Tips For An Airplane Ride - Little Presents Each Hour

by Andrew
(Eagle Mountain, Utah, USA)

On a cross county flight my wife and I were sitting in separate seats each of us with one of our two children sitting next to us.

Before leaving we had gone to the store and purchased a small collection of sweets, toys and surprises for each child. We then placed these in individual paper bags and placed them in our carry on luggage.

As we boarded the plane we pulled one bag out for each child and explained that if they were good and well behaved that each hour on the flight they would get another a bag.

The children found it great fun and the time literally flew by as they counted down each hour until the next surprise.

Of course you will choose things appropriate to the age of your children but we chose small toys - nothing noisy and nothing with small parts.

Particular favorites with our kids were those twisty snakes that make different shapes and a small deck of children's flash cards which were great for after the trip as well.

Another thing we were real glad we included were some small bags of chewy sweets and gum. The kids love them anyway but they really helped the children pop their ears as the cabin was pressurized.

My thanks to jonathanb1989 @ flickr for the photo