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Written by Alison Gresik

Chances are good that you’ll leave the family minivan behind when you take off around the world — even a Smart car won’t fit in the overhead bin!

Giving up a personal vehicle takes some adjustment but you may be surprised how quickly the car-free lifestyle becomes second nature.

Shawn and I live in downtown Ottawa, Canada, and we sold our Honda Accord five years ago.

When we decided to have kids, people asked, “Does that mean you’re going to buy a car?” But several of our friends had wee ones without wheels, so we thought we’d give it a go.

Living car-free certainly has its ups and downs, but I’d be loathe to go back to owning a vehicle now.

The Ups

Save money

Compared to owning and maintaining a car, our costs for getting around by foot, bike, bus, and rental are much lower.

The 2010 edition of Your Driving Costs (from the Canadian Automobile Association) reports that the average yearly cost for driving a four-door sedan 12,000 km would be $7,768 CDN.

In comparison, we paid $2,481 CDN last year for bus tickets, taxis, and car rentals.

Get more exercise

I don’t need a pedometer to tell me I walk a lot — trips to the park, library, and daycare really add up.

We used carriers when the kids were under 2.5 years old. Now, I push a double stroller that weighs 85+ pounds fully loaded.

We’re not big into biking, but we know families who get their cardio from cycling everywhere.

Reduce consumption and carbon footprint

Not only do we avoid purchasing a car, use less gas, and produce less pollution, we also buy less stuff because it’s not as convenient to shop at malls and big box stores.

Experience the city in a different way

Walking gives us an intimacy with the neighbourhood — we know every garden, cafe, and drink fountain in a twenty-block radius. We often run into folks from playgroup and swimming lessons on the street.

Riding the bus is a communal event, whether the kids are charming fellow passengers or entertaining a baby in the stroller opposite.

The Downs

Planning ahead

For every appointment or excursion, we have to figure out the best mode of transportation and make arrangements.

That may mean looking up bus schedules, booking a Vrtucar (our local car-sharing service), or arranging a carpool.

In China we used taxis a lot, so Shawn found an iPhone application with translated taxi cards and made sure he had the address of our destination.

The physical demands

Carrying and pushing kids and stuff can get tiring, I have to admit.

Not to mention being exposed to the elements — there’s no protection from rain showers, strong winds or snow drifts and there’s no air conditioning!

Limits to activities

Our choices for school, daycare, and lessons are constrained by how far we’re willing to walk or bus on a regular basis.

We do fewer trips to rural parks and attractions, and it’s harder to see friends who live in the suburbs.

Shawn plays Ultimate Frisbee but finds it a challenge to get rides to the fields.

If you’re new to car-free living with children, here are some things you’ll want to consider:

Think about ground transportation for young kids

Carriers and backpacks are great for smaller children: we loved our BabyHawk mei tai carrier and used it until the kids were about 25 pounds. It’s easy to put on and comfortable for long periods.

For trips with one child, we have a folding umbrella stroller. Our double stroller is a Joovy Caboose Ultralight, which we chose because of its narrow profile, light weight and easy folding. That stroller was invaluable in Beijing!

Consider walkability and public transit when choosing a place to live

I’ll take a smaller living space any day if it means convenience in getting around.

Our Beijing apartment was a 10-minute walk from a subway station, several malls and numerous grocery stores and restaurants. Lia’s Chinese kindergarten was also close by.

In Ottawa, we’re a few blocks from the major bus routes and Shawn can walk to his office in 20 minutes.

Use cars on an ad-hoc basis

There are times when only a car will do, so you’ll want to rent, borrow, or hire. We belong to Vrtucar, which lets us book shared cars online for short trips. We also rent cars once or twice a month when we travel out of town or have errands to run.

Shawn uses these strategies to get great deals on rental cars in the US and Canada:

• Check websites like AutoSlash and KAYAK to get a general idea of rates
• Sign up for better deals and frequent renter programs
• Take advantage of promotions that get you free days and weekends
• Enter your information online to minimize your time in the rental office
• Use FlyerTalk and FatWallet or search the Internet to find discount codes that drop your price further
• Sign up for a credit card that gives you good insurance coverage and avoid the prohibitive cost of coverage being pushed by the car rental companies

It is often not a good idea to rent car seats from rental companies — they can be expensive, their availability is unpredictable and they’re often dirty.

We suggest lightweight car seats that are quick to install like the Cosco Scenera, or folding ones like the Sunshine Kids Radian.

Check out the forums on Car-Seat.org for unbiased, up-to-date, recommendations.

Figure out how to use the transit system

Many cities have online trip planners and maps.  Google Transit has integrated 446 transit systems around the world at last count.

