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Multiples
Traveling with Twins
DH and I will be traveling with our 1 year old twins in about 2 weeks. We will be going to visit family. This will be our first time traveling with the girls on a plane. We have done long car rides and they did great but never on a plane. Any tips you can spare would be ever so appreciated!! Thanks!
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Re: Traveling with Twins
The flight is about 2- 2.5 hours (from FL to PA). We only bought 2 seats but the flight we are going on is still very empty. We are hoping the flight attendants will let us use an empty seat or two. If not, they will just have to sit in our laps.. Yikes.
They have a few toys from Hannukah and birthday that they haven't played with so I plan on giving them those to entertain them.
My SIL has 2 cribs for them to sleep in so I am not too concerned about sleeping arrangements. One thing I was thinking about.. Do you think I should bring the blanket they sleep with at home with us to use in PA? Did you have any sleeping issues (naps or night time) once you were at your destination?
I don't have any kids, but I thought I would mention that if the flight fills up, you and your DH probably wont be able to sit in the same row (well at least the same group of 3 seats). There are usually only 4 masks for each group of 3 seats, with the 4 of you and another person, there are too many people in the row.
I would make sure to pack 2 small diaper bags and split the snacks and toys up, so each of you has a bag if you get seperated.
I responded to another post about international travel - here are some of my tips which may or may not apply to you, depending on how long your flight is. Good luck!
-- Buy seats for the babies if you can afford it. Even though you can hold your kids on your laps while they are under 2 years old, you will want the extra space. Assuming you do this...-- Bring one carseat on board, and check the other carseat. This way you have a place to strap in one baby but you also have the extra seat so you have a little extra room for the babies to play and stretch out.
-- Do not get seats in the bulkhead row. Even though the extra legroom may be tempting, there are a few downsides: (1) Oftentimes, the armrests do not go up since that is where they store the tray tables. (2) You will have to put your carryons in the overhead compartments during takeoff and landing - and that is exactly when you will need access to them to soothe your babies with drinks or toys. (3) Often there is a lot of extra traffic, light, and noise around the bulkhead because that's where the restrooms are.
-- Don't be afraid to bring extra carryon bags. You get two bags per person, and if you buy seats for the babies, they get two bags too. Carseats don't count. Even if you can't carry everything yourself, you can get assistance from the flight attendants. I flew Cathay Pacific and the flight attendants were incredibly helpful in this respect. So I had my diaper bag; my rolling suitcase which held my laptop, camera, and one Peapod travel tent (see below); a duffel bag of toys, books, etc. for the girls; and a bag just holding food and milk for the girls.
-- Buy Peapod Plus travel tents for the kids -- they are around $70 on Amazon -- they fold down very small and pop open -- so much lighter and easier than a Pack N Play. Have your kids gradually get used to sleeping in them at home before your trip so that they are comfortable in them. Make sure to get absorbent cotton waterproof pads to put inside the tents.-- Buy a portable DVD player with a long battery life ($80 on Amazon) and some kids DVDs. My kids do not watch TV at home so I had them watch a few episodes of Wonder Pets and Elmo's World before we left to get them used to the experience. Then it was a real treat for them on the plane and it bought me hours of peace and quiet.
-- Bring at least 2 extra outfits for the kids on board the plane, and one change of clothes for the adults as well.-- Bring lots of wipes on board -- including antibacterial wipes to wipe down all the plastic surfaces that your kids will touch during the flight.
-- Leave extra time for security. You have to take off the kids' shoes and jackets, no matter how young they are (so ridiculous, I know). If you are pushing a stroller to the gate, you have to dismantle the stroller and put it through the X-ray machine. If your stroller does not dismantle, they will hand scan it. The whole process is such a humongous pain and totally chaotic, but it is the worst part of any flight, so once you make it through that, you are in the homestretch in my opinion!
-- You probably know that you can bring on breastmilk and ready-to-drink formula through security, but you may not know that you can also bring bottled water with you if you say it is for making formula for the babies. (You also have to have the powder formula, of course.) You are allowed a "reasonable amount" which is open for interpretation, but I have brought on 6 bottles of water before and they were fine with it. Just put it all in a separate bag along with baby food and snacks and point it out to the TSA folks before you put it through the X-ray.
-- If you are going to check any carseats or stroller (including gate-checking), I highly recommend buying gate check bags. J.L. Childress makes them and you should see how filthy they get after just one trip. It will make you glad that it's the bag and not your child's carseat that is getting that filthy!
Good luck with your travels!