Travel Seat Advice Please

erin327

Member
We are planning to travel this summer and I am trying to decide my best plan for car seats. We will be flying (5 hour flights) and renting a car at our destination. Most days of the trip we will have 2 hours or so of driving, but 2 days will have 7-8 hours of driving during the day. My kids are used to being in the car, but of course are used to their own seats.

DD9 is 75lbs and 53" tall. She rides in a Recaro Turbo Booster. DD5 (5 and 11 months) is 40lbs and 46" tall. She rides FF in a Radian. She rides an hour once every 2 weeks in a Frontier 90 in Booster mode. She has also ridden twice for 20 minutes in a Bumble Bum. She has ridden in airplanes several times without her car seat in the last year and has always fit fine in the plane seat belt. She is tall and thin and I feel like she might be cramped leg wise in the plane in a car seat now. I do not want to check seats or even gate check them. I don't think I want to fly with her Radian either.

Should I have both girls use Bumble Bums as we already have 2? Or should we take those and use them to drive to Walmart and buy different seats for the trip only? Should I get 2 Evenflo hbb or graco turboboosters and take them with us by carrying on the nbb portion and packing the backs with clothes? Should I get a lighter harnessed seat for DD5? What would you do?
 
ADS

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Do you have a Recaro Performance Booster or a Graco Turbo? If you have a Turbobooster, I'd probably take that with the back for the five year old, then a BubbleBum for the nine year old.

If it's a Performance Booster, I might get something like the Baby Trend Yumi folding booster for the five year old. It offers nice support for sleeping and fits in an overhead bin for travel.

Wendy
 

erin327

Member
Do you have a Recaro Performance Booster or a Graco Turbo? If you have a Turbobooster, I'd probably take that with the back for the five year old, then a BubbleBum for the nine year old.

If it's a Performance Booster, I might get something like the Baby Trend Yumi folding booster for the five year old. It offers nice support for sleeping and fits in an overhead bin for travel.

Wendy

We have the Performance Booster. We also have 2 bubble bums and a radian and a frontier.
 

brooksfamily

New member
With such long rides on your trip I'm not sure I'd use the bubble bum for either unless you know DD9 is comfortable riding in one for extended periods. I'd second the Baby Trend Yumi for DD5 and get a more supportive NBB for DD9 that you can either store under the seat in front of her or in the overhead bin.
 

erin327

Member
With such long rides on your trip I'm not sure I'd use the bubble bum for either unless you know DD9 is comfortable riding in one for extended periods. I'd second the Baby Trend Yumi for DD5 and get a more supportive NBB for DD9 that you can either store under the seat in front of her or in the overhead bin.

I am feeling like she wouldn't be comfortable in the bubble bum for so long. I was worried about that. Would she possibly fit in the Yumi alos? I could get two of those? Or maybe go to Walmart upon arrival (using bubble bums to get there I guess) and purchase 2 evenflo hbb?
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Most nine year olds will have outgrown the Yumi or Evenflos, unless they have shorter than average torsos.

Wendy
Posted via Mobile Device
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
When I measured my Yumi I got 20" to the top. About the same as the Evenflo Big Kid, and a couple of inches taller than the Evenflo Right Fit. My 6.5 year old has several inches above her shoulder, but that would put her outgrowing it at about nine years old. And her torso is not long and has never been long, so she outgrows seats by torso height later than most kids her age.

20-20.5" is in the 8/10 shirt size range. So again, many nine year olds have outgrown it. It's not something I'd bet on fitting unless I knew my nine year old had a shorter than average torso. And I'd hate to recommend a seat that is going to be picked up after travel, where the first stop is NOT the hotel or family but a store, and have it not work.

Wendy
 

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