To Take the Carseat or Not to Take the Carseat? - Traveling Abroad with a Child

travelingmom wrote: We are about to travel abroad with our 9-month-old. How do I do it without having to lug that horrible carseat along? How do we ride in taxis and rental cars if I don't take it with us? What do moms who live in cities do it? Do they always carry the carseat around with them??? Please help!

Kaitlin'smom replied: when we took our daughter to FL the airline REQUIRED she be in her car seat on the plane. I was worried about lugging throught the airport as well. Thanksfull we had wheels (the kind you strap luggage to) and it fit on that so we could wheel it around. They also have a thing that can make it so you can carry it on your back.
here is what I am talking about

back pack

either way you go a 9 month old should be in there car seat.

TeagansMom609 replied: I would think traveling abroad with a baby would be impossible! I dont know how the heck your going to do it!? Thats a good question how you will lug around a carseat, im not sure how that works. Good luck, its probably going to be really hard!

PrairieMom replied: I say a carseat is a must for the airplane. You can rent carts at the airport to help haul all your luggage and the seat and all that. You can preboard and get the seat strapped in before everyone else starts boarding. This has worked really well for us.
as far as traveling in taxi's or what ever, I have no idea and have often wondered the same thing myself! Happy trails!

C&K*s Mommie replied: Here are a few ideas from One Step Ahead hope some of these help.

Sit & Stoll car seat stroller This is a bit pricey, but it may come in handy.

On the go booster This is made for 9mos old children and up

Tote n' Go portable car seat I am not sure of the age range on this

jacobsmama replied: Those are very cool ideas everyone gave but that is a great question about taxis and stuff??? IDK..hmmm But I would think you need to take some kind of carseat with you...I didn't know you needed one on a plane!!!??? We are going to florida in October great to know.

PrairieMom replied:
I don't know if you NEED one on a plane, somepeople say you do, I have flown with a 5 month old and a 17 month old with out one, but it was a disaster. The boy knows that when we are in the car we stay in the seat, that is the rule, and we do't break it, so we brought the seat on the plane when we traveled with him at 2 1/2 it went so much smoother. you have to bring it for the rental car or what ever anyway, it isn't that much extra trouble to haul it around the airport for a while.
Now when you have more kids and more seats, it would get a lot harder!

Kaitlin'smom replied: thats the exact thing they are more comfortabel in there own car seat while on the plane, and all websites we went to if you bought them a seat they had to be in a car seat, DH even called our airline and they said yes it was required. We had to have it for the rental car anyway, we just figured a way to not make it sooo hard to lug with changing planes and all.

Jamison'smama replied: Does he have a ticketed seat or is he going as a lap child? If he's a lap child, it is easy to check the carseat--doesn't count as luggage on any airline I have flown--AA, Continental, Delta, Northwest. I would recommend you bag or box it to send it through--just last week, Jack's carseat was broken--a piece was lost so I will bag/box from now on. I would look for a lightweight seat to travel with--our Triumph was a bear--I had a Comfort sport for traveling--much lighter. I would get a low price luggage cart and just keep it with your carseat to tote around town.

mom21kid2dogs replied:
As to the taxi question, it depends on the country you are visiting as to the quality of the taxis. Having travelled in foriegn countries before and seeing how poorly they drive compared to here, I'd never even consider not having my child secured. Same as on a plane. I was once on a flight to Minneapolis and we dropped suddenly to avoid some weather problem. An infant in the arms of a parent hit the roof of the plane. She was OK but I would never let a child sit unsecured on a plane after seeing first hand what can happen.

I suggest you go to this board for advice on any car seat issue. It is CL'ed and frequented by numerous car seat techs. They are professionals with the very important answers you are seeking.
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-ppcarseats

MamaJAM replied: The One Step Ahead carseat/stroller seems like a great travel-companion!

Personally - I would never take my young child on a plane without a carseat...nor would I ever get into a car (taxi or rental) without one.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: I was told that it is required that a child be in a carseat on an airplane when they hit two years old. Until then, it's the parents choice. For a long flight, I would definitely take one though. But I would also look into renting one while you're there if you decide you don't want to use one on the plane. I have done this on several trips, although I'm not sure if they have rental places overseas or not. I'm sure a travel agent could help you. If it were me, I would probably rent my own car and rent a carseat or plan on taking local transit like the metro. This way you can just use a Bjorn or some type of backpack carrier which of course is easier to carry around. Good luck!

travelingmom replied: Thank you ALL for your input and suggestions. I know that you can travel on the plane with the infant in your lap until they are 2 years old. If there is an extra seat, you can put them in that IF you have their carseat with you. It's not the flight or the airport that I am really concerned with - it's getting around a foreign city with a baby and getting in and out of taxis. How do you do it??? Do you just rely on public transportation (buses and subways) on which a carseat is not required??

C&K*s Mommie replied: I am not trying to push you into buying something unneccssary, but I would try the 'on the go' booster above. It inflates at the push of a button, weighs less than 2lbs, and it compresses tightly for packing. It costs about $25, so it would not break the bank, but it may be worth it in the end.

mom21kid2dogs replied:

Are you refering to the blue contraption with the y front harness? I had one of those for Olivia. It's a portable high chair, not designed to be used as a car seat. There was a protracted discussion on the Ivillage car seat board about how generic the term "booster seat" has become and how those ads might be misconstrued as vehicle seats, not accessories to eating. They are, however, really handy for travelling and feeding!

fashionmumofboys replied: I travelled with a 9 month old and a 21 month old and we did not require to bring our car seat for the plane ride. They sat on our laps.

When we got to our destination, which was Italy, we had family there and in the small towns there they don't really use car seats, but the bigger City's do.

My DH's brother gave us a car to ride around in while we were there visiting. What we did, I know it was not the safest and the right way to do things, we sat them of course in the back seat with seat belts over them and I sat in the middle of them.

We never got a chance to go to the bigger City's, so we stayed around in these small towns and did it that way. In our case we had to bring 2 car seats and we already had to much stuff to carry, like the double stroller. We were going to buy one there, but we had to go pretty far out like a couple of hours to get to a decent store that sold these a car seats and it would have costed us a fortune to buy 2 of them down there.

I would go with the booster that nix4noles has stated. It seems so compact and real easy to use.

Goodluck and have a safe and fun trip.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: My mom has that blue booster and it really is only meant to be used as a high chair for eating. I don't see how it could be secured to a car backseat. The straps are meant to go around a chair, and even that is not so secure. Nicole had good suggestions, but I wouldn't use that one even if it is cheap.

Sorry to repeat myself, but I would talk to a travel agent if there are places to rent carseats when you get there. I can't imagine mothers in Europe not using them. Good luck!