I found this post by accident and couldn't stop laughing. What a relief to know that I am not the only member of the "wrong car club". I'm not even the only member of the "loading groceries in the wrong car" club, LOL. My husband is always pleading with me to please be more aware of my surroundings. My daughter and I loaded a weeks worth of groceries in someone else's car one time. I got into the drivers side and she got into the passenger seat and buckled up. We were both into our conversation so much we didn't notice someone elses fast food bags and jumper cables in "our" car. It hit us both at the same time ...mid sentence. We grabbed our groceries as quick as possible and ran.Unfortunately, in our hurry, we left our toilet paper in the back seat of the car. I've always wondered what the real owner of the car must have thought when he found an unopened package of toilet paper in his back seat.

If possible, have a "LATCH" or "ISOFIX" connector installed in your car (possible on some late model vehicles, and standard equipment on many new cars) and use a recently built baby seat. These are very easy to install properly - they just snap right in - and it is easy to remove and replace them when necessary. Some cars and vans even have built-in child seats available that fold down for kids, fold back up for adults. I'm a bit disturbed at the campaign in recent years to only place children in back seats. Of course, rear-facing infant seats should *never* be placed in a front seat with an active airbag, as the bag would inflate into the top of the baby's head first. But using a forward-facing seat for post-infant younger children in a front seat may not be any less safe than in back, and may in some cases be safer. The kids-in-the-backseat campaign has been waged in recent years for reasons partly cultural, partly political. The cultural aspect pertains to parents' and society's general predilection to put kids in the back seat both metaphorically and literally. Based on past statistics, both children and adults are (slightly) better protected in the back seat. But there haven't been any efforts to get people to put their wives or husbands in the back seat for safety. The political aspect pertains to the rash of airbag-related fatalities several years ago, many to children or shorter adults. The government's airbag mandate had always had its detractors, and now there were choruses of "I told you so's" amongst those who opposed mandatory airbag requirements. To help quell the criticism and repel efforts to repeal the airbag mandates, the government began the "put kids in the back" crusade, which was picked up by car manufacturers and just about everyone else. Most of those injured or killed by airbags though were not wearing seatbelts or were in rear-facing seats. What those statistics from past accidents in older cars don't take into account is that many new cars will probably protect post-infant children and adults alike better, or at least as well, in the front seat. The advantage of the back seat was largely due to being further from the impact area in frontal collisions, which would often intrude on the passenger space in front but not in back. (Also, center positions offer better protection from side impacts from either direction than outer positions, and more cars have center-rear than center-front seating, although using the center position is often impossible if you have more than one child seat.) But due to safety advances in new cars, many cars have recently passed the government or insurance institute frontal crash tests with no intrusion into the passenger compartment. This means the front and rear seats experience exactly the same rate of deceleration, and common concerns such as crashing into the dashboard or windshield aren't an issue. Airbags have been redesigned to inflate less forcefully, especially in low-speed collisions. What's more, several new cars are equipped with seat-belt retractors (that automatically tighten to eliminate slack during a collision) and side airbags (which are safely positioned for both children and adults), whereas these features are less commonly found in rear seats. So the front seat may actually be safer in some new cars. And the front-passenger seat height and shoulder-belt height adjustments found in some new cars can better position a small child properly in respect to the seat belt and airbag. BTW, I spent two years working for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and am a lifelong car buff. And I'm not the only one reconsidering the "put kids in back" mantra. Check out this article in the current issue of Car & Driver magazine, from its chief editor: Here is a link that might be useful: Where Should Kids Sit?

Um, I certainly HOPE your child will have his own seat. Do they even still allow children to fly on your lap? Most overseas flights originating in Europe leave early in the morning, so I hope you can find a night flight. I flew overseas 4 times with my DD when she was 18 months, 26 months, 27 months and almost 3. TAKE THE CAR SEAT. Trust me on this. Take small toys - NEW ones, and pull out a new one every half hour or so. Take fruit and juice from home (just make sure all the fruit is eaten before you get off the plane or they will confiscate it). Don't try Benadryl or Tylenol to make him sleepy. Try to get an aisle seat for you so that you can get up and walk around with him. Make sure you have at least 3 changes of clothes for him and at least one change for you - in your carry-on. Most importantly, make sure YOU are very well-rested before you start your trip. Flying with a toddler is much more stressful than flying with an infant. (And I did it ALONE with two cats to boot!) :-) Hope this helps!

We drove from NYC to Iowa, staying with friends along the way (which was part of the reason for the drive) when our daughter was about that age. It turned out to be fun, but we only drive about 8 hours a day--NAPTIME!. Here's how we handled the kid in the car seat. Get up, eat breakfast, gas up car, let kid run around and play while all these things are being done, EVERYBODY GO POTTY BEFORE YOU GET IN THE CAR. Get in the car, strap her in, she's in a good mood, talk, sing, point out stuff outside the window, she draws or colors, sometimes mommy got in the back to read story books, or tilted the seat way back (not the safest, though). Then, eventually, she falls asleep for a morning nap. Drive as far as possible--NO STOPS! (she wakes up at stops; hence the urgent need for the grownups to go potty, just in case, even if they don't think they need to or just went before lunch--go again now, you CANNOT STOP once the kid is asleep) Since she's lulled by the car, her morning nap is longer than usual. When she wakes, begin the search for food. (and a bathroom; we also did this right after she'd been potty trained; we used pull-ups for the trip in case, but had to get her to the bathroom if at all possible) Eat lunch, find some sort of playground (fast-food play area, or occasionally a city park) and let her run around for an hour. EVERYBODY GO POTTY BEFORE YOU GET BACK IN THE CAR! Back in the car, more talking and pointing out the window, etc. She gets lulled to sleep again for a long afternoon nap. When she wakes, find a bathroom and supper, then drive to the town we're staying in. It worked out pretty well in terms of distance, we usually arrived there right at dinner time. Playtime in the evening, and a sort of late bedtime because of all the extra-long naps in the car. The really long part of the trip was NYC to Clarion, PA (here we had to stay in a hotel). Then to South Bend, IN. Then over to Peoria, IL, then to the center of Iowa (the shortest hop of all). That'll give you an idea of how many miles you could hope to cover with a pleasant schedule. We stayed in very inexpensive hotels (Super 8, Day's Inn, Motel 6--it only has to be clean and safe, not w/ a pool or anything, and we brought our own playpen bcs the cribs were not very good, but it was cheap), We played in the hallways, alcoves, and outdoor walkways of the hotels (at 18months, everything is fun!) had great fun looking out the windows (I hate the new fences along the interstates in populated areas; I understand them, but boy they're boring!).