hoffage123

Got a question.

I am starting to investigate flights now I am getting nearer to my visa approval; I want to make sure I pick one that has a long enough layover to get through Secondary with my wife and son (they are the US citizens, so they would be waiting for me).

There is a flight that leaves 10:45am from MAN and gets to PHL by 1:30PM US TIME (so about 6:30PM UK TIME) ... my son usually goes to bed around 7PM so will be tired at this point ... the layover from PHL to ROC is 5h33 mins ... so by the time the connecting flight gets to ROC it will be around 8:30PM US TIME (nearly 1am UK TIME) ....

Is it worth booking a hotel for the first part of the leg at PHL, so little DS can get a bit of shuteye, or should we keep him up to help him feel more tired and possibly adjust to the new surroundings quicker?

What do you think?

Hoffage

Mr Weeze

He'll probably be really excited, so not keen on sleep anyway. If they are going to be air side (I assume so, given there is a connection) have you thought about buying a lounge pass? Depending on the lounge (and this does vary a lot) they can have showers in them to help wake people up. At bigger airports there is usually a kids corner with a TV. There are power points to charge electricals to entertain little ones as well as snacks.

hoffage123

That's a good idea thanks So far good connections appear to be PHL and ATL (family-friendly according to reviews) so will check out their lounge access.

Yorkieabroad

How old is he? As Mr.W said, excitement might keep him going, but I know when we are traveling, if mine are tired they can sleep pretty much anywhere....find a spare seat, quiet corner etc. For 5.5 hours, I wouldn't have thought it was worth the hassle of getting a hotel room....need to get to it, check in, dump bags, calm him down, get him to bed, then a couple of hours later wake him up, now in a jet lag induced fog and reverse the process....no, if it was me, I think I'd keep him at the airport.

If you really want a bed for him, have you checked out whether there are any airside transit hotels? We did use the one at Schipol once, when we had a 9 or 10 hour layover....big mistake....no alarm clock in room, our cellphones were out of battery, and the hotel forgot our wake up call so we missed the onward flight

hoffage123

Ah thanks! He is 4 and has just started school.

tonrob

Check out lounge passes on eBay if you need to buy.

Weeze

I'd make it more exciting to keep them awake for the layover. Like Mr Weeze said, lounge access would be good. I'd give ours pocket money and make a big deal out of being able to buy something they pick in the shop. I make a special traveling bag that they don't get to open until our journey starts. New books, colouring, a toy, a new game for her computer game, chocolate.

Yorkieabroad

At that age we had ours pack their own carry on (with a little parental input!) with stuff that they wanted to take. The deal was it was their bag, so anything they packed, they had to carry. Then I always packed a new book and a new matchbox game for them...the ones that are a plastic box that opens up to make a "scene" with ramps and things....can't for the life of me remember the names...that was always good for an hour or 2 of peace after they'd run out of things to do in their own bags! If you make the layover part of their "responsibility", they're going to see it differently, so make them think about what they might need to do when the "get up" at the new airport....change, wash/teeth etc...and what they need to pack to make it happen.

I also gave them some holiday money to spend in the airport - can occupy hours in a decent airport (Schipol was our regular transit) and teach them about money at the same time, while avoiding all the "I wants" at every shop.

Yorkieabroad

Funny thing about lounge access.....when mine were at the pre-school stage, and we still had lounge access through frequent travel, they never wanted to be in the lounge for long....."boring". So we used to stop off, get a drink and snack and clean up then get out and shop/play/people watch/plane watch. Now that they are older, and could probably make more use of a lounge, we don't have free access....

hoffage123

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the hints and advice I will keep him up and have a special pack of toys; he has a trunki as well, so I will make sure he packs that himself too, and will look for lounge tickets on ebay as well

Hoffage

Yorkieabroad

Those Trunkis look great....ours are too old for them now, but wish we'd had them when they were small enough. I remember when the inventor was on Dragons Den - we looked at them and said "want!" And then he got a real slating from most of the dragons ...all apart from the smarmy git with the slick hair who happened to have "right-age" kids...well, he showed them, didn't he!