Train Travel with Kids!

We are soon taking the first of our two big trips! We are traveling from Newcastle to London, then across London on the underground and then onto another train out to Walton on Thames where Andy's parents live.

Now that James is five we have a family railcard so we get 60% off James ticket and a third off mine and Andy's. Last time we travelled that distance James was only 4 so he didn't get a seat and it meant four of us squashed into two seats till the train quietened down and myself and Freddie could move into empty unbooked seats.

This time I want to be prepared and not just rely on the tablet to keep both boys occupied. For the last few weeks when ever I have been out I have been looking in Poundland, Tesco and Tiger for little toys and games to keep the boys amused.

First off I picked up these little blox sets for James at Tesco. I think these were £1 each. We have a digger and a police car. He will have one in his bag for going down and I will have the other in the suitcase for on the way home.

I also picked up a couple of match box cars at Tesco for 90p each. James has loads of these at home and both boys play with them so these will keep them both amused on the train and also at their grandparents house.

Next up I picked a bag of plastic animals. These are mainly for Freddie but I think James will end up playing with them as well.

I picked up a set of eight toy cars at poundland and split them between the boys so there would be no arguing over the cars like normal!

The last thing that I packed was some sticker books! I grabbed these from Aldi in the Baby and Toddler event for 99p each. We have one on colours and one on shapes, then we have one on diggers and one on trucks and cars. I have put two of these into the bag for on the train and the other two are in the case for on the way back! No doubt the boys will both get some new toys when we are away as James has been asking to go to the Lego store!

Fingers crossed that these keep the boys amused on the trains!

Travelling with a toddler part two

Well part two began with a case of pass the toddler before the train had even left the station.

James was much better behaved on the return leg from Aberdeen than he had been on the way too Aberdeen. I think this was because the trip up was quite early and the return leg was late morning so he got to have a nap around midday which is when he normally tends to sleep.

He was really good until about the last 45 minutes when I think the novelty of being stuck on the train was starting to wear off and he started to lose patients.

Drastic action was needed so I spent the last 45 minutes of the trip standing in the vestibule between our carriage and the next carriage with James in his pushchair. He seemed to calm down once he was on his wheels.

The train got into Newcastle at 4pm and including our stop at the shop for milk it took us an hour to get home via the metro as we had to change due to a fault developing with our train.

Next time we travel long distance by train I will definitely be searching other mummy blogs for train travel with toddler.

Traveling with a toddler part one

So Friday we travelled up to Aberdeen to spend the weekend with our friends.

I was so scared about travelling up on the train with James as it was his first long train trip since August last year when he was literally just a year old.

We had a few cases of pass the toddler over the table before James finally passed out for about half an hour then he had some food. Changing a nappy on a moving train with a wriggling toddler was an experience to say the least. At least the toilet was small enough for me to stop James letting himself out while mummy was using the loo!

Andy spent the majority of the first leg trying to stop James annoying other passengers. Poor boy is so used to being on the go all the time and never sitting still that being so restricted on the train really seemed to upset him and of course tire out mummy and daddy.

That was only part one we still have to do the return leg in a few days at a different time of day.

Stay tuned for part two coming in a few days!!!