Last weekend we took our 8 month old twins on their second flight for a weekend in Portland with our best friends. There were 4 couples and 3 babies total. This was the twins’ second flight and although we didn’t have any family to help us this time on our flight (2 vs 2 this time), it went just about as smoothly as our first flight with the twins! For our first flight, we had the help of my parents to hold a twin if we had to grab something or prep a bottle or go to the bathroom at the airport, and the help of my cousins to help us with bags at the airport. The boys are still young enough where they still need to be held, which made the 2 hour flight bearable since they don’t want to run around everywhere yet.
The Itinerary
We flew in a day earlier than our friends because Teddy booked the wrong flight, ha. Same flight but different day. We actually ended up enjoying this mistake because we had more time to settle in, had a day to ourselves, and took the boys to their first waterfall!
Friday
9:30 am – 12 pm: SNA flight to PDX
Feed boys during take off
Feed boys at airport after landing, while Teddy got rental car
Boys’ 2nd nap on the drive to Thunder Island Brewing Co
Lunch at Thunder Island Brewing Co – the owners of Thunder Island Brewing Co had 4-yo twin boys!
Latourell Falls: twins’ first waterfall!
Drive back to Portland and check into hotel (Canopy by Hilton)
Walk to 10 Barrel for beer and dinner
Set up pack-n-plays, bath time, feed, sleep
Wash all bottles from the day while Teddy went to get Little Big Burger for us to the grocery store to get snacks for the boys
Enjoyed our Little Big Burger in hotel bathroom 😀
Saturday
Wake up, feed, walk to Sisters Coffee Company
Walked back to hotel for nap (9:30 – 11:30 am)
During their nap I went to get the best muffins that we discovered on last year’s trip to Portland (which was also on Memorial Day Weekend) at Courier Coffee
Our friends landed in the morning and went to the PSU Farmer’s Market and picked up Enchanted Sun Burritos for us (we alwaysss got these burritos when I lived in Portland)
12:00 PM: We checked out of our hotel
Met up with our friends at our Airbnb on Alberta Street
Hung out, let the boys play and have floor time
2 PM: Walk to Great Notion Brewing and Baerlic
Hangout more at airbnb, dinner for kids
6:30 PM: Bed time for twins and our friend’s daughter, Remi
7:30 PM: Girls night out – dinner at Arden and drinks at Fools and Horses
Boys got take out from Eem and played beer pong all night
Sunday – Winery Day!
8 am out the door
10 am – first reservation at Patricia Green – super pretty winery, lots of pinot noirs
12 pm – Lunch at Pizza at Park & Main
1 PM – Flaneur Wines
3:15 pm – Furioso Vineyards – winery with amazing views and super friendly staff!
Back to airbnb, dinner for kids, bed time
Boys night out!
Girls got take out from Hat Yai and chit chatted all night 🙂
Monday – Home
Checkout at 11 am
Lunch at ribs place
Remi had nap time and we didnt want to transfer her to the car seat so we walked to a nearby park
Drive to airport to fly home
Feedings – Dealing with Bottles for Two on a Trip
Bottles
Bottles, bottles, bottles. We can’t wait til we’re done traveling with bottles!! We packed 8 bottles with us, since we fed them once on the plane, once when we landed, and weren’t sure if we would be going straight to the hotel to be able to wash bottles for another feeding. We ended up driving 40 minutes to visit a waterfall so the babies could nap and ended up doing their 3rd feeding in the parking lot of Latourell Falls.
When we travel and stay at hotels, I pack a portable bottle drying rack, which also holds a bottle brush and dish soap. If we were just staying at an airbnb we probably wouldn’t need it but it’s still nice to have to put the bottles somewhere before we sterilize. 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
For this trip, the twins were more interested in snacks which bought us a few more minutes of entertainment on the plane! On our last flight to Texas the twins were just turning 7 months and weren’t super comfortable with snacks yet (or maybe I wasn’t). On this trip we brought a few puree pouches and just bought snacks, fruit, and yogurt when we got there.
