Vacation Travel

A few weeks ago we took a family trip to Pensacola Beach. Last year we drove to Pensacola; six hours to New Iberia, LA spending the night at Carl's Mom's and then six hours to the beach. Then the same thing on the way home. The drive was too much for me. I wanted to go to the beach again this year so I talked Carl into flying with the twins.

I have never had the courage or energy to try to pack up the twins and fly with them until now. I know several other twin Moms who have flown a ton with their twins and they had great advice.

The first tip was simply to have lots of snacks. Since we usually take a bag of snacks whenever we run errands with the twins this was pretty easy. I kept their water bottles empty through security and filled them up at a fountain once we got to our gate. They were a little more interested in the novelty of some of GiGi's snacks versus the boring ones I brought, but no one went hungry.

We have ipods for the kids to play games and watch movies, but one Mom reminded me that you have to turn them off for take-off and landing. Where this becomes a problem is if you let them play with them while waiting to board and then try to take them away and shut them down for take-off. Her recommendation was coloring and a quiz game you play together called Brain Quest. This was awesome advice. The game is compact and the kids loved it, especially Connor.

Overall the twins were amazing on the flights. Although it's expensive to get the whole family in the air it is so much better than driving.

The one big drawback is packing. I need to work on packing less and carrying it on. It is so painful to pay for a checked bag.

If we can make it work in the budget, we'll definitely make flying part of our travel routine. For the kids it's all part of the vacation adventure.