On our recent holiday trip to visit family in Arizona, we left our hiking child carrier behind. It’s just so bulky and we would’ve ended up having to pay at least $60 to check it. After our first hike in Arizona with our two year old, we instantly regretted leaving the backpack carrier behind.
And then… Christmas came early when Baby’s Away Tucson saved the day and gifted us a loaner carrier for the week! It was a Kelty Journey PerfectFit backpack and looked brand new; they delivered it to where we were staying and then they retrieved it at the end of our stay. It could not have been more convenient and it has me thinking… “Why have we never rented gear??” I really think renting baby gear is the answer to so many of our “travel with kids” conundrums:
“How to pack and check a car seat?” DON’T! Just rent it!
“What if my AirBnB doesn’t have a crib or pack n’ play?” RENT one!
“My newborn will only sleep in a swing and there’s no way we can pack that!” RENT a swing!
And of course.. My most recent problem: “My toddler is getting too big for the Ergo and she isn’t yet able to walk for extended periods of time on hikes…” RENT a backpack carrier! **Ergo refers to our favorite soft carrier, the ErgoBaby 360. We’ve never traveled without it.
Here’s how renting gear at your destination can make travels with kids a bit easier:
★ You’re able to pack lightly. Babies need a lot of stuff… well, that’s not technically true, but having a lot of gear makes the day to day with a baby much easier. So when you leave most of your baby gear at home for travels, you’re immediately giving up part of the comfort and routine of life at home. When you rent gear, you’re able to keep the comforts of home with you, without having to schlep it around. Whenever we travel with our car seats, there is always an overwhelming sense of freedom when we check the car seats with the airline and I know that I’m no longer responsible for transporting them. Most baby gear rental companies will deliver items to you, wherever you may be: airport, rental car company, hotel, or in our case on this last trip, my parents’ house.
★ You don’t have to worry about damaging your own stuff. When we fly, we now put our car seats in padded bags, but before that we would bubble wrap them! We were concerned about them getting damaged, and rightly so… they get tossed around at the airport! When you rent gear, including car seats, damage is protected under the business’ insurance policy so you don’t have to worry about it.
★ You’re ensured clean, sanitized, high quality gear. This isn’t always the case in other situations, like say, renting a car seat with your rental car (believe me, those seats are sometimes not in the best condition. I’m sure some rental car companies are better than others). The backpack that was delivered to us on this last trip looked like it had never been used.
★ You’re able to have the convenience of home while traveling, which makes sticking to routines much easier. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stayed in a hotel or AirBnB and tried to find interesting things for my kids to play with. We always pack a few toys, especially entertainment for the flight, but most of the kids’ toys are left behind. Baby’s Away and other rental companies will provide tubs of toys for your kiddos! They’ll also provide high chairs, swings, changing tables, infant bathtubs, monitors, sound machines, security gates, bottle warmers, bottle sanitizers, bouncy seats, exersaucers, wagons…. really, whatever you use at home, they will probably have available to rent. When you’re able to provide a similar environment to your home, especially for sleep, it makes travel with kids much easier.
★ You can try out big ticket items before purchasing. I think this could be a great way to try out pricey items (like double jogging strollers) before making the purchase at home. Our backpack carrier is a different brand at home, so it was nice to compare products in case we want to buy another one in the future (which we certainly will because we have two small kids and we do a lot of hiking).
★ Renting gear is affordable, especially when you take into account the cost of checking baggage on flights. Baby’s Away rents gear at a daily rate, with an additional fee for delivery. A car seat rents for about $7 per day, while a backpack carrier like the one we borrowed rents for about $8 per day. If you’re traveling for only a few days, these prices are much less expensive than paying to check them on flights (well… car seats are free of course) but the cost of potential damage to your own items is much higher.
For future trips, this is the gear that I will consider renting at my destination:
Stroller– especially a double jogger. We swear by our collapsible radio flyer wagon, and I don’t see us leaving it behind on a trip any time soon. But my normal routine at home involves running with the girls in a double jogger, and if I can do this while traveling then it is a total win. We never bring our double jogger on flights because it is just too expensive to risk damage.
Car seats . They’re bulky and it makes travel so much more simple when you don’t have to haul them around. We sometimes borrow car seats from rental car companies (if we’re renting a car) but we’ve had experience with the company providing very worn, dirty, car seats.
Crib or travel cot. We’ve never had a problem borrowing a pack n’ play or crib from hotels, but many AirBnBs don’t provide them. Rather than packing one, I’d rent one.
Baby’s Away exists in over 90 locations around the U.S. but there are many other companies that provide baby gear rental as well. A simple internet search can yield information about rental companies at your specific travel destination, in the U.S. or abroad.
