car seats and holidays abroad

[sparrow45]

Hi, we are hoping to go to Europe on holiday in the summer, DS will be 22 months old at the time. We currently have a besafe izi combi x 3 isofix for use in UK, but think this is far too big and heavy to take on a plane....what do others do when they are going abroad? If we were to buy a 2nd seat-any recommendations? We are flying and then would need to hire a car for some short journeys ( up to an hour). The country we're going to does not seem to have strict laws about car seats and so we wouldn't be happy to hire one over there. Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks

We went to Spain this summer when DD was 15 months - the car seats from the hire company were awful. I thought they'd be ok, seeing as they're supposed to have the same rules as the UK. We noticed that everyone else with under-4s had taken their own.

If it's a second seat for you and not your main one, I'd try and get something that doesn't weigh much so it's easier to transport, and something that fits all cars (some seats don't fit in some cars). At least by taking your own you won't spend an hour at the hire place figuring out how to fit the damn thing like we did until we realised the belts in that car just don't lock in the right place

I don't have any seat suggestions, as we have the same seat as you. MIL has a Maxi Cosi Tobi for her car now though, which is really easy to fit. Luckily DD only has to go in it once a week!

Oh, just a thought... how about a twe as a second seat? Belted fit, easy to move around (so I read on here) and I think it's lightweight?

Then your DS could still be RF on hol.

Has anyone put a car seat in hold of plane before? Am going long haul in a couple of months with my maxi cosi cabriofix, just wondering how best to transport it.

PS sorry for hijack OP

The britax eclipse is authorised for use with some airliners, so you can fit the child seat to the plane seat so DD is more comfy and use in your hire car, just be careful of the seat buckle crunching. The britax prince is very lightweight but crap not as good. The Kiddy impact shield might be your best bet as it'll fit anything, is lightweight and DD can sit in it on the flight as I believe they are also ok to use on planes (i'm sure i've read that somewhere but can't for the life of me remember where!) My friend took their Britax multi-tech but when they looked at the hire cars they could only fit it front facing >.