Comments on: Keep the stroller at home

By: Diana

Diana — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 08:59:31 +0000

As I travel a lot with my baby I use Go Go Kidz Travelmate that I bought 4 months ago. The travelmate is very comfortable and easy to maneuver. It comes with soft wheels which are sized at 5 inches. The wheels are easily removable and are having quick release system. We can move travelmate using one hand only and keep the other hand free.

By: Dancing Monkey

Dancing Monkey — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:09:05 +0000

Can you use this to stow your baby in the overhead compartment or under the seat in front of you?

By: AAA

AAA — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:16:56 +0000

@ Rosie Redfield
that was Slate.com a few days ago that reviewed paraphernalia for traveling with young kids, including some carseat/stroller travel options.

By: Leonie

Leonie — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:27:05 +0000

Rosemary has a good point. When we flew Malaysian Airlines with our baby and 2 year old, the crew nearly freaked out when we started strapping the carseat in. We had to show them the FAA sticker on the side.

By: molly

molly — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:13:34 +0000

I second B’s statement. We have an 18 month old and love the Sit-N-Stroll for the airport. My son is very independent and wants to run every where except the direction we need to go, so carrying him isn’t an option. We travel a lot out to the West Coast so we need a car seat. I get a cheap stroller, like B, because the stroller function of the Sit-N-Stroll is really only good for floors found in airports. When not traveling, we use the Sit-N-Stroll in my husband’s car. I have used it numerous time in the grocery store when out and about in his car.

By: Rosie Redfield

Rosie Redfield — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:41:51 +0000

Somebody just tested out various car-seat/stroller adapters for travel and wrote a review. In Salon? or Slate?.

By: Rosemary

Rosemary — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:55:14 +0000

Just a word of warning: I have done a lot of flying around the world, and it is really only the USA where you can reliably use your car seat on the plane. Most other places won’t let you.

By: indiasoup

indiasoup — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 02:21:40 +0000

ha! i saw one of those car-seat-luggage things, and laughed. a perfectly capable 5 year old was sitting in it. seriously, mom? i can understand a toddler, a baby, but not a walking, talking, running, and clearly non-disabled child.

and there are plenty of strollers that can be disassembled and popped into a tote.

By: empty

empty — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:59:23 +0000

We don’t use a car seat on the plane for our toddler; we’ve switched to the CARES straps, which seem to be safer than a car seat for plane use anyway. We gate-check the (spare) car seat, now using it only for…the car. We have always carried him or held his hand while walking. We pack VERY light (one carry-on bag with the aforementioned car seat slung over it and one small backpack apiece as a personal item is the most we’ve ever brought, even for a three-week trip) so chasing him down, even in an airport, has never been a problem.

I would not feel comfortable wheeling my kid around in a bulky car seat at knee level. If he were more attached to the stroller lifestyle, I would either gate check a cheap umbrella stroller or buy one at our destination. In our experience there are only two ways to make travel less painful: (a lot) more money or less stuff. The rolling car seat seems like it violates the less stuff criterion. But I admit that if we had a lot more money I’d use a private car service for ground travel and let them worry about the car seat (and the luggage, and everything else). I had a wealthy acquaintance once who did that; traveling with her was always a zero-stress experience.

By: Jay

Jay — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:45:06 +0000

Interesting post, although I don’t think the product would work for us.

A traveller with a small child has to ask: Do I bring a car seat? Do I bring a stroller?

Our answer (for our family with a four-year-old and a one-year-old) to both those questions is, “Yes.”

To clarify one issue, a car seat for a small child (typically under 40 pounds) is MANDATORY in every state I’ve traveled in. If you have a small child and are renting a car at your destination, you have to bring a car seat. Some rental car companies will let you reserve a car seat, but there is no guarantee that you will get one. For a larger child, a booster seat is required. The Safe Traffic Systems Ride Safer Vest would not be a legal car seat. I don’t know if it could replace a booster seat.

Since we rent a car at the airport, we have to bring a car seat.

