roannetony01

First time in Europe, please let me know if I need to bring our bulky car seat along with the stroller vs umbrella stroller

Traveling mostly in Venice and Rome while in Italy. Traveling via train, possibly cab and bus. For the rest of the trip will be in Greece and France maybe travelling via cab or bus as well but we will be there for max 8hrs due to our cruise itinerary.
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Pls provide me pertinent info if we require car seats in train ride, cab or bus in all those countries?
If we do, can we rent it from the cruise line or somewhere in those countries?

J62

Car seat is not required for bus, train, or taxi.

nytraveler

Car seats are required in cars. Not required in the train, bus or cab anywhere in the world as far as I'm aware - certainly not in the US. (Whatever would you attach them to in a train or bus?.)

(Some people her take car services if doing long trips with an infant - since you can order a car seat. But they are optional.)

that said, I hope you are buying a seat for your child and putting it in a proper safety seat. (Much better to spend more for a ticket than have an infant become an unguided missile if the plane hits rough weather.

TexasAggie

How old is your baby? We took our son to Greece in May when he was 7 months old and rented a car seat with our car from Avis. It was a name brand safety seat but it was pretty dirty. It was also pretty small for an infant seat. Our son is tall and skinny and while he had plenty of room width-wise, he was almost too tall for it. I cleaned it and it worked ok although it was not as nice or comfortable as my son's car seat we own. The reason I ask about your child's age is that a young baby is usually able to adapt to a different car seat and still nap in it. An older baby does better with a familiar seat. We will be bringing our own car seat next May to Italy (Alexander will be 19 months for that trip). Instead of lugging it through the airport, we have bought one of the dolly-like contraptions that will allow us to wheel it just like you would wheel a suitcase.

TexasAggie

P.S. If you have a young baby, I am assuming you want the baby to be able to nap while you are on the train and/or bus. A car seat may greatly help with that. My son took great naps in his Beco Butterfly II baby carrier but that was while I was standing and walking around.

roannetony01

TexasAggie, I would like to hear more on this "dolly-like contraptions" car seat. My baby is 5 months old will be 6 months on our travel time.

TexasAggie

Hi r,

The dolly we have works for our Britax Marathon convertible carseat but would not work for a standard infant carseat such as the Chicco KeyFit 30, etc. With such a young baby, I'm guessing you are still using your infant carseat which probably has a carrying handle. I know it still gets heavy lugging it around, especially when the base is attached, but I don't know of any other option. Doesn't mean there isn't one... just haven't heard of it.

Here is info on the dolly thingy we bought and have used
http://www.epinions.com/review/Go_Go...t_412650147460

Trish

Last year I had my daughter in Greece for 3 weeks for her baptismal and I used a toddler car seat adaptor which allowed her toddler car seat to be attached to a rolling carry on suitcase, it worked well for us. She was 11 months old and is very tall so was out of her infant seat. We rented several cars on the trip and were more comfortable having our own carseat. I did not use it in trains or cabs though. I also did not use it on our way to Greece on the plane but did use it on the way home. She's taken 24 flights in 24 months and is usually but not always a lap rider. On our trip to France and Spain this year we brought our sunshine radian car seat which can fold for travelling and have been very pleased with. I have only travelled once with her big Quinny stroller otherwise we travel with her light weight Uppababy.
Have fun on your cruise and your baby has their own seat on the plane I wouldn't bother with the car seat.
Trish