Traveling to Hawaii (Kauai) with 1 yr old?

Hey, welcome to Hawaii, ok? You know, flite from NYC to Lihue on Kauai, not gonna be great time, depend on child of course, some travel well, like to have parent hold them alla time, othas wanna get down and crawl round plane, so depend on how kid do, ok? Flite from LA to Lihue gonna be more than 5 hours, sometime close to 6 hours, depend on winds aloft, but it gonna be mostly afta baby's bedtime, so should be ok, yeah? You definitely gonna be ready for bed when you get hea, baby likely gonna be on NYC time, so gonna get up at like...1AM local, yeah? Anyway, my fam used to do this alla time, go to visit wifes fam, and my best friend for kid gotta be juice bottle with apple juice, or grape juice, and maybe little dimetap elixer to put kid to sleep, yeah? One time My wife and I so tired, youngest son little guy like you kid, he cranky, noisy, wanna get down and runna round, so I grab bottle, have stew bring can of coke, I give it to him, and he chug the whole 12 ounces, but he wake up, and not so cranky, stop cry and really just want bottle, ok? Not gonna say it rite thing to do, but it work coupla time, yeah? Kid now at Johns Hopkins, so apparently not hurt him too bad, yeah? If you already take baby offa bottle, then sipi cup ok, but not as good as bottle, yeah? Most airlines carry some jucie for this purpose, but bring as much as TSA goons will let you, ok? Bottle help baby clear ears too, on assent and dissent too, yeah? Trip back gonna be little faster inna air, but still gonna be brutal, but hey, if worth it, yeah? Baby sitter, you know, my auntie nettie live on Kauai, but not gonna ask you to trust her, you best bet is to talk to hotel concierge, they got best chance of help youfind good reliable sitter, one thing, insist that sitter come to hotel and watch baby inna hotel room, and make sure they come from bonded sitter agency, also, expect to pay at least 20 buck/hour, ok? I know couple of elementary teacher there who babysit for kids ova atta Hilton on Kauai, they come to room, they tell security what going on, and the bring two people, BUT gonna cost, so consider that, ok? Peace and aloha to you!

My wife and I flew from Philadelphia to San Francisco with our 9 month old child. Honestly, I would eagerly shove a rusty ice pick into my left eye rather than travel that far with a child that age again. What you are about to embark on in no way meets my definition of a "vacation".

A couple of years ago, we took my 1-year old granddaughter from NC to Hawaii. We were fortunate in that there were 3 of us, my daughter, son-in-law, and myself. The biggest hassle was having to carry the child seat from gate to gate at each of the two connecting airports. We took advantage of these stops to let her run around the airport and burn off some energy. We were also lucky in that she has a very easy going demeanor and did not fuss or cause any problems for 90% of the flight times. The advantage of having 3 of us was that she actually spent very little time in her car-seat, as we just took turns holding and playing with her to keep her occupied. I felt sorry for my kids on the return trip because we did not fly back at the same time. And, going from west to east is harder on everyone, so you can imagine being tired yourself and having to deal with a 1-year old who is also over-tired. Add to that having to carry all the kids stuff, car seat, and your own carry one baggage and you start to understand why I felt sorry for them. The purpose of taking her was to introduce her to her great-grandparents, my parents, and we are all happy that we did. On the last leg of the trip, from Seattle to Honolulu, there was a mother and grandmother with a kid about the same age who was not as easy-going as my granddaughter and fussed for the first hour of the flight. That is when my granddaughter took up a sympathy cry and needed to be settled down as well. The other bad thing about that last leg was that they switched planes on us and instead of us being seated together, we were spread out several rows apart. So, give it some thought. It does have its drawbacks and its a trip your daughter will not remember. If you have someone reliable you can leave your daughter with...its only a week...you may want to consider that option for the good of all involved, not to mention allow you to enjoy your trip fully as well.

My best advice from my experience is to travel at night when your child is sleeping. We moved when my son was 13 months old and had a 12 hour drive ahead of us. He is very impatient in the car, and the only way that I didn't feel guilty keeping him in the carseat was if he was happy and sleeping. While he didn't sleep for the whole ride, it sure took a large chunk out of the trip with him asleep. Other than that, we had a portable DVD player and played baby einstein movies for him. When he would get restless, we would take breaks often. My husband and I also took turns sitting in the back with him to help entertain him.

A couple of years ago, we took my 1-year old granddaughter from NC to Hawaii. We were fortunate in that there were 3 of us, my daughter, son-in-law, and myself. The biggest hassle was having to carry the child seat from gate to gate at each of the two connecting airports. We took advantage of these stops to let her run around the airport and burn off some energy. We were also lucky in that she has a very easy going demeanor and did not fuss or cause any problems for 90% of the flight times. The advantage of having 3 of us was that she actually spent very little time in her car-seat, as we just took turns holding and playing with her to keep her occupied. I felt sorry for my kids on the return trip because we did not fly back at the same time. And, going from west to east is harder on everyone, so you can imagine being tired yourself and having to deal with a 1-year old who is also over-tired. Add to that having to carry all the kids stuff, car seat, and your own carry one baggage and you start to understand why I felt sorry for them. The purpose of taking her was to introduce her to her great-grandparents, my parents, and we are all happy that we did. On the last leg of the trip, from Seattle to Honolulu, there was a mother and grandmother with a kid about the same age who was not as easy-going as my granddaughter and fussed for the first hour of the flight. That is when my granddaughter took up a sympathy cry and needed to be settled down as well. The other bad thing about that last leg was that they switched planes on us and instead of us being seated together, we were spread out several rows apart. So, give it some thought. It does have its drawbacks and its a trip your daughter will not remember. If you have someone reliable you can leave your daughter with...its only a week...you may want to consider that option for the good of all involved, not to mention allow you to enjoy your trip fully as well.

My wife and I flew from Philadelphia to San Francisco with our 9 month old child. Honestly, I would eagerly shove a rusty ice pick into my left eye rather than travel that far with a child that age again. What you are about to embark on in no way meets my definition of a "vacation".

We just got back from Oahu with our 15 month old and I wrote a little blog about it. It has a few tips. Hope it helps. :) http://www.happybabyandmama.blogspot.com/