To take a car seat on holiday

[avocuddl]

Was planning to take my car seat on holiday for the transfer. Other families going on my trip are just going to have their children on their lap (3yo/6mo)

Is it ott to take a car seat? Transfer by minibus in the uk via motorways 30 min journey/abroad by coach 20 min journey.

Thanks

Forgot to say I have an 18m old

How old is your child?

I'd avoid taking it if possible, would be a massive hassle to cart around.

You would need to check your seat will fit in the minibus/ coach.. but yes I definitely would. It is not a risk I would take especially on a motorway.

We've taken just the bottom part of the car seat a couple of times so it wasn't too cumbersome to lug around and we were glad to have it. Just do it, you'll feel better about it on the journeys. The minibus company may have car seats though?

Will try the minibus company first 👍🏽

By minibus it may be compulsory, depends on size of vehicle. By coach the law is different and there may be no seat allocated to your child

It's unlikely they will have one, although you could ask. Make sure you find out which type of seat it is if they do offer one, sometimes you'll be offered just a booster which would be fairly pointless for an 18mo child. YANBU to take your own if it makes you feel happier. However bear in mind car seats can become damaged by being handled roughly in the hold of an aircraft, so it might be worth weighing up that risk compared with the very small likelihood that this one particular journey will involve an accident. (Though of course, it's no less likely to than any other journey.)

You can normally fit car seats on a minibus as long as it has ordinary 3 point belts but this is less likely on a coach - and if you can't fit it safely, it massively reduces the safety benefit of the seat, meaning the risk/benefit analysis may be tipped. If you can find out whether the coach has 2 or 3 point belts it may help but even 3 point belts on a coach aren't always standard enough for car seat installation.

FWIW car seat experts advise the best way to protect a car seat is to take the box and pack it in that with some bubble wrap.

Is he in a Group 1 seat or does he still fit in the infant carrier?

protect * on a flight, that should say.

Recently in the airport I saw a couple with twins and they had backpacks that zipped open into a booster - not sure of brand but looked similar to those trunki things that get pulled along with the children sat on - may be easier to travel with

I doubt uour car seat will beavle to be used on the coach.

I always just have dd on my lap

we have a foldable carseat for these sort of journeys. not great, but it can go hand luggage, so risk of damage is low (and a proper carseat lost or damaged is even less safe)

@theGirlWithManyFaces trunki boostapac. great for older kids (we have one for our 6 year old)

I ordinarily do, but wouldn’t here because I doubt they would fit properly into the coach seats anyway.

If you contact the UK minibus company it is quite likely they will have a booster at least as many of them are used for special school transport, where children need them.
Less likely on the overseas leg but it is worth letting them know as they may have

I used to take seats for car use. You might find there isn't correct belts or your seat doesn't fit in a coach or mini bus though

We take car seats but hire cars. I agree that your seat might not be able to be used in the minibus or coach.

@Lazypuppy - I’ve done exactly the same . However I later discovered to my horror in the event of a crash the force of your body weight would result in catastrophic crush injuries between you and the seat / dash board in front if you have your child on your lap ! Please don’t do this !!

@geekchicz on a coach there is no other option when they are little (under 1).

If you are also being picked up on your return by the same minibus company you can ask them to store your car seat while you're away and bring it for the journey home.

I wouldn't take it on a flight though as it's a massive extra hassle, could get damaged and wouldn't necessarily fit on coach seats anyway. Most have just lap belts. Also there may not be a seat for your child if it's full up as they don't always allocate them to under 2s as they expect them to be on your lap.

Asking the minibus company to store the seat is a very good idea if they are willing to do this.

I wouldn't be too worried about lap travel on a coach. The dangerous thing is placing the seatbelt around two people. Having the baby on your lap is not ideal but it is the usual thing to do. It's no different to travelling on a bus, which plenty of people do every day with young children.

I take one for mine.

We buy a sunshine kids car seat trolley to transport it

I would definitely speak with the coach company and get them to ensure a car seat is available. They legally do not have to have them, but I wouldn't get on a coach with my son on my lap at 18months.

If they are unable to provide one, is it possible for you yo hire a car with a car seat?

We take ours as we get a lot of cabs and we just strap it in using the seatbelt.

Annoyingly Prius cars (which make up the bulk of taxis in parts of Asia we visited) seem to have quite short seatbelts but we’ve always managed.

The peace of mind of using your own seat is so good in my opinion. And then we just click it on to the pram and we’re off.

Also - taking a car seat on a flight is really not a hassle. Our pram is a yo-yo so goes on as handluggage and the car seat leaves us at the door of the plane. Really straightforward - we have done it many, many times.