Sleep
Sleep was pretty okay on this trip, as okay as 8 month old twins can sleep while on vacation, so we call it a win! They slept through the nights but woke up very early every morning… around 4:30 AM as opposed to their usual wake time around 6:00 – 6:30 AM. One positive was that at around 8 months they started taking more consistently longer 1st naps… about 1.5 to 2 hours! We did bring the SlumberPods which we think help a lot with better sleep on these trips.
They’re on a 2 nap schedule so for their 2nd nap each day we just let them take a short nap in the carriers or on a car ride.
Our sleep setup:
Travel
What We Packed
The list of what we packed may seem like a lot, but it was manageable going through the airport with just the 2 of us. Here is our list of luggage and what each piece contained:
- Big check-in luggage: 1 Guava pack-n-play, 2 Slumber Pods, twins’ lotion and shampoo. We debated bringing the Slumberpods but if the twins have a good first nap (1.5 – 2 hours), we all have a better day
- Backpack duffle bag (carry-on 1): twins’ clothes, a few toys, snacks, Hatch Portable Sound Machine, Grownsy Bottle Warmer/Sterilizer, 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
We learned from this trip that different airlines have different baggage allowances for lap infants. This trip we flew Alaska from SNA to PDX, where diaper bags were considered personal items. When we previously flew American Airlines from LAX to Dallas, we each got a diaper bag, a carry-on luggage, and a personal item.
Airport, Flight, and Seating Arrangement
Luckily this trip we flew out of SNA which is amaaazing compared to LAX. Everything from parking to security to take off was SO smooth. We parked, walked across the street, and dropped off our big check-in suitcase at the baggage drop. 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. You have to put car seats through the security screening, so might as well get to security already wearing your babies.
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. The only difficult time carrying everything was walking from the gate down the passenger boarding bridge because Teddy had to walk/roll the 3 separate bags. Once we were onto the plane it was fairly easy.
Flight:
In terms of seating arrangements, they moved Teddy and Everett’s seat when we got to the gate because we weren’t allowed to sit across the aisle in the same row with two lap infants. We assumed it was okay because they allowed this for our previous flight to Texas (we flew AA). On that flight Teddy and I were across the aisle from each other and my mom and dad were on the other side of each of us in the middle seat. Maybe because that flight was a 2-3-2 configuration and the rows were slightly staggered? We’re not sure if it was just oversight on the last flight and they didn’t catch us. Either way, for this flight they moved Teddy a few rows forward but we were still in sight of each other and could make faces at each others’ babies throughout the flight. We also did a baby swap in the middle of the flight.
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. We had a morning flight on the way to PDX and both boys slept for about 40 minutes. The rest of the flight consisted of entertainment through mostly snacks and reading the safety pamphlet. They were both good on the way there and there wasn’t really any fussing. The flight on our way home was at 4:30 PM, both boys were fussy, and it involved a lot of bouncing and walking to the back of the plane.
What We Learned
- Morning flights are best for the twins’ moods and being able to nap easily
- Next time we want to rent car seats through our car rental, which would cut out the burden of carrying the stroller/car seats/all the covers (although the stroller makes for good storage while walking through the airport). Our friends just rented a car seat through their car rental and brought along a small foldable travel stroller.
- We’re going to buy a cheap double travel stroller that we’ll just hand over at the gate and not care so much if it gets dinged up under the plane.
- Still not sure about the lap infant policy of sitting across the aisle from each other but we’ll continue to book our seats the way we have been and just move if they make us.
- Pay the extra $50 per ticket to fly out of a smaller airport rather than LAX!
- We’re almost (kinda) at the 1 year mark where we can cut out the ice chest and 1 diaper bag that has alllll the bottles!! This isn’t something new we learned but it’s exciting to think about for future traveling 🙂
