Blogging while on hold

I'm still in Wisconsin and commuting in the Los Angeles area is already getting on my nerves. The best way to get from LAX to Pepperdine is via shuttle. When I called them yesterday to make my reservation, they informed me that I have to provide my own car seat for Daniel. This presents a problem, as my one airline ticket allows me two pieces of checked luggage. One of those must be my suitcase. One of those must be a portable crib. One of those must be a car seat.

That brings us to three. Even though I know it's hopeless, I've called several car rental companies hoping one of them will rent out a car seat without the car. The responses so far:

"Without a car? No, we don't do that."

"Not an option."

"Uh-uh."

Damn. What do I do? Spend $400 to rent a car just to get the car seat?Leave the suitcase at home and wear the same skanky clothes for two weeks? Leave the crib at home and hope Daniel doesn't mind sleeping on the floor? Leave the car seat at home and walk to Malibu? None of these are viable options. Urg.

I wish I could just let him sit on my lap for the shuttle ride, but I know they won't let me, seeing as it's 1) quite dangerous and 2) quite illegal.

Grumble.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Some airlines (most of them, I think) will allow you to check more than two bags for a fee. . something like $50 per extra checked item. Give 'em a call. If that, for some stupid reason, is no longer the case, I guess you could ship the crib to Malibu. .
good luck!
9:10 PM
Thorny said…
If you're staying in a hotel, you should be able to get them to bring you a crib-type thing for use in your room.

If you're staying with friends or something, I bet if they check out the local resale shops or Craigslist or something, they or you can find a portable crib for cheap that you can just purchase and then pass on when it's time for you to go.

My in-laws did that with a few bits of baby equipment when my two were youngsters, and they were able to get some pretty good deals - a used portacrib for like $20 or something, a little swing for $15, that kind of thing.

Good luck, and hope this helps!
1:48 AM
Thorny said…
Ooh! Also, I did a quick search, after I remembered that while the car rental places were likely no help, here in Madison you can rent car seats from the local hospitals.

Here's a place that might just be able to help you with whatever you need to rent (though I don't know what prices are like, it might be cheaper just to buy after all):
http://www.thetravelingbabyco.com/

And here's an interesting site that seemed to have some good tips:
http://www.rookiemoms.com/travel-light/

Cheers!
1:57 AM
Animal said…
When my best friend's first son was born, the whole family came to Michigan for a week-long exhibit of the new baby. Eric, being a dopey new dad, completely neglected to bring along something for Victor to sleep in. Being the scoundrel that he is, he opted to "buy" a crib at Target, proceed to put the thing together (it came as individual crib atoms), and let his son sleep in it for a week...then, he returned it, claiming it "wasn't the right model" or some such thing.

This is just a story, of course; I would NEVER suggest that any sort of upstanding person would do such a thing.

;-)
7:41 AM
Anonymous said…
you can gate-check the carseat. you bring it with you to the gate, tell them you need it gate-checked, they put a tag on it & it's waiting for you in the corridor when you get off the plane. it technically doesn't count as "checked baggage." also: ask if there are any empty seats on the plane; you may be able to get Daniel into it, since it's not being used anyway. Good luck. We flew to NYC with Andy when he was 14 months old, and it wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it would be.
1:08 PM
Suze said…
ah, but i already have to gate-check the stroller. if i were flying with another adult, none of this would be an issue!
6:47 PM
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