Any suggestions? (parents and Canadians, this means you!)

[vaznetti]

(Otherwise known as, "surely my friends list knows everything...")

OK, here's my problem. We're going back to Halifax next month, so that I can pack up my office, arrange for shipping to the UK, say goodbye, all that stuff. And obviously, we are taking Spartacus with us.

We don't have a car in the UK; we have a borrowed carseat, but Spartacus has just outgrown it, so we won't be taking it with us. I have a car in Halifax (which I'm planning to sell). My usual practice is to take a taxi from the airport to the city. Now, as far as I can tell, taxicabs are actually exempt from childseat laws in Canada (at least, they are in Ontario -- as so often, it's harder to find info on other provinces), but I am a little nervous on two counts -- first, that it's about a 20 minute trip, and second, that I have serious doubts that a taxi driver will take us without a carseat. Does anyone have advice or suggestions?

I've emailed a child stuff rental company about renting a carseat (and some other stuff) while we're there, but they don't seem to do airport dropoffs. I'm going to phone my usual cab company (if I can find their card!) and ask them for advice. I think I'll also email former colleagues with children back in Halifax to see what they suggest (and hope that someone would offer to come pick us up! but that seems unlikely). In the worst-case scenario, there's a shuttle bus to downtown hotels that I can take -- after all, we'll be taking a bus to the airport here, and that's a much longer trip. But generally, by the time I've arrived in the airport, I just want to get the rest of the way, and I suspect that Spartacus will feel the same.

(And yes, I know he'll be on the plane in our laps, but air travel is statistically much safer than car travel...)

Comments

[timesink.livejournal.com]

I can't speak to Canada, just Washington DC and parts of the US, but carseats and taxicabs don't often mix. I found that quite often the car seat (especially when the Boy was still rear-facing) didn't fit in the cab right, and he ended up flopping over his seatbelts. Frequently I just gritted my teeth, held my breath, squished him to my chest and prayed. We did fine. I'd ask your usual cab company, or the shuttle bus company; they may use vans that have built-in car seats or something.

You're going to have him in your lap the whole way from the UK? I know it's cheaper that way, but ... I applaud your bravery and endurance. ;)

[vaznetti]

Yeah, in the US I wouldn't worry about being stranded at the airport -- but the cultural difference between the US and (especially Eastern) Canada is enough that I don't feel so confident.

We're breaking the journey in Reykjavik so he can get out and crawl, but the flight from to Halifax isn't too long anyway. But I think that the relative ease of the trip to and from the west coast may have lulled me -- now he's bigger, and mobile!