Travelling with twins

Hi ladies!

I live in Spain and I´m British. I really want to take my B/G twins over to my parents´ (in GB) for Christmas this year. Thing is, Im a little worried about the trip. It will most likely involve taking 2 planes to reach my destination and Im worried how the babies will take it. They´ll practically be 7 months by then. DD currently has stranger anxiety which Im hoping to wean her off bit by bit. (I can only take them out at weekends as I work Mon-Fri afternoons which probably doesn´t help things).

Do you think its too young to travel by plane with them and why? If not, what tips/advice can you give me? My mum is going to help me get there but I dont know how I´m going to get back! Each flight will be about 1.5 - 2 hours long.

Thanks!

 

Here are some tips a user posted a few months back:

DO prepare your luggage ahead of time
- have enough food, diapers/wipes for the flight PLUS an extra day or 2
- AVOID both babies on the laps- buy at least one seat for them
- pick a direct flight,
- Get help from the flying crew
- definitely rent a place with kitchen, dishwasher, wash and dryer
- plan on having one room for the kids, one for you: we had a 2 bedroom and it was perfect!
- do not forget the baby monitor
- take with you the babies playmat (without the arches) or a large blanket with a few toys
- renting a large car once you're there is great (we rented a mini-van, worth every cent)

GL!

 

Definitely not too young. Also British living in Dubai. This summer when the boys were 6 months we went Dubai-UK -Canada-UK-Italy-UK-Canada-New York-Canada-Uk-Dubai !!!! Oh with our 2 half year old also. Cant b elieve we travelled quite so much but it was all fine. The above tips are great. We also bought 2 cheap single strollers which were just invaluable in the airports - don't even think of taken a side by side! We put our phil and teds in the hold and were able to take the strollers on board. Try and book the basinette seat. New toys for the plane were good. Calpol 30 mins before some take offs if they were a little grumpy. You'll be fine - it won't be half as bad as you t hink!

 

Believe it or not, its a whole lot easier than you think. Mine were 16 weeks when we flew home to New Zealand with them from Los Angeles, which is a 12 hour flight. We then had a 5 hour layover, and another hour flight to get to my home town. They did remarkably well, no problems at all really. The most difficult thing for us was trying to juggle luggage and two babies to check in, and then getting through an x ray machine with all our stuff was a nightmare.

Tips:
Have everything prepared in advance, and labelled.
A 2 hour flight isn't that bad that you need an extra seat. If you can sit in the bulkhead, you'll have extra legroom.
Flight attendants will help you preboard and help with bottles etc during the flight.
Make sure babies either suck on a dummy (pacifier) or drink their bottles during takeoff and landing to ease ear pressure. I can't stress the importance of this one enough.
Get on the good side of passengers early
Take a couple of cheap umbrella strollers to gate check.

Its really not as hard as you think - proof is that we are planning on doing it all again at Christmas

 

QUOTE(AndiG @ Oct 18 2008, 03:21 PM) [snapback]1031326[/snapback]
Definitely not too young. Also British living in Dubai. This summer when the boys were 6 months we went Dubai-UK -Canada-UK-Italy-UK-Canada-New York-Canada-Uk-Dubai !!!! Oh with our 2 half year old also. Cant b elieve we travelled quite so much but it was all fine. The above tips are great. We also bought 2 cheap single strollers which were just invaluable in the airports - don't even think of taken a side by side! We put our phil and teds in the hold and were able to take the strollers on board. Try and book the basinette seat. New toys for the plane were good. Calpol 30 mins before some take offs if they were a little grumpy. You'll be fine - it won't be half as bad as you t hink!


Can I ask why I shouldnt take my side-by-side pram? I have the double urban mountain buggy and was planning on taking it with me.

Thank you both for your encouragement, I feel better now!

 

QUOTE(Rach28 @ Oct 20 2008, 05:36 AM) [snapback]1033192[/snapback]
Can I ask why I shouldnt take my side-by-side pram? I have the double urban mountain buggy and was planning on taking it with me.

Thank you both for your encouragement, I feel better now!



I think if you're doing that one short flight you should be ok but as we knew we would be doing a lot of travelling I didn't want the problem of a side by side being too big for security gates, queues, etc, just for general easiness - and I do remember thinking I was sooooo glad of the two single strollers. And also as we have a 2 year old we wanted the strollers straight away on landing - whereas if you check them you don't get them till luggage. But you are in a different situation and will probably do fine with it.

 

QUOTE(AndiG @ Oct 20 2008, 01:54 PM) [snapback]1033276[/snapback]
I think if you're doing that one short flight you should be ok but as we knew we would be doing a lot of travelling I didn't want the problem of a side by side being too big for security gates, queues, etc, just for general easiness - and I do remember thinking I was sooooo glad of the two single strollers. And also as we have a 2 year old we wanted the strollers straight away on landing - whereas if you check them you don't get them till luggage. But you are in a different situation and will probably do fine with it.


Yes, to be honest that went through my mind too (about the pram being too wide, etc). I think we´ll just have to try it and see what happens. We´re planning on doing one flight there (to London) then 2 flights coming back (via Paris) so it will be interesting! Thanks for your input

 

QUOTE(Rach28 @ Oct 20 2008, 08:30 AM) [snapback]1033314[/snapback]
Yes, to be honest that went through my mind too (about the pram being too wide, etc). I think we´ll just have to try it and see what happens. We´re planning on doing one flight there (to London) then 2 flights coming back (via Paris) so it will be interesting! Thanks for your input



we are planning a trip in April and our babies will be 10 months. I am reading up and planning ahead with suggestions myself.

I just had to say, I have that exact same stroller which is so heavy and big. I love it around home but I think traveling with it would be very difficult. I think we will invest in two cheap umbrella strollers for the trip. A baby carrier might be good to take along too.

 

Bring ziploc bags for stinky diapers! The flight attendents like that too so you aren't stinking up the plane and they don't have to touch anything but a ziploc bag to throw it away.

If they are both lap children...You often cannot sit together because there are only 4 oxygen masks per 3 seats so you have to sit apart which meant packing 2 diaper bags.

Buy those things that keep the pacifier attached to their clothes but attach their toys to them. This keeps the toys off the floor.

I'd want a lay-over if possible and stay the night somewhere.

your baby monitor will it work in a different country ?

Often you can rent stuff on-line like cots, toys, etc. ask on here people will know

Two cheap single strollers might mean less attention and less people slowing you down to ask stupid questions.

Extra shirt for the adults incase of spit ups, easy one peice outfits for the kids. like sleepers.

they don't give you enough babyfood on the plane so bring your own.

some ideas for you

heather