Traveling with Twins and What to Pack: Tips for a Smoother Journey

We just got back from a roadtrip with our 3 year old twins to Branson, MO. We spent 6.5 hours in the truck and honestly had a great experience. I think it went so well, because I spent two weeks prior strategizing and packing, so that I had all the supplies to make the trip go as smoothly as possible.

My motto as a twin mama: you can never be over-prepared for traveling with twins!

I highly recommend that you start researching items for your “traveling with twins packing list” at least two weeks in advance of you trip, if possible, so you have enough time for Amazon to bring you the things you need and re-order if those things don’t work out!

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Traveling with twins can be a fun yet challenging experience. Here are some tips that I used to help you plan, pack, and manage your journey more smoothly:

Planning Your Trip

Choose Family-Friendly Destinations

Select places that are accommodating to young children and have amenities like family bathrooms, high chairs, cribs, and kid-friendly activities.

On our most recent roadtrip to Branson, MO, we chose to stay at the Stormy Point Village Resort based on the fact that it had a super cute, toddler-friendly, water park included on property.

The girls LOVED it. It also had an indoor pool. So no matter what, we would always have something fun to do where we were staying if we didn’t feel like venturing out every day.

Plan Ahead

Book your accommodations and transportation when you’re traveling with twins well in advance. Request cribs or extra bedding if needed.

VRBO’s are our go-to, so if you’re planning to stay in an VRBO like we do, click here to get started on browsing homes for your next trip!

We booked our accommodations 3 months in advance to make sure we got the dates we wanted for our trip.

I planned our packing list 2 weeks in advance, to make sure I could order anything online that I didn’t already have.

Flexible Itinerary

Be prepared for changes in plans. Keep your schedule open during your vacation and flexible to accommodate the twins’ needs.

I only pre-booked one activity (the Promise-land Zoo) on Group-on ahead of time and it didn’t require us to redeem it on a certain day or time. We could still go to the zoo whenever we wanted that week.

Keep an open schedule but have pre-planned ideas of things to do on your vacation in mind to create a more relaxing experience.

This will allow you to work around the weather and your family’s overall mood on any given day. Lol.

I still love to use TripAdvisor when planning activities for our vacations. The reviews are so helpful.

Packing Essentials for Traveling with Twins

To view a packing list of all the items I’ve purchased for traveling with our own twins on Amazon, click here!

Documents and Tickets:

• Passports/ID cards for everyone.
• Tickets downloaded or viewable on your travel app
• Copies of important documents – when we flew American Airlines to Florida before the girls turned 2, they were considered Lap Infants. I packed their birth certificates as proof, just in case anyone took issue with it getting through security and on the plane.
• Travel insurance details if necessary. Sometimes I pay extra for refundable flights and hotels. You never know when someone will come down with an illness and ruin your trip plans last minute.

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Baby Gear:

• Lightweight, foldable double stroller. We prefer the Delta Childrens Double Umbrella Stroller for travel because it’s affordable, folds up fast, and doesn’t take up a lot of room.
• Car seats if you are driving, flying and/or renting a car. The Cosco car seat was our go-to for the girls while they were 3 and under because they are stackable, lightweight, and cost effective.
  • I bought them as our travel car seat set so we didn’t have to worry about removing them from our own vehicle during airport departure or installing them in our own vehicle after a long travel day coming home. I packed them ahead of time in these red Gate Check Bags by J.L. Childress and they were ready to go!
• Pack N’ Plays if traveling by car and your resort/hotel won’t have them. (Or just use BabyQuip and have them delivered to your destination)
• Foldable or inflatable toddler travel beds. We love these Regalo foldable toddler cot beds for roadtrips from Amazon. They are like a folding camping chair, don’t take up that much space, affordable, and the same size as a crib mattress. The girls love sleeping on them and I don’t have to waste time inflating anything when we arrive.
• Urban Infant Tot Cot Mat with pillow and blanket (if you’ll be using the foldable toddler travel beds) Click here to view them on Amazon, they also work for use on daycare/kindergarten mats.
• Baby carriers or slings for convenience. I personally never enjoyed baby wearing through the airport (or anywhere basically), but some parents prefer it. The Twingo Carrier is highly recommended if you do!

Diaper Bag Essentials:

• Diapers or Pull-ups, and wipes. Even though our girls are technically potty trained (going on 6 months now) I still put them in pull-ups on our long drives or flights to lessen the anxiety of everyone (maybe mostly mom and dad’s!) They’ve still been excellent at waiting to use the potty, but if they did happen to have an accident – I’m not freaking out about it.
• Changing pad + disposable changing pads. There will be a time and a place for both. These are my favorite from Amazon. My girls loved looking the designs on them too.
• Diaper rash cream.
• Hand sanitizer.
• Doggy bags for dirty diapers.
• Thermometer and children’s medicine (in case).
• Bandaids.
• Sunscreen – we prefer Thinkbaby 50. It’s a safer, non-toxic, mineral sunscreen for baby and kids. (I wear it too!)
• Snacks
• Extra change of clothes
• Drinks/formula/breast milk/bottles – We pack our Yeti water bottles for the girls. Just empty them before security and fill them back up again afterwards. (I do the same thing with my Stanley)
• Tampons for mom (I treat the diaper bag like my own purse, too, so I only have to carry one thing)
• Moisturizing lip gloss and travel sized hand lotion
• Lysol travel wipes for plane seats and anywhere else

Feeding Supplies:

• Bottles and formula/breast pump (if applicable).
• Snacks and baby food. I love the snack spinners and the packable “snackle boxes” for a variety of snacks that I can keep handy.
• Pura or Yeti cups for water/juice/milk etc.
• Bibs and spoons/forks. We prefer these bibs by Babynetic.

