What have I DONE haha...

stephpook · Feb 11, 2013

Phineasmama said:
Yeah the caravan is awful. I mean I don't really have any complaints about it aside from the fact that it's not car seat/booster friendly and it's supposed to be a family vehicle When I bought it I didn't know it was so terrible for boosters, otherwise I probably wouldn't have gotten it. But the Kiddy boosters work so we're good. I wouldn't really be able to travel with those though.

I had backless boosters for my two oldest and the seatbelts in the third row weren't anywhere close to touching either of their chests - even with the belt positioning clip on my 7-year old's booster. There was no way I was going to let them ride in the car like that, so I had to put them in the captain's chairs and the the RF Scenera and FF Radian in the third row. Loading and unloading the baby through the hatch in that heat was not fun. She was teething at the time too and spent most of her time in the car screaming her head off...which was especially awful since my aunt and uncle (who we were staying with) live 45 minutes from my grandparents.

And yes, I will admit that I'm kind of a snob and spent the whole time comparing the interior finishes of the GC to my Ody.

Phineasmama · Feb 11, 2013

Yeah if I could have afforded an Odyssey...
I LOVE Honda. I love their vehicles, I love their service. I love my CRV, but it is a giant butt pain to get 3 car seats in there. But at our price range we could have maybe afforded like a super old Ody with tons of mileage on it, and we needed something that would last for the next 5 years at least.

stephpook · Feb 11, 2013

We totally lucked into our Ody and got it for a great price. There were only 2 '07's left on the lot and they just wanted them out of there. It's funny - we test drove a base model Ody and didn't like the interior finishes, so our plan had been to get an '08 Toyota Sienna (better finishes for less money because they had more package options). We ended up getting an EX...and there's a night and day difference between the LX and EX in my opinion! Of course now I long for one of the new, redesigned Ody's. They're gorgeous...but oh so expensive. Ours is paid off so, unless we win the lottery, we'll be driving it into the ground.

NVMBR02 · Feb 11, 2013

I also really like the Radian Forward facing, it is one of my favorites.

I fly with my 3 by myself pretty frequently. I no longer bring seats for my older two but I have traveled by myself and carted 3 seats. I generally use the backpack straps for the Radian, but I have also used a luggage cart. I fold the Radian and bungee it tot he luggage cart and then bungee a second carseat to the Radian. I have piled on a third car seat (upside down on top of the other two) and that worked okay.

Phineasmama · Feb 11, 2013

I do think the Radian would be great FFing on the plane, but I''m just so worried about not getting a good install with it in whatever car we have when we get there

mrosehughes · Feb 11, 2013

We've flown southwest with DS's radian a few times, and I would also recommend getting the extra carry strap for up/down the aisles. There aren't too many cars it's completely incompatible with, right? Especially since (if I read your post correctly) your DS can fit either FFing or RFing in it? I'd just do FFing on the plane then bring the AA and boot in case a FFing install doesn't work in the car you get.

And having one adult get early bird boarding is *brilliant* -- I am so stealing that idea!

ETA: thinking about it, I did have a little bit of trouble with the FFing install on the plane, in that it killed my hands. A seat belt extender might help with that.

kathysr98 · Feb 11, 2013

We flew with a radian last spring & had great success. We used the backpack straps & a ghetto rigged traveling toddler made from oversize key rings. In fact, it worked out so well that my mother & I are flying with dd this spring & I'm taking the rn again even though she'll be just 5 and I have lots of other options. (ProSport, GO, Avenue, TF)

stephpook · Feb 12, 2013

"mrosehughes;2463238ETA: thinking about it, I did have a little bit of trouble with the FFing install on the plane, in that it killed my hands. A seat belt extender might help with that."

Yeah, that narrow belt path can be a pain with the airplane belt (or any seatbelt really), but for the record, I tried a seatbelt extender once and it didn't really help.

I was a little bit nervous installing the Radian in a car I wasn't familiar with too. We tried to find out ahead of time what makes/models of cars we'd likely get (by calling the rental agency) and I checked on here to see if there were any installation issues.

jordansmom · Feb 12, 2013

Phineasmama said:
Thank you so much!!! That was super helpful! I am definitely going to pay the $10 for myself and I'll go install the car seats first. That is a great idea. I think I'm just going to stay away from the radian for travel because I don't want to lug it through the airport, even though I have a carry strap, and I don't want to deal with install issues. The Peg is super light and takes up like no front to back room, so I'll do that RF for the baby and then I'll put the Proride for DS behind her in the next row back.

Our main vehicle is a grand caravan, sucks doesn't it

I just had a chuckle that you think the Peg is light! I can't imagine lugging that through the airport...it's almost 22 pounds! In comparison the RXT is about 25, but atleast it folds up and you could use a carry strap. Whatever you choose, go with a luggage cart and have a great trip!

Eclipsepearl · Feb 13, 2013

Don't carry any car seats with a strap! I put mine on metal luggage cart and pull it behind me. Can't imagine carrying a car seat like that! I have a bad back and the luggage cart is definitely the way to go!

Getting great service on a really empty flight during low-season is a no-brainer. Don't expect to get so lucky on a school break!

"SW" btw, is Air Namibia. The correct airline code is "WN" for Southwest! That will explain why it says that on your luggage tags (always double check your tags are correct).

sparkle3116 · Feb 13, 2013

We flew with DS from Chicago to Denver on Southwest a couple of weeks ago and if worked out great. He was RF in a coccoro (first time using it) and I totally fell in love with that seat. We have used a CARES harness in the past (b/c there are already car seats at Grandma and Grandpa's), but having the car seat was so much nicer b/c he actually slept

Just be aware that the RF seat will have to go next to the window. I'm not sure about the FF seat--it might depend on how much room it takes up--but you and DH should probably plan on both sitting in middle seats with the car seats at the windows and the oldest in an aisle seat.

Also, they won't let you install a car seat in the rows in front of or behind an emergency exit row. (In case they have to throw the emergency door there apparently

) I mention this b/c it's a pain if they don't notice until your car seats are installed and then you have to move . . . . Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything

Phineasmama · Feb 16, 2013

jordansmom said:
I just had a chuckle that you think the Peg is light! I can't imagine lugging that through the airport...it's almost 22 pounds! In comparison the RXT is about 25, but atleast it folds up and you could use a carry strap. Whatever you choose, go with a luggage cart and have a great trip!

Weird, it certainly doesn't feel heavy compared to the Radian! I can't believe they are only 3 lbs apart!

Phineasmama · Feb 16, 2013

sparkle3116 said:
We flew with DS from Chicago to Denver on Southwest a couple of weeks ago and if worked out great. He was RF in a coccoro (first time using it) and I totally fell in love with that seat. We have used a CARES harness in the past (b/c there are already car seats at Grandma and Grandpa's), but having the car seat was so much nicer b/c he actually slept

Just be aware that the RF seat will have to go next to the window. I'm not sure about the FF seat--it might depend on how much room it takes up--but you and DH should probably plan on both sitting in middle seats with the car seats at the windows and the oldest in an aisle seat.

Also, they won't let you install a car seat in the rows in front of or behind an emergency exit row. (In case they have to throw the emergency door there apparently ) I mention this b/c it's a pain if they don't notice until your car seats are installed and then you have to move . . . . Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything

Yeah I knew about the RF seat next to the window but I wasn't sure about their policy on FFing seats, but it should be fine because there will be 2 adults, so I can have the baby RF, DD1 and I can sit in one row, and then DS's seat can go next to the window in the row behind us and DH can sit next to him.

What have I DONE haha...

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