Travelling with multiple infants

[Dream bigger]

So much luggage! That was a huge mistake. 4 Suitcases, 2 backpacks, and 3 x hand luggage. Are you the Kardashians?!

[MabelJ]

Originally Posted by Sonia and Tom

We are currently in the Hilton at Manchester Airport and I can't sleep with excitement! We fly out this morning with TC and we have a 4 year old and 1 year old so easier than what u have going on but im
Still stressing about it going off past experiences. Can't wait for the good old immigration and 2nd bag drop. The first time we went we unwittingly let our bags go on the 2nd bag drop and had the same problem as you. This was just after 1.5 hours of immigration with a sleeping 2 year old. This time I purposely managed to squeeze stuff for 4 into 2 cases, 2 car seats into 1 bag, 3 hand luggage and 1 pram. We had a practice run on our stairs at home to see if we could manage the escalator with all our gear to avoid that dreaded 2nd bag drop. It's the real thing later today so wish us luck. I just keep telling myself of will be worth the next 12 something hours of hell haha. Oh and I have also brought a baby carrier for 1 year old going off last time. My 2 year old (now4) didn't sleep the whole flight but sure enough as soon as we hit immigration hall, out like a light. Boy did I have some muscles after holding him in that immigration hall. Baby carrier this time round I'm sure will be a god send

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Testing it out on the stairs at home, now that is dedication!

I just know our 2 yr old will be awake the whole way and then be on her knees at immigration. She WILL be going in the carrier.

Honestly anyone reading this debating taking young babies / toddlers - a Sling is essential

[bessiejess]

Happy holidays for the rest of your trip, you did it! and although it sounds hard you got there safe and can now have a lovely holiday.

haven’t got twins but small age gaps (know it’s not the same) I did love slings to free up hands for the getting off the plane until you get the pram back and backpacks again so hands are free for pull along suitcases.

Enjoy rest of the trip and at least you know going home should be easier as you have less to carry (milk, nappies, wipes all used up)

[Dublingirl]

Sounds very stressful. I think next time try to cut down on your hand luggage. 3 bags, 2 backpacks and a side bag would be difficult for any family to manage.

[Gadge]

Originally Posted by Disneyditz

Hope your having a lovely holiday ! Let me know what it's like with twins, although we have the added stress of a 4 year old too. But hopefully he will be more help than hindrance. My friends think I'm mad taking them all. But it won't stop me.

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I'm the original posted, I just had my partners account logged in on my phone.

But to provide feedback it really was the best holiday we have ever had, sure things go at a slower pace but it actually felt like a real holiday rather than the charging around the parks that we have done in the past. We enjoyed every moment of it.

Pretty much every night was an early one but that wasn't a problem either. You'll find that your twin's will get loads of attention and you'll be stopped often to talk (even more so than the UK).

The flights really wasn't a problem and the kids behaved well, other passengers provided a buffer by pulling faces, talking to them etc.. and they slept for much of the travel and other passengers commented on how well behaved they had been...For anyone on the TC flight on the 24th hopefully you slept well on the way home

In regards to luggage:
We took a backpack each for hand luggage.. however adding 6KG of milk and 4 stone of baby to the mix did made things difficult... Maybe I need to get myself down the gym a bit more often and build a bit of muscle for the next holiday.

The bags being lost is just bad luck but it was handled by the staff members badly. The staff wanted me to go to different locations and find them myself (another ladies had also gone missing) and the staff member just wouldn't stop talking nonsense, I had to interrupt him and demand that our bags (mine and the ladies) get delivered to where we expected them to go. Sure enough 5-10 mins later all of our bags arrived.

MCO to Manchester:

Dropping the car off at Alamo - We were approached by the guy's with the trolleys which helped me empty the car and unclip the car seats after I detached the lap system, he would have probably have emptied the car himself if I'd have let him - Top service and he took us right to the Thomas cook check in desk.. I paid him $15 dollars...Whilst we in the airport we noted a large group which another one of the guy's had piled the cases 4 high, there must have been 20 cases on one of the trolleys with a single guy pushing it - our guy had it easy in comparison

tip to parents - The check in desks opposite the TC desk was empty it's a large carpet area so I walked the babies around that area (doing the hand held thing) to tire them out which worked wonderfully.

