Have you considered buying one extra seat? That might help a little--

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could your parents fly over with you? Maybe 4 adults for 2 kids could work our better? If not, seriously considering getting a third seat for them to share. Lastly, along with small toys, bring some rolls of painters tape. It could keep my small children entertained for hours on a plane ride.

This is a good idea. Team up with other travelers.

Nobody else is coming from the US, so that's not an option.

PP here.

1) I hope you are going for at least a week
2) Can you have a few people meet you at the airport to help you out once you arrive?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could your parents fly over with you? Maybe 4 adults for 2 kids could work our better? If not, seriously considering getting a third seat for them to share. Lastly, along with small toys, bring some rolls of painters tape. It could keep my small children entertained for hours on a plane ride.

This is a good idea. Team up with other travelers.

Nobody else is coming from the US, so that's not an option.

Having an extra set of hands (or two) would be a HUGE help.

We relocated to the US from Europe with our then 20 mo old, and I was so happy we had a seat for him (didnt bring the carseat, fwiw). I didn't have to pay for it but I would. Money well spent.
As for the airline, I hate Air France. Crappy food, crappy service, crappy airport section for transatlantic flights.
Lufthansa is great, but expensive, as well as Air Swiss. I would choose a European airline if prices are comparable, since US carriers are so hung up on safety, they will make you put your child in his or her seat for takeoff and landing unless he is a lap child. I found European carriers more lax for things like that.

Anonymous wrote:Could your parents fly over with you? Maybe 4 adults for 2 kids could work our better? If not, seriously considering getting a third seat for them to share. Lastly, along with small toys, bring some rolls of painters tape. It could keep my small children entertained for hours on a plane ride.

This is a good idea. Team up with other travelers.

That is such a tough ago to fly. I flew to Europe with my 18 month old by myself and said I'd never do it again.

Twin mom here: the most exhausting thing I EVER did was take my twins aged 18 months on vacation. It was here in the states. That is not an experience I would repeat for any reason--the age is just the wrong one. Best of luck.

Could your parents fly over with you? Maybe 4 adults for 2 kids could work our better? If not, seriously considering getting a third seat for them to share. Lastly, along with small toys, bring some rolls of painters tape. It could keep my small children entertained for hours on a plane ride.

If it were me, I'd leave the kids with my husband and go alone. I have a traveled a bit with the kids and it had always been manageable but so exhausting...

Anonymous wrote:We didn't go to Europe - we took our five month old twins to Hawaii, then again at 18 months. As lap children both times. Tellingly, we were willing to do it twice, and are going to do it again when they're 4.

Seriously think about the bulkheads before you book them. Your kids are probably too big for the bassinets and probably won't stay in them even if they fit. In the bulkhead seats, you're not allowed to keep ANY carryons with you because there's nowhere to put them. They all have to go in the overheads - generally behind you. So you'll have very little available to you during take off and landing, while if you're in a "regular" seat you have some ability to get at your stuff during those times if you have it under the seat in front of you.

We've had the best luck sitting on either side of the aisle where we can hand things back and forth. If you can arrange to take a flight on one of the planes with the "seat back entertainment" - DO IT. They're magical for this age group.

As for a stroller, the second time we went - when our girls were closer to the age of your twins - we took two Babies R Us strollers (about $30 each?) and a set of stroller connectors (from amazon but also available at BRU). That meant that we could choose between having one person push them or both of us.

Finally another tip - dress your twins alike (or if B/G, then coordinate them enough that people can tell they're twins). Somehow having one baby in the security line is annoying to others - but having matching twins in the security line gets you sympathy. We don't usually dress our girls alike except when in airports. Plus, if you lose one, you have an example of how they're dressed.

And bring extra clothes for everyone - a stomach bug hit one of my girls while on a different trip and it all landed on me. I happened to be wearing a fleece over another shirt and was SO very happy i could remove the puke-covered fleece.

15:50 here. Oh man. This is so true. How I forget the puke.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you all for your comments - those are very helpful! It's good to hear that toddlers tend to handle the jetlag better than adults, because I don't handle it too well and was assuming it must be worse for the babies.

15:37, no absolutely not. For one, I would not leave my kids with anyone at this age, and secondly, part of the purpose of the trip is for my family to see the twins, and for them to meet their cousins.

15:39 - I don't think my brother really views it as such a big deal to be honest. He visited us with his 6mo last year, and will take his then 18mo backpacking in Mexico this spring (although his fiancée is the adventurous one, not so much him).

Flying with a 6moth old is the easiest thing in the world, an 18moth old nit so much so.

Flying with ONE kid is a whole lot easier than two, as well. That said, I think you'll be fine, and happy you went.

We flew to Hawaii (11-12 hours of flying) very recently with a 19 month old. We did spring for the extra seat and am glad we did. She is very wiggly and I couldn't imagine having her on one of us for that long. We did an interisland flight with her on our laps and were glad that was under an hour. I was very nervous about the flight, but she ended up being great. We got a few new small toys that she appreciated. We also read a lot of books. She didn't even demand to walk up and down the aisle and she is an active little girl. I may get flamed for this, but we did end up giving her benadryl on two occaisions on the flights so she could get a longer stretch of sleep. We had tried it at home prior to make sure she had no adverse reaction. WE also used it a couple of times after the trip to prevent her from playing for 5 hours when she should have been sleeping. The jet lag was much more challenging for us coming home (going east). We had about four days of her taking a nap at 8pm and then wanting to play for four hours. All in all, it went really well. Don't want to scare you, but 11-12 hours with her on our lap might have been a different story.

We didn't go to Europe - we took our five month old twins to Hawaii, then again at 18 months. As lap children both times. Tellingly, we were willing to do it twice, and are going to do it again when they're 4.

Seriously think about the bulkheads before you book them. Your kids are probably too big for the bassinets and probably won't stay in them even if they fit. In the bulkhead seats, you're not allowed to keep ANY carryons with you because there's nowhere to put them. They all have to go in the overheads - generally behind you. So you'll have very little available to you during take off and landing, while if you're in a "regular" seat you have some ability to get at your stuff during those times if you have it under the seat in front of you.

We've had the best luck sitting on either side of the aisle where we can hand things back and forth. If you can arrange to take a flight on one of the planes with the "seat back entertainment" - DO IT. They're magical for this age group.

As for a stroller, the second time we went - when our girls were closer to the age of your twins - we took two Babies R Us strollers (about $30 each?) and a set of stroller connectors (from amazon but also available at BRU). That meant that we could choose between having one person push them or both of us.

Finally another tip - dress your twins alike (or if B/G, then coordinate them enough that people can tell they're twins). Somehow having one baby in the security line is annoying to others - but having matching twins in the security line gets you sympathy. We don't usually dress our girls alike except when in airports. Plus, if you lose one, you have an example of how they're dressed.

And bring extra clothes for everyone - a stomach bug hit one of my girls while on a different trip and it all landed on me. I happened to be wearing a fleece over another shirt and was SO very happy i could remove the puke-covered fleece.

you probably know this, but there are sometimes relatively good fares for infants (since they know the alternative is a lap child)