Visiting Germany w/ long car rides

We'll be flying to Germany this summer, and we'll have numerous long (5 hr drive time) trips, including one right after we arrive and pick up the rental car.

DS is almost 3 yrs, and still fit's in his Cosco Scenera, so that should work for him (with the metal locking clip/buckle to address the lacking car seat belt locking thing).

DD, however, is 5.5 yrs old (approx. 43 lb and 43 in). She's in a Marathon (more used car) and a harnessed Maestro (less used car) at home. We also have a Safety 1st Go Hybrid, which when used in Jan. in a Prius, was getting close to being outgrown.

I'm hesitant to check a car seat due to the risk of arriving at the airport in Germany and no having a usable car seat for DD. Not sure about renting a car seat from the rental place, but until I hear otherwise, I'm hesitant to do that.

We have the option of ordering a car seat and mailing it to a friend -- she's 2 subway stops away from the airport, so worstcase DH & DS take the rental car and luggage and I take DD on the subway to meet up for the new car seat. Not sure what that would cost, and that would likely be just a booster. I'm also thinking about getting a Ride Safer Travel Vest (Type 2?), but I'm concerned about that being obvious to any German police officer as not being a "legal" car seat. I've also thought abt. getting a Bubblebum to take in our carryon and checking the Maestro.

I expect DD will fall asleep in the car after we arrive during that first drive (actually only 3 hr drive time for the first one) so I'm nervous about just a booster seat.

I'd really rather not carry the Maestro (or Marathon) through the airport, but can if that's the route I need to go. Would the two car seats fit next to each other on the airplane, though? (We've got the four middle seats between the two isles.) DD has flown before in just the airplane seat belt, which was fine.

Any help figuring out what to do is GREATLY appreciated!!!

You will not find a harnessed seat to fit your dd in a rental. The only HWH we have in Europe is the britax TWE and it runs ~€250ish. All other European FF seats max out at 18 kg (40 lbs). After that children go into boosters here.

I'd probably booster train her and bring a HBB. Put the back into your luggage and carry on the base to store in the overhead bin.

Hi!

What airline will you be flying? a Maestro and a Scenera would likely fit next to each other on the plane. It will depend on the seat setup though.

I absolutely would not rent a seat. Besides not guaranteeing they'll have one or that it will be usable, it will likely be a booster, and it sounds like she's not an experienced booster rider, and likely to fall out of position if asleep.

You could start booster training her now, and bring a booster or have your friend pick one up (there are plenty of safe boosters available in Germany.) But if you're more comfortable in a harness, there are other options.

You could also, if you're concerned about the space, get a Harmony Defender ($100, and the narrowest combination seat) and use that on the plane for her as well.

The Go is not a good option as you're not guaranteed to have a top tether anchor in the car you rent.

Since you're going to be bringing one seat, it shouldn't be much of an issue to bring two! I'd just get a luggage cart and bungee them both on (one on top of the other, upside down, so they "nest") to pull through the airport. Or, if you are using rolling carryons anyway, you could use the Travelling Toddler strap to secure the seats to that.

I would use a booster seat, probably a TB because it fits smaller kids well

ketchupqueen said:

What airline will you be flying? a Maestro and a Scenera would likely fit next to each other on the plane. It will depend on the seat setup though.

Click to expand...

USAirways - A330-200
Per Seatguru: Pitch = 31-32; Width = 17.0.
Any ideas if that would work?


Also, regarding BOOSTERS if she fell asleep in the regular (cheap) TB, are the wings enough to help keep her in the right place as long as she doesn't lean forward? Or is the TB w/ safety surround better for that?

THANKS!!!

My kids fall asleep in their boosters ALL the time (they are 10&7). DD2 has never had a problem sleeping in her TB. They also sleep just fine in LBBs

You have to teach them to keep their head pointed UP when they fall asleep, no matter the booster, or they do go forward. Some kids get it intuitively; some take a lot of training. No way to know which one you've got until you try it... Kids who have lower tone (not even clinically low, just a bit floppier) or who have less core strength may have more difficulty.

