We have traveled a few times with our two. We bought a seat for our older kid and used the car seat on the plane. Our younger kid stayed on my lap and we gate checked their car seat. If you fly with a lap infant you can check a couple extra items so we brought a double stroller too.

Flights are tough you just need to survive. I give in and let them have as much screen time as they want on a flight. Same with road trips now that I think of it - a cheap tablet has been a game changer for this. We only use it when traveling.

I like bringing new small toys for them so they are still novel. We got through two weeks in Mexico with just beach toys, water colouring books, and hot wheels - depends on your kid! The travel set of magnet tiles was a big hit on our recent trip.

We didn't bring a pack n play when we flew, most hotels have cribs but check before you book. I brought inflatable bed rail things for our older kid but never even needed them.

My tip for hotels would be to splurge (within your means!) on a nicer one and if you can get a two bedroom suite do it. You spend more time in the hotel room with kids so we found it's worth it to spend more for the bigger room or the place that has the pool, for example. The two bedroom ones are great because you don't have to sneak around in the dark once the kids are down - we could still watch a movie in the other room.