Queries for mdvipond (& anyone else who can help!)

Hi, it's been a while since I posted on here & since my last trip with VS, I now have a junior spacecadet to consider so I've got a few queries which I'm hoping some of you Guru's on here can help with.

Firstly to mdvipond - the reason for calling on your help initially is that we're travelling UC to Barbados in 5 weeks & having had a nosey around the forum to get any hints & tips about travelling with a toddler, I stumbled across all your fabulous posts about travelling with your own entourage to BGI & hoped you might be able to help. I was wondering if you had any information on airport transfers which have child car seats available. I noticed in one of your posts that on one of your trips you tried to pre-ordered an airport transfer at BGI with a child car seat (think I read that you requested a car seat but the driver knew nothing of this). I was wondering if on your subsequent trip(s) you managed to successfully arrange a child seat. Did you arrange the airport transfers yourself or was this done through VS? The main reason I ask is that our outbound flight is a VH booking (our return being a VS booking), so we qualify for CDC on our return journey (apparantly including a child seat) but not from BGI to our hotel. We asked VS if we could maybe use some airmiles to arrange a transfer from BGI-Hotel so we could be assured of a car seat (& wouldnt be waiting for the normal transfer after a long flight with junior thinking it's bed time!) but they said no can do & we'd have to arrange something through VH. Spoke to VH but apparantly they can't arrange car seats with their transfers, so spoke to VS again to see which company they use so we can arrange our own transfer directly with them (Lyndhurst Ltd or something like that) but I can't find their details on the internet. Well the top & bottom is I was wondering if you have any details of any companies that can be directly booked & that include car seats. We found a company online called Scenic Barbados Tours & they can apparantly arrange car seats but I can't find anyone who's used them so don't want to pre book & end up having no-one at BGI waiting to collect us. Hope that all made sense [?]

Secondly, do you have any hints/tips from your travels to BGI with your own junior. How did she fare with jet lag going & coming back? Do you find that our brands of nappies/swim nappies are easy to get over there (heard you can get them but they're expensive which I'm not worried about as long as they can be easily found), or
do you just use their equivilant or take plenty with you?

Finally, a few general queries about travelling UC with a toddler. We haven't bought a separate seat so he'll be sharing our seats, which I'm sure will mean we'll be making full use of the comfortable ottoman [:?], while he gets acquainted with the seat for the first time. Am I right in thinking that we can use the ottoman all through the flight (excluding takeoff & landing) even in the event of turbulence (didn't take much notice on our last flight) & also, if junior is asleep on the bed, in the event of turbulence, can he remain there with the seatbelt on or will we have to pick him up & strap him to us?

Many thanks in advance for any help [:)]

Spacecadet

Don't ask for much, do you sc?

OK, well first of all, child seats aren't exactly prolific in Barbados. On more than one occasion we've booked a car/taxi requesting one, then it's been sadly absent when said car/taxi has arrived. With luck, VS should do you proud on your hotel-airport leg though (fingers crossed and triple check with them whilst you're out there).

As for getting from the airport to your hotel, have you considered contacting the hotel directly and asking for them to arrange a car for you (with child seat, of course)? Even though you've booked through VH, I see no reason why the hotel can't sort this for you. As we normally do our best to travel on a Z ticket - and therefore get no CDC - this is what we generally do via our hotel. Sometimes we've even been lucky enough to get a child seat (although sometimes we haven't...).

Jet-lag can be fun. Last year, mdvipond jr. was waking between 4 and 5 in the morning for the first five days of our holiday (oh, how the-now Mrs. mdvipond grew to love her early morning strolls along the beach). Coming back isn't as bad, for some reason. Arriving home as we do late morning, we usually all go to bed for 4 hours, then get up and have a normal evening/night time. Seems to get all of us back into a decent sleep pattern quite quickly - jr. included.

Nappies are readily available (albeit a bit pricier) but definitely take your own swim nappies, as we didn't see any.

As for travelling UC with a toddler, it's generally pretty easy really. How old is sc jr.? I'm assuming he's under 2 as he's sharing a suite with you. Yes, you can use the ottoman for most of the flight, but I'm not entirely sure how comfortable you'll be. The first thing to hope for is an empty suite - it happened to us once or twice when mdvipond jr. was under 2 and it really is a god-send.

Failing that, the suites are a nice enough size to share with a wee one, especially in bed mode. the-now Mrs. mdvipond and jr. have slept together very comfortably for hours at a time. If there's any turbulence the crew should ask you to attach jr. to you with a lap belt - which is a baby sized belt with a loop on that attaches to your own seat belt. Occasionally the crew have turned a blind eye when jr. has been away with the fairies and the main seat belt has been fastened over her, but I'm pretty sure they're not meant to.

