FIRECracker is a world-travelling early retiree. She used to live in one of the most expensive cities in Canada, but instead of drowning in debt, she rejected home ownership. What resulted was a 7-figure portfolio, which has allowed her and her husband to retire at 31 and travel the world. Their story has been featured on CBC, the Huffington Post, CNBC, BNN, Business Insider, and Yahoo Finance. To date, it is the most shared story in CBC history and their viral video on CBC’s On the Money has garnered 4.5 Million views.
Wow, what a difference a year makes! The last time I wrote about this topic for infants, Little MatchStick was only 4 months old. Now, at 1.5 years old, he’s like a totally different kid. Back then, having a breast pump and formula was essential, and just thinking of running out of either gave me heart palpitations. But now, I’ve sold my pump and haven’t opened a formula container for months. Ever since LMS started eating solid food and drinking cows milk, if we ever run out of food, we simply head for the nearest coffee shop. This has made travel so much easier.
Back then my BabyBjorn One carrier was my second skin. Since LMS was too young to sit up, I wore him everywhere. Now, LMS is too heavy and has even learned how to run, and he squirms too much whenever I try to back carry him. So now my traveller stroller is my most used gear. I never leave home without it.
The good news is now that LMS is older, we’ve reduced some of our baby travel gear. It’s still a lot compared to what we could get away with when we were a couple, but the weight has been significantly reduced.
Bye bye Carseat, Hello Travel Harness and Vest!
Instead of a wide and heavy car seat and stroller combo, we now use a lightweight, Babyzen Yoyo2 travel stroller. When we need to bring a car seat, we take our Cosco Scenera NEXT, which is the lightest car seat you can carry, at 10lbs. By travelling to places with good public transportation—like Europe—we can avoid having to bring a car seat at all. If you’re traveling in North America, don’t want to lug around a car seat and only need a quick ride to and from the Airport, try Welcome Pickups. It’s more reliable than trying to find an Uber with a car seat because you can specific the exact age of your child, which is important because kids younger than 2 need a back facing car seat. With Uber, you risk them arriving with a giant car seat that’s not age -appropriate for your child and then having to risk their safety. The only catch with Welcome Pickups is that you need to book at least 2 hours in advance of travel.
Once our son turns 2, we’ll have even more options because we can use this:
It’s a Ride Safe Travel Vest, it packs up so small, you’ll never have to worry about lugging a heavy carseat around again! Plus, it meets all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and is approved for kids ages 2 and up.
Our Travel Stroller
I obsessively researched travel strollers before picking the Babyzen Yoyo2 and it wasn’t an easy choice.
This is the OG of travel strollers and has been around for over a decade. Back then, the only other competitors were cheap crappy umbrella strollers that were hard to push and didn’t last. Now there are so many good travel strollers to choose from, you get dizzy from all the options.
In the end, I narrowed it down to 3 models: the Babyzen Yoyo2, the Bugaboo Butterfly, and the Joolz Aer (seriously, who names these things?).
While there are other less expensive models like the ErgoBaby, UpperBabyMinu, etc but since our highest priority is compactness, we eliminated those models. They are not guaranteed to be accepted by airlines to bring into the cabin. I really didn’t want a stroller that I had to gate check because airlines aren’t careful with strollers and I just didn’t want the added stress. I also wanted something that was narrow enough to go down the plane aisle.
In the end, it was a close tie between the Yoyo and the Joolz Aer (which is even lighter but a tad bigger), but the yoyo won out because it was the most recognizable brand by airlines and allowed into the cabin. In fact, we’ve had multiple airlines tell us “you have to gate check your stroller unless it’s a Yoyo.” It’s been small enough to even fit underneath the seat in front of us when they ran out of overhead cabin space.
What sealed the deal for us was this video by this stroller mechanic, who said Yoyo has proven track record because it’s been around the longest, and its mechanics are simpler and therefore less likely to break over time than the other strollers:
Since then, he’s made another videos to include the new strollers that have entered the market:
The biggest catch with the Yoyo is that it’s a manual 2-fold rather than the automatic one button push fold of the Joolz and Bugaboo so it’s more tedious to open and close. However, that’s also a plus, because it’s a simpler mechanism, so it’s it harder to breakdown over time. It also has less storage capacity underneath and the seat is shorter and easier for your toddler to outgrow. However, since we bought the yoyo2, a new version yoyo3 has been developed and they made the new seat and canopy backwards compatible with the older version, so I can just upgrade those components rather than buy a whole new stroller, which I appreciate.
