Travel advice with a 5 month old Post Reply

[multi-multitasker]

We have booked our first holiday to Canada as a family and I can't wait to go. The little one will be 5 months at this point. I am after some advice on what to take, we are flying with BA re luggage allowance.

We will be hiring a car for 3 days (of 2 week trip) - is it worth taking own car seat or would it be better to take your own. If so should it be checked in (I think you can buy a rucksack style bag) or used with the wheels of travel system and take to the gate?

We have a Bugaboo buffalo - while we are currently using the pram, I am hoping he will be in the pushchair part by this time. Is it worth taking this or taking a Maclaren style buggy or should we take the Buffalo or should be just take wheels and the carseat? I am not sure if this will be appropriate for 2 weeks.

We will be taking a train as well and want to make sure we are efficient in what we bring with us and hence looking for advice on what is best to take. Thanks in advance!

[oab]

We have travelled BA to Turkey with a 3 months old about 18 months ago.
We took the pushchair + car seat - we dropped both off at the airplane door.I don't think there are any luggage allowance on prams.
BA can tell you what happens on arrival - at most airports your pram/car seat will be delivered alongside your normal luggage.

If there are free seats, I think they'll let you take your car seat in the plane (you can put your LO in car seat it in the free seat, except during take off/landing).

While on holidays, we used the car seat quite a lot (in taxis, etc) but having the pushchair was also useful and it's not that much extra to take along.

[theduchess1977]

HI

We travelled to Rome with a 9 week old. We took both a pram and a car seat with us. We had to check them both in at the desk (but if we had a pushchair you could take this to the gate with you), make sure you have a cover for your pram if you check it in at the gate as we forgot one and it came out a pretty murky colour at the other end! They were free to check in and there weren't any restrictions on them. They got delivered in the arrivals hall at a side entrance to the carousel

We used the car seat quite a lot, but if you are having to lug it round with you it might be easier to hire one with your car so you don't have to take it on the train with all the other stuff you will have with you.
Have a great holiday!

[Mellomumma]

BA are great for travelling with babies, they allow a buggy and a carseat in addition to your baggage allowance as well as a baggage allowance for your baby in addition to your own.
Having travelled using both a bugaboo and maclaren, I would personally recommend using a maclaren or pushchair as they are easier for travelling than the bulkier bugaboo if you have that option. The maclaren folds down easily at the gate, easily folded down and stored on trains and take up less space in your hire car (have many a time put it accross the back seat floor to free up the boot space) As for carseat on bugaboo wheels, if you are planning on doing sightseeing or there being times where your bub spends a great amount of time in the buggy then I dont think they would be as comfortable in carseat on the wheels, in my opinion. As for carseats, if you do decide to take your own I would check the regulations in Canada and make sure your carseat is allowed. Likely will be fine but there are differing laws across the globe (e.g. Australia doesnt allow the use of isofix carseats) so you dont want to take your carseat over to find you cant use it.
Honestly in our experience the less you have to carry with you the easier it is so you might want to think about once you are not using a hire car how often will you need the seat because you will have to carry it with you for the rest of the 2 weeks as well as your luggage, baby stuff (nappy bag etc), your bub etc... That pretty much goes for everything, less is just easier.
Hope you guys have a great time, it is a great age to go away with.

[fairyviv]

might sound a bit basic - but take some toys.. our poor 4 month old (at the time) had one toy for amusment one long weekend holiday... we felt so bad, we went out a got him a few from the local shop!

fabric books are excellent for taking on the plane.