DH and I have been invited to a wedding in Japan next year. We really want to go, and we have (almost) decided that we will take the girls with us. We would be in Japan for 2 weeks, probably.

We are also thinking about extending our trip another 2 weeks to visit my sister in the US, again, taking the girls with us.

Are we, as my Mum thinks, completely mad?

I know it will be difficult, but is it impossible? Will jetlag (not a problem for Japan, but it will be for the US) make the trip just not worth it?

We have considered leaving the girls at home, as my parents would be happy to have them and I have absolute confidence that they would be as well taken care of as they would be at home, BUT we will be seeing people that we haven't seen in years and we would love for them to meet our little family.

One option to make it a little easier would be to see if my (other) sister would be prepared to come and help if we paid for her flight and accommodation. Or even pay a nanny for a couple of weeks. But, it is already so expensive!!

I would appreciate hearing about any experiences you may have had flying overseas with toddler twins. Is it do-able? I am assuming we would need to book an extra seat, so that we don't have to both have a baby on our laps the whole flight, but would we then need a carseat? And what at age/size can the bulkhead seat bassinets be used?

Any thoughts and opinions you may have would be appreciated! Thanks!

Narelle

Hi Narelle,

We went to Hong Kong and Bangkok last November, the girls were 22 months old and I was 5 months pregnant at the time. We took my mum along with us, also my BIL, his wife (who was 4 months pregnant) and their DD (who was 20 months old) went. So there were 5 adults & 3 toddlers. We flew business class, the all over extra space was great. We also made sure we had the front row on each flight, so the girls had noone to disturb in front of us.

We didn’t have to book any seats for the lil ones, and coz they were all under 2 years of age, we didn’t have to. They just sat on our laps at take off and landing, and sat on the playing, colouring in, books, stickers, etc. The jetlag to SE Asia was fine not sure about the US though.

Also we decided to buy 2 light umbrella strollers rather than take the twin one. We didn’t have to check them in, just wheeled them right up to the plane where it was taken from us and given back at our destination. We couldn’t do this when coming back home though, Australia is much more strict, we had to leave it at the boarding gate and picked it up at the over-sized luggage area after customs.

We went to visit BIL and his wife who at the time was 6 months pregnant with their first. It was fun, very challenging but “do-able”.

Hope that helps, and enjoy whatever you decide.

Jodie