Sharing travel tales of woe? How is this productive? Rest assured, I am not trying to encourage anyone to wallow in self-pity or scare the pants off some new parent preparing for their first airplane trip with a young child. Mistakes are our best teacher. And why not let someone else make them instead of you? So I’ll go first. Here are my top 5 travel screw-ups!

You paid more for luggage than the actual price of your airfare, you shoved your over-large stroller through the security checkpoint, and you watched in resignation as your child did laps around the moving walkways.

As the plane boards, most parents suffer some degree of anxiety about the potential public humiliation they will endure if their child throws a tantrum on the flight. Whether your flight is a puddle-jump across the state or an epic trans-Pacific voyage, you’ll need a strategy to keep the little one(s) entertained.

You’ve scoured the internet for travel destinations, successfully booked your vacation, and purchased of an obscene amount gear for traveling with your baby.  As your departure date looms ever nearer, apprehension mounts as you contemplate a flight with your new little bundle of joy. Fear not.  Whether this is your first trip or you’ve already got several baby travel adventures under your belt, we’ve collected some tips to make your travels relaxing and enjoyable.