Redux

• Babies can go in rear-facing bucket seats.  Most work until 30lbs/30″.  These are safest in a vehicle as well as easy to travel with when snapped into a stroller.
• Cosco Scenera NEXT (transported via backpack) is bulky but lightweight and works from infancy to 40lbs/40″.
• Ridesafer Travel Vest works for booster-ready kids from 35″/30lbs (size Small) up to 57″/80lbs (size Large).  Cannot be used on a plane.
• Mifold Booster is great from 40lbs/40″ all the way up to 100lbs/57″. Cannot be used on a plane.
• If you’re not driving at the other end of your trip, a CARES harness works is an airplane restraint for kids between 22-44lbs and under 40″.

Travel with young children creates a quandary of what to do about car seats.  For frequent drivers, several resources describe the pros and cons of various vehicle restraints.  The Car Seat Lady is one of my favorites.  Alas, what’s appropriate for routine use or road trips can differ wildly from what’s appropriate (or even possible) if you’re flying someplace you need a car, especially if you’re an adult going solo with kids.  Many rental car companies offer car seats, but they’re expensive.  In some markets such as NYC, Uber can provide car seats (the IMMI Go), but that’s not an option most of the time.  In other cases, you may be driving with friends/family at your destination.

Luggage for two adults and two kids flying to South Carolina for a week, including two Cosco Sceneras in backpacks.

In our household, infants ride in a Chicco Keyfit 30 (an infant bucket seat) until it’s outgrown and then move into a Diono Radian RXT convertible.  I’m a big proponent of extended rear-facing, so Peeg rear-faced in the Radian until she was just shy of 5, and now she’s forward-facing in it.  For travel, however, I refuse to carry one, let alone two or three, 27-pound behemoths.  Alas, most high quality convertible car seats hover around 20lbs, which means they’re not conducive to hand transport.  When Peeg outgrew her Chicco, I purchased a Cosco Scenera (now the Scenera NEXT) from Walmart for less than $40.  This super lightweight (7lbs), no frills car seat, coupled with an inexpensive car seat backpack, is great for travel with one kid.  When Looga was still in the Chicco, I could clip that into the caddy frame, City Mini GT double, or Kinderwagon Jump and comfortably carry the Scenera on my back.  Until Peeg outgrew the Scenera height limit a month ago, we kept two in B’s car, and on a trip to South Carolina in June, B and I each carried one in backpacks.  Despite their light weight, multiple Sceneras do not, however, fit in a single backpack, which means that – not being Hindu goddesses – most of us lack sufficient limbs to carry two and push a stroller/carry a child/bag/dog/whatever when traveling without adult help.  Also note that although they’re excellent alternate car seats, Sceneras are neither ideal for withstanding daily pummeling nor as comfortable as the Radian for longer trips.

Peeg, in a RideSafer Travel Vest, heads to an UberX with her grandmother.

This Thanksgiving we’re visiting my parents in Southern California, and if B’s work flares up, I could end up traveling alone with a 5 year old, 2.5 year old, 3 month old, and 20lb dog, with all three kids requiring car seats at both ends.  To streamline that scenario, I purchased two RideSafer Delight Travel Vests.  They’re expensive, but they both fit in my purse, and I anticipate getting ~5 years of use out of Looga’s and 7 years out of Peeg’s (once she outgrows hers, Coorgi should be ready for it).  Moreover, the company gives a discount for trading in and up a size.

Another great option is the Mifold Booster.  My lightweight kids are still too small for these, but I keep a couple in my car to transport their friends, most of whom do weigh at least 40lbs.  Mifolds are cheap, light, and ultra-compact.

Note that RideSafer doesn’t technically meet European or Australian standards (yet) because the laws there don’t cover non-booster belt positioning devices.  (In Canada, its use requires a prescription.)  That being said, per anecdotal stories, short-term travelers claim that that they’ve had no problems traveling with the vests as long as they carried the U.S. certification documentation, largely because despite differences in regulations, the laws of physics are constant across the world!

In addition to automobile safety, car seats help keep kids safe on planes in severe turbulence while also allowing them to nap more comfortably.  Most booster seats are not approved by the FAA for air travel because planes lack shoulder belts and rear tethers.  However, if you’re not traveling by car at your destination but want to keep your child from wiggling out of the plane’s lap belt without lugging a car seat, a CARES harness – the only FAA approved harness restraint, is a great alternative.

Any unrestrained mass, including a pet, can pose grave danger to passengers in case of vehicular impact.  On road trips, we buckle Yaak up for both her safety and ours using the Sleepypod Clickit Utility safety harness.