Travels with Two

Note: I haven’t actually traveled with 2 kids yet, but I can spend hours upon hours trying to figure out the best way to do it.  Literally.

So C & I went a bit insane and booked this epic trip this summer after LO is born.  We’re headed to SoCal for a dear friend’s wedding (which I’ve mentioned before) and then since we’re already “on the road” we’re headed to Ohio to visit his parents & some friends.  All-in-all it will be a 9 day trip, with a 3-year old and an approximately 8-week old baby.  Crazy.

We traveled quite a bit with Addy after she was born so we’ve done the different ages in the airport thing and we have a pretty good idea what we’re doing but having a second child kind of complicates things.

For instance: the best way to get 2 car seats across the country.  At first I assumed that we would check Addy’s big car seat with our luggage and use the infant seat/snap in stroller frame for the baby which can both be gate checked.  That’s what we’ve done in the past.  The stroller frame has a big basket so it’s a place to put things like diaper bags and Addy’s backpack that she’ll probably stop wanting to wear.

It’s still a good option, but what happens if Addy doesn’t want to walk in the airport anymore?  We’ll have at least 1 carry on, 1 diaper bag, Addy’s bag, my purse, Addy, LO, stroller & car seat.  Then someone has to carry Addy?  That doesn’t seem good.

So then I thought maybe a better solution would be to check LO’s car seat instead and get the GoGo Babyz rolling attachment for Addy’s car seat because in truth, LO will probably like being in a sling more anyway and either girl will fit in Addy’s car seat.  This means not having a stroller for our entire trip though which kind of sucks but we’d be ok.

BUT, the problem with this is that we still have all the things mentioned above to lug around and now I’m wearing a sling so I can’t really put on a backpack.

Reading over this, it makes much more sense to do the infant seat/stroller frame.  If Addy wants to be carried, C can pass the carry on bag over to me to wear, the DB will be in or under the stroller, my purse will be wherever and he’ll be free to carry Addy.  I can also pack the sling to wear LO if she gets fussy and Addy could potentially ride in the stroller as long as she doesn’t get much heavier.

Another pro to this option is that if LO falls asleep in the car, we'll have the stroller frame available so we won't have to wake her when it's time to get out.

Next time: how to handle 2 kids in one hotel room!