Taking baby abroad

[lolaband142]

Okay so me and my partner are planning our first family holiday with our baby girl! We’re very excited but I can’t help but feel unprepared. We’re planning our trip to a destination in Europe so around 2-3 hr flight. I’ve just got a few unanswered questions:

1. Baby fly free right?! I’ve been told off many people babies fly free, however when I’ve typed in skyscanner 2 adults plus 1 baby (she will be 8 months old by the way) it still adds up the total cost for 3 tickets.

1. Travel cots... we’ve been gifted a travel cot. But it is SO heavy. Do most hotels provide a cot for a double room if you ask/pay more? Or are there any cheaper lightweight travel cots?

1. What’s the deal with car seats? Do you take the car seat with you? I’ve seen a few people who just hold there baby on there lap whilst getting transporting around? Is that normal?

Any other tips/advice would be helpful!
Also please no ‘don’t go on holiday with a baby’ or sarky ‘good luck with that’ comments please, it’s doable so I’m doing it and I know we’ll have a blast!

We went on holiday loads with our baby(s).
I don’t think they’re free usually, but it’s not the full price of an adult ticket. From memory it was about £25 added on for a baby.
Most airlines allow 2 pieces of baby equipment, we usually took the car seat and pushchair. I would never travel with a baby on my knee in the car.
We always stayed in villas that provided a travel cot.

Ps I’ve never heard anyone say ‘don’t go on holiday with a baby’. Babies are very portable. It’s when they’re toddlers and refuse to sit down for a whole flight that it’s more difficult (mine are nearly 4 and 2 now and we’re just coming out the other side of that)

Of course it’s doable and well worth it. Dd has been as far as Cape Town and she’s only 15 months!

Some airline charge a set fare for child under two. Eg a flight from the uk - Dublin, airlines charge £20. Some charge more, some charge less. It won’t be completely free like most people think.

Don’t bring cot, the hotel will have one. Make sure you get a hotel that has one rather!

We used public transport and walked so didn’t need car seat for some places. We rented a car and car seat in Cape Town. If you are taking short taxi rides I wouldn’t bother with the seat. We usually just brought the pushchair and a sling and walked most places. Worth bearing in mind some taxi firms will have baby seats you can book in advance.

Have a great time!

We generally hire cars when we go away so that’s why we take a car seat. You can hire them from car hire companies but I preferred to take our own.

We’ve holidayed quite a few times (7 times) with our girl, first at 4 months, she’s now 20 months. It’s very doable!
Cost of flights - you have to pay, it’s usually around 10% of the cost of the adult ticket.
Cot - most hotels will have cost free of charge. You may want to take a sheet of your own and whatever your baby sleeps in (sleeping bag/blanket etc). We have never taken a travel cot.
Car seat - if you’re hiring a car then you can request a seat, if you’re getting a transfer then you can also request a seat depending on what the transfer is, or pay extra for a private taxi with child seat. If you’re booking somewhere that requires lots of taxis then maybe take your own car seat. I would not hold my baby on my lap for any journey.
Other advice - get a cheap pram for travelling as they get bashed around on planes.
Have fun!!!

Renting car with child seat in Italy (if that’s where you’re going) is a pain. We booked a suitable car seat but upon arrival they just had a pile of car seats and you were meant to grab on and not guaranteed one in the right size.

Renting car with child seat in Italy (if that’s where you’re going) is a pain. We booked a suitable car seat but upon arrival they just had a pile of car seats and you were meant to grab on and not guaranteed one in the right size.

I said the ‘don’t bring a baby on holiday’ comment because unfortunately I’ve had some family members say this to me like it’s some massive challenge. I don’t think it is if you’re well prepared, which is why I’m getting as much advise as possible ☺️

Thanks for the comments so far!

My friend has just booked, a holiday to Mexico with her partner and baby and she said she’s got baby’s flights for free! I thought it was too good to be true! I don’t mind paying but I just wonder where people get the babies fly free thing from.

So if you never bothered with a car seat did you just sit them in your sling/harness for the short car rides? That is if the taxi didn’t have a spare car seat? I’m just thinking for the transfer from the airport to the hotel that’s all. It would be a 20 min drive but I’d just feel like it’s unsafe! Though I’ve heard of many people doing it. I don’t know if I’m just being overly paranoid?

Right thanks for the additional comments! I feel a bit better about the car seat thing now, I’d definitely get a taxi with a car seat. That’s just me but I do know some people who just hold there baby (too scary for me though!)

Holidaying with a non mobile baby is brilliant! We went away loads from 4 months onwards and always had a great time. Flights are sometimes free but you'll always have to pay taxes, which vary between destinations.

Most hotels/apartments will supply a travel cot but make sure you check before you book and we always confirm via email a few days before that one will be available - particularly if arriving late so will want to put baby straight to bed.

We always take a car seat with us for use in a taxi/hire car. The infant seats are so portable you'd be mad not to. You can take a car seat and pram for free on the plane. You can buy a bag off Amazon to put the car seat in so it doesn't get filthy.

We used to do night time routine and put baby in sleeping bag and to sleep in the pushchair. We got a blackout shade and walked around until he was fully asleep then enjoyed lovely dinners every night.

Oh and I've seen the car seats that have been allocated to babies by car hire firms abroad - many of them are not fit for purpose or are too big for an 8 month old. We were assured that a suitable seat was available in a taxi we prebooked in Spain. It turned up with a booster seat (DS was 18 months old). I wouldn't ever risk it. We still take his seat abroad with us and he's almost 2.

For those that take their seats are you concerned about them getting bashed about in the hold /by baggage handlers at all? Because obviously they could be damaged and no longer safe to use.

Also, Which kind of seats do you also take? Our current one is isofix with a prop leg which seems a little large to be carting round arirports!

Baby flights will vary by provider, we paid £15 this summer for our 8week old DD to fly to Crete. That was with Norwegian Air & allowed us 5kgs of luggage, & our buggy wheels & car seat. We used a lie flat car seat so we could use it as a pram, car seat & cot. The cot we were given in our self catering studio was absolutely terrifying & she would be dead if we’d used it but might be different in a hotel. I’d ask on trip advisor for first hand experience. I used a dummy on the flight to help with air pressure changes on the flight, but after a big feed before take off she slept through take off & landing!!

I put it in a car seat bag and pad it out with nappies/towels etc. We used to take the infant seat (maxi cosi pebble plus) which we had with isofix in our car but can be fitted with a seatbelt, now we have a joie everystage. What seat do you have?

Babies usually have to pay something towards the flight, even if it's just the taxes.

All in all it's pretty easy travelling with a little one. Get accommodation to sort travel cot. I have never taken a car seat either. We've rented them or just gone without. I would recommend taking a sling or carrier for the airport. You can wait a while to get your pushchair.

My dd had been on over 50 flights and to Europe, Asia and the states by the time she was 2. It's always been fine.

Have fun!

We have just booked flights through Skyscanner to Australia for when my daughter will be 7 months. They show the prices as split equally between the total number of passengers but in reality you will pay less for the baby. When we went through to the site we were buying from it showed we were paying £25 for my daughters airfare.

Pop up cots are good, and can double up as a sun tent on the beach. Ours fitted in the suitcase, fab.

Fuck lugging a car seat about. We had our little one in Hong Kong for a few weeks at 7 months, did loads of cab journeys, she was fine on our lap.
We found tummy to tummy was actually dead comfy, she nodded off.

just she was fine on your lap because the cab didn't crash but what if it had? I find it amazing that people are willing to put their child's life at risk like that. This site is weird sometimes, you get all the guilt piled on you for having a glass of wine whilst pregnant then get a bunch of posters saying they don't bother with car seats. Crazy.

For those that take their seats are you concerned about them getting bashed about in the hold /by baggage handlers at all? Because obviously they could be damaged and no longer safe to use

I’d be more worried about a cab crashing with my baby unrestrained in a seat.
We bought a protective bag for our car seat.

Also, as I said we hire cars. We like to travel about and explore on holiday. We drove over the Pyrenees into Spain in the summer, obviously wouldn’t do that without a car seat.

We've been on holiday twice with DS. At 8 months we went to Malta and went with Thompson so transfer from airport to hotel was included. DS travelled in sling on me. Not ideal but as we were otherwise walking everywhere or on buses would have been overkill to take care seat. This year we went to Spain at 18 months and hired a car so hired car seat with it.

We took our normal buggy to Malta and a cheap stroller to Spain. Latter got wrecked somewhere on the way home and no longer runs flat so worth thinking about getting a cheapo one

My tip would be to get an apartment if you can rather than hotel room. Gives you more freedom to prepare food etc, go back for naps, and option to have baby nap in quiet dark room without you having to tiptoe around.

If you only have a short transfer look up private transfers with car seats (the kind that have a board with your name on at arrivals). We did this for a trip to Rome many years ago.

Normally I'm a real low cost holidayer but it was fantastic (and not that expensive).

Babies are great for holidays.

We live abroad and took our children back to the UK for the first time a few weeks ago. We were very nervous about flying with two toddlers.

We also traveled hand luggage only to keep the costs down but that was a logistical nightmare you need as little hand luggage as possible.

Self catering was great.

We got a friend to bring car seats to the airport. It was loads of hassle. I'd take our own next time.

My tip, if you are considering a DIY holiday not a package and you are looking at Greece or Cyprus as destinations look at Aegean airlines. They were great. Families with infants get pre boarded. Dd got special food and an activity pack and staff helped us with luggage and very nervous dd!

Babies fly free but you have to pay their tax. So there is some smaller cost for them.

Hotels will sort out a cot usually. Avoid bringing heavy travel cot at all costs (unless you fork out for a seriously lightweight thing).

Car seat, you absolutely need this. Hopefully baby is still in a maxi cosi?weve travelled with babies and when we only need a few taxis here and there have had them on our knee but that's not mumsnet approved.