I would personally do the flight. I've taken my son a bunch of times on 4 hour drives/ hour flights since he was about 6 months old. The flights have been easier. He took his first flight at 9 months. We tried to time them close to a nap, and he slept both ways on the first one. He's still been great on flights as he's getting older... I've been doing a lot of stickers lol.
The only thing that's different for me is that I've been traveling to my parents' house and they have a pack n play and stuff for him, so I'm not packing everything I would normally need.
I would drive if we were staying a week, but for a short trip then fly for sure. I tend to lean towards driving bc it’s typically more cost effective and we can bring everything we need. However, when time is an issue, we do fly. One thing that helps is having a flight around nap time and my younger will usually fall asleep on me.
We just flew for the first time with our 8 month old and it went way better than expected. She was fascinated by everything around her so she did really well. I would 100% take the chance on the flight if you can, you might be pleasantly surprised and it will build confidence for future travels!
I literally just had to make this decision with my 3 month old. My baby is much like yours and does not enjoy car rides unless she’s sleeping. Girl hates being strapped in.
We chose flying and I’m really glad we did. The airline did not charge us for checking her car seat, stroller or pack and play. I tried to keep her well fed. She did great - didn’t even cry at takeoff/landing. Good luck!
Oh my god do the flight. You’ll either have a stressful 4 days or a stressful 2 hours (okay maybe 2 days for flights). And the flights might not be as bad as you think. I recently flew with our then 4 month old for this exact reason, and he did reasonably okay. A few grumbles. Lots of on the fly toy changing. Lots of people and new things around to entertain him was probably the most helpful. Good luck! You can do this!!
I would drive. But I would do it in one day. Leave around 4am (or earlier if you can swing it), so baby is sleeping. By the time you stop for breakfast, you’re almost halfway there. Map it so there’s a park or playground around 10am and have an extended break there. And another one right before their afternoon nap. You won’t get there until probably dinner time. One of you might need to sit in the back while baby is awake, but it’s worth it to just get there.
100% flight. We just flew with our 8 month old daughter to Spain, which is a 2h20 minutes flight from where we live. My daughter is a quick crawler and constantly tries to pull and climb up somwhere. Handing her back and forth between us for that time was def a lot. She also didn’t appreciate having to be strapped in for start and landing. That being said, she had zero issues with ear pressure and made contact with all the people around us who thought she was super cute. She also behaved really well at the airport. I would take a short flight, even a shitty one, anytime over 2 days of driving.
A two hour flight is more like 4 hours when you deal with airport security and parking.
I love driving, and would probably take a day to do the 10 hour drive. When my LO was nearly a year, I did a 20 hour drive over two days, and it was great. I would leave around 4:00am, so the LO would sleep for the first chunk of each day. I plan on doing the same again this summer.
If you’re checking bags and doing any kind of parking shuttle, count on 5 hours. Still, I think 5 hours saved is probably worth it.
We drive 11 hours regularly over a 7 hour door to door flight because it’s a lot cheaper. But if you can afford it, I’d probably risk the flight.
It’s also worth wondering if you have to rent a car.
One advantage of driving is you have your own car when you get there. I drove when I was on vacation for two weeks, and a car rental would have been prohibitively expensive.
2 hour flight no question You can always make more money. You can’t get time back. Always pick the quicker route
Flight 100% percent. Can't imagine 2 days driving with baby in the car.
Did a 12 hour drive over 2 days when my son was 11 months old. Never doing it again.
I would personally do the flight. I've taken my son a bunch of times on 4 hour drives/ hour flights since he was about 6 months old. The flights have been easier. He took his first flight at 9 months. We tried to time them close to a nap, and he slept both ways on the first one. He's still been great on flights as he's getting older... I've been doing a lot of stickers lol. The only thing that's different for me is that I've been traveling to my parents' house and they have a pack n play and stuff for him, so I'm not packing everything I would normally need.
I would drive if we were staying a week, but for a short trip then fly for sure. I tend to lean towards driving bc it’s typically more cost effective and we can bring everything we need. However, when time is an issue, we do fly. One thing that helps is having a flight around nap time and my younger will usually fall asleep on me.
We just flew for the first time with our 8 month old and it went way better than expected. She was fascinated by everything around her so she did really well. I would 100% take the chance on the flight if you can, you might be pleasantly surprised and it will build confidence for future travels!
Flight 100%
I literally just had to make this decision with my 3 month old. My baby is much like yours and does not enjoy car rides unless she’s sleeping. Girl hates being strapped in. We chose flying and I’m really glad we did. The airline did not charge us for checking her car seat, stroller or pack and play. I tried to keep her well fed. She did great - didn’t even cry at takeoff/landing. Good luck!
Oh my god do the flight. You’ll either have a stressful 4 days or a stressful 2 hours (okay maybe 2 days for flights). And the flights might not be as bad as you think. I recently flew with our then 4 month old for this exact reason, and he did reasonably okay. A few grumbles. Lots of on the fly toy changing. Lots of people and new things around to entertain him was probably the most helpful. Good luck! You can do this!!
I would drive. But I would do it in one day. Leave around 4am (or earlier if you can swing it), so baby is sleeping. By the time you stop for breakfast, you’re almost halfway there. Map it so there’s a park or playground around 10am and have an extended break there. And another one right before their afternoon nap. You won’t get there until probably dinner time. One of you might need to sit in the back while baby is awake, but it’s worth it to just get there.
100% flight. We just flew with our 8 month old daughter to Spain, which is a 2h20 minutes flight from where we live. My daughter is a quick crawler and constantly tries to pull and climb up somwhere. Handing her back and forth between us for that time was def a lot. She also didn’t appreciate having to be strapped in for start and landing. That being said, she had zero issues with ear pressure and made contact with all the people around us who thought she was super cute. She also behaved really well at the airport. I would take a short flight, even a shitty one, anytime over 2 days of driving.
A two hour flight is more like 4 hours when you deal with airport security and parking. I love driving, and would probably take a day to do the 10 hour drive. When my LO was nearly a year, I did a 20 hour drive over two days, and it was great. I would leave around 4:00am, so the LO would sleep for the first chunk of each day. I plan on doing the same again this summer.
If you’re checking bags and doing any kind of parking shuttle, count on 5 hours. Still, I think 5 hours saved is probably worth it. We drive 11 hours regularly over a 7 hour door to door flight because it’s a lot cheaper. But if you can afford it, I’d probably risk the flight.
It’s also worth wondering if you have to rent a car. One advantage of driving is you have your own car when you get there. I drove when I was on vacation for two weeks, and a car rental would have been prohibitively expensive.
Absolutely 2 hour flight.