Car Seats Abroad

[Holyrolypoly20]

Hello,

I am taking a 7 year old and a 2.5 year old abroad. How do you handle ensuring they have safe car seats to travel in when you land? I've had a poor experience of hiring a car seat when abroad... it was basically falling apart.

Have to take them with you or rely on public transport. It's a total pain.

When DD was 3 we got a big padded bag and some bubble-wrap for a light but full car seat and put it in checked baggage as a free extra item. I was worried about how it might have been treated but didn't want to hire a seat. Since that trip we've either taken our car in a ferry or the tunnel or flown and got coach transfers (she was older so took an inflatable booster for the coach, wouldn't have been as happy with that in a car).

You can take a car seat free of charge for the 2.5 year old but you'll probably have to pay for an extra bag if you take a car seat for the 7 year old. DS has a basic high back booster seat which comes in two parts and would probably fit in a suitcase. Or could you just take a booster for the older child?

Are you hiring a car? Maybe read some reviews about the car hire company and see what previous customers have to say about the car seats provided. Some car hire companies have good reviews for their car seats.

Do you have to drive? If you get a coach transfer you don't need a car seat. You don't need a car seat in a taxi either, the child can just wear the adult seat belt even if it’s too big.

We used trunki boosters which they can use as a backpack and are accepted as hand luggage on the plane. Wouldn't be safe for a 2 year old but could be a good option for the 7 year old. We keep it in the car as a spare booster the rest of the time.

For the 7 year old look into bubble bum which are blow up booster seats, they are easily packable then

If we are hiring a car then we always bring our own seats. Their normal seat for the toddler and a booster seat for the older child which can go into the same bag with the toddler seat.

We generally stick to public transport on holidays, bringing car seats is too much to carry on top of everything else. For an older child you can use Trunki/Bubblebum/Mifold but the younger one needs a full size one which will be big and heavy.

We’ve got the Tiny seats folding car seat for our 2 year old. But, it is very heavy. There is a wheeled suitcase that protects in in the hold that we’re considering, but all in, it’s a lot of money.

We were considering the Nachfolger inflatable seat, but it was out of stock when we needed it.

if I had a choice, I would have preferred to get the Nachfolger.

We prefer public transport over the car.

Maybe look at Maxi Cosi Tanza i-size or Trunki Boostapak for the older one and Maxi Cosi Nomad for the younger? Or Halfords Impala is a cheaper rearfacing option.

After several terrible experiences with awful or hard or dirty car seats, we always take our own in a padded bag. We had to buy an extra one once because the seat offered (the only one available) was so terrible, so now we use this one as our travel car seat. It's less hassle to have it already packed up and in the boot rather than wrestling to get your seat out and into the bag, in the rain, when your kids are crying and you're late for the plane! It's made our travelling life a lot easier.

Do a Google search on Dragon's Den child equipment hire as there was someone talking about this yesterday.

This was it

https://tinyexplorers.co.uk/?srsltid=AfmBOopx9FF-ZsfGD4r333arxnwBaGxiqEnYOitRgUS6MDIIY8mxtLsA