Imagine what they do to the car seats.

In 2008, we dragged a Britax Marathon across Paris through the subways and up and down stairs all so we could have it for our week long drive through the Loire Valley.

We thought it made sense at the time. We were new parents with a 10 month old and were still paranoid about everyone else’s responsibility. How could we be certain a euro carseat would be safe? What are their standards? etc.

So we dragged it up and down stairs, on the metro, through the streets and into airports. It was a gong show, but we did it.


This weekend I’m on a quick getaway to Toronto, just me and Z. I was going to bring the seat, but for $25 I could rent one for the weekend. Since I’m one parent with one roaming toddler, I thought it best to limit the baggage and decided to rent.

I admit I was a little testy on Twitter when I was faced with having to install the seat on my own, despite having pre-booked it in my rental requirements.

Twitter responded swiftly.

@stv be thankful. Avis once preinstalled a seat upside down for me.

@LeftCoastMama would you trust anyone else to install the carseats? At least you know you installed it correctly.

@Edmonton_eh by law, they can not install it and the parent is required only. It a liability and insurance issue

Okay, so car rental companies won’t pre-install car seats. It’s a liability issue. That’s a reasonable argument and I must admit I’m disappointed the policy seems to extend to inspecting car seats.

I’ve rented from Hertz this weekend. My first car seat came with no instructions or strap to tighten the shoulder harness. The second seat had instructions but was still musty, twisted, knotted and a beast to install. My parents also rented a car and seat for my niece and also had one missing straps and harnesses.

I’ve been asking myself all weekend – I dragged it across Paris, why couldn’t I have done the same in Toronto?

@AkashSablok Take ur seat with you or at least lots of sanitizing wipes & extra straps!

Well, that works until something like this happens:

@b_energy we took ours to Italy and the airline lost our luggage, lucky THAT rental place had an excellent car seat.

So what do you do when you rent a car? Bring your car seat or rent one?

Samuel L Jackson may have got his ire roasted by Snakes on a Plane, but there’s nothing that will set a neighbor off more than grabbing a seat and seeing a Baby on the Plane.

If you’re traveling with a toddler and you’re looking for ways to keep your baby quiet for the long trip … good luck. Some recommend a bag of new and fresh toys you think your child will like (one for each hour of the trip). Others try to plan their travel to coincide with the nap schedule your child is on. Still others slip their kids “a little something” to help them sleep.

For our trip to France with our baby, we took a few different approaches:

1. We broke the trip up into segments, including a long layover so we wouldn’t be cooped up for a long period of time.

2. We brought along some puppets to entertain him.

3. We planned our longer flight as an overnight segment.

4. We took a humourous approach to break the ice with our seatmates should all our planning fail.

So we picked up a Congratulations! You Get to Sit Near Me tshirt from Milkbomb to try and bring a smile. It worked. It was a kind of admission that we knew the flight had a chance to no go perfectly, and we were going to try our best to make sure everyone was happy. The people around us smirked and chipped in to help entertain Zacharie and while he didnt necessarily sleep the entire trip, he did provide entertainment as opposed to stress to those around us.

The three of us have traveled quite a bit in the last year including a two month stint in Spain when Noah was just 4.5 years old. So now when I travel for business on my own I really miss my crew. I had booked a total of three days in T-Dot with the last one slated as a day off to catch up with friends and explore the city. The first two days where ok and I busied myself with the prep and presentation, but the third day I really missed my travel buddies. It somehow did not feel the same without them. So by the time I got to the airport for my 10:30pm flight I was more than ready to get back to home to my family.

The long and turbulent flight finally ended and I fell into a cab and pointed him in the direction of my downtown tower block. It was now 1am and I was completely exhausted partly due the time change and the anti-nauseant that I needed to take due to the turbulence. I was also quite peckish and thought meh I’m just too tired to make anything to eat. As I quietly made my way into the kitchen I found a carefully printed card in front of a spectacular fruit and cheese plate that said “I love you dad”. Well it looks like grade one is working out fine and that he does not begrudge me for being so busy with work.

It’s those little moments that make the long hours and time away worth it.

The habitats a relatively large and very realistic in foliage etc. and the animals are extremely well cared for. We usually make a weekend out of the trip but if you head out early enough you can get there and back in a day. Just be sure to allow about 4-6 hours of time at the zoo as it is pretty darn big and there are a lot of things to see. Oh and as you can see from the image of my son above there is a beautifully restored carrousel that the kids, and the parents love to ride.

The food on premise is pretty standard fair but just around the corner, from the zoo, is one of the best burger place that you will ever come across. The Red Mill Burger joint is pretty famous in Seattle and the lines can be tediously long but the burgers they serve are out of this world. The service is great too and everyone there is ok with the wait. If you can bust out of the zoo just before noon then you can beat the line.

If you are planning to stay the weekend there are plenty of hotels in the area but other than the zoo it’s pretty bleak for entertainment. We prefer to head downtown and stay either at the Best Western near the Seattle Science Centre or the Homewood Suites Inn closer to Belltown. We like the Homewood for the simple fact that there is a bed room and a kitchen in every suite. If it’s pure luxury or funk factor maybe go elsewhere but for families it is great and there is a free buffet breakfast too boot.

Why not make a weekend of it at the Seattle Woodland Park Zoo?

I wrote this earlier this year on my blog but felt that it could use a good home away from home here on the Dad Camp Blog. I will be adding more new content but wanted to get things moving.