Europe 4 Kids?

Next year, we are planning on going to my hometown in Austria to spend the holidays with my family. The one thing I can't quite figure out, is how to handle the car seat situation. We will have 4 layovers and 4 kids with us, so lugging seats isn't really an option. Everyone's cars over there are teeny tiny - I really can't even imagine one car seat in them! And the roads seem narrow even for the tiny cars. We are staying with my grandparents and plan on just being picked up from the airport by them and other relatives and then mostly getting around on foot (small town!!)

We will have a 7.5 year old, an almost 5 year old, an almost 3 year old and a 14 month old. So...wwyd?

All my kids are 40-60th percentiles, so average size, if it makes a difference.

I'd get Ride Safer Travel Vests or BubbleBums or Boostapaks for the five and seven year olds (the Boostapaks are European, so have them delivered to your family and left there). For the three year old I'd get an Evenflo Maestro, and for the 14 month old I'd have a rear facing Cosco Scenera or a Combi Coccoro (the Coccoro was designed for tiny Japanese cars). I'd get a luggage cart and put the two carseats on it and wheel them through the airport, and have the BubbleBums or RSTVs in your carryons, and if you have the Boostapaks they'll be waiting for you.

Wendy

wendytthomas said:

I'd get Ride Safer Travel Vests or BubbleBums or Boostapaks for the five and seven year olds (the Boostapaks are European, so have them delivered to your family and left there). For the three year old I'd get an Evenflo Maestro, and for the 14 month old I'd have a rear facing Cosco Scenera or a Combi Coccoro (the Coccoro was designed for tiny Japanese cars). I'd get a luggage cart and put the two carseats on it and wheel them through the airport, and have the BubbleBums or RSTVs in your carryons, and if you have the Boostapaks they'll be waiting for you.

Wendy

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Travel vests sound like an excellent idea! If you think the Maestro and Scenera (we own a Scenera already) would fit in a tiny car, then we could put Maestro + vest kid in one car and Scenera + other vest kid in another car, with me in the front seat and husband in the front seat of the other car - so we only need two kids per seat. I'm still not sure about getting the big seats over there - getting four kids through international security with enough carry on luggage to get all six of is through a 20+ hour trip, I am just not sure where the extra hands for a luggage cart would come from... I did airport security with three kids last spring and would not have been able to handle any car seats (just getting me and the kids through security with bags and a stroller was hard - and I only had one layover. I will have an extra adult next year, but also another kid and it's international flights with 4 layovers!) Are there car seats I could order there or have my relatives buy that are not too expensive? I have no idea what car seats are used there now - when I was born I came home fro the hospital in a moses basket on the floorboard in the 1970s LOL!

I meant two kids per car not per seat LOL! Sorry - sleep deprived mama!!

I have all these relatives over there but no one that has little kids! I am the oldest of my cousins, so none of them have kids yet but they are all teens or in their 20s.

Can't the almost 3 year old be in a vest? What are the limits/guidelines for those? I have seen them mentioned on this board, but never seen one or looked into them.

They're three years and 30 pounds. But they tend not to fit well at 30 pounds.

What if you put the carseats in the stroller and put the 14 month old in a carrier? Then had the three year old ride on a suitcase?

Your 14 month old needs a seat on the plane. Rather than have your family buy a carseat you don't know, that likely won't rear face, why not bring your carseat, push it along (and maybe attach the other seat elsewhere) and have your baby ride in the carseat, and have your family over there buy you a stroller to use?

Wendy

We may not even need a stroller once we're over there... we weren't sure about taking one on the trip, but if car seats weren't an issue would probably take a light umbrella just for getting around those 4 airports. Isn't there some sort of thing that could turn the Scenera into a stroller? If so, we can just do that for the 14 month old instead of a stroller... then have my family buy a seat for the almost 3 year old? As long as it's safe (and I'm assuming they have similar regulations there that let only safe seats be sold??) and he's within the size/weight range for it, I'm not too worried about loving the seat, since it will pretty much just be used to and from the airport once and then maybe a time or two MAYBE around town. Why the 3 year old rule on the vest (assuming the kid weighs enough)? Just curious.

Oh my gosh - I just looked up the Boostapaks - SO COOL!

The rule on the vest is probably because it won't fit around the chest of most kids younger, and kids younger should be rear facing.

You can use the GoGo Kidz with the Scenera, or a luggage cart and bungee cord. I use a Traveling Toddler to put Laine's carseat on my rolling luggage.

I'd be wary of buying a seat over there. They rear face only until 9kg, normally, and harness to 18kg. So you may end up being handed a booster for your two year old.

Wendy

I'd be asking your relatives over there more about the vehicle situation. What years, makes and models are the vehicles? What kind of seat belts? Do they have ISOFIX and hopefully top tethers -- my understanding is that ISOFIX doesn't necessarily include the top tether anchors like LATCH does here. The RSTVs aren't here so I don't know much about them, but don't they require use of a TA with a lap-only belt install? If that is the case, you'll need to know what the seatbelt situation is.

Is there any way that you can take public transportation (train or bus) from the airport to the town??