You’ll also want to determine the cheapest and/or most convenient way to pay fares (using tokens or passes) depending on how much you travel.

Guidebooks often have transit information or you can stop in at a transit info booth.

Decide whether to sell or store your vehicle

On one hand, vehicles lose value over time and don’t do well sitting. On the other hand, if you still need to use the car a significant portion of each year, you may want to keep it.

If you decide to keep your vehicle, reduce the insurance to basic coverage. In some jurisdictions this has the benefit of allowing you to maintain an insurance record, so it doesn’t affect your premium rates in the future.

You may also want to loan the car to someone to keep it in good running condition.

Going car-free in Beijing felt easy because we were used to living that way in Ottawa. We have fond memories of people-watching on the subway, and not-so-fond memories of lugging the stroller up and down stairs when the subway elevator was out of service.

Have you lived car-free with kids? What ups and downs have you experienced when your family leaves the vehicle behind?

“But what about all the baby stuff you need?” is usually the question we’re asked most frequently. “You know all the nappies/diapers, the buggy, the car seat, the travel cot, the toys?”.

We like to think we’ve been quite smart about the purchases we’ve made – knowing in advance that we’ll be travelling and that weight & luggage will be at a premium. But we’ve made some mistakes and bought things that we barely used, left things behind that we should have taken with us and generally, as is always the way, learned as we’ve gone along.

I wanted to list the key baby travel equipment items we’ve purchased over the past 9 months and summarise my thoughts on them so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes we did…

Koo-di Popup Cot

We bought this a couple of months before we hit the road, thinking it’d be a great solution.

It’s light, easy & quick to assemble and would work really well…if you had a baby who slept well when put down in a cot!

We didn’t and found this a bit of a nightmare to try to get her to sleep in on practice runs.

By the time we hit he road when she was 4 months old, we’d moved to co-sleeping and then transitioned her to the travel centre (see below) because she became mobile so quickly and we couldn’t chance her rolling out of this (the sides are quite flimsy). All in all, I think we used it about 3 times so not a great investment!

However if you do hit the road earlier or need something for short trips with a young baby, this would be a good piece of equipment because it’s so very light and easy to assemble.

NScessity Travel Centre

We got this before we actually purchased the Koo-di cot but Mali looked so ridiculously small & lost when we first put her in it (at about 3 months) that we didn’t use it at first.

For smaller babies who need to be rocked to sleep (or, like Mali, bounced to sleep!), it’s a bit of a nightmare to use because you have to firstly get on the ground (unless it’s perched on something – which is only suitable if your baby is still immobile), then zip up the thing once you’ve managed to place the sleeping baby in it, without waking them. Quite a feat and one we rarely achieved in the early days!

However, we started to use it again once Mali was about 5 months old and now she absolutely loves it. It’s great because, wherever we go, her “bedroom” looks & smells the same so there’s the element of familiarity at bed time which works well.

It’s far lighter than the pack-and-play type travel cots, is quick & easy to assemble and, once you’ve got the hang of it, pretty quick to pack up too. It comes with a blow-up mattress which makes most floor surfaces comfortable enough. As I mentioned, it’s wise not to put it on anything other than the ground as soon as your baby is mobile and able to stand up, since Mali used to stand & beat her hands on the side, almost toppling it over. I’d highly recommend this as a travel cot solution – my only bugbear is that the mattress thing which sits on top of the blow-up one doesn’t stay in place well at all.

Grobag Sleeping Bag

The grobag-type sleeping bags are great for babies – especially when you travel.

So much easier than sheets & blankets and the travel-specific ones mean you can keep your baby harnessed without disturbing them by having to remove the bag to put the harness on & off (there’s a hole in the back though which you can slip the seat belt).

The only difficulty we found was trying to figure out which tog sleeping bag would be suitable since they’re quite bulky things to pack and you don’t want to have to take a range with you to cover all temperatures.

We plumped for the 2.5 tog in the end – which has so far been fine for winter (dry) season in Thailand, spring in Dubai (air-conditioned rooms), end of winter in the UK and spring in Turkey.

They work well with the travel centre (above) because the centre isn’t great for fitting sheets & blankets to since there’ nothing to tuck them into.

TotSeat Portable Chair Harness

I saw this on a whim when Mali wasn’t sitting up yet and thought it might be useful. It’s supposed to fit a wide range of seats and we’ve only found a couple which were too tall for it to fit so it’s pretty versatile.

What’s great about it is that it’s very light & small to pack and the fabric is washable.

What’s not so great about it is that, while it does fit most seats, it can cause your baby to sort of slouch or slump down if there’s no solid back to the seat – not the most comfortable position.

