Twin travel advice

ajsweeton · June 2014

I'm trying to decide how difficult it's going to be to travel cross country with our twins and was hoping to get some advice from you ladies. My grandmother is very sick and they've only given her 3-6 months to live. She lives in Washington state and we live in Ky so any visit to see her will be a production. We would need to fly, rent a car and stay in a hotel. We're looking at being there about a week, and I have some questions about how difficult this will be with 2-3 month old twins.

1. Do you have any advice for making the air travel easier? I'd thought to bring our sng and 2 infant carriers with us. It's what I figured would be the easiest way of getting around the airports and would save us from having to worry about damage to our good car seats and stroller.

2. What is the smallest/cheapest vehicle I could rent to hold 2 car seats? Should I have plans to pack bases for the car seats as well?

3. As far as the hotel room, what do your twins sleep in when you travel? At home we have 2 RNPs. They don't sleep well in their crib now, and they've never slept in a pnp. Could they both sleep in one pnp? Should I try to just break down and pack the RNPs?

Any other travel tips would be greatly appreciated! Thank you

24karat · June 2014

I'm sorry you're having this happening. We're in a similar situation (we live on the East coast, my family is in WA) and have made two trips in the past three months due to deaths in the family. Honestly, I've found 2-5 months to be an "ideal" travel time for babies. They aren't mobile or on solids yet so they're easy to pack for. I've traveled cross country twice with the twins this year, and about 10 times with my 2 year old.

1. DSNG and infant carriers are awesome for travel, especially if you have a connecting flight. You just use it to navigate the airport, then gate check it if you are carrying the babies as lap infants. If you luck out and there are empty seats next to you, they will likely allow you to bring the carseats on board. If you are doing 2 lap infants, you will have to sit across the aisle from each other since only one lap infant is allowed per row (limited oxygen masks).

2. I wouldn't worry about bringing bases, though it could make your life easier if you'll be doing a lot of getting in and out of the car. You might be able to get away with a sedan, so long as you can fit the seats behind the passenger and driver seats.

3. You can sleep both in a single PNP. Maybe try them in it before leaving to see how it goes? Then you can decide on bringing the RNPs or not.

General advice: It may be worthwhile to look into an equipment rental for your trip. There are companies that rent out car seats, strollers, PNPs, etc at the destination. Look at pricing and see if it's worth it to you. If you will be traveling with the twins as lap infants, use a carrier (Ergo, Moby, etc) as that will help the babies sleep and give your arms and back a rest. Let them eat/suck on a paci during take off and landing to ease the pressure on their ears.

If flying on Southwest is an option, I'd choose them before any other airline. You pay a slight premium on the actual flight, but you have zero change/cancellation fees, get to pick your seats with advance boarding (traveling with kids under 5), and no baggage fees. The flexibility is worth every penny so I fly with them whenever possible.

Pack your diapers, food, and some clothes (include extra outfits for you and your SO just in case) in carry ons, then buy the amount of diapers/formula/wipes you need for the week at your destination. That leaves room in your checked bags allowance for other things, like the RNPs if you absolutely need to bring them. Some airlines also do not count the first baby gear item as a checked bag so you can check into that.

I'm sure I can think of more tips, but that's quite a novel already.

lynnyrd80 · June 2014

We flew with DS when he was 3 months, then again at 4 months. So, this is coming from having travelled at that age, but not with twins.

Use a DSNG with carseats for your stroller. You can install the carseats with the seat belts without using a base. We got red gate check bags to gate check the car seat and stroller so they didn't get dirty. I also had my Beco Gemini so I could wear DS as needed.

We had a High Sierra brand wheeled duffle that was big enough to fit our broken down RNP, my stuff, and DS's stuff. So, if you had two, you should be able to fit everything you need to two adults and two babies and still fit the RNPs. We will probably be adding another for when we travel as a family of five so we can minimize the number of bags we have to bring. You just have to be careful about going over the weight limit for checked bags. Here is a link to the suitcase: https://www.amazon.com/High-Sierra-Wheeled-Graphite-Titanium/dp/B000H8669Y/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1402779655&sr=8-10&keywords=high+sierra+luggage

caden · June 2014

My advice about PNPs is that if you go the route of using a hotel PNP (which is what I did and it was the easiest) make sure you put your babies to sleep in a PNP at home for a few nights before you leave. If your babies hate it they might scream bloody murder until they get used to it. You don't want that to happen at a hotel. It took my kids 2 nights before they would sleep in one without crying.

It might be that they hate sleeping flat. I'm not sure how to incline a PNP mattress but that might be something to consider if your babies don't adjust to a PNP or crib.

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