We are going to travel to Indonesia, Singapore, and Germany this fall. For a few months now I have been researching different ways to travel safely and without lugging too many heavy equipment for our toddler. I’ve travel with Emma since she was 3-months-old alone and it was really tough. I had to travel super light and find clever ways to haul everything. If you are traveling parents you know what I’m talking about. Between holding the child, your luggage, and gears, you literally have your hands full.
So, in the last few months I’ve been doing some research. First the airline seat belt. Up to two years of age, your child can sit on your lap, but if you want your child to sit on her own seat, she needs to sit on a car seat that is airline approved until she reaches the weight of 40 lbs or 4 years of age. Initially we were going to just bring one of our old car seats and then leave it in Indonesia since we were too lazy to haul it all over Singapore and Germany after. Then we found the AmSafe CARES airline child restraint system. It weighs less than 1 lbs and suppose to take less than 1 minute to hook your child up to it. After some searching, trying to find the best place to buy, we found a person on Ebay who is renting this system out. Awesome! For $15 + shipping, it’s a great and safe deal. If you’re interested, just type in: CARES Kids Fly Safe in the Ebay search and you’ll find this person with the username of m_and_d_in_fl.
So we got rid of the airline bulk, but we still need the carseat for Indonesia and Germany when we’re driving around. First let us talk about some issues, Indonesia is not very strict on car safety. Actually the front seat belt just became a law very recently, I think last year or earlier this year. Which means that it is not easy to find a car with rear seat belts. So, ever since we 
found out that we can travel this year, I have asked my parents to install some seat belts for the rear seats. A few months ago they said mission rear seat belt accomplished. Now we just need the child and the car seat. First we were going to bring of of our car seats but after researching some travel forums and Googling, I found this car seat vest by Safe Traffic System. This car seat is not just for traveling, it’s a full blown daily use car restraint system. So this is what Emma will be using on Drew’s truck. It’s going to be really nice because it will not take up a lot of space when not in use, he can just toss it in the back seat. Anyways, with this vest, Emma can be safe in many public transportation system in Singapore and Germany. Plus, we can stick it into our backpack. NICE!
The last is the stroller. After researching and trying out different ones, we decided to get the MacLaren Volo. At 9 lbs, this is considered one of the lightest and also most comfortable (no kicking the wheels or slouching). It could have been better with more accessories (like cup holder) but for the weight, we’re ok spending the extra $20 for it.
So those are our toddler light travel gears. How will they workout for us? Well, more on that after the trip 
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