Gate checking stroller and stroller travel bag...

[janets]

We were down in December with our kids and brought our stroller along (our old one broke about 1 hour before we left so I ran to BRU and purchased a new Graco Quattro Tour for the trip). When we arrived at the airport and boarded the plane, I gate checked the now just hours old stroller.

We got to MCO and got the stroller, headed to the car and loaded everything up. When we got to our accomodations, I took out the stroller and noticed that the back was dirty and that there were pulls and slight tears on the back of the seat where the bar is. Our brand new stroller didn't even survive the trip down w/o damage, even with gate checking.

So we're now going on another trip in June and again in November. I'd hate to have more damage accumulate on the stroller so I'm looking into purchasing a stroller travel bag, just to protect it from further dirt and tears. But I'm having trouble finding one that will be large enough to accomodate the stroller, even though they seem to advertise that they can accomodate even double strollers.

Anyone own one and can make a decent recommendation? One I saw actually said that my stroller (Graco Model 7111) would have to have the front wheels removed before getting into the bag. Can you imagine having to remove wheels at the gate of the plane w/ a 2.5 yo running around? Not happening.

Thanks for your help.

 

[NotUrsula]

If you can sew at all, it's easy to make a travel cover for any size stroller. All you need is a rectangular piece of rip-stop nylon and some velcro. Hem the edges of the nylon, and put velcro on two ends so that you can "wrap" the stroller in it.

This method leaves the handle and wheels exposed so that you can pull the stroller down the jetway when boarding. I have 3 covers like this; they have been very useful. BTW, you can't just "remove the wheels" on that stroller, as they are designed to stay on permanently once you put them on; all quad Gracos are built that way.

Those big Gracos are really not well-suited to travel use, so the mfr's don't much bother making travel covers for them. Very few frequent travelers are going to take a single stroller that is so bulky or that weighs what that one does. (We probably wouldn't even own a stroller that weighs what that one does; my Pliko is the heaviest of my strollers, and it weighs 18 lbs, as opposed the the Quattro @ 27.5 lbs.)