Traveling- help me think this through

ldcoffel

So we are going to be flying to a theme park in April. We are taking both kids and my mom (which I am super excited about and will be a huge help.) We will be renting a car and will need two car seats. It will cost about a hundred dollars a piece to rent for the week. We only have one set of car seats in my car, because DH uses his for work, and uses my car when he has the kids.

So my idea was just to buy low cost (<100) carseats and take them with us. Check at the gate and then we will have a a second set, have them for the trip, and know they are safe. His objection is that it is going to be too  much work to carry them through the airport.  Is he right? Is it going to be too much hassle to carry two kids, luggage, stroller, and two car seats? That's a lot, right?

 Second part is the stroller. I don't have a double, because L usually walks, and if she gets tired, I just throw her in the top and she side saddles until we are done. Or she has ridden in the basket below.  But I think we should take two umbrella strollers to the park. That way we can separate and and divide the weight. I think we should take our umbrella stroller through the airport and buy a second one at Target when we get there. Because she can walk through the airport, but K will be in the stroller.

 Wow, I've been thinking a lot about this....

better solutions?  

Ms5586

Does the park rent strollers?  That'd be easier than bringing and buying one. And I'm no help on the flying/carseat thing.

ldcoffel

Yes, but they are expensive and hard plastic. I think they would be more likely to sleep in a more comfortable stroller. And we would have to carry the kids through the parking lot. 

memali26

I'm going to preface this by saying I've never flown with my kids, so maybe I'm missing something, but I think getting a second set of car seats isn't a bad idea, and I would definitely feel more comfortable with my own seats than rented ones. I can see your DH's point that it would he a hassle to carry them through the airport, but I think you can get handles with wheels to pull them along. Or maybe get a luggage cart at the airport - I can't remember if those are free for use or if you have to rent them, though...

And I think your two umbrella stroller theory is a good one as long as you don't mind dodging two strollers in and out of crowds at the theme park. Otherwise I'd probably rent one at the park and just take a blanket to make it cushier. 

 

Cotton

We have flown with the 4 kids and I know how stressful the prep can be. We had 3 big suitcases and 4 car seats and some carryons. The hard part was just getting ourselves to the desk where you check your bags. We checked the seats double bagged in trashbags and it worked just fine. We took a stroller to the gate and checked it at the gate...and it came right out to us, perfect. The insane part was yet to come, though: getting 3 big suitcases, 4 seats, carryons and 4 children out to the place where we picked up the rental minivan at our destination. I wore LO so we could use the stroller as a carseat mover. My then 7yo pulled a suitcase strapped with another car seat on it. It was bananas!

I would do the two umbrella strollers, but save yourself the target trip and just buy it here. Let them both ride in strollers thru the airport and it might be easier than holding L's hand. (PM me if you want to chat more!)