Clothing and Bedding:

• Extra sets of clothes for the twins and yourself.
• Pajamas and swaddles. We like LovetoDream swaddles for ease of use, comfort and convenience!
• Blankets and loveys or favorite stuffed animal for comfort.
• Extra crib or pack n’ play sheets. (I always like to pack our own because 9 times out of 10 the hotels won’t have any and I hate folding a king size sheet around a pack n play mattress – but I’ve done it before).
• Hats and sun protection. Rash guards etc.
• Shoes, sandals, or water shoes.
• Layers for the plane or anywhere in the air conditioning if it will be summer time during your travels

Health and Hygiene:

• First aid kit (including any prescribed medications).
• Baby-safe sunscreen and insect repellent.
• Thermometer.

Entertainment and Comfort:

Click here for a list of our favorites that I personally bought for our twins.

All of these items are kept in a carry-on personal item bag for underneath the plane seat in front of me or on the floor of the car when we’re driving.

Pro Tip: I sit in between my twins’ car seats in the back when my husband is driving, so that I can easily hand them toys, wipe up messes, play the next show, and deal snacks and drinks. Gone are the days of sitting in the front passenger seat for mom. It’s just not worth it.

• Favorite toys. Pop-its are a favorite.
• Activity busy books. These were an absolute HIT on our last trip. They occupied a lot of time and it was a fun, educational activity.
• Tablets with pre-downloaded kid-friendly apps and videos. We use Amazon Kids Tablets with Disney+ downloads ready to go.
• Comfort items like pacifiers or loveys and a favorite blanket for when they start to get sleepy. Even if they don’t nap, they’ll be comforted.
• Car seat foot rests. These made our girls more comfortable, less cranky, and reduced the amount of kicking the seat in front of us during our drive.
• Water pen books = no mess, and lots of fun.
• Car seat travel activity table tray for coloring, snacking, and everything in between.
• Small travel-sized playdoh to use on their activity trays.
• Snacks, snacks, and more snacks. I repeat: SNACKS. You can never have too many. I load up the snackle box, cups and spinners before we leave the house, but I keep a full box of extra crackers or gummies in a bag on hand at all times.
• Small cooler bag with ice pack for items that can sit in the back seat or be packed in your diaper bag for bottles etc.
• Bubbles for travel breaks to get them running around and burn some energy if there is a safe place to do so.

Click here for all of the activities and entertainment for your twins.

Tips for Travel

Here are some of our tips, below, for traveling with twins in each scenario that we’ve had success with.

By Car:

• Plan for frequent stops to allow for feeding, changing, and stretching. We typically stopped once every hour and a half or whenever someone needed a potty break.
• Bring a big cooler with snacks and drinks if space allows.
• Use window shades to protect from the sun. We like these, they can also be used on each end of a Wonderfold Wagon if you have one to block the sun if necessary.

By Plane:

• Book seats with extra legroom or in the bulkhead.
• Check airline policies for traveling with infants. They usually will not allow two lap infants in one row. So plan accordingly (have two separate personal carry-on bags for each parent so that they will have all the entertainment items and snacks for each twin separately in their own bag that is easily accessible)
  • I used two separate little drawstring bags packed with all snacks, activities, and Fire tablets with headphones and I placed both small bags inside our larger carry-on bag. Then, when we got on the plane, I got each separate activity bag out and gave one to my husband who sat with one lap twin and the other to our in-laws who sat in a separate row with our other lap twin. Everyone was happy!
• Use a double stroller through security and boarding – toss the stroller in a bag and check it at the gate.
• Check car seats in a Gate Check Bag at the gate. If you have Cosco Scenara seats, stack them together and put them inside one Gate Check Bag — bungee cord strap them together first.
• Pack extra clothes in carry-on for spills or accidents.
• Try to feed during takeoff and landing to help with ear pressure. Gummy snacks work well for older children.

Managing the Journey

1. Arrive Early: Give yourself plenty of time to manage check-in, security, and boarding without rushing.
2. Stay Organized: Use packing cubes or labeled bags to keep things organized and easily accessible.
3. Accept Help: Don’t hesitate to ask for assistance from airline staff, fellow travelers, or hotel personnel.
4. Maintain Routine: Try to keep feeding, napping, and bedtime schedules as consistent as possible to help the twins stay comfortable and reduce fussiness.
5. Stay Calm: Traveling can be unpredictable, so staying calm and flexible can help you handle any challenges that arise.

By planning ahead and packing smart, you can make traveling with twins a more enjoyable experience for the entire family.

Booking a VRBO? Click here to start planning your next family vacation!

Still need our Packing List of Favorites for traveling with twins? Click Here >

Need help choosing a family friendly AirBNB or short term rental? View our blog post on what I look for before I book our trip >