If you’re looking for a travel stroller, make sure you go into a store to try out the models to see what you like best. For us, practicality wins over convenience but that may not be true for you, so try before you buy.
Flying with a Toddler
Now that our son is over the age of 1, he can also sit up and use the Cares Harness for flights! This is a FAA approved safety device for kids aged 1 and up, to be used on planes ONLY (just show the flight attendant the FAA approved label which is on the harness itself). For cars, you still need a regular car seat.
Back when he was still a wee-little infant, we had him in his car seat on the plane and he cried for half the 4-hour flight to Mexico because he was bored, and I couldn’t take him out to nurse him. The good news was that he stayed where you put him and didn’t windmill like a maniac whenever you tried to change his diaper.
That’s why other travelling families say 3-8 months old is the sweet spot for travelling because your kid isn’t constantly squirming in their seat or climbing the walls. While it is true that LMS is way more active now and doesn’t like to stay in his seat, we found that his attention span is way better and he’s not as distracted easily as when he was an infant. by combining the Care Harness, a pair of kid-sized Wireless Headphones, and his favourite educational kids show (宝贝中文), he can sit quietly for a long time on a flight, even after he’s gotten bored of all the snacks, toys, and books we brought.
We’re not into screens but on travel days, we make an exception. We avoid screens like the plague for a week before travel, so that it’s super novel to him during the flight. I also only download only mandarin learning shows to assuage my mom guilt. So far, it’s working out well.
Getting Your Toddler to Sleep
One of the challenges of travelling with a toddler is sleep disruption. We sleep trained LSM at 6 months (btw, if you’re struggling with sleep training, I highly recommend the book “Precious Little Sleep”) and once he turned 16 months old, he dropped from 2 naps down to one, so that’s made travelling so much easier. Also, because we acclimatized him to all sorts of different cribs at 4 months of age while travelling in Mexico, he can sleep in pretty much any crib.
The problem is when we’re staying with friends or in Home Exchanges, sometimes they don’t have cribs. And bringing along a heavy pack-n-play or a travel crib is out of the question since we like to travel light.
Enter the travel tent:
Our “KidCo Peapod Plus” travel tent is so light weight, it only weights 3.5 lbs! Compare that to the lightest travel crib which weights 13 lbs, it feels like you’re just carrying a bulking sweater. It folds and unfolds easily in seconds and goes into a handy zippered circular case with carrying straps.
The only catch is that it’s only safe for infants 6 months and older, whereas pack n plays and travel cribs can be used for newborns. Also, you need to train them to sleep in it for a few weeks before your travel date to acclimatize them. Here’s a great article I discovered on how to do that.
There’s also comparable brand called “Joovy Gloo” that has slightly more padding and costs $200 new. Look for both brands on Facebook marketplace and see if you can score a deal for a used one. I got my Peapod Plus for a steal at only $35.
Make sure you get the KidCo Peapod Plus, as it’s bigger than the Peapod, has extra features like mesh windows and doors for airflow, and can accommodate kids all the way up to 5 years old.
By using this sleep tent, we been able save SO much space and weight. We can easily tie it onto the handle of our travel stroller, so we barely even notice it when we’re moving around. And now that LMS is used to it, it’s familiar sleep space that lets him feel at home no matter where we are.
Here’s all our toddler travel gear in one picture:
(Full disclosure: many of the links throughout this article are affiliate links so I may get a small commission if you choose to buy it. Check FB market place to see if you can find it used first. The only items I wouldn’t recommend getting used are carseats and child safety devices to avoid compromising on safety. I would also recommend buying the travel stroller new in order to get the warranty if you’re going to be using it a lot, like we do.)
What do you think? How much gear do you travel with? Do you have any tips?
Hi there. Thanks for stopping by. We use affiliate links to keep this site free, so if you believe in what we’re trying to do here, consider supporting us by clicking! Thx 😉
Build a Portfolio Like Ours: Check out our FREE Investment Workshop!
Travel the World: Get flexible worldwide coverage for only $45.08 USD/month with SafetyWing Nomad Insurance
Multi-currency Travel Card: Get a multi-currency debit card when travelling to minimize forex fees! Read our review here, or Click here to get started!
Travel for Free with Home Exchange: Read Our Review or Click here to get started. Please use sponsor code kristy-d61e2 to get 250 bonus points (100 on completing home profile + 150 after first stay)!
