Family Trip Essentials: Booster Seats

Traveling with Multiple Car Seats

As part of our Family Trip Essentials series, each day we will focus on one item that made the cut for our recent two week trip abroad with three kids, ages 11, 9, and 7. This was our first trip without a stroller, but we still needed two booster seats.

Our trip required two flights, one around 10 hours, and the second with a flight time of about two hours. We rented a car during our visit and stayed in an Airbnb in the heart of the city with multiple public transportation options. With two kids weighing just over fifty pounds (and one topping one hundred), we still needed booster seats for car travel. We also had several multiple hour drives at our destination, making car safety a priority.

Even though we still own a Ride Safer Harness, and it packs down extremely compactly, we opted not to take it for this trip. The kids still fit, but because we use it so rarely, they have trouble buckling and unbuckling the harness. We also don’t install it often, so with our luggage allowance, we went with some bulkier but more user-friendly options.

Unfortunately, both kids have outgrown our Cosco Highback Booster Seat. Though they are well under the weight limit, both of them exceed the height limit of 52 inches for that particular seat. So for our nine year old, we opted for a backless Graco TurboBooster. We took a highback Graco TurboBooster for our seven year old. The removable back made packing it a cinch, and it doubled as a backless booster in case we had issues installing it once we arrived.

Both booster seats fit into our car seat travel bag with plenty of room to spare. They weighed next to nothing, and we had no trouble pulling or carrying the bag with them inside. We even used the extra cargo capacity on our return trip to toss a few things into the bag with them. As always, car seats cost nothing to check on any flights, and we didn’t need either of the seats on board the airplane.

These seats made installation at our destination quick and simple.The kids use these seats regularly, so they know how to buckle properly with minimal assistance and have no trouble using the seat belt. We know they fit our kids, and most vehicles. The two cup holders on each seat also meant they had plenty of room for holding drinks and trinkets during our short and long car rides. And we had zero concerns about them growing out of the weight limits during our trip. The adjustable back on the highback TurboBooster fits a wide range of kids, and the belt guide helps keep the seat belt properly positioned.

I would take both these seats again in a heartbeat and am very happy with our choices. If you want a lightweight booster seat that works well at home and when traveling, you can’t go wrong with the TurboBooster line up.