Anything else? Well, if you haven't done so already, book him some baby food/a kids meal, although mdvipond jr. usually likes to pick at the normal UC fare. Stick to as much of your normal routine as possible, especially when abiding by nap times and bed times. Stick him in his PJs (assuming that's what you normally do), give him his milk and his favourite teddy and he should be good as gold. Oh, and take a couple of new toys - toys he's never seen before - on board with you in case he starts to play up. New toys are often enough to dissuade him from any amateur dramatics. Stickers, in particular, seem to distract mdvipond jr. wonderfully (although do try your best to pick them back off the suite when your finished).

Well, that was about as short and punchy as your question, wasn't it? Hope it helps, and have a great time.

If you're lucky, your little dear will be seated next to Lord Mannion, and he'll happily assist with nappy changes, soothing crying baby, etc. He's particularly adept at stickers -- if you have not ordered the British Class Warfare sticker set from mannion.com, your child is truly missing out! A selfless pillar of our society, he is, whether his feet are on the ground or at 38,000 feet in the air.

Enjoy your flight to Barbados! I'm jealous....

GJ

...actually I think it is well worth carting your own car seat as all Americans do quite desparately, despite the cadillac size. If needed you can buckle junior in his/her UC seat and it's at the ready no matter what transport you get. Better safe than sorry?

Every plane in the US has a hold area in the connector with huge piles of strollers and car seats (for those who have lap sitters).

It is highly unlikely that you will find easy transport with carseats in Barbados without some effort and expense.

I believe that the ottoman is discouraged at take-off and landing (it IS only an ottoman).

Why not get mid seats with double capacity (the interior divide lifts out)? I have seen many families with toddlers create quite a cozy nest using this config.

Have a lovely holiday. The beach (and the memories) at 5 am are well worth experiencing.

cheers,

RR

[RichardMannion]

Originally posted by GrinningJackanapes
If you're lucky, your little dear will be seated next to Lord Mannion, and he'll happily assist with nappy changes, soothing crying baby, etc. He's particularly adept at stickers -- if you have not ordered the British Class Warfare sticker set from mannion.com, your child is truly missing out! A selfless pillar of our society, he is, whether his feet are on the ground or at 38,000 feet in the air.

Enjoy your flight to Barbados! I'm jealous....

GJ

My dear GJ, you must have banged your head - gaffer tape doesn't actually count as a sticker. [:w]

GJ is quite right. He's a veritable Mary Poppins is our LRoM - diving into chalk pictures and taking his charges for tea on the ceiling. OK, so he needs to be on some pretty strong prescription drugs to do it, but you'll find most people round here prefer him that way.

Originally posted by roadrunner
Why not get mid seats with double capacity (the interior divide lifts out)? I have seen many families with toddlers create quite a cozy nest using this config.

No can do on a LGW config I'm afraid. 6A/K would be your best bet, but if you haven't snagged them by now, it's waaaaay too late...

[Neil]

Originally posted by mdvipond
No can do on a LGW config I'm afraid. 6A/K would be your best bet, but if you haven't snagged them by now, it's waaaaay too late...

BGI is currently operating ex LHR on a LHR config 744, so depending on when the OP's flight is, it could be possible.

Neil

My word Neil, you are on the ball today. Is it really you?

You're quite right, BGI flights aren't back at LGW until 18th March so, as spacecadet is flying 'in 5 weeks' it could well be a LHR config. If that's the case then roadrunner's suggestion is an excellent one, 'cause it means you can do this.

Hi, Thanks very much mdvipond for your reply (& everyone else too!). Never gave any thought to contacting the hotel to get a car so will definitely give that a try & if they can get a car seat then it'll be a bonus. Will also triple check that VS have a car seat for junior on the return while we're over there & hope for the best!

Interesting to hear you think the jet lag is worse on the return journey. Will look forward to the 4 am starts [|)] while we're out there & fingers crossed, with a few hours sleep on the flight home, & a few hours when we land, we might crack it!!

Junior will be nearly 23 months when we travel so doesn't have the luxury of his own suite, but we're also travelling with a granparent so hopefully if juniors asleep, we'll be able to swap seats & make use of the ottoman or even share with junior (like I said, last time we were in UC, didn't take much notice if they were big enough for 1 1/2!). Will keep fingers crossed for a spare suit but have a feeling Barbados is a popular destination in March so won't hold my breathe. Got about a years supply of stickers etc (which will most certainly be cleared up at the end of the flight, although I suspect ther'll be more over me than over the suite) & several hours of the wonderful In The Night Garden [ii] for the portable dvd player.

Thanks for all the other info & tips [y] (much appreciated), it's really helpful to hear from someone who's been in the same situation

Roadrunner - might well see about taking the car seat ith us but not sure if we're allowed to take this along with the pushchair (or if only one or the other is allowed).

