Leaving with a Double Stroller and 2 Car Seats in a Round-the-World Trip: Here Is How It Went!

We hesitated a lot about this: to bring or not to bring our double stroller AND to bring or not to bring the car seats for our 2 young kids on this round-the-world trip with our family.

Yeah, yeah! You have read this correctly: to bring or not to bring our 2 car seats for the kids for our round-the-world trip. Let me explain!

Our first months of travel were in Europe, a continent on which we had planned to rent cars to move around and, additionally, where children must absolutely be in car seats when you’re driving around (just like in Canada).

In short, for money reasons, it was less expensive for us (and by a lot – we would be saving thousands of dollars) to carry our car seats around during the first months rather than renting them each time.

So, this question that arises when you’re travelling for a couple of weeks with your family and thinking about renting a car is even more important when you’re getting ready to do a one-year round-the-world trip with 2 young children.

This is how we ended up deciding to leave with 2 car seats for young kids as well as a Babyjogger double stroller for our round-the-world trip.

WHY DID WE BRING OUR CAR SEATS FOR OUR TRIP?

As I told you, we had planned that the first months of our trip around the world were going to be in Europe, and since we wanted to rent cars to move around, it was much better for our wallet if we just brought our 2 car seats.

I can already hear you ask me: “But how did you carry all that around from one country to another?!”.

I would say it was quite simple actually.

As soon as we arrived at the airport, we would leave the seats at the baggage check-in, and they were going straight to the cargo hold. Then, we would pick them back up after landing and put them straight away in the newly rented car. Since we were renting cars directly at the airport, it was only a matter of carrying the car seats around for a few minutes (and in a luggage cart – so not very complicated) and then putting them in the car.

When we got to the point in our world trip where car renting wasn’t possible anymore and/or it wasn’t the best way to travel around in the countries we had planned to visit from that point on, we simply left the car seats at a car rental office.

We have to talk about all the money that it allowed us to save. It was close to (if not over) a thousand dollars per week on car seat rental (because we needed 2 of them). Add it all up for more than 3 months in our case, and that ends up being a lot of money saved. When you think that we had bought the car seats for $150 each (I had found a good deal), we obviously recouped the investment.

We also have to think that we will have to buy 2 new car seats once we get back home. But even with that expense, we will still have saved money.

WHY DID WE BRING THE DOUBLE STROLLER FOR OUR TRIP?

Our children being only 2 and 3 years old when we started our trip, their capacity to walk for long periods was limited, and both of them didn’t always understand/follow the instructions to stay beside us/not to touch everything.

For that reason, the stroller was essential. Also, since we had already done a few trips overseas with the kids and this stroller before the big departure for our world trip, my mind was already made up: we were going to bring it.

And yes! About that, I am all for “bringing a stroller on a trip.”

Personally, I prefer to have a stroller with us during the trip because right away at the airport, I see all the uses I can get out of it. It allows us to have the kids well seated when we have close to a kilometer to walk with our luggage to get to our plane gate.

Then, once we have arrived at the destination, this wonderful stroller makes it possible to enjoy walks with my boyfriend, almost hand in hand and to look each other in the eyes… As we can look at what’s going on around us rather than just having our eyes glued to our children which are usually running around and touching everything.

I really like to have a stroller because it can become a napping corner as well.

It also doubles as a time-out area when the 3-year-old doesn’t listen to the instructions anymore. #MomTravelTips

And finally, when we are in an unknown country, where we don’t understand the language and where we might be looking for our way in the darkness, I am really happy that my boyfriend and I can concentrate on what we’re doing and on our surroundings rather than being only half-focused, because the apples of our eyes take all of our attention. Since they are safe, strapped in the stroller, it allows us to focus on the path and to get back home safely.

BUT HOW WILL YOU BE ABLE TO TAKE THE PLANE WITH A STROLLER?

It’s funny because when we talk about bringing a stroller on a trip, people often worry about “how we are going to take the plane with a stroller.”

Actually, airports are some of the most stroller-friendly places when travelling. Air carriers will do everything to let you keep your stroller up until the last second before you board the plane.

And after more than 6 months of travelling (and more than 20 plane flights), the stroller always made it to destination without suffering any damages.

So don’t be afraid, you can easily bring your car seat from home on a trip (without necessarily having to leave it behind like I did, eh! ?)

As for the stroller, I have always been a big fan of bringing it during trips, like I explain to you in this article where I talk about what kind of stroller to bring on a trip. I also talk about it in this one where I give you my tips to travel with a baby – and that includes bringing the stroller – and in this one where, at the end, I make a list of my must-haves in an all-inclusive resort (including a stroller). ?

Don’t hesitate if you have any questions!

This post was translated from French to English by: