How do you carry car seat, stroller, luggage, and toddler by yourself?

[Lucia]

At the end of May I am getting ready to make a very long trip (from Japan to Louisiana) with my one year old son. I have been trying to prepare and I have read some other posts with good suggestions about traveling with little ones (luckily my little guy has flown quite a bit, but this is the first time without my husband). So my question is for parents who have experience flying solo...how do you physically carry all of the necessary things while also trying to keep track of an active toddler?

I am planning to travel with our Roundabout seat (son will have his own seat on plane), our Kelty convertible stroller (not traditional stoller so I don't think I can put car seat on stroller if needed), one large suitcase to check in and one large backpack (that also rolls) for carry-on. I will have to change planes three times and also have to navigate customs. Total travel time will be close to 22 hours including lay over time...yikes!

Does anybody recommend using a luggage cart for car seat and if so, which one? I have also heard that it is possible to wear car seat on my back...how feasible is this?

Any tips, advice, encouragement would be great! I just wish I had a few more arms!:)

thanks,
Lucia

[raynjen]

Lucia, you are in Okinawa right? You can borrow our carseat backpack bag. We just used it for our Japan to Texas flight - it fits the RA you can wear it on your back AND roll it behind you.

When you check in here the Japanese attendants will bend over backwards to help you get everything to the counter. You won't see your large suitcase again until you clear customs in the states. There they will have those huge carts that you can pile everything on for free.

I'm trying to envision this, I think you will have to push the Kelty with one hand (can you do that on smooth surfaces?) put the RA on your back and pull the backpack behind you (another option - depending on how big your backpack is - is to put it in the seat of the RA and zip it up inside. This is just for changing planes.

When you get to the location where you will be going through customs - after you clear the passport area - enter the area with all the luggage belts. Go straight to the carts. Leave your son in the stroller (for now) and put your backpack on the cart. Go to the belt and collect your other bag. Then take son out of stroller and put him in the basket of the cart (similar to a grocery cart) and put the stroller on top of the other luggage (don't do this while you are snatching your luggage as the seat isn't a very secure - you need to be right with him while he's in it).

Do you have a good reason to take the Kelty (e.g. you will be hiking at your destination) cause otherwise I recommend going with a cheap umbrella stroller. We took our Kelty on our last trip and regretted it. All the straps were always getting in the way and I didn't really realize how much handling it was going to get by the airlines. It came through okay with only minor dings, but in retrospect it was a pretty risky way to treat an expensive piece of equipment. Also it didn't let my daughter nap AT ALL.

Now as for active - I would find myself the most out of the way place where we laid over and park my stuff in the aisle between two rows of seats, I tried to make a cul-de-sac with me and the luggage on one end and the wall of windows on the other. DD ran and ran and ran back and forth, climbed the chairs (the only time I ever let her do that). Now, she's a lot older, so I could keep her from crawling over or under the seats by telling her no. That probably won't work with your son, so be prepared to hop back up and chase him down.

Our other trick was to take LONG walks with her walking. Put the backpack in the stroller, the RA on your back and trot along behind him.

Good luck and post/email if you want to borrow our car seat carrier.

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to Noelle (2 1/2)

[brubeck]

We encountered this exact problem and to solve it we got a Sit N Stroll. This is a carseat that has popout wheels on the bottom and converts into a stroller. It is MADE for airplane travel. No need to lug the big carseat because you are pushing it in front of you. No need to worry about putting your stroller in the Overhead Bin because it is a carseat in his seat on the plane.

They are a little pricey, but honestly if you only use it the one trip you can EBay it when you get home and make most of your money back. That's what we did and we even made a little cash on the deal.

Good luck!

[Lucia]

Thanks for the great advice...it is so wonderful to have so many wise and experienced parents around for help. Jen, that is very generous of you to offer your carseat cover..we will be gone from May 31-July10th, a big chunk of time...so it may be better for us to look into buying something similar. We are in Korea right now and it seems like they have so many things for sale here we may find something that would do the trick. Did you buy your car seat bag in Okinawa?

I also started to check into buying the sit-n-stroll but came across a recall notice for the newer models and I worry that it wouldn't arrive before our departure date. I like the idea of the sit-n-stroll, especially since we do so much air travel so it will probably be a future purchase for us.


Just thinking this through with others helps to ease some of my anxiety!

Lucia
mom to Noah 2/2003

[raynjen]

We bought our car seat bag from Walmart online. It came in only one week (a miracle of military postal service that I have yet to get over :)). I want to say it was around $25. A lot of people posted that they were dissapointed in the thinness of the fabric so I took the precaution of covering vunerable areas with duct tape. However, this would only apply if you were sending your carseat through with the luggage (so, not in your case).

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to Noelle (2 1/2)

[Lucia]

Jen,
You're right that is a miracle....quick military postal service! Thanks for the advice about buying the bag from Walmart. We were actually able to find a bag in Korea that rolls and the seat fits into it with enough room for the backpack I plan to use as the carry on. So I am feeling much better because now I will only have to roll two things...the stroller and the bag!

Now I am starting to gather small items to keep my son occupied on the trip....searching for a travel size magna doodle, the color magic markers, and other small activities to keep him busy. I figure the hundred yen stores will be a good place to find some small things as well. Thanks again for all of your help! Now that the weather is getting nice let me know if you ever want to meet up at one of the local parks/beaches!

Lucia
mom to Noah 2/2003

[raynjen]

Lucia,

The hundred yen shop in the Meikman store (in America's village) has a travel sized 'Magna Doodles'. They are the cheap plastic, but I KNOW they have them which is more than I can say for AAFES. Oh! It is so good to talk to someone that I don't have to spell out all the acronyms to.

I would like to meet sometime. We just tried out the park behind Navel Kadena for the first time today. The March Okinawa Living had a pretty good article about seven parks that I've never heard of before so I am looking forward to trying them all out...

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to Noelle (2 1/2)

[joelbra]

There is always the option of not bringing the car seat on the plane. We've travelled a total of 20 flights with my almost three year old son and have only used the car seat once. It was nice to have, as he slept in it without having his legs in my lap (as he does when sleeping on an airplane seat without a car seat) but with all of you plane changes, it may not be worthwhile.