r/Travelwithkids

We invested in a pretty nice car seat and stroller. We also would like to travel a good amount going forward. Are padded travel bags enough to protect a stroller and car seat when they’re checked? Or is the better solution to buy a cheap stroller that we travel with and don’t mind if it gets scuffed up. Experiences pls?

I’m traveling abroad in Germany for a family funeral and my 3.5 year old just won’t eat. I offer her all the things we have at home (she’s semi-picky) and make Mac and cheese we brought and she’s just not interested. I know the jet lag is hard with eating but any suggestions or tricks from others who have experienced something similar? We are on day 6 of our trip.

We have been invited to a wedding in Greece next year. Ideally we would go for 10-12 days and make a family vacation out of it. I am currently pregnant and we’d have an 8 month old at the time of the trip. (We are also first time parents.)

Are we crazy for considering this? It would involve either 1) 15-16 hours of flying, including a layover, and then a 3 hour drive to the venue (we would stay 2-3 nights after landing before the drive), or 2) a flight from the west coast to the east coast, stay the night there, then fly to main city plus the long drive, 3) a 12-ish hour flight to Europe, over night, then fly closer to the venue (90 minute drive).

We would also add in 1-2 other cities in Greece since it’s obviously a ton of travel for us to get there.

We may be able to have a family member come with us to watch baby while we’re at the wedding, but that’s also up in the air.

I know we also don’t know what “kind” of baby we will have, so one that sleeps well and is easy will obviously make a difference.

Thanks for any thoughts and tips.

Anyone ever rent a car seat from a rental car place? Considering doing this through National, but don’t want to if it’s going to be gross or one that my 7 month old finds uncomfortable

Hey everyone! Planning an 18-day trip to Southern Portugal and Spain in September with my wife and our 1yo. We’re flying in and out of Faro and will be renting a car for the duration of the trip.

We’re trying to figure out if we have the right number of days in each spot and the best spots to stay.

Draft Itinerary (18 nights):
- Algarve - Carvoeiro/Ferragudo (7 nights)
- Seville (4 nights)
- Cadiz - Conil de la Frontera (6 nights)
- Last night near Faro airport (1 night)

Would love to hear from anyone who has traveled through the area especially with young kids.

Thanks in advance!

Bonjour! My family is traveling to Paris mid-September, and our baby will be just over 4 months old. I was hoping I could get some specific feedback about what dining is like in Paris with a baby. We have an apartment and will eat in from time to time or will swap off some people eating out while others stay in with the baby during dinner time, but I would love to know what it’s like dining out at lunch with a baby in a stroller? This will be my 9th trip to Paris, and I speak French but I’ve never traveled with a baby and have some apprehension. Merci!

my husband and i are flying with our 18 month old to London then on a one-week yacht trip with my whole family. Call me crazy, i have been agonizing about this for months but we ultimately decided to bring him along. Any tips for traveling with toddler on yachts? Also, our flight to london has seat configuration in economy plus of 2-4-2. I currently have 2 booked (baby would be at window, me in aisle) then my husband would be in aisle next to from me. Do we think that’s the the better option as compared to 3 next to each other with a stranger in the 4th seat?

On the way back we have 3 business class seats,
Hoping the baby will sleep in his own seat and one of us will have to just stay awake to watch him. Has anyone does this? I’m also debating if we just do 3 premium economy instead….decisions decisions

Would you put a 4, almost 5 year old in the middle seat of the plane with an open aisle seat? I will have a lap infant who breastfeeds, so I was planning on sitting by the window with the baby. I'm 200+ pounds as well so the middle seat isn't usually the best choice for me, in addition to the awkwardness of breastfeeding in such close proximity to a stranger. My 4 year old is generally pretty well behaved. We flew a year ago and she did great and played her tablet the whole 2 hour flight.

Thanks all!