We’ve also found that it can be quite tight under the armpits which again, isn’t so comfortable and it depends upon how wriggly your baby is, since this isn’t the most sturdy of frames to restrain them!

All in all, we’ve used this a handful of times so it hasn’t been a waste of money (they’re not terribly expensive) but given the choice, I’m not sure I’d purchase one again. Instead, I’d probably consider one of these.

Baby Björn Sling

Lots of people recommended we use a sling before we had Mali. So after buying around 4 different types of slings and returning them to the shop when Mali screamed every time we put her in them, we finally persevered enough to get her into one without the tears – and this is the one we stuck with.

We opted for the “active” version because the lumbar support was better – and it served its purpose really well while Mali was light enough to go in it.

She’s still not at the weight limit for this sling but as she grew beyond 7-8kgs, it became increasingly uncomfortable and put massive strain on our shoulders & necks. It got to the stage where I couldn’t carry her for more than about 10 minutes before I had to stop. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t continue to use it because Mali absolutely loved the face-forward position.

So I’d recommend this if you have a small, light baby (Mali was 8lbs 110z at birth so not exactly light & has been a good eater ever since so she’s still not exactly small nor light for her age!) as it’s one of the more comfortable slings of its type available. It’s ok for travel although slightly bulky if you do want to put it in a bag/carry-on bag.

ErgoBaby Carrier

This is the sling we graduated to about 6 weeks ago once we decided we could no longer use the Baby Björn. I did quite a bit of research beforehand and this one seemed to come up trumps.

So far, it’s been excellent. Travel-wise, it’s lighter & easier to pack up in a bag than the Baby Björn and it’s far more comfortable for heavier babies & toddlers.

Mali’s almost 10kg and I can carry her round in this for 1-2 hours before tiring or feeling the strain too much. The only drawback is that the baby can’t face forward which we thought Mali would miss but turns out she loves facing inwards almost as much and falls asleep pretty quickly in it.

There’s a built-in sunshade for over the head and which also provides a little support if your baby goes to sleep.The straps are relatively easy to adjust – the only thing we’ve found difficult is putting it on if you’re on your own because the upper back strap is tough to reach. It can be done, it’s just harder.

On a side note, I’ve also found it an excellent way to nurse when out & about without exposing yourself too much – quite a handy feature, especially when you’re in a Muslim country!

Baby Jogger City Classic

Some people will argue that you don’t need a stroller – and in some respects I agree. In fact, we don’t have ours with us this time round but then we’re currently in a small Turkish town where we don’t need to walk for more than 10-15 minutes to get to anything or anywhere.

Whether you need a stroller or not will also be determined by your destination – some places are totally unsuitable for strollers (e.g. there are no decent pavements in Chiang Mai) so it’s a waste of time taking one.

When we have take it with us however, we’ve found this to be an excellent stroller for travel. It’s super light, folds away within a few seconds (this is seriously the fastest & easiest folding one we’ve ever seen – everyone who sees it is impressed!) and the back goes practically flat so is great for sleeping babes.

It also has a really good sunshade which pulls all the way forward and blocks out almost all the light. It’s been with us on a few flights so far and has stood up to the baggage handlers although we do sometimes get it wrapped for extra protection.

What equipment purchases have you made and regretted? And what equipment could you not live without when travelling with your baby?

Image by Yukon White Light

Our approach to “stuff” has radically changed since being location independent – and we applied that same mentality to having a baby. We were about the only couple at the Parenting Classes who hadn’t stuffed our house full with every baby gadget known to man.

In fact we didn’t buy a baby bath, a changing mat, a baby monitor and a load more things until our daughter was actually born. This turned out to be a really good approach for us since we were able to choose things as we needed them and based on the experience of knowing exactly what would work once she was here – instead of buying things based on guesswork before she arrived.

We’ve used the same approach to travel so far – and packed the bare minimum, knowing that if we needed anything else, we could very likely buy it on location.

Of the few things we’ve researched and packed, here are some of the items we’ve considered, researched and bought. Having only been on the road for around 3 weeks and with this limited experience to judge things on, I’ll save any reviews for a later date but will promise to update you as & when we’ve been on the road for a bit longer and had chance to thoroughly road-test the items listed…

Travel cot

We researched & researched this and decided not to buy those big travel cots which are heavy, bulky and (we decided) just not practical to travel with.

We decided instead to go for a lightweight travel crib (from Koo-di, as pictured) and also considered the Samsonite equivalent and travel bubble.

