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Avoid the nightmares of traveling with toddlers!Let’s face it; traveling by air with a small child is a hassle. Getting through the airport, a nightmare. There’s so much to take with you-—the carry-on, the stroller, the diaper bag, your child’s car seat, and your child! As parents who’ve been there, we finally got tired enough of the headaches of air travel with our small kids to do something about it! So, we conceived, patented, and produced a revolutionary new product for traveling families. In just two snaps, you can zip through the airport with ease. Pull your carry-on rolling suitcase, your child’s own car seat, a diaper/necessity bag and your child all with one hand! TOTEaTOT easily and quickly creates all this becoming your in-airport stroller and more. Forget the stress of juggling many items while racing to your gate. Using the TOTEaTOT, travelers easily transport their toddler, the child's car seat, the rolling carry-on luggage, and diaper bag all with one hand! Welcome, hassle-free travel! To learn more about TOTEaTOT, please visit www.toteatot.com. All trademarks and copyrights are owned by their respective companies. Comments are owned by the Poster. Everything else © 2005-2010 High Maintenance Mom.
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Review of TOTEaTOT
I used the TOTEaTOT last week when travelling to Vermont from San Francisco with my young one year old son. No dad on this trip! I had the option of borrowing the little wheels for the Britax seat or trying the TOTEaTOT. Since I didn't have any extra hands the TOTEaTOT worked splendidly. I have a hardcase carry-on, and snapped the belts around the hardcase. The initial setup of adjusting the strap length took about three minutes. When I checked in, I put my id and tickets in the pocket (nice!) and the only bummer was that I had to unhook it and hook it back together to get through security, but the strap length was already adjusted so it was just snap and go. There is nothing pleasant about security with a stroller, carry on, child, etc anyway. Once I checked my seat at the gate I just threw the TOTEaTOT into the carry on. It worked well. I think it would work better with a softcase carry on because you could make it more snug and it wouldn't ride up at all. With the hardcase the bottom strap rode up just an inch or so till it hit the base of the handle. It didn't impact the performance at all. I would definitely reccomend this product to anyone who wants a reasonably priced solution to car seat travel in the airport. It will work with any carseat whereas the wheel set works with the Britax (maybe others too) and is more expensive (around $90.00) and it requires an extra hand. The TOTEaTOT is around $25.00 and is super small. I like the pockets too. Great product!
Traveling with kids
Thanks for the TOTEaTOT review! It's good to hear there are reasonably priced solutions for traveling with a car seat and children.
Car seat travel
I borrowed the TOTEaTOT to use the last time I traveled, but when getting ready the night before, I found out that it would not fit on my ancient rollerbag. I've had the suitcase since high school, and I suppose all newer bags don't have a pull-up handle that is quite so wide. Anyway, my husband and I took the idea and rigged up something similar with bungee cords. It worked pretty well, but getting it on and off at security was a pain. I wouldn't have managed it if I was alone. I imagine it is MUCH easier with the TOTEaTOT. But the idea of hooking the car seat on the suitcase was great. It worked just as well as a stroller and we didn't have to carry the car seat too. We got a lot of comments from other travellers on how awesome it was. Big E looked like a little king on his throne. The other problem with my ancient bag was that the pull-up handle did not lock, so we had to drag him backwards, and I was so neurotic, I had to walk behind to watch him the whole time. Anyway, if you have a nice new suitcase, or at least one that isn't decades old, it is probably well worth the $25....
tote a tot
Hi, I will soon travel with my 3 yr old and 13 month old, alone, and hope to use tote a tot. Can you wheel the suitcase and carseat combo - with child in it, right onto the plane- to your seats? or must you diassemble it all as you get to the gate. I plan on using 2 carseats on the flight. Very worried about the logistics of this trip. Any advice appreciated!
our experience
Our carseat was too wide for the very narrow aisles- we had visions of having our son fall asleep in the airport and not wake until landing (we were on a red-eye) but this did not work for us. My husband had to lift the car seat up over the seats while I carried Big E. Probably depends on the airline and the carseat- we have the evenflo convertable one (which is pretty wide). Plus it seams like a lot of people had boarded even though we were "pre-boarding". I think there is also a backpack carrier for carseats- esp if you are carrying two, that might be handy to use in addition to the tote-a-tot. I would talk to the flight attendants at the gate and ask to preboard and ask for their help. I've noticed they often forget the pre-boarding for those with children. Plus I am sure they would be more than happy to help you since they know it will expedite the process. Good luck. I am sure you will manage just fine.
Preboarding
There are several airlines and/or people working at the gate who don't let the public know about preboarding with kids. I've found that going up and talking to the person at the gate about preboarding helps. Then I stand near the gate so I can preboard when the first group is called. Often the "families traveling with small children" option is not mentioned so I end up boarding with the premium fliers or first class. Now that our kids are a little older, we often check the car seats so we don't have to carry two. I'm amazed by how much stuff I carry with me and I often feel that a trip to the airport is like the parent Olympics because there is no amount of training that can get me through a trip without sore arms. If I was using the TOTE-a-TOT, I would carry the car seat to the gate and then gate check either the seat or the carry on and seat. I'm a big fan of gate checking.