Flying with Twins

I have always loved to travel, and we are lucky enough that it continues to be a large part of our lives. Once the girls arrived, I was committed to continuing our explorations (both with and without the girls) as much as possible. Traveling with two children — especially two children under the age of 3 —  is absolute mayhem. If anyone tells you it isn’t, they’re either trying to convince you to go on a trip with them or trying to convince you to have kids so you can travel and be crazy together.  It’s just the truth.

So far, traveling with the girls has had its ups and downs, but with a little trial and error, proven more than doable. Traveling with babies is always going to be challenging, but I’ve gathered up what worked for me (and what didn’t). For me – no matter the age, one thing that has stayed constant is the pure anxiety I get the night before flying with the girls. It goes something like…  

“Why the hell did I buy these plane tickets” 

“This is going to be so bad” 

“People are going to be STARING at me”

“Maybe, if we get there in once piece, I’ll just move there to avoid flying BACK”

So – I take a deep breath when we get to the airport, remember it’s going to be crazy no matter what I do and maybe JUST maybe, I’ll survive and it will actually be OK. 

0 to 6 Months: As Easy as it Gets

The first flight we did with the girls was when they were about 5 months old. My husband and I took the girls on a 4.5 hour flight back to Philadelphia so we could watch Ohio State beat our Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium (still hurts). Traveling with the girls at this age was honestly…totally fine. It was stressful because we didn’t know what to expect, but overall the girls were satisfied with bottles, sleeping on us, and playing with both our hands as well as their own. Such simple times! 

I also did a 2 hour flight with the girls around the same age, solo. This was WAY different. They were just turning into “big girls”, so just having them sit on me for that long was a lot. We did have a carseat in one seat, but let’s be honest – once one of them saw that I was cuddling with their sister, they weren’t going to go to the car seat in peace. The saving grace of this solo flight was the man next to me and his service dog. Having people sit next to you that genuinely love kids and want to interact with them is so key. Having a dog next to you? Pure gold. Unfortunately, you can’t plan that – but oh how I wish you could. 

I was that mom who made Ziploc bags with chocolate and ear plugs just in case my girls lost it on the flight, but people are mostly good – and no one ever took them from me. For whatever reason, when the girls were younger I always got a look of understanding from people on airplanes. 

My favorite helpers for flying at this age:

• Teether Crackers
• Grapple Suction Toy Holder: This thing is perfect if you’re in a window seat, or if your airplane has screens at each seat because the suction works really well, so you won’t find yourself picking up the endless number of small baby toys.  

6 to 12 Months: Oh God, Get Me Off This Plane

Flying with babies once they hit the not-so-baby phase gets a little harder. They want to be up more, they want to be touching the stranger’s hair next to you… sitting still just gets hard. We’ve had really great flights with the girls at this age, and really not so great flights. Fellow flyers get a little less understanding when your child is crying on and off for a 6 hour flight.Look I get it, I really do, but I think it’s probably just a tad  more frustrating on my end. Me? I’m frantically trying to soothe my child to sleep for the benefit of us all. Fellow flightgoers, all you have to do is throw on a pair of noise-cancelling headphones and watch the latest rom-com for free. Who’s the real winner here? 

My favorite helpers for flying at this age:

• All. The. Snacks. Literally, as many as you can fit into your bag. 
• Sticker Books. Not messy, and can be a really good source of quiet entertainment 
• Magnadoodles.We got travel sized ones and Lacey absolutely loves it. Best part? The pen is attached so less picking up over and over again after your toddler!
• Busy Cubes
• I went to Party City and the Dollar Store and filled a small bag with odds and ends that I thought might entertain them – and it mostly worked. Some of the things I included were…

• Mini Hairbrush
• Cheap Makeup brushes 
• Toy Cars 
• Small rattles (that make basically no noise)

1 to 2 Years: To Tablet or Not to Tablet

So this is when I finally busted out the tablets. Honestly, it doesn’t work for more than 10 minutes at a time – but those ten minutes are just BLISSFUL. I know it’s not right for everyone, but it has helped me a lot when flying with the girls by myself. The tricky part is getting them to understand headphones but honestly I don’t think they need the sound as much as I thought they would!

My favorite helpers for flying at this age:

• Same as above – mostly – still ALL THE SNACKS.
• Mini lollipops, for those desperate moments
• Lift the Flap Books. First 100 Words is a great one!

So far, in the girls’ almost two years of life, they have been on 18 flights, more than half of those with me alone. I honestly believe the best advice I can give anyone flying with babies or toddlers is just to expect a shit show – then it can ONLY exceed your expectations! What has worked well for you? Let me know below!