RE: Traveling with 8 month olds
I'm not sure if teething pain makes cabin pressure worse or not. I can't speak to this for 2 reasons. One, my 10 month old still has ZERO teeth! (The ped said they don't worry until babies are TWO, but I am a little sensitive about this :) ). Also, Sarah has NEVER had any trouble with cabin pressure changes on take off and landing. When flying with her the first couple of times (6 and 12 weeks) she would eat pretty much whenever, so I gave her a bottle or breastfed her. But as we got older, if she wasn't hungry, she WOULD NOT eat during those times. On our flights to and from Europe, she would not drink during those times and had no discomfort. So, you twins may not be affected by the changes. Every baby is different.
When we went to France, we took a truly fiercesome quantity of baggage. DH bought an inductrial size (like used by professional to carry heavy equipment) luggage carts for our bags. We "bungee'd" the Britax Roundabout to the top of the heap and it worked just fine. If you have a smaller cart and would like it to to hold your bags PLUS the carseat, try it out well ahead of time so you have time to explore other options if it doesn't work. I have also successfully just loaded the carseat onto the stroller. BUT you eould have two carseats, hmmm....
There was a recent beach thread (which I am sure you probably read).
Were you the person who wanted to go hiking also? And sightseeing? And the beach? Hmm... Have you traveled like this with your twins before? I am not trying to be facetious, but in general, travel plans need to be scaled back quite a bit with a baby (or two) in tow. We were pretty miserable in France for the first 3 days and then we finally convinced oursaelves and my in-laws (who we were traveling with), that we COULD NOT see everything, do everything, like we did in the days before baby. We were all MUCH happier after that. Each day we would pick ONE thing that ALL OF US really wanted to do. We made sure to do that ONE thing, and then anything else was gravy. The trick to travel with baby (at least fro us), is slow down, relax, and cherish the moment.
I don't know if I answered all of your questions, but hopefully this was some help.
HTH,
Beth, mom to older DD (8/01) and younger DD (10/06) and always missing Leah (4/22 - 5/1/05)