Okay, okay. Travelling with my baby rocks…though now she is a toddler. This past January while we were visiting the Lake District and West Yorkshire, she did marvelously. In this second of a series, I’ll explore any tips I can give about traveling with a kid in airports.
Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Traveling through Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport is never an experience people you would wish upon anyone you like. Its not that there is anything necessarily wrong its just that its big, its busy, and if you’re not flying Delta, things seem a little out of the way, not a bright, not as clean, and not as new.
The biggest suggestion I can give anyone traveling with a baby is to make sure you have a good stroller. We used our Maclaren and it held up to airports, baggage checks, taxi cabs, train stations, rain, sleet, snow, ice, road salt, and anything else our journey threw at it. It folds easy enough, is light, and is sturdy enough to take a beating in the cargo hold of the plane. Atlanta was great. British Airways as well as the Hartsfield and Homeland Security staff let us keep the stroller with us until we reached the gate. We did have to run the stroller through the screening equipment but it fit with ease, even with J.J. Cole’s Bundle Me attached.
A couple of suggestions I picked up from other places:
- As soon as you arrive at the gate, get baby into her pajamas.
- Leave plenty of time. We found that our travel time took almost twice as long as it did pre-baby. Part of this was the sheer mass of stuff we had to travel with but part of it also is that baby dances to the beat of her own drum.
- Find quiet places. In Atlanta, the Houlihan’s in the Airport Atrium (between the ticketing/ luggage halls) is great. Go upstairs where there are no tv’s and plenty of space to stretch out.
- I understand that Airtran and Delta have play areas but I’ve never seen them.
- See if there are any ways you qualify for access to an airport lounge.
Once we got to our gate, BA was great. They let us on the plane first to get seated and we were one our way (more about traveling with a baby in a plane, in a later post).
Bleery Eyed at T Five
Terminal 5
Every time I’m wheels down in London, its a rush. And I was so thrilled that the first trip my daughter went on was with me to London. And I was excited this time because we were flying into the still relatively new Heathrow Terminal 5. Its a gleaming, cavernous space that seems to be phase one of much large plans for the busiest airport in Europe. I was a little miffed about being parked at a remote stand, meaning we’d have to take a bus to the terminal, but it was easy and we were let out very close to the immigration desks.
If there is one thing I’m not a fan of in international travel, its passing through immigration. Oh, I love having a stamp in my passport but standing and standing in line is not my idea of fun. When we arrived at the line, it was long. But a kind official, opened a rope and let us to the front of the line. We had to wait for one person.
One of the other things I love about Heathrow is that the luggage trolleys are free (hint, hint, Hartsfield). Which leads me to another hint, go ahead a splurge on the Heathrow Express. Yes its expensive. But its quiet, not crowded and dumps you into Paddington Station (a great place for kids souvenirs). From there you can catch a taxi (and no, you don’t need a car seat in a taxi in London. I shudder to think…), train, or the tube to your next destination. We stopped for lunch, a diaper change, souvenirs at the Paddington Bear Kiosk, grabbed a taxi and still made our train from Euston Station.
Flying Out of Heathrow
One of the smartest things we have ever done in traveling was to get a hotel near the airport the night before flying home. This did cut about half a day off our trip but made our flight home so much easier. Heathrow has an excellent network of frequent shuttles that circulate around the area hotels. They dropped us off at terminal 5 where we checked in. Again, we received excellent service. Even though we gave ourselves too much time to get to the airport, BA let us check in early. When we went through screening, there was something wrong with my wife’s ticket. She took the baby and stroller while I was told to move on through. Needless to say, I was anxious. But once again, true hospitality came through. As soon as things were sorted, they let her through the VIP line, getting through security about as quickly as I did even though there were several hundred people in line. Once more, they let us keep the stroller to the gate.
My one complaint/ heads up about Heathrow Terminal 5 is the concourse area. Once you get out there, the selections of food are not that great for a baby. Make sure you have everything you’ll need food-wise. There were several restaurants we could have stopped in at the main terminal but we decided to go on to the concourse.
There was additional screening at the gate and I must say, UK folks were great. They treat me and my wife well and tried to be as low impact as possible on us with a kid. Again, they let us on the plane first where we got situated before the rest of the plane boarded.
Landing Home
Once more bleary eyed, we arrive at Atlanta airport, late. But not as late as it could have been. There was a medical emergency on the plane and we got on the ground in a very impressive fashion. It was a nice surprise to be given our stroller at the gate rather than at luggage claim (like at Heathrow). Arriving at immigration, I wish that I could say US Dept of Homeland Security looked out for families like the UK’s Immigration officials did.
We waited for nearly an hour.
Additionally, the security people coming into the country were more anxious and less accommodating than either security on the front end in Atlanta or at Heathrow. Admittedly, they probably have the most angst ridden job of the four checkpoints we went through but still, there such a thing a common courtesy.
By and large, traveling through airports with children is a breeze. Give yourself enough time and build in some extra money into your budget. With those two suggestions you should be fine.