As to the stroller, we prefer not to carry our one-year-old daughter around the airport and find the stroller easier. We typically travel in the early morning or late at night. In the stroller, she can sleep. The airlines we’ve travelled on let us push her in the stroller all the way to the airplane door, where the stroller is left to be put under the plane. Since it is gate-checked, it appears magically just outside the airplane door at our destination.

We use a 12-dollar umbrella stroller from Wal-Mart. It is easy to push with one hand. If it gets damaged under the plane, no big loss.

By: Adie

Adie — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:37:38 +0000

That is flat-out one of the dumbest inventions I’ve ever seen.

By: Karyn

Karyn — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:42:43 +0000

Somebody mentioned the sling or baby carrier. That’s what we did when the kids were small enough for me to carry them in my Maya pouch. When they got too heavy for that, my husband carried the kid and a backpack (which we used instead of a diaper bag–MUCH easier) and I carried the other carryons.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:07:41 +0000

It was great when we traveled with family. We each took turns carrying and entertaining our child. We found that we didn’t need a stroller.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:03:47 +0000

Instead of lugging around a car seat, check this out:

Safe Traffic Systems Ride Safer Vest

I just ordered one, and hope that it will make our upcoming airplane trip that much easier with no seat to lug around, yet have a very safe restraint system for the rental car.

By: John of Indiana

John of Indiana — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:58:58 +0000

This’ll never fly, why, you can’t bash into childless people’s shins and run over their feet like you can with one of those Hil-Rom “Baby SUV” strollers.
and after seeing all these comments about putting the kid “face-level with a suitcase” and the like, I think there might be something to my assertion. So much easier to yak on the Cellie when you have 40# of roto-moulded doing the parenting for ya….

By: Tvini

Tvini — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:44:49 +0000

That seems incredibly impractical. Pedestrians know to watch out for a stroller. They’re not going to watch out for someone wheeling luggage, and they’re not going to look down just in case there’s a baby cruising along strapped to your carry-on. Seems like a good way for your infant to get kneed in the face.

By: Nancy B

Nancy B — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:41:48 +0000

Car seats on a plane are the safest way to go for little ones. We have traveled extensively using the Go-Kidz device listed here:

http://www.amazon.com/Go-Kidz-…..d_sxp_f_pt

We always went in and out of Newark, an extremely busy airport, and never had any problems with people banging other suitcases or bags – if anything, people gave us a wide berth and made comments like, “Now that’s how to travel!” after seeing my son being wheeled around in his car seat. We plan on using the Go-Kidz with baby #2.

By: infmom

infmom — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:38:48 +0000

We carried our kids in a specially designed backpack carrier when they were little. Great exercise for Mom and Dad and the kids were secure and away from low flying adult gizmos. The backpack frame folded up quite neatly when not in use.

By: Leonie

Leonie — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:17:00 +0000

As expats living abroad, we made frequent trips to the US, across the US, and around the world, usually in a year. I just don’t recall the stroller – a Graco fold up – being that big a deal. We always had a car seat with us – for the flight – strapped child/ren in the car seats, and then in the cars. I was often on my own as well. Traveling with the kids was enjoyable despite the car seat and stroller.

Yes, it was quite a lot to carry. And I learned not to take “bring this back for me” requests to pare down what I had to carry.

This stroller doesn’t look safe – the child is at eye level with bags. People tend to carry backpacks or computer bags which would be at the child’s face level.

If all you’re concerned about is the airport itself, an unbrella stroller would probably work for porting child around, then folding it up to tuck away on the flight or car.

By: Michael@ Awareness * Connection

Michael@ Awareness * Connection — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:22:47 +0000

This is interesting. I like the line of thinking. When my daughter was a toddler the best we found was the umbrella stroller. When she was an infant we tried checking the bigger stroller, but that was pretty cumbersome on the destination end of our flight. All I can say is life is much better now that she is 8 and can manage much of her own stuff. It gets better. For those of you still in thick of air travel with young kids, you have my empathy.