International Bumpies
lrn327
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Please help with this travel scenario (Europe-related)
lrn327
member
So on our last European trip when DS was still an inside baby, we were making our way to CDG via Metro and RER. We made it to Gare du Nord but due to an emergency on the line, the station and entire line was shut down. We were told to take buses but those never appeared so we ended up cab-sharing. If C had been on the outside though, obviously this wouldn't have been an option. I've re-played this situation so many times in my mind and can't figure out what I would do if a similar situation happened again and he was with us. Does anyone have any thoughts? I know this might vary by country, but I'm such a planner, I just like to figure out all of my options.
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Re: Please help with this travel scenario (Europe-related)
It's totally up to you but I believe that in most places Taxi's don't require car seats.
Personally I wouldn't plan for such an event because otherwise you'd end up having to plan for every eventuality. If you haven't had it happen you'd probably never have thought of it this time.
You're probably right that it will never happen again. We have a few cities that allow no seatbelts in a taxi so guess that would have been an option but cannot imagine myself doing so. I guess I would have just stayed and extra day and dealt with the additional costs. Thanks!
Cab share with baby in arms is an option. Maybe not yours but lots of people do it.
Not sure what the regulations are in France but in Canada it was the parents discretion to take a child/baby in a cab/taxi without a car seat.
FWIW, we do it infrequently and no, I don't feel like the worst mother in the world for it.
We don't have a car so won't have a carseat. On the rare occasions we will take a taxi (like on the way home from the hospital when B'H we'll bring the baby home) we will hold her. It's not really an option to have a carseat with you. I typically travel by bus so obviously won't have seatbelts or carseats there either.
huh, typing this out is making me feel awful actually.
BFP Apr 2012, EDD Dec 19 2012 * twin h/b at 6wk, 9wk scan * Baby A lost at 12wks
Baby B was my rainbow born at 36wks on Nov 27 2012
Don't feel awful. We do the same. No car and we mostly travel on foot or by bus.
There is a difference between perceived risk and actual risk. Yes, there is a chance that you could be in an accident in a cab with your newborn in arms. Others will freak out and say you shouldn't travel without a secured car seat. Yet, because you don't own a car and are in cars far less than a car owner/user, you and your child have a reduced risk of ever even being in a car accident.
Just like how people fret about dying in a plane crash when they are much more likely to die on the car ride to the airport than on the actual flight.
So a) don't feel awful and b) if you're stressed borrow an infant car seat and bring it to the hospital. When you leave tell the cabbie to turn the meter on while you install it (tip: practice on a friends car a few times before hand).
Other option: home birth
Even though I generally like to have my DD buckled in (and that includes the trip from the hotel in Paris to CDG) I wouldn't worry about it too much if something like that happened and we needed to take a cab without a car seat (somehow I don't think you would be taking public transport back to the airport with a baby/small child but that's a different story).
In fact we just got back from Europe from visiting my family and after having dinner with my aunt and uncle in Paris they took us out "on the town" (we went to see the Eiffel Tower from Trocad?ro and then to the Arc de Triomphe and finished at the hotel near the Arc) and we went in his car (and he is a crazy Parisian driver who is very creative at driving and parking ). DD sat in between us in the back seat (and she did want to be buckled in so she sort of had a lap belt) and it was fine. She was loving it (2 days later she thought she could go int he cab without being in her car seat but that didn't fly!). Ideal? Probably not, but we took the chance anyway (and did that last year saw well when we visited them).
We will likely be going to Rome in March (SD is doing a semester abroad) and won't even have a car seat for that trip so we will be taking a cab with DD on our laps.
Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do and chances that anything will happen are pretty slim. Not something you want to do everyday but not the end of the world if it happens occasionally (at least IMO).