On the recommendation of numerous people, we have also purchased a UV Travel Centre [aff] – both for use indoors and outdoors. This, we hope, will eventually be used as a bed but can also be taken to the beach/pool and used as a play tent which also protects from the sun.

Key considerations: Weight, comfort, safety, footprint of cot, whether accommodation provide similar.

Baby Bath

If you’re not sure whether there will be a bath or big-enough sink in the place you’ll be staying, then you’re going to need some sort of solution to bath your baby. We decided to purchase a baby bath once we arrived (in fact, my parents are also in Thailand for a couple of months and arrived before us so purchased one before we arrived).

Unfortunately, our daughter’s a pretty big girl for her age (5 months) and in conjunction with the bath support we use, is too long for the bath they bought and others we tried so we’ve actually bought a small paddling pool to use with her bath support which works perfectly.

Key considerations: Size, availability/suitability of existing facilities.

Strollers/Car Seats/Slings

Stroller: Having started out with a Quinny Zap buggy + Maxi Cosi car seat, we traded it in (sold it on ebay) for a City Jogger which we’ve been exceptionally happy with (it reclines almost fully, has an excellent rain/sunshade, is light, comfortable to push and folds away with one hand). We’ve brought this with us and the only thing we’d change is to get it in a different colour (we got black) so it doesn’t absorb the heat so much – not a consideration when we were in the UK!

Car Seat: In many countries, the laws aren’t as strict about using rear-facing baby car seats as in the UK but there’s ever been any question about whether we use one or not. We brought our existing car seat with us and, as per much of the advice you’ll read, opted to take it hand luggage rather than check it in. We have however left this one in Dubai and purchased a new one in Thailand since it’s likely to be a place we’ll be coming back to every year and can store it somewhere when we leave.

Slings: We brought our Baby Björn sling with us and also carried it on the plane with us; this was an excellent decision (we almost didn’t!) since the buggy which we left at the airplane door didn’t meet us there at the other end in Dubai and we’d have had to carry our 8-9kg daughter on the 20m bus ride to the terminal, along the miles of walkways at the new terminal in Dubai and for the 45m+ wait at immigration.

Key considerations: Weight, suitability for climate, safety, whether to check in or carry on.

Clothing

We’ve taken a few weekend trips with our daughter prior to hitting the road for good; each time we’ve over-packed in the clothes department, largely for “just in case” scenarios. We’d probably still do this if she were a little younger and nappy accidents/leakages were still a common feature of daily life but since this happens less frequently, we’ve brought 3-4 of each main type of outfit (i.e. short-sleeve/no legs babygro’s, long-sleeved/long-legged babygro’s for cold plane journeys). A consideration here is whether you’ll have easy access to a washing machine or not.

Key considerations: Climate, availability of clothing on location, growth/development stage, access to washing machine.

Toiletries

No matter where you are, you’ll probably be able to get most of the basic baby care toiletries and supplies. If however, there are specific brands/products you use then you will probably want to consider taking your own supply with you. For example, we use organic skincare products on our daughter’s skin and I was pretty certain you couldn’t get these in Thailand (you can’t), so we’ve bought a 3 month supply with us. Of course if we run out, we’ll use what we can get but it’s nice to primarily use our chosen products 90% of the time.

Key considerations: Availability on location.

Toys

Our daughter’s only really just getting into favourite toys and showing a preference for certain ones, so we’ve brought along the ones she likes and is familiar with to ensure a bit of continuity. This includes her playmat off of which we can hang existing & new toys we buy.

For the most part however, we’ll buy toys & play things on the road wherever we are. As with our previous approach to on-the-road purchases, anything we don’t want to carry with us when we leave, we’ll donate/pass on to locals, a hospital or an orphanage.

Key considerations: Availability on location, familiarity, stimulation/development stage.

Other Equipment

While we’re here, we’ll need to wean our daughter. In the UK, this would be easy (well, relatively speaking!) – we know we can get all the equipment we need, the organic food/baby food and anything else which might help make this process simpler. In Thailand, I had no idea what we could & couldn’t get – although fortunately I could get my parents to go on a reccie and find out before we left – so I bought some of the basics with us and will keep our fingers crossed that we can get the rest!

We’ve already learned a lot about some of the decisions we made and equipment we chose so I’ll update you on these in a future post – but for now, the best tip I can give is this…

Before you hit the road for good, a useful experiment to conduct is to spend a few days away from home at a relative’s or somewhere and see how you cope. You’ll be amazed at how many things you can do without or how much you can improvise when you have to.

Of course, when you’re staying somewhere for a few months at a time, you won’t necessarily want to “make do” but it’s a good attitude to have for the first few days until you get kitted up with everything you need.