Adventures with a kid

Do you take your car seat on holiday? Do you think the hassle isn’t worth it? Or not sure how you’d take one with you? We and all those sorts of questions, and more! 

We hadn’t taken a car seat on holiday before, but just took one on our holiday to Marrakech with a toddler, and wanted to tell you our top tips, and give you the confidence to take yours with you. Now we have taken a car seat on holiday from the UK to Morocco, would never risk a rental car seat again! 

We didn’t take a car seat with us for the first couple of holidays with the toddler, and we had a couple of eye opening experiences! 

Our first family holiday

The very first time we gleefully booked the car seat through the car rental company and didn’t think anything of it until we arrived and picked up the car seat from a rental company for the very first time….

That first time we had travelled to Corfu for our very first family holiday and hadn’t used a car seat abroad before. We were travelling with another family who had a six month old, and my son was 7 months, so we’d chosen 2 infant carriers. 

The infant carriers had no inserts, they were dirty, they smelt, were super basic, had no instructions, were really hard to tighten up and no inserts – so the babies were essentially rocking and rolling through the car journey to our Airbnb, up on a rocky cliff edge, on a trip that included many hairpin bends and steep drops!

We ended up having to use towels and blankets to support the babies, and it was awful. It stopped us from going on more adventurous days out, and really added an extra layer of stress I did not need on holiday. 

Ikos Holidays

We had a successful next couple of trips were to Ikos Resorts in Halkidiki and in Spain, and they provided an infant carrier the first time (which was clean, had all the inserts and was fitted properly), and then in Spain, once the toddler was 2 in a toddler seat, but we were able to ask for it rear facing, which was great!

Car seats in Japan

Then in Japan, we had a real mix of success with the car seats when we had private transfers! They were all forward facing (my son was 20months, and he’d never forward faced before, so was actually terrified the first few times!).

Some car seats in Japan were great, despite being forward facing, but were fitted securely to the car seat, included all the attachments and were clean. But a few were worth the double check! They either weren’t attached properly, couldn’t be tightened properly or were just completely the wrong size (we had an infant one that we managed to squeeze the toddler into, rather unhappily!).

I had a driver get annoyed at me for double checking how the car seat was secured in the car – and turns out it could just flop about, and he’d missed attaching the seatbelt through the back of the seat, thereby meaning if there was a crash, my son wouldn’t have been protected at all! We had trouble with the driver as he just acted very angry I was trying to add the seatbelt to the correct locations, and he was trying to drive off before it was sorted! But it wasn’t the end of the world, I fixed it, and we carried on our journey! 

Car seats in Marrakech

Even before our trip to Marrakech with our toddler, my husband was still questioning if the ‘hassle’ of taking the car seat was worth it, but it really didn’t add any extra time or hassle to our trip and I’m so glad we did it. 

Read on to find out our top tops for travelling with a car seat! 

What is the best travel car seat? 

We bought the Graco Slimfit R129 which is less than £100 in Halfords. Given that a rental car seat can cost £60 or more for a holiday, this is a bargain! It rear faces until about 4 years old, then is a HBB – a high backed booster, so we’ll get years of use out of it. 

If your baby still fits in their infant carrier – take that, even if you don’t use it day to day at home.

We also looked at the Nachfolger and one or two others, but the Graco Slimfit has worked well – as it’s actually light enough for me to pick up with one hand. 

You could take your seat you use at home, but I thought the risk of it getting too bashed up, or lost, just wasn’t worth it. And both of ours are isofix, and I can barely get them out of the car as they are so heavy!

How do you take a car seat on the plane from the UK? 

Keep the box it comes in, and repack it at the airport. It’s as simple as that!

Make sure you pack some extra tape so that you can seal the car seat up.

We don’t have enough space in the car for suitcases and a car seat box, so we pack the box flat, and use the car seat for the journey to the airport – it also works if you’re taking a taxi or a friend is dropping you off at the airport as you can use the car seat first. 

We then pop the box up, pack it back up and pop it on a trolley.

What do you do with a car seat at the airport? 

When you check your bags in, you let the check-in staff know that you want to check-in a car seat, and they label your box, for you to then take round the corner to oversized baggage collection. 

You drop it off, and hope it arrives the other side! Don’t forget to pick it up after you picked your suitcases up at your destination, luckily, you can pick it up at the same place you pick up checked in prams.

Do you take your car seat onto the plane?

In the UK, it’s not particularly usual to travel with a car seat whilst actually on the plane – there aren’t many that are approved for that. 

Can you help me with any other car seat advice for toddlers and babies?

It’s not my speciality, but I’ve learnt so much being part of the Facebook group, Bump to Booster, so please check them out as they also all sell car seats, if you’re looking to buy a new car seat. 

What do you do in taxis?

We do occasionally use taxis or public transport and therefore can’t use our own car seat as we have nowhere to store it.

For longer days out, you can look at booking a car with a driver for the day (your own personal driver!), which is what we have done for our big adventures in Morocco, but for shorter trips (I.e. meals out), we aim to try to:

1. Walk
2. Take public transport
3. Ask hotel to book us a taxi with a car seat (not ideal, but better than nothing), and then make sure you get their number for the way home.

Our top tips for taking a car seat on holiday – summary

• If you can, purchase a spare seat for holidays, grandparents and trips with friends. Buying this when the child is young will mean it will pay for itself! (£100 for the graco slimfit, compared to £90 for a rubbish rental seat, that you only get for 2 weeks!).
• Take a car seat on holiday if you’ll be doing lots of driving – don’t rely on rental car seats.
• If you’re not travelling around too much, look into public transport from the airport to the resort area you’re in, and even consider this when booking accommodation to ensure easy access to key locations .