Traveling with Twins

It was so good to see so many of you last weekend. I think I am going to do this in a couple of posts.

I was able to go to Idaho over the weekend because my father-in-law is a pilot and he has a few buddy passes to give to friends or family. As great as that is, the disadvantage is that you fly on standby, meaning that if the plane is full, you don't get on, and if somebody else needs your seat, they get it.

To get to Idaho, I was listed for the 6:15 flight. However, the babies overslept and my alarm was not set so we just barely made it in time for the 7 o'clock flight. It didn't do me any good because it was full. I would not have been able to get on the 6:15 flight if I had made it because the 5:30 was canceled. So, I got extra, much needed, sleep at no loss. There was finally space on the 9 o'clock flight. I got to Houston in time for the 11:00 flight to Salt Lake. Again, to no avail, since there was only one seat available for me, and I needed two--one for me and Amelia, and one for Anastasia in the car seat.

The next flight was not until 6pm. So we spent 6 hours in the Houston airport. We managed to park ourselves on some seats in a hallway where I was able to doze off for a few minutes. The rest of the time I found nice people to chat with, or funny people to watch. The babies did great. I had my double stroller with one baby sitting in it and the other baby sitting in the car seat set in the stroller. Each time I boarded a plane I rolled the stroller to the door of the airport, had somebody help me fold down the stroller while I held one baby in hand and set down the car seat with the other baby. Then they checked the stroller as baggage.

The hardest part of it was going through security, where you have to fold up the stroller and lift it onto the conveyer, while holding two babies because the car seat also needs to go through the x-ray. Again, the secret of my success is nice, helpful people in the line behind or in front of me.

Lots of people offered to help in any way throughout the trip. Most notably, a lady in Salt Lake on my return flight. I read her boarding pass and noted the name Lindsay, but I think that was her last name. She said she was the mother of twins, but they were 20 now, one of whom was on a mission and the other was a girl. We chatted for a while. She was behind me when I asked about the likelihood of me getting on. I was told there was *again* only one seat when I needed two. The lady jumped in and asked if she could take the other baby as a lap child so we would not need a seat for her. That's what we did. We were not able to sit together, and I did not get to talk to her again when we boarded, but thanks Lindsay. She handed the baby to the stewardess and rushed to her connecting flight.