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njj
Guest
Hi, everyone. I'm a longtime lurker (BTW, a collective thank-you for all the helpful advice you've all rendered) and first-time poster. I hope you can help me devise a plan for what's going to be a very difficult trip. 
Apologies in advance for the long post.
Next month, my family and I are going overseas to visit the in-laws. We have four small children: DD1 is 3.5 years old, and we have 2-year-old triplets. DD1 weighs around 36 lbs. and is 36" tall, and the triplets weigh around 30 lbs. Our itinerary consists of a 3-hour domestic flight and a 12-hour transatlantic flight each way, plus layovers of a few hours. The transatlantic flights are late overnight flights, so I pray that the kids will mostly sleep through those.
Now, as if traveling with four small children weren't difficult enough, there are additional complicating factors:
1) My husband will not be traveling with me. For reasons that involve a long story, he will have to fly out a couple days ahead of us and meet us there, then return a couple days after us.
2) We have some relatives who will be traveling on the same itinerary. They volunteered to help, and between us all, there will be at least one adult to each child. I chose airplane seats near theirs. However, I want to minimize the imposition on them as much as possible throughout the trip. I'm sure they'll have their own carry-ons to manage, and I don't want to add (too much) to their burden.
3) My kids are little Houdinis. My initial plan was to use CARES harnesses on the flights, but I read something about how these are ineffective for escape artists, because they still unbuckle the airplane seatbelt, as well as slide out from underneath the harness because there is no crotch strap. There is no doubt that my kids would do both.
So, we're going to have to go with car seats or harnessed boosters. In our van, we have DD1's Boulevard, as well as the triplets' Radians. I'm not too keen on using those seats, though, because the Boulevard is big and the Radians are heavy. Also, we're going to need seats that install quickly. DD1's spare carseat is an Evenflo Maestro. I wouldn't mind using that and buying three other cheap seats, or, if you suggest otherwise, just buying four cheap carseats.
However, getting around the airports with carseats is going to be tricky. Can I let the kids ride through the airports in their carseats mounted on luggage carts, or attached to carry-ons using Go-Go-Baby straps? (However, I don't know whether our travel companions have rolling carry-ons. Would it be nice of me to supply them, and do you have any suggestions for carry-ons that can handle 45-lb attachments (weight of car seat + weight of kid inside)?) Would I be able to stick the seats in double Snap-n-Go or similar stroller frames? Doing so would eliminate dependence on other people's carry-ons, and by putting the four kids in two double strollers, I would only be imposing on one other person to wheel my kids through the airport. The Coccoro looks like a great option, but yikes, that price tag (x3!!!) cannot be justified for a secondary "vacation" car seat.
Thanks so, so much for your advice!!!
Apologies in advance for the long post.Next month, my family and I are going overseas to visit the in-laws. We have four small children: DD1 is 3.5 years old, and we have 2-year-old triplets. DD1 weighs around 36 lbs. and is 36" tall, and the triplets weigh around 30 lbs. Our itinerary consists of a 3-hour domestic flight and a 12-hour transatlantic flight each way, plus layovers of a few hours. The transatlantic flights are late overnight flights, so I pray that the kids will mostly sleep through those.
Now, as if traveling with four small children weren't difficult enough, there are additional complicating factors:
1) My husband will not be traveling with me. For reasons that involve a long story, he will have to fly out a couple days ahead of us and meet us there, then return a couple days after us.
2) We have some relatives who will be traveling on the same itinerary. They volunteered to help, and between us all, there will be at least one adult to each child. I chose airplane seats near theirs. However, I want to minimize the imposition on them as much as possible throughout the trip. I'm sure they'll have their own carry-ons to manage, and I don't want to add (too much) to their burden.
3) My kids are little Houdinis. My initial plan was to use CARES harnesses on the flights, but I read something about how these are ineffective for escape artists, because they still unbuckle the airplane seatbelt, as well as slide out from underneath the harness because there is no crotch strap. There is no doubt that my kids would do both.
So, we're going to have to go with car seats or harnessed boosters. In our van, we have DD1's Boulevard, as well as the triplets' Radians. I'm not too keen on using those seats, though, because the Boulevard is big and the Radians are heavy. Also, we're going to need seats that install quickly. DD1's spare carseat is an Evenflo Maestro. I wouldn't mind using that and buying three other cheap seats, or, if you suggest otherwise, just buying four cheap carseats.
However, getting around the airports with carseats is going to be tricky. Can I let the kids ride through the airports in their carseats mounted on luggage carts, or attached to carry-ons using Go-Go-Baby straps? (However, I don't know whether our travel companions have rolling carry-ons. Would it be nice of me to supply them, and do you have any suggestions for carry-ons that can handle 45-lb attachments (weight of car seat + weight of kid inside)?) Would I be able to stick the seats in double Snap-n-Go or similar stroller frames? Doing so would eliminate dependence on other people's carry-ons, and by putting the four kids in two double strollers, I would only be imposing on one other person to wheel my kids through the airport. The Coccoro looks like a great option, but yikes, that price tag (x3!!!) cannot be justified for a secondary "vacation" car seat.
Thanks so, so much for your advice!!!
