How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

Am I crazy? How long would it realistically take? I realize its not until Sept but I would have to purchase my hotel room by February. Any experiences?

Re: How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

We have always lived about 8 hours from family since our children were born. We travel that trip every 2-3 months since their births. We bought TV headrests(which we never use besides while on long trips) for those long trips which work like a charm. We try to stop every your or two to let the kids stretch their legs.

Re: How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

Never traveled with twins (yet), but we do with our 23 mo DS and our two dogs... multiple times a year (4 to 8 hrs trips). The in car DVD player, books and the portable mangadoodle have been life savers. We leave really early (like 4:30am) and stop for breakfast around 9. We usually make it on time, and without a meltdown.

Re: How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

Never travelled with twins but my boys are only 10.5 months apart. My family lives 400+ miles away equalling a 7 hr car trip. I took the boys this summer up to see my parents without DH. The boys were 22 months & 12 months. I left at their bedtime & drove through the night arriving at my parents tor 2am. Transfer the boys to their awaiting PNP with little issue. For me, i would never attempt it during the day.

Re: How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

I think it depends on how they are in the car. My dd, now 18 months, has hated the car since the moment she was born. She just hates it. She would scream for hours, and has !

She's now forward facing and a little better. We live about 3 1/2 hrs. from all family and friends, so we often make that trip but thanksgiving weekend we drove back and she screamed for probably the last hour. Nothing will calm her down, she just wants out.

I would not be ready to do a 7 hr. trip with just her.
We bought a device to attach the IPad to the front seat so, I am hoping that will help for a trip for XMas.

Just wanted to share my experience, not to scare you

. I know plenty of people that have kids that could go for hours in the car and not make a peep.

You know how your kids are in the car. I just would stop every 2 hrs. or so, stretch and eat.

Re: How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

We just drove 24 hours (total trip including stops) to florida. My kids are 3.5 years old and they twins are 16 months. It wasnt as bad as i expected it to be. We left around 10 pm and drove through the night. Travis woke at 4 am and cried on and off til 7 am when the other 2 woke up. We stopped for breakfast around 7:30/8 am and at htat point we were in NC. Then we drove 3 hours at a time (stopped for lunch, dinner, stopped at outlet center to walk around) and arrived in vero beach FL by 9:30 pm. Kylie was screaming the last hour of the trip. It was rough on dh and i because we never went to sleep thursday night, and thursday was thanksgiving so we has busy days too... Ran a 5k that morning and my husband played football, then we had 2 families to visit and it was a late night. But it worked out. I was expecting so much worse. We have a minivan, no tvs in the van ( the twins dont watch tv anyway) and they are still rear facing. Landon had his leapster and a couple of toys. The twins had some soft books and stuffed animals.

Re: How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

Ok i read that as 17 hours.
7 is definitely doable. When landon was 1 we drove to virginia and it was about 8-9 hours. We drove through the night and he slept the whole time.

Re: How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

Julz, I didn't know you drove to FL! When did you and your DH finally sleep??


Thanks ao much for sharing ladies. Looks like its doable and it depends on the child. We will probably leave early in the morning if we decide to do it. As of right now, they either scream in the car or sleep. No happy medium but I am sure that will change by Sept.

Re: How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

You can do it!

I drove from Wisconsin to New York, BY MYSELF, with a 16 month old and a 2.5 year old (16 hour drive).

You just have to take it slow. Make a lot of stops so they can get out and stretch their legs. I broke the drive in half and we stayed overnight in Tennessee. Have a lot of snacks and entertainment on hand.

Re: How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

We are driving to nc with our twins in december, they will be 11 months old. It will be a 12 hour trip.

The way there we are going to leave around 2, drive till 5 have dinner get them in their pjs give them a bottle and continue on and hope to get there around 3am. The way back we have to drive straight through during the day because I have to be back at work and we are going for a family wedding. We are just hoping they are good. We have a van so I will make sure I can go to the back if needed and I will bring a portable dvd player just in case as they are still rear facing and can't see our tv in the van.

good luck

Re: How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

i don't know about 2 19 month olds...but i we drove 9.5 hours with a 4.5 month old and it wasn't bad at all. I know thats not the case for everybody though so its a tough call

Re: How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

I think you will be fine if you take a break in the middle and do most of the driving at night when the kids are asleep.

We only drive at night now when there is no traffic and the kids are asleep.

Re: How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

I dont have twins but I do this drive every couple of mos with DS and DD (most recent trip she was 17 mos) and its OK. Just be patient and take breaks. We try to coordinate meals and naps around her normal schedule. The timing that works best for us is leave around 5pm, drive for 2 hours, stop and eat for an hour, then drive the rest of the way with the kids asleep. We get there a little bit late but its much easier than the daytime when they're itching to get out more frequently.

Re: How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

Thanks for sharing ladies. DH and I will have to work it out somehow. I know its not gonna be easy! But doable.

Re: How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

The longest trip I take is 5 hours to my sisters. We have had good trips and bad trips. Bring some type of DVD player (my husband slipped his laptop in between the two front seats) and that kept them occupied. Plan to stop at least twice for that long of a trip.

It can be stressful, but worth it in my book.

Re: How realistic is a 7 hour road trip with 19 month old twins?

Very realistic....LOL I drove to Fla when the trio was 14 months....straight thru also.....

Just make sure they have snacks and drinks...toys, books and DVDs