Air travel with breast milk... but sans kids

I have an upcoming trip planned alone.  Without the kids.  So on one hand, that means I'll probably be able to sleep through the night for the first time in months.  But on the other hand, I have anxiety not only over leaving my kids for a few days, but about the whole pumping on the airplane thing and carrying breast milk with me through security.  According to the "new" TSA regulations, nursing mothers can carry breast milk with them through the security checkpoint in quantities greater than 3.4 oz, provided that it is declared prior to screening.  Breast milk is supposed to be treated like liquid medications.  However, I'll be gone for 3 days, and I'd really hate to pump and dump, and I'd also hate to pay the $25 fee to check in baggage, just for the sake of saving the milk.  So I'm wondering, does TSA have any restrictions on how many oz of milk can be brought through the security checkpoint?  If I were, say, to attempt to carry 15 bags of milk with me, would they turn me away?  Make me throw out the milk?  Call me a security threat?  Anybody have any firsthand experience with us?  Perhaps I'll do the responsible thing and email TSA to see what they have to say.  Or perhaps I'll just try to bring the 15 bags of milk with me anyway, and if they tell me that I have to throw it away, then I'll live with it...

Keeping the kid(s) occupied

So when you're in for a long car ride or plane ride, how do you keep your kids occupied?  Of course, there's the ever-popular DVD player, but are there any other creative (or not-so-creative) options out there?  We haven't purchased a portable DVD player yet.  We're hoping to never have to resort to that option.  It's partly out of principle, but mostly out of practicality.  I mean, if the DVD player doesn't entertain the kid, what option do you have after that?  At least for our family, the DVD player is the nuclear option - there's no going back, and if it fails, I'm not sure there are any options left for keeping the kid entertained.  So we've been utilizing low-tech solutions so far, starting small so that we can work our way up to the nuclear option if absolutely necessary.  For those of you with kids with eczema - it's like starting with the lowest steroid cream (hydrocortisone) to see if that can get rid of those itchy red bumps, and then working your way up to the stronger steroid creams.

Anyway.  One thing that our son really likes is the Aquadoodle Travel Doodle.  I found it at Target on clearance in the summer, and my son loves it.  It's simple, compact, and there's no mess.  It can keep him occupied for quite a while.  Also found at Target on clearance were Travel Tangoes.  I haven't yet introduced them to my son yet, since he's still a little young for them, but I'm hoping they'll keep him occupied and silent when he's a little older.  He also loves books, so we make sure to go to the library to get him new books to read (though if you're worried about losing these library books, you can always bring books you have at home already or purchase books at a garage sale or book sale and keep them hidden until you plan to be sequestered in a cramped space with a young child.  We've also tried getting books on CD from the library.  The kid wasn't too interested in them - I think he was a bit too young and certainly couldn't follow along in the book, since he can't read yet.

Another tip is novelty.  To make sure that a toy will keep my child's interest for at least a small amount of time, I make sure to keep some toys as only travel toys.  He doesn't get to play with the Aquadoodle at home, thus ensuring that it will be a new fun toy for him to play with whenever he gets to play with it.  I've also tried wrapping up some of his more regular toys - the whole process of unwrapping the toy not only takes time, but also seems to make the familiar toy more interesting.  Get new books from the library.  Or when you see something on clearance at the store (even the dollar store) and have an upcoming trip planned, don't give it to the kid right away, but save it for the trip.

What are your tips for keeping a kid occupied during travel?

Here's an article from the Wall Street Journal about the increasing difficulties for parents flying with children.

Luckily, my selected seats have never been reassigned by the airlines, though I'm pretty obsessive about checking my seat assignments periodically before my departure date to make sure that they haven't been changed.  And when I fly Southwest, I also set an alarm for 24 hours before the departure time to make sure to check in as soon as possible so that I can board the plane earlier.

One particular bone to pick with the article - it mentions that one reason why airlines are less baby-friendly is the lack of microwaves to warm up bottles (though it notes that flight attendants can still warm up bottles with hot water). Who warms up bottles with a microwave? That's a very big no-no. Which reminds me, don't assume that the flight attendant knows how to warm up your bottle. If you ask a flight attendant to warm up a bottle for you, clearly specify that the bottle should come to room temperature, no hotter. I had a flight attendant once warm up a bottle to a scalding temperature.