After seeing my first total solar eclipse in 2017 in Oregon, I knew I wanted to make it a tradition to fly throughout the US to catch them all. Since 2017, my family had it on our calendar to travel to Texas for this year’s total solar eclipse. It was my husband’s first time seeing it and the boys were at a perfect age to take them on their first flight.
Our trip included my parents, cousins, aunts, and uncles, and having everyone there for the twins’ first flight was extremely helpful. The boys turned 7 months old on this trip and were at that sweet spot where they didn’t quite have stranger danger yet and couldn’t walk or crawl, so they were perfectly content being held by our family and friends.
We stayed with my uncle’s long time friend who had a ranch in Lingleville, Texas. Funny enough, he had two 11-year-old twin granddaughters who were obsessed with our twins and entertained them the whole time! It made the trip for Teddy and I so much more enjoyable – we were able to socialize, have our hands free, and partake in baby-free activities.
The Itinerary
Our 4 days out in Texas felt like the perfect amount of time for the boys’ first out of state trip. Since we were staying with family friends, they let us stay in the back house which was extremely helpful and comfortable because we had our own kitchen for bottle prep and private rooms for naps and floor time. We didn’t feel like we were taking over their house with baby gear. 
Saturday
4:00 am – wake boys up
Drive to LAX (pumped on the way and the boys fell back asleep)
5:00 am – arrive at airport for 1st bottle feeding
8:00 am – plane takeoff and 2nd bottle feeding
9:00 am – pumped on plane while my dad held a twin
(2 hour time change)
1:00 pm – feed at airport while waiting for luggage
1.5 hour drive to Lingleville
Unpack and relax
Town bbq – everyone was so warm and welcoming of our family!
8:00 pm bedtime
Hunting for wild boar! – boar is a big problem on the ranches in this area because they’re an invasive species and cause damage to agriculture, ecosystems, people, and equipment
Sunday – Ranch Day
Our first full day was a casual day – we drove around on Cam-Ams, saw the ranch animals, drank beer, and shot some guns.
Monday – Total Eclipse!
We drove about an hour south of Lingleville to be further in the path of totality for the solar eclipse. Totality lasted for about 4 minutes. The total solar eclipse is a truly amazing phenomenon, wayyyyyyy better (a completely different experience) than a partial eclipse. Everyone should experience it once!
Tuesday – Home
Feedings
Bottles
It was a little tricky figuring out feedings, trying to do a feeding during takeoff, the time change, when to pump, etc. I pumped on the way to the airport and during the flight while my dad held Cole for me. If my parents weren’t there to help us, this aspect of travel would have been tougher because I was still pumping every 3-4 hours and we would have needed to stop somewhere for me to pump. I probably couldn’t have pumped on the flight while holding one of the twins. We fed right when we got to the airport at 5:15 am, then again at 8 am during takeoff. We tried feeding again when we landed at 1:00 pm, but they didn’t drink much. The rest of the day was normal routine and feedings once we got to our friends’ home; we just had to push back bedtime because of the 3 hour time difference.
Since we did 4 feeds before we had access to any [clean] sinks I brought 10 bottles. What helped with organization and cleaning was a portable bottle drying rack, which also holds a bottle brush and dish soap. We also packed our Grownsy bottle warmer and sterilizer, which also probably isn’t a complete necessity but it makes warming and cleaning bottles much easier and we had the space to pack it.
Snacks
I packed a few teething snacks and Serenity Kids puffs for the twins, but they weren’t very interested in snacks. We tried giving them a few on the plane but they ended up spitting them out. The boys were more interested in the safety pamphlets so we wiped those down and gave it to them to play.
Sleep
Our first trip with a time change! Dallas/Lingleville is 2 hours ahead of LA, so we put them to bed at 8 pm every night. This was still early for them since it would be 6 pm in LA, but since we woke them up early on our first travel day, we figured they might go to sleep. Everett had a hard time going to bed the first night, but once he did they were out for awhile. They woke up a few times during the first night, but the second 2 nights were good.
We bought and used Slumber Pods for the first time on this trip. The room we stayed in was pretty dark, but we really feel like the Slumber Pods help them get and stay asleep.
Travel
What We Packed
For our first flight and out-of-state trip with the twins, we felt we packed pretty well, not really knowing everything that we would need. We had a lot of help from my parents and cousins carrying things through the airport, but also felt like we could have managed on our own. Our list of luggage and what each piece contained:
- Big check-in luggage: 1 Guava pack-n-play, 2 Slumber Pods, sleep suits, Grownsy Bottle Warmer/Sterilizer, twins’ lotion and shampoo. The friends we were staying with had an extra pack-n-play for us to use.
- Backpack duffle bag (carry-on 1): twins’ clothes, a few toys, snacks, Hatch Portable Sound Machine, pacifiers, Nanit Camera
- Small roller luggage (carry-on 2): our clothes
- No Reception Diaper Bag 1: bottles, formula, Baby’s Brew Bottle Warmers, bibs
- No Reception Diaper Bag 2: diapers, wipes, butt sticks, butt paste, changing pad, extra clothes
- REI Soft Ice Chest: Spectra, extra flanges and milk storage bottles, Willow Go, milk storage bags, ice pack
- Uppa Baby Stroller Base with 2 Car Seats:
- Stroller Bag
- Car Seat Bag 1
- Car Seat Bag 2
Airport, Flight, and Seating Arrangement
Because parking (and everything) at LAX is so crazy and difficult, Teddy dropped off the boys and myself, along with our luggage, at our terminal and then took the car to economy parking. Thankfully my parents arrived early to help us and met me at the curb to help with the boys while Teddy parked the car. Before going through security, we gave the boys a bottle and I checked in our big suitcase.
- After baggage drop, we carried the following items through security and to the gate:
Teddy: backpack duffle bag on his back, large stroller base bag stuffed with car seat bases, and Everett in a carrier - Me: diaper bag on my back, stroller with 1 diaper bag and ice chest sitting in the car seats, small roller luggage, and Cole in a carrier
Security
We used our carriers to baby-wear the twins through security. It was a show taking off the car seats from the stroller and putting allll our gear through security, but people are pretty patient and understanding when they see you have twins (probably let alone 1 baby). We had TSA Pre-check, which helped.
I pumped on the way to the airport and didn’t want to throw that milk away, so I brought it through security. TSA allows this but has to run an extra test on the milk, which doesn’t take long. You’re also allowed to bring an ice chest with ice packs, and frozen milk.
When we got to the gate, we packed up the stroller and car seats into 3 separate bags. My dad helped schlep our car seat bags down the passenger boarding bridge.
Flight
We read that you’re only allowed one lap infant per row, so we booked our seats across from each other in the same row, which they allowed. On a side note, when we flew to Portland they didn’t allow this configuration and Teddy had to change rows.
We each warmed a bottle for the twins using the Baby’s Brew once the plane started moving, and for both flights there and back we fed them during takeoff. On the way there the boys slept most of the remaining flight. Our return flight back to LA was at 4:30 PM and was a little more difficult, but not unmanageable. Cole slept a good amount but we brought Everett to the back of the plane to walk/rock him because he was pretty fussy. The drive from LAX to home and doing bedtime, however, was a nightmare that night.
What We Learned
- After this trip I learned there are breast pump wipes that you can use to clean pump parts. You can use these to wipe down the parts, stick them in a bag in a cooler, and reuse the pump parts.
- Morning flights are better than evening flights, even if it’s past bedtime and you think they’re going to sleep (they’ll still be fussy! we think?)
- Traveling with babies is not so scary!
- It helps to travel with friends and family.
