Tomorrow, we head off to Barcelona for a two-and-a-half week vacation. Highs in the 80’s and lows in the 70’s. Looking forward to family time, new experiences, tasty food and wine, and an ocean-side escape from the heat of Arkansas. How’s my Spanish and Catalan? Practically non-existent.

This is our first big, overseas travel with S—. For the plane ride, we picked up a few things to hopefully keep S— entertained. In no specific order:

This book clearly describes the whole process of going to the airport and flying. S— loves it and it’s helping prepare for the trip.

This was recommended by a friend. Sorry in advance if the back of your seat gets some stickers on it.

The easiest, no-mess coloring for a trip. Just pour some water in the pen/brush and color over the white pages. The water makes the pages bloom with color. Once the page dries, it goes back to a white canvas.

We’ve tested them in the house and they seem to work well. Taking along our iPad mini so that S— can watch a couple of shows if need be.

Little backpack for the kiddo to schlep her stuff around (and she wants to be like Mom and Dad).

Holding the Gear

For this trip and all future travel (yes, I’m a time-traveler) I opted for Osprey’s Porter 46 as it holds a lot, is easy to access items, fits in the overhead compartments of planes, and gives me two hands to chase after a toddler.

We’ve gotten a lot of great recommendations from friends regarding Barcelona, but if you have any suggestions, especially family-friendly, post a comment.