know you can just be together as a family and start to make memories – it’s what I live for.

As we have travelled a lot with Liam and Lillya already, I always get asked what my top tips are for taking the kids on flights and travelling with them. Now, with Blake here, we will now be travelling as a family of 5 (Ahhhh, can’t believe that!), but I would still stick to my tried and true tips. We typically fly Air Canada as they have so many perks for flying as a family. Hello, early boarding and being able to get seats together!

For starters, when you book your flight online and indicate you are travelling with children, they’ll assign generic seats in proximity to each other for you and your children within 48 hours after your ticket is issued when complementary.  We also make sure to call and arrange this after the tickets are booked, just to make sure all of our ducks are in a row. If you’re travelling with kids under 6, keep an eye out for Family Check-In signage at select airports, and take advantage of early boarding,  to get extra time to store your belongings and settle in. It helps everything move much more smoothly! (Helpful tip: If you have kids under 12, register ahead of time to get a complimentary Skyrider gift for your child!)  It’s such great peace of mind knowing you’ll be well taken care of!

And, with the peace of mind that comes from travelling with a trusted airline, I rely on these tricks to make the rest of our trip go as smoothly as possible…

My Top 5 Tips Before Take-off:

1.) After checking in and going through security we make sure to buy bottled water or fill up empty water bottles (you can bring your own) so we have some extra water for the kids- I guess I should drink it too ha!

2.) I love to take wet wipes and sanitize around the headrest and tray table before our flight takes off. Also just good to have in case of a little spill or sticky hands.

3.) Pack a fun bag of activities and snacks that you can get to easily (stowed below the seat not in the overhead). In ours we like to pack the kids’ favourite snacks, colouring books, books and headphones. If you are flying with Air Canada ask when you are at the family Check-in as your kids may be able to receive a Logbook, which can be used to collect stickers on every flight. Simply ask your flight attendant for a sticker once you are on board!! These fun badges are a great souvenir of each trip your kids make!

4.) Make sure to check that your particular flight has TVs, if it doesn’t bring an iPad and don’t forget to pre-download movies in case your flight does not have wifi, so they are already loaded and ready to go.

5.) If it’s a late flight I make sure to pack pajamas and I will get the kids all ready before take-off. I always go with the two piece set (long sleeve and pants) and some cozy  socks as well as there can be a chill on the plane sometimes. This always makes them feel comfortable and cozy and sets them up to have hopefully a good rest! I typically stay away from a onesie as it’s more difficult to maneuver in the bathroom.

Tip:  Don’t beat yourself up if the flight doesn’t work out the way you thought it would pan out, just keep your cool everyone around will understand! We try to do our best as parents to make sure the kids are happy and content but sometimes they have other plans and you just have to roll with it, especially on those long-haul flights.

But once you hit your destination it is all worth it!!!

Reminiscing our trip to Cannon Beach, Oregon. I can’t believe we are here a year later with our family of five! We can’t wait to start planning out next big trip, where should we fly??

This post is sponsored by Air Canada. All opinions and comments are my own.