7 Benefits to Hiring a Travel Buggy
When we first opened Stork Rentals in 2013, we mostly rented car seats. It was understandable that they were our bestselling rental item - they are inherently unsuited for travel! They are big, heavy and bulky, and with carrying bags and kids, car seats is a bridge too far for many parents.
What has been surprising has been the increase in buggy rental - and travel buggies in particular. Why would anyone rent a buggy when they most definitely have one of their own at home? After many conversations with customers, we now understand their motivation for hiring. We have concluded there are at least 7 common benefits to hiring a travel buggy:
- Firstly, the everyday pram that people first buy is a completely different beast to a travel buggy. Beast is a good descriptor, as they are generally much bigger than a travel buggy. It generally comes with bells and whistles, and carrycots that need to be lifted off to fold the pram. Travel prams are designed to be compact and built to fold in one piece.
- Often a child has grown out of going in a pram, and wants to walk most of the time. This is brilliant... except when you're on holidays! We find we hire prams to people who have gotten rid of their own, but just need it to get from A to B on holidays! (A feature we love on the BabyJogger City Tour is the footflap. You can raise it up for proper lie down naps.)
- Decent travel buggies like the Babyzen Yoyo are expensive. If you are only thinking of using it for one or two holidays it is often cheaper to hire.
- Furthermore, prams for small babies with carrycots are often only suitable for up to about 6 months. It'd hardly be worth buying a pram for such a short period of time.
- Travel prams are built for travel! They collapse in one piece, the have 'carry' attachments like shoulder straps or carry handles. They usually come with a travel bag, which helps prevent damage in transit.
- They come with weather accessories you need for holidays that you might not need for your everyday, for example rain covers for visiting Ireland, or parasols for going to hot countries!
- Most importantly of all, they are cabin bag sized and can fit in over head lockers. It depends on the airline, whether it is counted as part of your hand luggage allowance or not, but in our experience airlines.