saving my airplane sanity

A few weeks ago we started tossing around the idea of going on a family trip. It has always been a family priority for us to leave home for at least 4 days and enjoy life as a family- we havent done that with the 3 of us yet. And, since our Disneyland trip was just Ariana myself and extended family we are longing for a great family vacation- just the 3 of us. We have 2 weddings to go to in July in Utah... Or we could do Ariana's ideal birthday party shes been begging for- Disneyland! Then we tossed around the idea of Disneyworld since it was $200 less to go there than Disneyland (crazy thought I know). All in all- we decided last night to go with my most expensive airline route- Atlanta, GA! On the plus side, I have found discounted rental car and hotel so it makes the very expensive airline ticket a bit more managable!
Five years ago Will and I took our new baby girl (who was 9 months old at the time) to Atlanta. We HAD to show her off to all of Will's family. Only problem is, 5 years has gone by and we havent been back as a complete family, so its about time! Will has gone back alone twice, and to Ohio once over the past 5 years. Even at 5 years ago we had 2 layovers, and we traveled the red eye flight so the long 5 hour flight wasnt so bad (and I didnt have a playful munchin at the time she just slept). I have taken many 12 hour road trips but I feel so completly unprepaired for a direct flight that is 5 hours long!!! I mean at least during road trips I can stop every 2 hours and stretch my legs and I have a changing scenery. So here I am on pinterest finding every good road trip activity advice that I can find. I am glad we are flying in the morning, and straight thru, it gives us more time :)
So, I thought I would share (mainly for my future reference) my ideas I have found on pinterest to keep the time passing because in reality I dont have 5 hours to pass, I have 7 (arrival at airport 2 hours early).

• Pack a 30 minute or 1 hour travel surprise. It all depends on what I find at Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree to how often Ariana will get her travel surprise. Each surprise will be wrapped.
• Bring Ariana's leap pad with new games.
• Buy a new DVD (part of her hourly surprises)
• Printable USA map with the flight track on it. She can learn each new area we are flying over,
• Kid friendly website printables- Sprout and Disney Junior are the 2 channels Ariana watches.
• Travel Journal

Now that I am feeling a little more prepped with ideas I think I can rest a little bit. Will and I both have airplane anxiety so I think keeping myself entertained is just as important as keeping Ariana entertained so I am not listening to the jet engines and looking at my watch every twenty minutes.
The list isnt giant because I mainly focused on things that can extend beyond 15 minutes. I think for this trip I am going to focus on having at least 2 things for each idea.

Side note- when we went to Utah (another short 2 hour flight) a year ago we got Ariana 1 new toy and we got her the lap pad tablet, which entertained her for the full 2 hours. When we went to Disneyland in March Ariana only had 2 coloring books, a notebook, and all her homework. The flight was 2 1/2 hours and with her love of coloring it kept her well entertained.

Any ideas you use on your road trips? Feel free to add a comment here or post on my facebook wall :)

Happy Vacations Everyone!