yogita_dabasia

Hi all,

We are flying out to Perth on Friday and will be travelling to Sydney and Melbourne as well over 3 weeks. We have 2 children, one is 4, the other just turned 2. Looking at some accomodation, both self catering and some hostels, the websites do not indicate they provide cots for babies. What are people's experiences please as we are considering take out Travel Cot to be on the safe side just in case cots are not provided, but much rather not take it if they are available, even for a small charge, as ours weighes 10kg!! Becasue of the uncertainty of where we will be staying, your comments and experiences would really help, thanks

comet555

When we first arrived we travelled around for a month and stayed in lots of hotels. The majority of times we didn't need our travel cot, although there were a few places we did need it.

The hotels always had cots. Some charged about up to $15 per night for the a cot, others were free. The really cheap places like motels or some holiday parks may not have them. We never stayed in a hostel, but I wouldn't count on them having one unless they are really good at catering to families.

We brought ours just to be safe. Our son was 8.5 months old when we arrived so we really needed it. The travel cot was part of his baggage he was allowed to bring. It was a pain but it was a relief to know it was always in the car if we needed it. The other alternative would be to purchase call some of the places you are looking at to double check, or to purchase a cheap one when you arrive.

If your two year old will sleep in an inflatable toddler bed (small air mattress with sides) then you could always do that. It is much smaller and lighter than the cot.

travelbug

Hi there, we are going to Perth & Tasmania for a 3 week trip in November - but thankfully for most of our trip we're staying with relatives who have purchased a 2nd hand travel cot via their local paper (for $35) for us. We also thought about bringing our travel cot (our son will be 11months old at time of travel) but have decided against it because we'll have enough baggage between 4 of us as it is...and it'll be one less thing to worry about!
I doubt you'd be able to buy a travel cot that weighs less than 10kg.
When booking our accomodation in Tasmania i looked up loads of places - and as previously mentioned the only ones that did say about travel cots were the hotels and large corporate motels.
We have holidayed before and struggled with travel cots - at the time our daughter was younger than 2 - and we resorted to putting a mattress on the floor for her to sleep in so that she didn't fall out of bed....the other alternative is to sleep with them (with the bed against the wall for their side) - but that's no fun with a toddler either - especially if they're all arms and legs like our daughter is in bed!

comet555

Yes, bringing the kid in bed with you is an option as well. I had considered that as our backup if the hotels didn't have one. I decided against it because I don't sleep well with babies in the bed with me. If my son had been 2 I might have been able to sleep better.

But if it works for you then it could be your backup sleeping arrangement.

comet555

I only mentioned buying a cot here in case it was more a worry of baggage allowance as opposed to weight from carrying it around.

I know lots of people carry the max weight they can so I thought maybe they wouldn't want to use some of that on the cot.

I agree though, I think they're all about the same size and weight. Unless you can switch to an inflatable toddler bed.

travelbug

ive seen those inflatable toddler beds. they're a good idea

Iwannabethere

Why not put a thread out seeing if someone in Perth has one you can borrow? You could use ours but we are still in UK!

PoppetUK

The airline let ours go fine. If you have got family taking you to the airport then you can give it a go and kinda bluff saying you asked prior to taking it. We were well over on the way here with baby stuff including a travel cot and a ready bed. Saved us the money they wanted for hiring cots etc. Some wanted $30 per night. Our kids were just under 3 and just under 18 months at the time.

kez81

samsonite do i pop up travel cot it only weighs 3kg ive bought something the same here in oz called a kindercot for my trip back at xmas the samosonite one is the same kind of thing.

rebh

I used the baby size Samsonite travel cot for a couple of months one time when we went down to Australia for a holiday, it was really useful only problem was that the mattrass is not very thick so I just put it on a duvet or blankets on the floor.Have not used the bigger size one so can't say how good that is.

Did find that all the places we stayed in offered us a cot when they saw our baby so we would of been ok without it.

yogita_dabasia

Hi there all, and many many thanks for you’re your posts…Our little one just turned 2 and we still have him in a cot at the moment at home, because as little ones do, we always find him at the other side of the cot in the morning. As we have never tried him in a normal bed as yet, I don’t fancy trialling it in Oz, as I am sure we will need our beauty sleep with all the travelling. I remember when we moved my daughter from cot to bed, we had a few nights of falling out of the bed but she soon got used to it.

Our travel cot is fairly big, it’s a Graco one, with play pen, really has been useful though in the UK as we leave it at my parents as my mum looks after him 3 days a week…its something like this…

We have also incorporated the weight of the travel cot within the baggage allowance. I am just dreading it, hoping it arrives safely and in one piece when we get there, how best to pack it then? Bubblewrap?

comet555

Ours looks just like that. We did nothing special to pack it, we just put it in the carrying bag it came in. Our frame folds up and the padding part wraps around the outside of the frame. Then we slide it into the rectangular carrying bag. That's all we did. It arrived safe and sound.