Flying With 4 Kids

I'll be honest, when Justin told me we were going to fly down to California to visit my family instead of drive down, I was not happy. It wasn't because I didn't want to deal with 4 kids on a plane; that I could deal with. It was just getting through the airport, pulling all that luggage around.

I envisioned this monster sized family plowing through the crowds with their dozens of bags, double stroller, and, car seat overload. I'm sure to many people we did look like that but thankfully that was not the reality.

I was able to cram all our stuff into just 1 carry-on (didn't want to check in our luggage because although that would have been easier, it would have cost us at least $40 round trip) and 4 personal items. That helped get rid of some of the insanity.

We were able to borrow 2 car seats for the girls which was great because they were "lap children" so we would have had to gate check their car seats and I don't trust airports with my car seats. Since we borrowed 2 car seats, we only needed to bring the boys' car seats which they sat in during the flight. Handy because not only do I avoid gate checking the car seats but it keeps the boys contained.

I'm sure we still looked like a monster of a family; two kids in a double stroller, one car seat in the stroller basket, 2 personal bags in the stroller with the kids, me with Verity in the Ergo with a diaper bag on my shoulder, Justin with the carry-on with one car seat placed on top of the carry-on "just so", Logan trying to keep up with us all. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Honestly, it probably wasn't any more crazy than when we go on any of our outings...okay maybe a bit more.

Some things I learned about the airport when traveling with a family.

1) You don't need to take shoes off for kids under 12 years.
2) There's a family line for security (in some of the security checks, not all of them)
3) Double strollers need to be hand checked; they do not fit through the x-ray machine.
4) If carrying a baby in a carrier like my Ergo, you will go through security and then you have to have a "hand check" which apparently is where they run a paper on your hands and then scan that paper... still no idea how it works.
5) Early morning flights are hard to wake up for but easier for traveling.
6) Dinner time flights are annoying because you have to buy dinner in the airport.
7) Babies are the easy ones to travel with; they sleep through the whole thing.
8) You must use head phones with personal devices on the plane.
9) Car seats are a pain to install with airplane buckles but worth it as they keep kids contained.
10) All airport employees are very nice.
11) You can travel with 4 young kids.

How Much Luggage Do You Need For a Family of 6?

We didn't want to check in any luggage when we flew last week so we did the unthinkable: we packed only carry-ons. Not only that but since we were already traveling with so much stuff (2 car seats, 1 double stroller, 4 KIDS) we decided to pack everything we needed in only 1 carry-on (plus 4 personal items which were my diaper bag, Justin's laptop bag, and two other similar sized bags).

All of our clothing was in the carry-on. The personal items just held things like diapers and activities. So in reality, we really did pack 4 days of clothes for 6 people in just one carry-on.

Can't be done, you say? I must be lying? Nope! Here's the proof! (I forgot to take a picture of all of us at the airport with all our gear, I really should have since it's quite the sight) Here's our one carry-on (granted it's a big one) with enough clothing for 4 days for all 6 of us (granted 4 of those people are tiny and so their clothes don't take up much room).

The secret? Roll your clothes! I picked up that tip from a Pinterest, something like "stewardess packs 10 days of clothing in one carry-on". It really was the best tip ever! There's no way I would be able to get all our clothing in otherwise!

Oh and did you notice that a huge chunk of our luggage space was taken up just by my camera! Can you imagine how much more room I'd have if I didn't have the camera in there?

So how much luggage do you need for a family of 6? Well my family can make it with 1 carry-on and 4 personal items.