In two days we'll be traveling by air to visit my parents (domestic flight) with our 7 month old sensitive FOMO baby. I don't really want to travel this early but my husband is from out of the country and really wants to visit his family before the year is out (they refuse to come visit us, long story ...) so this is a test trip to see how it goes.

Any tips? Normally he doesn't like to sit still very long. Longest we've done in the car seat is an hour but he's usually closer to 20-30 minutes max. Toys don't keep him engaged for long. I'm expecting a lot of aisle walking. I'm hoping since we have to wake up early (4 hours earlier than normal) to get to the airport he'll just sleep on the plane, but my fear is he won't be able to sleep (he struggles to sleep out of the house). And when he's tired but can't sleep, say hello to nuclear meltdowns.

Would love to hear from anyone else who has a sensitive baby how to survive the travel with minimal casualties lol.

Hi fellow Parents,

We are traveling with our 15-month old to India from US next month. We bought her a seat (we are all in Economy/Economy Comfort) so she would have space (and we would be able to put her down, she is getting quite big). We are debating between carrying her car seat on the plane (Maxi Cosi Romi) or getting a CARES harness. She will be 22 lbs by then and doesn't like being in her car seat for too long, but naps in it well when she does fall asleep. Any suggestions/experiences? A few of our concerns either ways:

1. Car Seat is a big item to lug around with the baby and our cabin luggage (will have 2-3 backpacks/diaper bag and likely one carry on suitcase) plus stroller (which we will gate check). We have the car seat backpack but its still a pain to carry it through the airport and on to the plane (presumably)

2. Installing and un-installing car seat with baby is likely a tough task. Or am I overthinking this?

3. Is the CARES harness safe for her? She is lean and tall for her age.

4. Do kids "slip" off the seat with the harness? What do parents do to prevent this?

Any tips/advice would be great to help us make the decision.

Also appreciate any other general advice on traveling with an active toddler on multiple 8+ hour flights.

Hi everyone, I'm a first-time mom and we're about to take an 8-hour flight to my home country. I'm honestly pretty scared.

My daughter is 5 months old, she's never used a pacifier, and I'm exclusively breastfeeding.
I'm worried about what happens if she gets cranky or overtired and I can't settle her, and that I'll be disturbing other passengers.

For parents who've done long flights with a
5-month-old: what helped the most? Any tips for feeding, naps, and managing takeoff/landing without a pacifier?

Thank you so much in advance

Anyone travel with a regular Bob stroller? I love mine. The wheels are awesome. It goes over any ground. It doesn’t fold up tiny but it does fold up. Weighs somewhere between 20-30lbs. Am I crazy for thinking about bringing it to Vietnam from the states? I feel like it would get used about 1/3rd of the time but when it does get used it will be so nice! Also I hear the streets aren’t the most stroller friendly - a lot of curb jumping, cracks, etc. so something with rugged tires would be nice. Also, I got this stroller off market place for $20. So worst case scenario is I would leave it? Idk I have never traveled over seas with children.

We currently have an uppababy Cruz and an uppababy minu for travel. Baby is 17 months and has recently hated his minu. He wants to sit fully upright and it’s reclined a lot even when at the most upright setting. Any recommendations for travel strollers (light, can fit in overhead compartment) that sit more upright?

We are from Europe and will travel to Asia from the end of December to the end of March 2027. Our family: me, my wife and our two kids, 9 and 13 years old.

We discussed if we want and open travel plan, being able to adjust depending on the weather our mood or whatever, compared to having a planned trip enabling us to look forward to our journey, cities and places we will be visiting. We chose the latter (because it was tremendous fun to plan and will most likely enable us to enjoy being there instead of being there and having to spend time planning).

Anyways, now we have a plan, booked flights and places to stay (most of them with free cancellation). I am posting here in case it can help others planning their own trip, and in case you have suggestions for us on the trip overall, specific locations, great restaurants, or any other tips.