Check-in was much easier, our car seats were taken by TC and there wasn't any extra bag drops.

TSA - They sent us through the disabled / extra assistance lane after stamping our passport due to our double buggy.

The agents wanted to test all of the baby food / milk and left it sitting in it's own que for 15mins before I asked why it was being left. It turned out the person that put it there had gone for lunch and not told any other agents why it was there, but after I raised they prioritised it. They then decided that they couldn't test the food / milk since it was sealed and instead wanted to give me (just me for some reason) a full rub down and I mean a full rub down.. It might have been less invasive and quicker if they just asked me to strip in the airport.. Obviously I let them do what they had to do.

At both airport I was also rubbed over with the stickers used to check for drugs (just me again).

At MCO we took the pram right to the entrance of the plane and passed it directly to the worker putting the bags in the hold.

English immigration - This is a pretty decent walk from the plane to the immigration room (yes we had learnt our lesson and everything went into our backpacks this time so our hands were free apart from the babies that is). There isn't any seating in this room that we could see and we was placed into the family que which was pretty busy, the standard UK citizen que was empty when we arrived in the hall.

Retrieving the bags / pram is also much easier in Manchester since the trolleys are everywhere so we had no problem, there is also a baby change and seating to the side which is a low traffic area so you can prepare the babies for the journey home in a quiet location. There also trolleys so you can stack the cases easily.

The meet and greet / exit to the airport is on that same level has the baggage retrieval so it's easy going from the airport to the car, there are trolleys rentals everywhere in Manchester airport.

A couple of things worth noting about the meet and greet service which have put me off slightly:

Once I requested the key to my car from the locker (3 hours earlier than I paid for) there was already a staff member with another car waiting for my spot before I had got to my car. I had left the luggage and the babies with my partner in the airport whilst I went hunting for the car, I wasn't in any rush but I could feel the guy's eyes piecing at me willing me to move my car.. He unfortunately wasn't in luck this time around and he waited 20 mins for me...This has put me of using this service again, I don't know if this was standard or not but I wasn't being rushed out.

The car's are also parked very close together and you are not going to be able to refit a car seat in those spots (getting in was a struggle) so you will be forced to reverse out. The car park is also very narrow making it difficult for two cars to pass each other and I was parked very close to the cars on my left to give people room to pass whilst we loaded the car but it was very tight. Ideally there would be a loading bay to the side somewhere if they are desperate for you to vacate.

Everything in my boot had fallen out of the bags (anti freeze etc..) so I also wonder how nicely my car had been driven, I also wish I had written down the mileage since when I first got into the car I thought it was considerably higher than I had left it (500 miles or so higher) but I thought nothing of it, however my missus also commented on it on the way home without any mention from me which had made me wonder if my car's been driven around a bit.. but without proof it's just a doubt in my mind but I'd advise others to take photo's (this is the official Manchester meet and greet parking so it's unlikely but still..).

Again don't let anything I've said put you off, MCO is a nightmare of an airport (when arriving) - However when leaving it was actually easier than leaving Manchester.. The holiday was the best we have had.

Travel light and keep your hands free and bring string / rope to tie stuff (not the children ) together to make your lives easier.. I do wonder if it would be possible to put the car seats on little trolleys, I saw some baby specific ones for sale in america but I'm thinking the light weight ones used for parcels... Hopefully the night time we go the kids will be able to pull their own luggage.

[lossieglen]

Been taking our twins to FL since they were 2 now 13.

Travel day is always going to be challenging when you have two (I found it easier traveling with twins, rather than 2 of different ages; they kind of both want and need the same things at the same time).

It can be a nightmare at times but no one said it would be easy. Rest assured it is just different challenges every year as they get older.

Just enjoy the joy of being in FL but more importantly enjoy the joy of being the parent of twins (it’s more common than you think).

Looking back over the last 11 years of trips I only really remember the good times.