Five essentials for a five hour train journey with a toddler

We’d booked an impromptu trip up to Edinburgh for the weekend to see the three F’s: Family. Friends. Fringe Festival!

That means taking an (almost) five-hour train journey from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley. It also means we’ll have one hell of a job on our hands, keeping Marley busy throughout that time.

So here’s a list of five essentials for a five hour train journey with a toddler.

A little background

It can be difficult enough on a short tip. We were flying back from a family holiday in Dublin last week, and once we had got on the plane the captain’s voice came over the PA system to announce we would be delayed for around an hour. 

Almost immediately, Marley started shouting “FIRE! FIRE!” at the top of his lungs, which not only unsettled the people in the seats around us, but also panicked my wife and I in to frantically looking around to see if there was, in fact, a fire. 

There wasn’t.

Just a little boy with an insane sense of humour (and a jacket that makes him look like he works for Sixt). 

So I thought I’d compile a list of the top 5 things you may need in order to survive a five hour train journey with a toddler. Here we go:

1 Snacks

Lots of snacks. We have been told by the dentist that snacks are not a necessary part of Marley’s diet, and we have fully taken that advice on board. However, in both adult and toddler life, we all know that theories don’t always work perfectly in practice. 

If Marley eats his breakfast, lunch and dinner (plus his morning and evening bottles of milk) he doesn’t require any snacks. 

But that’s more-or-less the equivalent of saying “if I won the lottery, there would be no need for me to work”. Unlikely to happen. 

So in to the snack bag will go:

Two oat bars. Two packs of raisings. One pack of oatcakes. One pack of biscotti biscuits (some of those are for me). One tangerine. One sandwich. And of course, some “wootoo” (his water).

2 Toys

Namely, cars. The chances are, we will take about 15 of them and he’ll want the only one we left at home, but as long as he has some of them, plus his favourite red bus, he’ll be a happy chap.

3 Books

Once he’s fed up of the cars, Marley always loves a story. He especially enjoys pointing out things on the page I hadn’t even noticed. There’s one book with a spider on every page that I had absolutely no idea about, until he kept shouting “SPIDAA!” at me. 

A couple of Meg & Mog books and a Spot the Dog should do it for this trip. 

4 iPad (fully charged and fully loaded)

Don’t judge me. Yes, it may be the ultimate 2018 cop-out. And I am fully aware of the rumours that Steve Jobs didn’t let his kids anywhere near an iPad. 

But everything in moderation is my response. If we can get Marley through a couple of hours on just his toys and books (and a bit of running around the train) then he – and we! -ought to be allowed a little TV time as a reward. 

I will put together a list of some of his favourites for a future post, but high on that list will be Peter Rabbit. Not the movie version (not yet anyway) but the animated TV series. 

Educational, innocent, and fantastic viewing – the Jeremy Fisher musical masterpiece episode is a particular favourite…..of mine.

5 Energy

The most important item in a father’s toolkit is his energy. Without it, we’re nothing. 

Every time he feels the urge to climb on my neck, or drop his cars behind the seat for the twentieth time, or walk through the carriage (again!) or try and throw something he shouldn’t be throwing, I will be there to pluck up whatever energy I have to try and keep up with him. 

So I will resist the urge to have several beers the night before travelling, and will instead be fully rested and fighting fit, ready for anything Marley (literally) can throw at me come Friday morning. 

Well, that’s the plan anyway.

And then three days later, we get to do it all over again on the return journey! Maybe just one beer…..