Car seats for long port excursions?

[kidstoteach]

We are traveling with our 7 & 8 y/o kids who normally ride in boosters due to their weight and height. Two of our private port tours have long rides (6.5 hours in Egypt where the traffic is described as insane and few hours in Amalfi Coast). Considering dragging the seats along but dreading it. Anyone else have any options/advice to consider? Oh, and leaving the kids at home is not viable!:D

[CeleBrat]

We just dragged our booster seat along to the Mediterranean for DD, who is 5. We used it in all taxis, the Amalfi Coast drive, journey from Citivecchia to Rome, and trip from Livorno to Florence.

 

Oddly enough, the booster seat got LOST on the trip back from Barcelona, so she rode seat-less in taxis in NY (for delayed flight overnight) and shuttle van from airport to home.

 

Ugh--but there was nothing we could do!

 

CeleBrat

 

PS--The booster seat was delivered to our house by the airlines the day after we got home. It's amazing they found it what with all the lost-luggage troubles they are having.

[nothriver]

High back booster are of course much safer than low back boosters, but I think for travel I'd consider taking along a low back booster even if you use a high back booster at home. My reasoning for this is that I've seen broken booster seats coming around the baggage carousel on all of my most recent flights. A low back booster is harder to break, and/or can be stowed in an overhead bin. While no boosters are FAA approved, I've heard many families say that they used them on the plane.

 

A car seat shoulder harness will not fit your children properly and the belt would not provide protection in an accident. A low back booster will at least boost them to where shoulder belt would provide some protection. Remember, lap only belts are not safe for anyone, kids or adults. Hopefully the vehicles you are in will have combination shoulder/lap belts.