By: Char Arias
Last month, this Bronxmama had an amazing trip to Walt Disney World! We brought our two sons, ages 2 1/2 and 8 on their first Florida vacation. With all the excitement that goes along with planning a family vacation, there were only two things that made me really anxious, 1) traveling to the airport with my two year old and 2) flying with him on the plane. Yikes! You see, my toddler is a little on the rambunctious side and needs to be kept very close to us. I recall a time when I thought I would never use any type of harness device on my child, like a backpack with a strap or as some would call it, a “leash”. But as I’ve learned, every child is different and has different needs- especially when it comes to safety. For everyone’s sanity, we needed to come up with a good plan to keep our little monkey settled during these crucial moments. We did not want to travel with a big, bulky carseat, and the thought of him climbing out of the airplane seatbelts kept replaying in my head (followed by the thought of making another passenger angry, reporting us to the captain and eventually having us escorted off the plane). My husband and I teamed up and found two great solutions to prevent this scene from happening.
Traveling safely with Kidmoto
The first was finding the app, Kidmoto. What a lifesaver! It’s a child friendly car service that provides carseats for up to four children! They service NYC and Newark airports, are super friendly and are also trained carseat technicians. Nelson Nigel, our driver is the founder of the company. My husband used the easy app to schedule our pick up and request the carseat. Nigel arrived on time and got us to the airport safely. It was a genius and foolproof idea. How is this different from UBER? It’s a family oriented company and always have carseats available for a great price.
The other solution we found was an airline approved childseat harness to use while on the airplane. In my research, I came across the CARES Airplane safety harness. It’s a small strap and buckle system for kids over one year and weighing up to 40 lbs. It was just what we needed to keep my little guy secure. To purchase the system alone it would’ve cost me around $75. I found the site Rentcares.com and was able to rent it for one week for $12.95 plus shipping. This was a pretty good deal considering we would only use it for this one trip. It was lightweight and fit perfectly in our carry-on bag. We showed it to the flight attendant before boarding and set it up in just a few minutes. They also offer adaptive straps for children and adults with special needs.
So, you may ask.. was our airport taxi ride and airplane trip uneventful? Absolutely not! We had a bout of carsickness, which Nigel was well prepared to handle and we had a few moments of my boy shouting on the plane, “OUT! OUT!” But thanks to the ease of use of the CARES system, I was able to unstrap him quickly and give him a few moments of freedom.
I hope these two finds are as helpful to your family as they were for mine! I’m truly thankful.
Wishing everyone happy and safe travels this summer!