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I don’t travel with a stroller

I don’t travel internationally with a stroller It is considered essential baby gear in the US, and if you don’t have one in the airport you are definitely in the minority. On my travels, I have seen loads of parents using strollers, but I still don’t travel with one. At first, it wasn’t that big [...]

I don’t travel internationally with a stroller

It is considered essential baby gear in the US, and if you don’t have one in the airport you are definitely in the minority. On my travels, I have seen loads of parents using strollers, but I still don’t travel with one.

At first, it wasn’t that big of a decision. Petra was small and light and a stroller seemed bulky and heavy. I couldn’t understand why anyone would choose to spend time trying to unfold and refold this piece of equipment and fight to buckle baby in when they could just hold her in their arms or in a baby carrier, like our Ergo Baby Carrier.

But now that Petra is almost 10 kilos I considered bucking up and getting a stroller, but there is still a big flaw in their usage:

In order to use a stroller, you need a reasonably flat, safe ground. The sidewalks in all the countries we have traveled to so far with Petra just don’t cut it.

The sidewalks of Central America and the Caribbean tend to be too narrow, have steps in them every 15 feet and/or are all busted up, if they exist at all. This means I would have to take my baby in her stroller into the streets which are also often far too narrow to even accommodate traffic, and are still all busted up.

Stroller

Though I have seen both tourists and locals do this, I don’t trust the drivers enough to think it is a safe alternative to drive my baby in the streets in nothing but a stroller.

Maybe I will change my tune if we travel somewhere else that has flat and safe sidewalks or if Petra simply gets too sick of riding in my arms or on my back. But, for now, it just doesn’t seem worth it to travel with a stroller.

Baby travel gear

Filed under: Travel Gear, Travel With Family

About the Author:

After traveling on her own for three or four years, Chaya met up with Wade Shepard, the editor of VagabondJourney.com. They were married in 2009, and continue to travel the world together with their young daughter. From time to time Chaya blogs about family travel and life on the road. has written 102 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.

Chaya Shepard is currently in: Xiamen, China

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  • craig | travelvice.com November 15, 2010, 5:26 pm

    The only place abroad I ever said ‘OK’ to Tatiana on the use a stroller was in Israel. Aside from there, hell no. She flew into the country with one and we left it there. WTF would we have done w/ a stroller living w/ the Bedouin in Jordan? lol

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  • soultravelers3 February 2, 2011, 11:36 pm

    We lived in California when our child was a baby and toddler, but did lot of traveling. We never owned or used a stroller, buggy, pram, etc nor even a baby crib. I think most of the baby crap is a a scam to rip off insecure parents.

    We just used a sling or let her walk. One of the best things you can do for a child is let them walk as much as possible.

    We were astounded when we began our open ended world tour when our child was 5 and saw kids her age in strollers. OMG Because she had been walking since 6 months old we always encouraged her walking, so she could outwalk and out run me by 9 months old.

    I don’t think people do themselves or their child any benefit by using strollers or most of the needless baby crapola.

    Our child is 10 now, a perpetual traveler for the last 5 years that is a fluent trilingual/triliterate ( speaks many other languages), can make her way around any city on her own ( we let her lead ) and never missed those things at all. 😉

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  • Chaya February 11, 2011, 11:13 am

    @ Craig: Haha I know. What would we have done with a stroller in the Guatemalan jungle?

    @soultravelers3 Yeah, I am often surprised at how many tourists we see so dependent on strollers. When we were staying on the beach in Zipolite we saw tourists hefting their strollers in and out of the back of pickups and pushing them down the beach with their preschoolers! Unbelievable to me. I agree that it would be a lot better for everyone if they just allowed their kid to walk. I think one of the reasons strollers have become so popular is that parents like to move quick when they have a lot of places to go (though I always found a baby carrier easier). But come on, when you’re on vacation at the beach you can go at your child’s pace.

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