when travelling with baby should I take a car seat and stroller or rent car seat when I get there?

I was just wondering as the car seat clicks into the stroller but I will need to take the base of the car seat to use in the rental vehicle? Would it be easier to just rent the seat with the car and take only the stroller?

It may be a hassle, but I would take my own baby gear with me while traveling. Mainly because you know the history of your baby gear. When you rent, who knows what that car seat has been through.

I have always prefered to use our own car seat even in a rental car I feel safer using a carseat that I am familiar with and taking the base in and out of our own vehicle isnt alot of work and is a great time to vaccum the car!

It would be easier to take your own car seat. We found out the hard way that many car rental companies do not have car seats available for rent due to liability of possibly not getting the car seat installed correctly. We left car seat at home and gate checked the stroller on a trip when our youngest was almost 2 and found out that our car rental company did not rent car seats any more. I had to send my parents to the nearest Walmart to pick up a car seat before we could leave the airport. Car seats can be checked as baggage or if your baby is little and uses the car seat in the stroller you can gate check both the car seat and the stroller just before you get on the plane. Check the owner's manual, but most car seats can be used without the base.

Yes, Please take your OWN car seat! Your child's safety is very important and a car seat you may rent may not be as safe and sturdy as yours. So, just bring along the car seat and you'll feel a lot better that you did! Hope this helps and have a safe and fun trip with the little one! :o)

You should be able to install the infant seat without the base. Check the manual for the directions.

Do NOT rent a seat. Do an Internet search for rented carseats - there was an article about it recently and it was disgusting!

Take the carseat and stroller. Take the carseat on board if there's a seat available, you can use it. If not, they will gate check it for you.

Definitely do not rent a car seat. Rent a car - yes - a car seat, never.

For one, you can't even be guaranteed that they'll have and could end up stranded without a seat for your child. If they do have rental seats available, you are not guaranteed that they will have the kind of seat your child needs. One lady went to rent one, holding her 9 week old baby, and they brought out a forward facing only seat!!! And then a nasty, old, infant seat. And there's the most compelling reasons:

Even if they DO have the right type of seat for your child, it stands a good chance of being old, possibly even expired, and they usually have dirty covers, twisted straps, and dirty straps. Many are missing essential pieces, almost none come with the manual to let you know how to install them. And you have no way of knowing the history of the seat. Another renter could have crashed it or done something nasty in it and you'd never know the danger you're putting your child in.