International travelling

Hi there!

So I live in Canada and we are heading down to Phoenix at the end of April where my twins will be just turning 6 months! I'm hoping some people have advice on how to best go about this b/c I am kind of terrified of taking them on a plane...I don't want to be labelled as "that mom" with 2 screaming babies the whole flight! They already hate sitting still and need to be carried all the time, but they also fall asleep as soon as they are in the car/stroller! Anyone who has travelling with two youngens and can offer advice I would love to hear from!

Also, we need to get them passports - has anyone had passports made for 4 month olds b/c I think it might be next to impossible!

 

We traveled to Europe when ours were 5 months old. I was terrified, but in the end it turned out to be fairly easy. The girls were sleeping a lot which helped (I think the engine noise soothed them to sleep) and they actually seemed to enjoy the whole experience. Passports were also a breeze. Took 2 weeks or so. All in all it's absolutely doable, don't worry. People sitting near you might hate you if your babies cry a lot but then again who cares? You will never see them again
Good luck!

 

We traveled to Italy when the boys were nine months old. It is definitely doable, but don't have any expectations! Then you won't set yourself up for failure...I had none-and things went well considering... Like...Nicholas got car sick on the way to the airport. Or the flight was delayed to Rome. Thus having us miss our connecting flight in Rome. We were then stuck in the Rome airport for....five or six hours, with two nine month olds?!?! And..by the time it was all said and done and we reached dh's grandmother's house...24 hours had gone by! But no expectations...remember that!

Make sure if someone is going with you, you each have a bag. You won't be able to sit in the same aisle due to not enough oxygen masks. One bag each with food, wipes, some toys, maybe finger foods(gerber puffs, cheerios), diapers, pacifiers if you use them, etc. And, remember-you will never see those passengers again. Take deep breaths if need be, maybe walk them around. Maybe have a baby bjorn or some other carrier to hold them to free up your hands/arms if need be. Get there EARLY and request bulkhead seating. There's space to put a little crib of sorts. We were able to get it on our flight to Italy.

As for passports...We had to have the boys done when they were maybe around six months old. I just had Annabella's done at 20 months old(we are going to Italy in April). I held all of them out in front of me(or really to the side), where they were in front of the white screen. And I didn't get in the picture, so it all worked out.

Good luck!

 

We flew from Denver to Mexico when our girls were 6 months. For the passports we laid them on the floor (with a big piece of white paper behind them) and the person took the photo that way. It was MUCH easier then holding them in just the right spot, which we tried first.

It's hard to remember exactly what we did but I know we had their pacifiers, lots of snacks and blankets for the plane. Make sure you bring extra diapers, mine always seemed to wet their diapers 100% more on the plane. Also bring a change of clothes for all of you, not just the kids. If you give your kids formula (we did a combo) splurge on some of the packets that hold one bottles worth. You can either buy water in the airport or as the flight attendants for some. We also purchased some of the bottles with the bags you just throw away after each use. Made for much easier clean up.

We have Marathon car seats, which were kind of a pain to get strapped in on the plane. It may make sense to send whoever is traveling with you on early to get the seats in, this was you won't be trying to juggle two babies while fighting over how to get them strapped in

Last thought is that some people may think traveling with the double stroller is a pain but it was nice to have somewhere to pile bags up so we weren't trying to carry everything through the airport, also in Denver is you have double stroller they sometimes let you bipass the regular security line and go in the 1st class/employee/hanicap line.

have fun!

 

We flew from BC to ON last month...book your seats ahead, 2 aisle seats side by side. We both had our carry on's full of supplies incase we were separated. We used ready to feed formula to feed for the take off and landing, DH had the flight attendant heat it just before take off and during the landing.

We each had a couple toys for them, one new one that they had never seen before, but DS wanted to touch the TV the whole time so he was entertained.

Most importantly try and be relaxed and have a go with the flow attitude, you'll be ok!! I was nervous about going thru security because of the food and formula we had, but it went ok and after that I was relaxed about what might happen.

You'd be surprised who offers to help...DH had to go to the washroom and gave me the baby he was holding...the man sitting behind him offered to hold one instead of me juggling 2 kids...not the 2 women sitting in the same aisle as DH, but a MAN!!!

 

We flew to Mexico when they were 8 weeks old. We've done many, many international flights since then. Ours tended to sleep on planes when they were young.
Remember that infants in a car seat cannot block another passenger's exit. So usually babies have to go next to the window. If you take them as lap babies, you cannot be in the same row (ie grouping of 3 seats) because there is only 1 extra oxygen mask.
Take an extra set of clothes for everyone (maybe just shirt for you and DH). You'll want it if someone spits up on you. Pack more diapers and formula in your carry on than you think you'll need. Better to have too much than too little. Bottles can always be rinsed with hot water and used again. If you breastfeed, even easier.

To get the pictures for the passport, the easiest way is to lay them on the floor on a white blanket or sheet. Then stand over them. For the US, their eyes must be open. I don't know if that same rule applies in Canada.