Out of the Blue

As I mentioned in my first post, we just returned from a little vacation to Miami, Florida. My wife, son and I went down there for a little fun in the sun. We had a terrific time, and this would have been a totally great vacation except for the fact that we had to cut it a tiny bit short due to some medical issues. In the end, we had to return to the tri-state region a little sooner than planned.
Like most people, when planning this journey, we tried to balance the price of the flight with the flight times to pick the best airline out there for us. Our searches led us to JetBlue. I've flown on this airline many times in the past (to Buffalo, Oakland, New Orleans & San Juan to name a few of my past destinations) and I am pretty confident in knowing what they are all about. This was the third time I flew with my son in tow, and it was the best experience that I have had.
Every time we've flown with him, we've purchased him his own seat. I know that most airlines will allow a "lap child" to fly free. Unfortunately, we bred a little gargantuan baby, who is just too heavy to keep in your lap for hours on a plane. Also, he's too damn pig-headed to stay confined like that. In the end, we would need to strap him down - hence, the car seat. The first time we attempted this, we used the Sit 'N' Stroll, which actually didn't do too bad for us. Sure, it's not a terrific car seat, and it's definitely not a great stroller - but it's really the only thing out there that combines the too effectively. Our gigantor son just outgrew it way too quickly. So, we moved on to using his regular car seat. We have a Britax Marathon. Yes, it's very expensive, but Consumer Reports had it as #2 on it's safest car seat list. Once you know something like that, it's difficult to purchase the cheaper product just to save a few bucks, (Yes, I understand that some people can't afford the more expensive products, and that is a different story.)
Anyway, our travel get-up now consists of our Marathon and the Gogo Kidz Travelmate Car Seat Wheeler. This thing is actually pretty awesome. The attachment process to the Marathon (there are some variations depending on the type of car seat you own) is relatively benign, and it allows us to keep our child in his seat and stroll him around the airport. we think it's actually easier to push and stroll than the Sit 'N' Stroll. The only disadvantage is that you need to bring your child's stroller as well.
Anyway... wasn't I supposed to be writing about JetBlue?
So, this time I decided to spend the extra money for the bigger seats on the plane. on JetBlue, there is no First Class or Business Class, but there are "Roomier" seats. These give you an extra 4 inches of legroom (from 34" to 38") for an additional $25.00 per person. Normally, I don't know if I would recommend spending the extra money (and I seem to remember choosing these seats in the past without having to cough up extra dough), however when you're trying to get your child's car seat in and out of the plane, having the extra inches makes the entire process much much easier. The extra room also gives you some added spaces to store all the junk you bring along to keep your child entertained on the plan.
JetBlue also offers DirecTV on every seatback. This went a long way on the way down to Florida keeping my son smiling and happy. Even though we refused to put the headphones on him, he was very content watching the soundless Spongebob Squarepants marathon.
The staff was terrific, and we were lucky enough to have the same flight crew on both legs of our journey. They remembered us and our son, and were more than helpful to us.
Of course, there are always two sides to every story, and my experience wasn't all sugar and roses. Since we had to change our tickets to come back home early (that medical emergency I mentioned in the beginning of this post) I had to cough up another $660.00 to get us back to Newark. Also, they lost my bag. Somehow it ended up in Buffalo instead of Newark (even though I saw them put the sticker on the bag with the big EWR on it), and then had to travel back to Fort Lauderdale to come back to me in Newark because JetBlue has no direct flights from Buffalo to Newark. When my bag finally showed up at my house at 6:04am this morning (they actually rang my bell and called my phone at that time to let me know they were outside) it had a nice hole in the end.
In the end, I had a very good eperience flying JetBlue with my son and wife, and would definitely do it again.

Strolling Along

Since our son was born, we've been able to do a little traveling and I have been on a constant search to make the traveling experience an easier one for me. Inevitably, I end up feeling and looking as thought I was taking my family on a hike up to the top of Mount Everest. If only the FAA would allow me to have a pack mule travel along with me I'd be in much better shape. Children require an almost unthinkable amount of things when traveling. There's no "roughing it" when you are a 1 year old. When you want your garbage truck, it better be within grabbing distance. When it's time to snuggle up with your lamb blanket, it better be there. Your children do not grab the concept of "being on vacation" and therefore won't accept less than what they are used to at home.
This time, I thought I would see about getting a "travel stroller" for our upcoming trip. At one time we had used a Sit and Stroll, but our burly boy quickly outgrew that thing (although he's still within the reported weight limit, he doesn't fit in it anymore). This all grew out of our last airline experience. We flew Continental, who proceeded to loose our stroller on the way back home. Luckily it was eventually found and returned to our home, but it has made me a little more wary this time around. We own a Maclaren Techno XT, which we've been using for about one year at this point. We love this stroller and have had no problem with it at all. My only thought was that at 17 pounds, it was a little on the heavy side.
I've done a lot of online research and have been to may baby stores looking at the different lightweight and travel strollers. Basically, I found that none of them are worth it. They range in weight from 11 to 15 pounds, which is really not that much different than my current 17.

Overall, I found these models:
Maclaren Volo
Maclaren Triumph
Combi International Helo
Combi Flare
Cicco Ct0.6
Cicco Capri
Jeep Wrangler All-Weather Umbrella Stoller
Graco Ipo
Peg Perego Aria
Inglesina Trip
Inglesina Solo
Babyplanet Solo

So... I've looked at quite a few. I didn't look at soe of the other, more expensive companies, like Bugaboo, because if this was going to be something that I was only going to use while traveling, I'd rather save the extra 2-3 hundred dollars to use on the trip itself. Very few have the ability to recline fully, which basically eliminates the possibility that our child will be able to fall asleep in them. Maybe you are still one of the lucky ones, but our son grew out of that uncanny ability to be able to fall asleep in any position a long long time ago. He is very particular about his sleeping arrangements (unfortunately we have a very high maintenance baby) and sleeping upright is not on his pre-approved list of preferred sleeping positions. Another problem with most of these strollers was the canopy. Many had othing more than a handi-wipe sized piece of fabric stretched out over the top of the seat. To me, these provide as much protection as the bill of a baseball cap. We're going to Florida, where the sun will undoubtedly be beating down upon us as points in the day. My son's going to need more protection that this, unless I become keen on the idea of melanoma in the future. Finally, most did not have an adequately sized basket for storing items. One of the good things about bringing your child around in a stroller with you is having somewhere to stash your gear. What's the point if you have to push a stroller AND carry your crap. Some models have no storage space at all. While others either have tiny baskets or the baskets are situated in such a manner that accessing them would be impossible even if you were a contortionist or your name was Mr. Fantastic.
So... in the end, I decided not to buy a single one. It made no sense. There was no model that filled all of my requirements. I wanted something lightweight, with a good canopy, good storage and with the ability to fully recline. Unfortunately, this type of stroller does not seem to exist. Perhaps I should make one and sell them to like minded parents.
For now, I'm sticking with our trusty Maclaren Techno XT. It's exactly what we need, and although my back may suffer a little carrying this thing around the airport along with the rest of our luggage, it's the best we have.