Travel product reviews
Having survived our weekend of travel, I’m back with reviews of some of the products we used:
1) Dramamine. I decided to be proactive about N’s tummy and gave him dramamine before the flights. I don’t know that it helped, but he didn’t puke on either flight. But what idiot decided that chewable dramamine — which is most likely to be used by kids who haven’t figured out how to take pills — should be packaged such that the recommended dose for a small child is 1/4 to 1/2 a pill? Particularly now that you can’t bring a knife on a plane? It doesn’t help that each pill is in one of those ridiculous bubble packs.
2) The sit-n-stroll. As a car seat, it’s a great stroller, and as a stroller, it’s a great car seat. But it beats the pants off of trying to lug any other toddler car seat around an airport. The weather was crappy on Friday, and we got through security 30 minutes before our flight was due to take off. And of course our flight was at the furthest possible gate. We strapped N into the seat and just cruised through the place at a trot. (Our flight was delayed, so it turned out not to matter, but we would have made the flight if had been on time.) You don’t want this as your only car seat — the seat belt has to go over it, rather than through it, so you have to refasten it every time you use it — but if you fly with a toddler more than once a year, it’s totally worth it.
3) Trunki. I saw this ride-on suitcase for kids in a magazine last fall, and thought it was incredibly cute. I found out that the MOMA store sold it, and suggested it to my parents as a hanukah present for the boys. We’ve used them around the house (N adores using his to store all his treasures, and sometimes insists on sleeping with it) but this was the first time we tried them in an airport. The good — the boys liked riding on them, and they charmed everyone who saw them. The straps make them easy to carry when you hit the escalator and need them off the ground. The bad — they don’t corner well, so they’re not good for when you’re really in a rush. And the latches don’t stay shut. Fortunately, we had used them enough to see the problem with the latches, and had bought luggage straps to wrap around them and keep them shut.
Update: when I wrote this post, I also emailed the company and told them the latches didn’t stay shut. They asked me what colors we had, and I said one of each. No further word, until late April, when replacement latches showed up — direct from the UK — with a cute letter saying that they’re sorry our trunkis were "feeling poorly." The boys were just thrilled.
Update 2: Trunki is now listed for sale on Amazon, although they don’t seem to have any in stock yet. Order it in blue or pink!
February 6th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Those suitcases are really cool! That would definitely have come in handy at Christmas, when I hauled the Potato through three airports without a stroller or anything.
February 7th, 2007 at 1:35 am
We got a trunki for our son on our last transatlantic trip to visit family and it was so worth it. We had a 45 minute wait for our luggage at customs in Atlanta and he had a ball being pulled around on his trunki it kept him amused the entire time. We haven’t had any problems with the latches yet. Hopefully they will survive our trip tomorrow!
February 8th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Do you know any place to buy the Trunki online in the States? It wasn’t on the MOMA website.
February 12th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
those suitcases look lovely!
I totally agree with you on the sit ‘n stroll. We don’t use it on the plane anymore because the seat itself interferes with the trays on the airplanes, and Curious Girl (now 4 and a half) does way better on the flights when she can sit and play with things on the trays. So we’ve sacrificed a bit of safety there–it irritates me enormously that kids are allowed on planes so unsafely belted, but in an arguably hypocritical compromise to promote travel happiness, we check a real carseat and let her sit with just the lap belt. But the sit ‘n stroll was great for getting around the airport when she was younger.
February 26th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
I like your site! I’ll have to check back often for more info, as we travel frequently.
I wanted to mention the product that converts your rolling luggage into a stroller, with a seat that hooks onto your luggage – like half a lawn chair. Seems to be a great invention by a flight attendant.
Recently, I posted a product called Tote-a-Tot, invented by a traveling dad, where you can hook your existing car seat onto your rolling luggage, with your child in it. See carseattraveler.com for more details.