Okay, okay. Travelling with my baby rocks…though now she is a toddler. This past January while we were visiting the Lake District and West Yorkshire, she did marvelously. While we didn’t receive the holy grail of traveling with kids (i.e. upgraded), by and large, we were treated with the courtesy that every traveler should be treated. In this series of posts, I’ll reflect on what I learned traveling with her, what I’ll repeat and what I’ll never do again (queue theme from “Gone With the Wind”).
Traveling With a Kid Totally Rocks: Traveling Through Airports
Okay, okay. Travelling with my baby rocks…though now she is a toddler. This past January while we were visiting the Lake District and West Yorkshire, she did marvelously. In this second of a series, I’ll explore any tips I can give about traveling with a kid in airports.
Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Traveling through Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport is never an experience people you would wish upon anyone you like. Its not that there is anything necessarily wrong its just that its big, its busy, and if you’re not flying Delta, things seem a little out of the way, not a bright, not as clean, and not as new.
The biggest suggestion I can give anyone traveling with a baby is to make sure you have a good stroller. We used our Maclaren and it held up to airports, baggage checks, taxi cabs, train stations, rain, sleet, snow, ice, road salt, and anything else our journey threw at it. It folds easy enough, is light, and is sturdy enough to take a beating in the cargo hold of the plane. Atlanta was great. British Airways as well as the Hartsfield and Homeland Security staff let us keep the stroller with us until we reached the gate. We did have to run the stroller through the screening equipment but it fit with ease, even with J.J. Cole’s Bundle Me attached.
A couple of suggestions I picked up from other places:
Once we got to our gate, BA was great. They let us on the plane first to get seated and we were one our way (more about traveling with a baby in a plane, in a later post).
Bleery Eyed at T Five
Terminal 5
Every time I’m wheels down in London, its a rush. And I was so thrilled that the first trip my daughter went on was with me to London. And I was excited this time because we were flying into the still relatively new Heathrow Terminal 5. Its a gleaming, cavernous space that seems to be phase one of much large plans for the busiest airport in Europe. I was a little miffed about being parked at a remote stand, meaning we’d have to take a bus to the terminal, but it was easy and we were let out very close to the immigration desks.
If there is one thing I’m not a fan of in international travel, its passing through immigration. Oh, I love having a stamp in my passport but standing and standing in line is not my idea of fun. When we arrived at the line, it was long. But a kind official, opened a rope and let us to the front of the line. We had to wait for one person.
One of the other things I love about Heathrow is that the luggage trolleys are free (hint, hint, Hartsfield). Which leads me to another hint, go ahead a splurge on the Heathrow Express. Yes its expensive. But its quiet, not crowded and dumps you into Paddington Station (a great place for kids souvenirs). From there you can catch a taxi (and no, you don’t need a car seat in a taxi in London. I shudder to think…), train, or the tube to your next destination. We stopped for lunch, a diaper change, souvenirs at the Paddington Bear Kiosk, grabbed a taxi and still made our train from Euston Station.
Flying Out of Heathrow
One of the smartest things we have ever done in traveling was to get a hotel near the airport the night before flying home. This did cut about half a day off our trip but made our flight home so much easier. Heathrow has an excellent network of frequent shuttles that circulate around the area hotels. They dropped us off at terminal 5 where we checked in. Again, we received excellent service. Even though we gave ourselves too much time to get to the airport, BA let us check in early. When we went through screening, there was something wrong with my wife’s ticket. She took the baby and stroller while I was told to move on through. Needless to say, I was anxious. But once again, true hospitality came through. As soon as things were sorted, they let her through the VIP line, getting through security about as quickly as I did even though there were several hundred people in line. Once more, they let us keep the stroller to the gate.
My one complaint/ heads up about Heathrow Terminal 5 is the concourse area. Once you get out there, the selections of food are not that great for a baby. Make sure you have everything you’ll need food-wise. There were several restaurants we could have stopped in at the main terminal but we decided to go on to the concourse.
There was additional screening at the gate and I must say, UK folks were great. They treat me and my wife well and tried to be as low impact as possible on us with a kid. Again, they let us on the plane first where we got situated before the rest of the plane boarded.
Landing Home
Once more bleary eyed, we arrive at Atlanta airport, late. But not as late as it could have been. There was a medical emergency on the plane and we got on the ground in a very impressive fashion. It was a nice surprise to be given our stroller at the gate rather than at luggage claim (like at Heathrow). Arriving at immigration, I wish that I could say US Dept of Homeland Security looked out for families like the UK’s Immigration officials did.
We waited for nearly an hour.
Additionally, the security people coming into the country were more anxious and less accommodating than either security on the front end in Atlanta or at Heathrow. Admittedly, they probably have the most angst ridden job of the four checkpoints we went through but still, there such a thing a common courtesy.
By and large, traveling through airports with children is a breeze. Give yourself enough time and build in some extra money into your budget. With those two suggestions you should be fine.