Sun 14 Oct 2012
Twins and the City
Posted by KathrynWhiteley under Twin Tips
[2] Comments
Guest Post: Twins and the City
~ Charlene Tipton
Charlene and her husband Brad, live in Savannah, Georgia. She has 20-month-old fraternal twin girls, Gwyneth & Avery. She enjoys being a stay at home mom and watching her girls learn new things every day. “Having twins was never a thought,” says Charlene, “but they are amazing & have taught me so much.”
This past weekend my husband and I went to Boston for a kid free, long weekend. As we were enjoying our time, riding the T (subway) and taking taxis from place to place; we started to think about how we would navigate a big city with our girls and all the “stuff” we typically take along with us. Since both of us have always lived where driving is how you travel from A to B, many questions came to mind.
Wandering about Boston we saw families, Mom’s with strollers, Mom’s with kids, nannies with strollers… all sorts of kid scenarios. Riding the subway we mostly saw adults, and kids old enough to walk around from place to place on their own. Occasionally we saw someone with a single stroller or umbrella stroller. Taking the subway to dinner one night we really started to think about this.
- Getting down to the train: Usually there are stairs to get down to the walkways underground. Some of the entrances had elevators but not all. Once you get down to the walkways, most had elevators to get down to the platform you need to catch your train.
- Getting on the train: Like trying to get on an elevator in a building, most people crowd around the entrance to the train. It can be hard for an adult to get on the train, never the less a double stroller.
- Taxis: Do you carry car seats/booster seats and strollers (if needed) with you whenever you leave the house? Are taxis set up with the latch system? Can the whole family fit in one taxi?
Living in the city or not, efficiency seems to be key when navigating with twins. What are some solutions or tips to these issues? What is the “best” way to navigate a big city with twinfants?
~Charlene
We took our 11-month twinfants to Brooklyn last year for Thanksgiving. Living in San Antonio, we drive everywhere, so whether or not to take the carseats was a concern. We had visited before, so we knew that elevators aren’t common at subway platforms, and we knew we’d need to take a cab from the airport, since lugging baggage, AND babies and strollers on buses and trains was not going to really be possible for us.
We called ahead of time to reserve the cab, and specified that we’d need two carseats – well, the cab showed up with ZERO carseats. After calling the cab company, we found it would have been a couple of hours before they could send another vehicle with two carseats. So we got in the first cab and held our kids in our laps. And it was just fine! A little nervous-making, but still fine. I just told myself that our mothers all held us in laps during car rides, and concentrated in enjoying the scenery through my kids’ eyes.
We took umbrella strollers since they’re so easy to fold and carry down steps, and the hooked handles make it easy to carry them over our arms and still have a free hand. It worked great! We had munchkin links so the strollers could either be joined or separated, and they’re so inexpensive, I didn’t have to worry about damage or loss. We really had no problems at all on the subway, and I was so glad we hadn’t brought our regular double stroller!
We’re going to follow the same pattern for our Thanksgiving trip this year.
Wow! You guys are brave!
We still haven’t braved a big city with our girls yet. But we do hope to move to a bigger city than we are in now.