Roadrunner & Neil - I wasn't aware that the BGI flights out of LHR were using the LHR config 744 so if the seat with the divider were an option, that would be great. Anyone know if this is likely? We're travelling out on 12 March & back on 23rd March (BGI-LGW though so obvously will only be the LHR config 744 on the outbound journey). If this is a possibilty, do we just phone VS & re-arrange the seats now or would we need to do this at checkin?

Thanks again everyone & we'll try our best to enjoy Barbados (even with the 4am starts [:0])

If you haven't sorted seats out yet, I'd give VH a ring. Not sure if you can use the VS seatmap with a VH booking (someone on here with much greater wisdom and possibly some experience of VH will know better than I). If you're on the LHR config on the way out you'll need to be trying for 15-18 D & G if you want a chance of removing the partition to make you suite a 'double'.

And you're quite right with the unruly hang-glider/car seat situation - it's one or the other, I'm afraid.

As for the Night Garden - well - all I can say is 'Igglepiggle, Iggle Onk, we're going to catch the Ninky Nonk!'.

[mitchja]

BGI flights are still using a LGW/MAN 744 even though they are departing from LHR.

Looking at LHR/LGW movements, G-VTOP and G-VAST seem to be used for the VS29/30 most of this year so far.

Regards

Originally posted by mdvipond
My word Neil, you are on the ball today. Is it really you?

[:w]

GJ

Originally posted by mitchja
BGI flights are still using a LGW/MAN 744 even though they are departing from LHR.

Looking at LHR/LGW movements, G-VTOP and G-VAST seem to be used for the VS29/30 most of this year so far.

Regards

Oh James, you are so wise and, dare I say, handsome [:I] No chance of a double then, sc.

Originally posted by mdvipond


And you're quite right with the unruly hang-glider/car seat situation - it's one or the other, I'm afraid

Hmmm...according to VH, I do believe you could take both the pushchair AND the carseat as jr's wardrobe etc could probably be accommodated in the 6 bags allowed momma and poppa. The carseat is a safety issue--yours is fitted to your own child's needs and fit. Not sure is the or or or means one or the other (the last three carried free of charge?)--but worth querying to VH?

cheers,
roadrunner (off to nevis in five snowy weeks)

Q. Do infants have a baggage allowance?
A. Infants not entitled to a seat are entitled to 1 piece of checked baggage weighing no more than 10kg and with dimensions of 9 x 14 x 22ins. This is over and above the stroller or bassinet or car seat, the last 3 of which are carried free of charge.

Originally posted by roadrunner

Originally posted by mdvipond


And you're quite right with the unruly hang-glider/car seat situation - it's one or the other, I'm afraid

Hmmm...according to VH, I do believe you could take both the pushchair AND the carseat as jr's wardrobe etc could probably be accommodated in the 6 bags allowed momma and poppa. The carseat is a safety issue--yours is fitted to your own child's needs and fit. Not sure is the or or or means one or the other (the last three carried free of charge?)--but worth querying to VH?

cheers,
roadrunner (off to nevis in five snowy weeks)

Q. Do infants have a baggage allowance?
A. Infants not entitled to a seat are entitled to 1 piece of checked baggage weighing no more than 10kg and with dimensions of 9 x 14 x 22ins. This is over and above the stroller or bassinet or car seat, the last 3 of which are carried free of charge.

I'd suggest 'or' means 'or' and not 'and' - so you can have a push chair or bassinet or child seat carried FOC.

It's not a bad idea to assume that you could take a car seat in addition to the push chair, but it would have to be as hold luggage and packed up so it doesn't get destroyed by those nice baggage handling chaps.

You can always ask the fine and stout fellows at VH, but bitter experience suggests that it may be more trouble than it's worth...

guys, brilliant posts - i am leaving for MRU on friday with a 13 month rascal. We've got two u/c seats on the airbus 340-300 (2D AND 3D)....just to be clear are you suggesting taking a car seat? As we only have 2 seats i am assuming the car seat in our case would be redundant if just for the plane? We've been assured the transfer company in MRU will have a car seat so are relying on the usual superb mauritian service! Finally, if there is a spare U/C suite do the crew usually allow an adult or toddler take it so we each have a seat (at least for sleeping purposes?)
thanks!

[Decker]

If there is a spare seat then it seems to be common practice to allow it to be used. Some crew even go beyond this, taking pillows from existing patrons to make the spare suite more comfortable. (See here)

Decker's quite right (well, of course he is), the crew will generally go out of their way to ensure that any available spare seat is given over to a baby/toddler - makes good common sense to give the little mite chance to sleep and therefore promote a happier cabin.

Re. the car seat, spacecadet's concern was relating to the chances of there being one in the car that collects them from BGI (I'll give them odds of 3-1). There'd be no benefit of actually taking a car seat on board for a child under 2.