Travel
valeivegas
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Car rental in Europe w/ car seat...
in Travel
We're headed to Europe this summer & will need to rent a car in Munich, Germany for a few days. This is the first time we'll be needing a car seat for DS (he'll be 16 mos then) so I'm wondering if anyone can give any recs for a good rental company? I've heard some horror stories about car seat rental.. We want something reliable & safe (obviously). We were thinking of using Budget... any recs/tips??? thanks!
Re: Car rental in Europe w/ car seat...
We used Thirfty in Munich when our son was 2 and they tried to give us an infant seat after I called them about 3 times prior and told them we needed a convertible. In the end, we ended up with the correct car seat but it was a PITA.
Also, we brought a Mighty Tite with us because I wasn't familiar with how the system worked without the Latch stuff and didn't want to find out. It was easier for us.
I've had people tell me though that Mighty Tite isn't safe but only in parent reviews - I've never found an acutal safety company (like the national insurance institute or whatnot) say it is bad. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, I've just never seen it. Also, to me MIghty Tite is no different than the little metal clip that comes with the car seat already, just tighter.
http://www.amazon.com/Sunshine-Kids-10001-Mighty-Tite/dp/B000056JHP
Oh and a little bit of unsolicited advice if you're still planning your trip - we flew into Munich, stayed there a few days, drove to Salzburg, then to an amazing Kinderhotel in Austria and had an absolutely amazing time. I highly highly recommend it if you are interested in hiking or seeing the mountains of Austria.
http://www.habachklause.com/en/
We rounded the trip off in Fussen then back to Munich and flew home again.
I cannot say enough nice things about the kinderhotel.
Thanks for the tips! We are still planning our trip - & we are actually going to the Salzburg area for 1.5 days. I would love to go hiking, but I don't think this will fly with DS... unless we got one of those backpack things - we would have to rent one tho, if possible.. Did you hike with your little one in tow?
Any tips on things to do in Salzburg and Munich (we will have DS w/ us the entire time).
The kinderhotel looks amazing - we have hotel points with Starwood so we're planning on staying at one of their places, but I'll have to look into this hotel - looks very unique!
I've never heard of the Mighty Tite - do you think it's necessary - will they have the car seat already installed for us?
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We were only in Munich for a day and a half and it rained the entire time we were there so we didn't do much.
Salzburg was beautiful. I went on the Sound of Music Tour and saw tons of toddlers but chose to leave the husband and the kid in Salzburg so I could really enjoy the tour without worrying about if the kid was happy. We mostly wandered the town and spent tons of time at Hellbrunn because there was a beautiful park there my son enjoyed playing at. We did a day trip to Hitler's Eagle's nest and it was absolutely freaking amazing. I've never seen such views in my life. I highly recommend it if you have extra time. We also drove around Salzburg a bit and found a few lifts that took us up to the top of mountains so we could see around. It was beautiful, amazing, breath taking and COLD. We went in July and wore a lot of layers because it was chilly then hot then chilly then hot. We also really enjoyed the drive through Austria. The views were amazing. It took us forever to get anywhere because about every 10 miles I would ask my husband to pull over so I could see over the edge. We even got in a traffic jam with a bunch of cows.
The car seat was not installed for us. They gave it to us at the rental counter and we had to haul it and all of our stuff and the kid out of the parking deck and find the car ourselves and install the seat.
As far as the hiking goes, the kinderhotel had those backpacks available to use. When it came to the crazy serious hiking, my husband went alone (and I went to the spa - son went to the kiddie camp). There was a huge national park Hohe Tauren nearby we "hiked" through as a family. I use the term hike loosely. It was fully paved path and very easily accessed (it would probably have accommodated a stroller on the major paths).
I just went back and looked at our pictures. We did a lot more than I remembered!
We went to the Munich Zoo. That was lovely.
We went to the Hirschgarden. There was a huge area for son to play in with other kids plus slides and stuff. We drank beer while he played.
There was a toy museum and he was mostly pissed he couldn't play with the toys.
Obsession - thanks so much for all the tips! It sounds amazing - you're getting me really excited now
I think Hirschgarden is the really big beer garden in Munich, right? We definitely want to check that out - & that's great they have a kid area.
Was it difficult to install the car seat? was it easier since you had the Mighty Tite - was it really necessary to have this?
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