The width seems like, if you put all the armrests up, it's likely that they would fit. You could get the Defender if you want to be extra sure. Another option is if you get on the plane and they don't fit, to have them move one child and one adult to a different row. They are required by FAA regulations to accommodate the car seats if you bring them within the same class. This would obviously be more trouble. But it could work. Or you could call, let them know you are bringing two car seats, and see if they want to assign you to two rows to make sure they fit to begin with.

Use a decent HBB and sleeping will be fine. Teaching a child how to sleep in a booster is something I have never heard of. Using the car seats on board the plane is irrelevant for safety but so so if you prefer.

Bring a light weight HBB for your oldest or purchase one in Germany. Check it as luggage or gate check it. If you prefer to purchase a HBB then Britax Adventure would be a great choice. It's our favorite seat over here and it's also the cheapest HBB.

It's light weight, comfortable and has adjustable recline. I have used this one all over the world with my kids and still do. Sleeping and falling forward has never been an issue. Kids are now 8 and 10.5 and still use the seats.

Using a LBB would be equally safe except when kids are asleep. Since you will be doing longer rides, especially on arrival, this is not a great idea.

Your youngest should sit rear facing. Purchasing a seat is an option but likely too costly. I would bring a rear facing seat and use it illegally over there.

A travel vest is no approved and also don't offer any safety advantage. No point of using it.

FedBaby said:

Also, regarding BOOSTERS if she fell asleep in the regular (cheap) TB, are the wings enough to help keep her in the right place as long as she doesn't lean forward? Or is the TB w/ safety surround better for that?

THANKS!!!

Click to expand...

I have both the TBSS and regular TB. I found the SS to be better for sleeping. Regular was acceptable, but definitely not as much head support.

Alison's Mom said:

I found the TBSS to be better for sleeping.

Click to expand...

That's great to know! A few related questions:

* Is the TB/TBSS a good booster in terms of fitting in most every car? (I just read something about it depending on how the seatbelt comes out of the car -- on the side vs. top?)

* I imagine the TBSS will be a little harder to get through the airplane than the regular TB (I expect we would need more space in a suitcase to pack the back... Would the back potentially fit in an overhead bin?) Is it doable and also better enough that it's worth the luggage space?

* The Maestro also converts to a booster. Looking strictly at it as a booster, are we simply all around better off going with the TBSS as a booster -- better for sleeping, better for first booster seat, better overall proper fit? (I figure we'll need a dedicated booster at some point anyway, so we can deal with the cost of getting it for this trip. I'm just basically totally new to the booster seat category...)

* Are there any other narrow-ish boosters that are good for sleeping that we would want to consider (given she's going to be new to booster riding)? (I know Harmony makes some really narrow ones, but I'm guessing they're not so good for sleeping? Naturally I'd love it if we buy a booster that would also allow better adult passenger space in the back seat of the car, but that's probably wishful thinking since boosters all make it narrow at the butt of adult passengers, right?)

Thanks so much to everyone!!! I'm already feeling much better about this trip!

Hi again,

I was looking for a narrow booster with good belt fit for short/thin riders that was easy to pack. I looked at Harmony dreamtime and it was on the short list - I felt the headwing shape would have worked well for sleeping. The headrest of the demo model in the store did not adjust up and down, so it was kind of hard to tell. If my DD had picked the Harmony, I would have bought it over the TB (regular - the TBSS hadn't come out yet then). The Evenflo Amp/Big Kid would have been definitely easy to pack as back part not as deep, but also very shallow headwings that I didn't think would be comfy for sleeping. The TB is known for fitting in most cars very well. I'm not sure if the same conclusion has been drawn for the TBSS. Not sure about side vs top seat belts - would this have to do with how it retracts back in? If that's an issue, you could give it a tug to make sure there is no slack after buckling? I check slack for my 7yo's seatbelt. Back part of TBSS is deeper than TB - that's the trade-off for the deeper headwings and better head support. Some people love the Britax parkway for thin children, but I've also heard others say it wasn't a good fit. My DD claimed it was uncomfortable, so we didn't look at it further.

For packing, we fit both bottoms in a medium size checked suitcase with armrests removed, and both backs in a large checked suitcase padded by clothes. I'm not sure if the back would fit into an overhead bin. I'm guessing it would, but I'd check the airline's max dimensions for carry on.