We used the app TripIt (only for free features) for keeping an automatic overview of our trip, and a good-old-excel-file to enter expenses and some other details.

We generally check several apps for flights and accommodation to find the best deals. Crazy how much the prices differ for exactly the same flight or stay!!

Travel and accomomdation	what we’ll do; duration	prices in Euro (rough numbers) and where we booked
flight from Europe to Japan, Osaka	depart in the evening, arrive next day in the evening local time; 18 hours, one lay over	2200 €; China Southern Airlines found vi flygresor.se app and booked on ticket.se
From Osaka airport, go straight to a private house in Kyoto	9 days in Kyoto to adjust to the new time zone, celebrate new years, see the city and make some day trips	1300 € for the house; found on airbnb
Take the train to Nikko and stay at Roost Hostel Nikko	just 1 night at the hostel. we need that stop to catch the bus to the national Park stay	100 €; booking
Stay in the Nikko national park at Hatcho No Yu	2 nights. Beautiful nature, warm, and quietness.	730 €; I did not succeed to book via their own website (I think it only worked when having an address in Japan) and had to book via expedia
Take the bus and train to Tokyo. Stay at Grand Hostel LDK	7 nights. experience the city and have time to do some schoolwork with the kids.	800 €; agoda
Fly from Tokyo to Asahikawa on Hokkaido	2 hours	300 €; Japan Airlines
Skiing in Furano! Stay at Hotel Edel Warme; breakfast and dinner included.	6 nights. we wanted to use this trip to experience Japanese powder snow. Furano seems to be the best combination of resort, affordable price	2200 €; agoda
Fly from Sapporto to Seoul, South Korea	3 hours	1000 €; found on skyscanner
Stay in Seoul; Happy Garden Guethouse	4 nights. maybe go concert, and definitely see the border to North Korea	310 €; via booking
Fly from Seoul to Beijing	3 hours	400 €; found on skyscanner
Stay in Beijing; Base Beijing Wangfujing apartments	5 nights. do the major sightseeing and have time for school work	430 €; booking com
Take night train to ZhangJiaJie	1 night. it’s a a four person compartment.	300 €; found on 12trip
Stay in ZhangJiaJie; Zhangjiajie National Park Nvue Resort	4 nights. i’m sure it’s more beautiful in spring or summer. but likely not as crowded this time of year.	400 €; booking com
Train to ChongQing	some hours	150 €; 12trip
Stay in ChongQing; Skyline Curated Hotel	3 nights. eat hot pot take the cable cars and see Chinese city	110 €, booking com
Train to YangShuo	some hours	200 €; 12trip
Stay in YangShuo; Snow Lion Riverside Resort	6 nights. hopefully it’s a bit warmer as we are further south. cycling and climbing and take time for some schoolwork.	400 €; breakfast included; booking com
Train to Hong Kong	some hours	220 €; 12trip
Stay in HongKong; YMCA of Hong Kong	7 nights; so we have time for two days Disneyland	1000 €; on YMCA of Hong Kong - HOME the non refundable rate
Fly from HongKong to Phnom Penh	some hours	650 €; found on skyscanner and booked on vietnamairlines
Stay in Phnom Penh; Chaiya Palace Hotel	4 nights. enjoy this luxury hotel at an extremely affordable price. Have time for some schoolwork	260 €; agoda
Taxi to Koh Ta Kiev	some hours	will find it once there
Stay in Koh Ta Kiev at Kactus Sanctuary Cambodia	6 nights. be as close as it can get when you want quietness white sand beach and still be in community with other travelers.	600 €; booked on Kactus own website
Taxi to Phnom Penh	some hours	will find once there
Stay in Phnom Penh to catch flight to Bangkok early next morning. Phnom Penh Infinity Pool stay	1 night; we learned that the land boarder between Cambodia and Thailand is closed and so we have to fly	7 €!!!! crazy price on agoda
Flight, Phnom Penh to Bangkok DMK	some hours	320 €; found the cheapest price for our connection on booking com , which was the first time I ever booked a flight there
Taxi form DMK to Koh Chang	some hours	will find once there
Stay on Koh Chang at Nature Beach Resort	13 nights. Enjoy the beach. the pool and some activities have time for school work	1100 €; booked on Nature Beach Resort
Taxi from Koh Chang to Bangkok	some hours	will find once there
Stay in Bangkok; De Chalet hostel	3 nights. do a bit of sightseeing and just enjoy the last days of our travel journey before heading home	100 €, booked on agoda
Flight from Bangkok to Europe; depart late evening, overlay in Istanbul 6-9 a.m. local time, then onwards to our home city.	1 night	1900 €; turkish airlines booked on Lastminute com

