How do people manage car seats and international travel?

[Fredflinstoneswife1]

So we are finally going abroad next year after many years of lovely staycations in the UK. Accommodation in the Dordogne is booked and we will be hiring a car for two weeks from Bordeaux airport to travel to our accommodation and around the area.

We have three children aged 1, 5 and 7. Hiring three car seats will cost us the guts of £300 which we would barely have. I've seen people suggesting taking our own. But my question is: how with three kids in tow, one with little legs and one in a buggy, would we manage to cart our bags, the buggy and the car seats through the airport to the check in desk and then to the car hire at the other side? Is there such a thing as a lightweight, cheap back supported booster that the 7 year old could at least carry on his back?
Or any other suggestions? I was thinking if such a thing did exist I could try fb marketplace.

Thank you. I haven't heard of these, I will check them out.

I wish we could drive but we are too far north in the uk.

These are tricky ages. Have you looked to see whether there are any baby equipment hire firms near your destination, often they can be cheaper for car seat hire than doing it directly through the company, and sometimes (this is really variable) they can be better quality seats and better cared for, or you can at least ask about the exact models and look up the instructions online etc. Car hire places are notorious for giving you absolutely dire seats - you could end up with backless boosters for the older two and some ancient relic for the 1yo with no instructions as to how to fit it safely.

The other suggestion to look at is whether there's a Carrefour, Leclerc, Bébé9, Orchestra or similar near the airport. Take a seat for the youngest, sit older two with just seatbelts and drive straight to the supermarket/baby shop and get 2 of the cheapest high back boosters (in fact, I would recommend getting one, coming out into the car park and checking whether you have any hope of fitting a second one in before you buy 2.) You might be able to use click and collect, but when I tried to do this in Spain they wanted an address and it was too complicated so I gave up, but it was easy enough to check in-store stock on the website anyway.

I would take an infant carrier for the 1yo if he fits in one. Kiddies Kingdom have Britax Babysafe Core for £50 at the moment which is a really good price and it's a generously proportioned seat. It fits up to 87cm / 13kg, which is probably bigger than you'd assume. A 1yo's legs will stick out but this is not a problem at all, as long as he is under the 87cm and his head is contained within the shell, it's safe for him to use it. This is compatible with pretty much any pram as well with "universal" car seat adapters which you may already have. An old infant carrier is sometimes the kind of thing people have around in their house which they might be happy to lend out. Again, you need to check his head fits into the seat shell and he's not over the weight limit, or height limit if it has one.

If he is already over 87cm, Halfords do a £60 seat called Impala which is belt fitted and RF up to 105cm but it's a full sized seat, so not that portable. Lighter than a spin seat, but that's it. Cheaper than any of the Joie options.

There are some seats on the market now which are FF with 5 point harness which fold up and fit using isofix and top tether, IMO these are a better bet than the Maxi Cosi Nomad which is seatbelt fitted and doesn't get a good fit in all cars. Cosatto On the Go, or Kinderkraft Fix2Go are two of these. Maxi Cosi do have a Nomad XL which is the same idea, but it's more expensive and I can't see any reason to pay more. These are basic seats but they are a game changer when it comes to travel/harnessed seats - there hasn't been anything really like this before on the market. Depending on size/age of your 1yo, might be worth a look, though I would defo investigate RF options first.

The harness on those seats only goes up to 105cm, so unless your 5yo is very small for their age, they probably won't fit into one and I am not sure I would bother with one just to use it as a HBB.

You can buy folding HBBs in the UK e.g. Maxi Cosi Tanza, but they are still fairly heavy/bulky and I think probably a bit much for a 7yo to manage especially if they are tired after travelling. So if at all possible, I would look to find something you don't need to transport around.

We used the trunki for our 6 year old for short trips when we flew on a city break and needed the seat for taxis to and from the airport. The rest of the time we used public transport. I probably wouldn’t use it for a very long trip but short trips I felt OK with.

We got the kids trunkis the moment they were big enough - they carried them themselves. When they were littler it was a baby car seat hanging on the back of the buggy, large backpacks for clothes, my older child would carry her booster with some toys. We don’t really like roller bags so have as much as possible on our backs or duffle bags. My husband can carry a big backpack and two duffle bags cross body - so useful when there are stairs and such to be self sufficient.

This is what we did. We had 2 backless boosters that sort of fit into one another at the right angle and fitted perfectly in a bag for life which I tied at the top and checked in. (Even budget airlines allow extra child equipment for free checked in hold) Meant they were positioned correctly in hire car and mine always sat well. I preferred this to checking in their own decent seats which could then get unknown damage and continue being used for many years as opposed to just short transfers and sightseeing. Alternative could be to get a taxi from airport then buy seats from a local shopping mall. I’d bet that’s cheaper than hiring and less disgusting than the hired ones usually are.

We had a trunki as well. After a really bad experiences with hire seats in our homecountry, so no language issues, despite written and verbal confirmation from the actual airport office, we never trusted the hire companies again.

