taxi tourism/day trip with toddler?

fusionbride

How do you do it!?  We are going on a trip to a city where things are spread out, so occasionally you have to take a taxi to various sites.  I am absolutely befuddled about how you do this with a carseat.  Do i have to cart the carseat around all day with us to the museum and through the botanical gardens etc?  That just doesn't seem feasible...  

But we are not renting a car, nor do I want to be taking my 20 month old in a taxi without a carseat..

Sometimes public transportation is an option (I'm assuming its OK to take a kid on a bus without a carseat?  As a suburban girl with a car, I haven't taken LO on a bus yet!), but sometimes the taxi ride is the only way to get to certain places...

Does anyone have experience with this?  Is there an obvious solution I am just missing?  

mb314

I have been guilty of taking DS in a taxi without a car seat.  He was in the Ergo, and I just strapped the seat belt around us.  It wasn't ideal, but I was in NYC and it was what I needed to do at the time (actually, times). 

You may be able to find a car service that offers car seat options.  I found one in NYC for trips to/from the airport.  If you find a car service with car seats, you can just arrange for them to pick you up at certain times.  Or, does the city you're visiting have services like Lyft or Uber?  I've never used them, but my city has Lyft and it's becoming more and more popular.  I would bet that there are Lyft/Uber drivers that have car seats in their cars.  It's worth investigating.

FWIW - the drivers for the car service I used did a crappy job of installing the car seat, so I basically had to re do it when they picked me up.  Those drivers aren't car seat experts, so you should check the installation. 

amief

We live in an urban area and unfortunately there is no great solution for this.  I try to consider where I am going and basically try really hard to avoid taxis when possible.  We walk and use public transport with either a stroller or baby carrier.   If you happen to be going to NYC, I believe their Uber now has taxis with car seats, so you could use them.  

When I have no choice but to take a taxi, I carry along the carseat.  Because of this I got the lightest convertible seat I could find, and I recently ordered a strap which I plan to attach to it, so I can carry it more easily.  If you'll be bringing a stroller or rolling luggage there are straps you can buy to attach the carseat so you don't have to hold it, but it is stil one more thing to lug around.

LSU628

You could use one of the Gogo Kidz Travelmate things and use the carseat as a stroller when you aren't in the cab. It would still be a pain, but it's better than carrying a carseat.