Hey everyone,

We’re supposed to leave for Japan in 2 weeks with my wife and our 23-month-old daughter. Pre-trip anxiety is peaking and I’m honestly thinking to cancel it (full refundable)

I’ve been to Japan 4 times already, so I know my way around and how things work. What’s terrifying me is managing my daughter. She is extremely active, super energetic, and currently in that phase where she falls and bumps into things constantly.

Our plan was to stay for 1-2 months with a super slow setup: 2 weeks fixed in Tokyo (Asakusa/Taito area) and 2 weeks in Kyoto, using apartments as bases so we can respect naps, cook at home, and take it easy. No rushed itineraries.

Before I pull the trigger and cancel, I'd love your take:

\- Is managing a super hyperactive/accident-prone toddler in Japan a total nightmare, or manageable if we go slow?

\- How bad was the jet lag from Europe with a kid this age, and how long did it take to adjust?

\- For those who did it, was it actually worth it or did you regret not waiting until they were older?

Be brutally honest. Is canceling a smart move, or am I just panicking over nothing? Thanks!

My wife and I are trying to decide whether to turn an upcoming work trip into a family vacation.
I have meetings near Denver on August 26 and 27. Afterward, we were thinking of visiting Glenwood Springs and Ouray before returning home around September 3 or 4.
We have a 2-year-old and a 4-month-old.

OPTION 1: FLY ROUND-TRIP
• Approximately $1,500 for the additional family airfare
• We would rent and return a car in Denver
• Much less travel time
• We would need to manage the airport with an infant, toddler, stroller, luggage and car seats
• We would probably need to buy a lighter FAA-approved car seat for the toddler

OPTION 2: RENT A VEHICLE IN PHILADELPHIA AND DRIVE ROUND-TRIP
• Approximately $2,000 for a two-week SUV or minivan rental before gas
• Additional hotels and meals along the way
• Around 26 hours of driving each direction, divided over several days
• More room for baby equipment and the ability to travel at our own pace
• The drive could become part of the vacation—or become an exhausting amount of time in the car

OPTION 3: SKIP THE FAMILY PORTION
• I fly to Denver alone for the meetings
• My wife and children stay home
• We save the money and take a dedicated family vacation another time

Initially, Colorado sounded like a fun way to combine a work trip with a family vacation. Now that we’re looking at the costs and logistics, we’re questioning whether bringing everyone is worth it.

Parents who have traveled this far with a toddler and infant: which option would you choose?

Did a multi-day road trip feel easier than flying, or was flying much more manageable than expected?

Does this Colorado trip sound worthwhile with approximately a week available after the meetings?

Hi all - any advice for setting up my son’s seat for a 9 hour red eye?

I am anxious to do a car seat for that long, I doubt he would sleep well / would be agreeable.

Part of me wants to try to jet kids extender which isn’t allowed on Lufthansa, and test my luck while also strapping him in with the seatbelt for safety. But since it’s not an approved device, how can I keep my toddler secure (if not in a car seat) and also both try to catch some rest?

I did purchase him his own seat, and us and his dad will have the row to ourselves.

Stories / suggestions welcome.