We take our own, it was recommended by posters on here and folds for easy carrying, maxi Cosi nomad I think, but we only have 1 child and I say to DH if he insists on spending so much time at the gym he can put his lifting skills to the test. 3 would be a lot to juggle although you do check them in and you can get backpack style cover/carry bags, my only concern about hiring would be that DB did it a few years ago with eldest niece - very reputable car hire firm the car seats were disgusting dirty, battered, not safe, he ended up driving to a shop and buying one to use on holiday

We bought a car seat backpack from Amazon for about £10 - put a car seat and a booster in it. It was not a problem getting it to the check in point even with suitcases and a buggy. Don't spend loads of money if you already have car seats you can take.

Trunki booster backpack for 7 and 5 year old. These can be carried on backs or slipped over handles of a suitcase. They also have the advantage of storage in the base- took the kids shoes in them on a recent trip. We took these for all 3 of our children on a recent trip. Then for your 1 year old use a infant car seat which is easy to carry on you arm. When we went away with our twins at 15 months we actually took their infant seats (which they were outgrowing) and donated them to the car hire company when returning so didn't need to bring them back.

Another thought is what times your flight? A few airlines and airports offer bag drop the night before for morning flights. We have done this for a few flights. So 1 member of the party can drop off all suitcases and car seats etc the evening before. Then you just arrive at the airport with hand luggage only effective.

I'd do the trunki ones as hand luggage for the older two and then you only need to worry about a seat for the youngest.
Are they 12 months or 22 months?
I'd bring an infant seat if under 15 months, folding car seat if over 15 months.

I would look at trunki boosters or similar for the older two (look on ebay) and just hire or take a seat for your youngest.

Have done this with a 1, 4 and 6yo.

Very careful packing of 2 HBB can get them in one very large car seat bag. It took me about 30 mins wrangling the first time to get the correct ways round but it worked. Car seat bag has backpack straps- i can't carry it but DP can as its huge.

We have cybex cloud which is a big infant carseat so had that clicked on yoyo pram. Small wheelie suitcase attached to yoyo with little luggage strap. Each adult with backpack and 4 & 6yo with their own small wheelie carry ons. Then 2 big suitcases.

Basically DP wearing Car seat backpack, pushing trolley with big suitcases and backpacks on. Big kids walking and me pushing pram with carseat, toddler and attached suitcase.

Hardest part is airport drop off when I have everything on my own whilst DP parks car as I cannot move everything and all the kids on my own at all.

I wouldn't trust trunki booster- might as well sit on a cushion.

Maxi cosi nomad if your youngest is closer to 2 than 1, if younger use an infant carrier. Trunkis for the older 2.

Have previously also fitted joie 0-4 big car seat in the same bag as a HBB. So if your toddler can't fit in a infant carrier I'd do that and then get a proper fold up HBB for your other older child and carry that.
Our car seat bag is a Venture one- made of very heavy duty material rather than thin nylon- we had one of those and it ripped on first use.

We use the trunki booster for our 6 year old in taxis etc and have a Ry Ry Scallop for our 2 year old. Both are super portable and can be carried as backpacks

A travel high back booster will cost you most of that £300 you're trying to save.
Take their seats from home and put them in travel bags. We had some padded ones with rucksack straps. You won't have to move very far with them.

It is extremely difficult! We flew to Bordeaux with a 1&3yo, both in rear facing seats. We were on a very tight budget with easy jet. We strapped the one year old into the buggy at Bristol, took out and bubble wrapped both car seats, put them into huge special car seat bags, got the 3yo out of the car, and very slowly made our way to the terminal. It was horrendous to be honest! The car seat bags had shoulder straps so we wore them as backpacks. We were sleep deprived and looking back I’ve no idea what we were thinking. We had lost someone in a crash and did not want to hire seats, we wanted our own.

My main tip/warning is that if you are flying easyJet, you will be in a separate building from the other airlines at Bordeaux, it is quite a trek to the car hire and the queue to check in on the way home was terrible with all the luggage. It is doable, but oh my goodness, just brace yourselves or hire the seats if you can book safe ones 🙈

We used bumble bum. Inflatable booster car seats which roll up into a bag which fit into a shopping bag easily. https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/BubbleBum/page/BE93A4E9-ABE8-4166-94B4-F79AF494DBC3?lp_asin=B0092MB0O2&ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_ast_store_WVC99CHKV3CGGXEEYFV7&store_ref=bl_ast_dp_brandlogo_sto

I'd get the booster seat back packs for the 7yo and possibly 5yo if they're big enough. I'd let them pack they're toys and carry on bit in them, and make them carry their own. I'd strongly consider getting them second hand if money is tight, there's not much that can go wrong with a booster, and many will have only been used for a weeks holiday.

The 1yo can usually stay in the buggy right to the gate, one adult pushes them, with both adults carry on bags (and let's face it, at least one if the kids bags) tucked under our hanging on handle bars. The other adult takes the hold Luggage and 1yo's seat on a trolley