The Travel Car Seat That Gave Me Back My Confidence

Contributed by Authentically Amber

I think one of the things I had the most anxiety about as a new mom was traveling with young children.

Honestly, I was too scared to travel alone with my firstborn for a while. There were so many moving pieces: the bags, the stroller, the snacks, the toys, the naps, the meltdowns, the “what ifs.” It all felt like a lot.

Twenty-four months later, once I had finally found my stride a little as a mom, my second son was born.

Two boys, two and under.

At that point, I was determined that fear was not going to keep me home forever. Plane rides? I could handle those. I packed enough toys, snacks, and activities to survive a small natural disaster. Airports? Surprisingly, those were actually fine too. I used wheeled ride-on luggage, which was great for packing the boys’ things and mine, and I would just wheel them through the airport. They loved it and thought it was a game.

The hardest part was not the flight.

It was getting to our destination, picking up a rental car, and then trying to install a car seat by myself.

I will be completely honest and transparent: I will never forget sitting in a rental car in an airport parking garage, feeling hopeless and close to tears, while my two little boys looked at me from the backseat. We sat there for nearly an hour while I tried to install a rental car seat so we could go visit my grandmother.

Installing the car seat had always been my husband’s job. It was not something I had fully mastered, and in that moment, with two tiny kids waiting on me, I felt completely defeated.

After a few years passed and the boys got older, things got easier. They moved into seats and boosters that felt more manageable, and I got more comfortable traveling with them.

Then fast forward a few years, and we had our third child: our little girl, complete with all the giggles, opinions, and sass.

Now my boys are 7 and 9, and as a family of five, travel looks different. The boys are easier in a lot of ways, but traveling with a toddler still brings its own set of challenges. When you are already purchasing five plane tickets, booking a rental car, packing for multiple people, and trying to keep everyone fed, entertained, and accounted for, the idea of adding a bulky car seat to the mix is not exactly exciting.

I love to travel light. Whether that means carry-ons only or simply consolidating bags as much as possible, I am always looking for ways to make travel feel a little less chaotic. So for the longest time, traveling with a car seat never felt desirable.

I would see families in the airport with tons of luggage, a huge car seat on someone’s back, a stroller, multiple bags, and then everyone waiting at baggage claim for all the things. Sitting around at baggage claim with three kids? Definitely not high on my list of favorite activities.

But the alternative was renting a car seat at our destination. And at around $20 a day on vacation, those car seat rental fees add up fast. Not to mention, I never loved not knowing exactly what kind of car seat we were going to get, what condition it would be in, or how familiar I would be with installing it.

Enter WAYB.

I already had a great travel stroller that could fit in the overhead bin on the plane, which meant I did not have to check it as luggage or gate-check it. Travel felt so much simpler because of that one product.

So I remember thinking, surely someone has cracked the code on travel car seats too.

Turns out, WAYB Pico did.

WAYB gifted our family the Pico Portable Car Seat in Earth, and from the moment we received it, I could tell it was different from the bulky car seats I was used to traveling with or seeing in airports.

It is compact. It folds. It is lightweight enough for me to carry on my own. And with the carry bag, it is actually something you can bring through the airport without feeling like you are hauling an entire piece of furniture on your back.

But before convenience, my husband and I both had the same first question: is it safe?

Because when something is designed to be lightweight and portable, I think a lot of parents naturally wonder if that means compromising somewhere else. My husband especially was skeptical at first. He wanted to see how it was built and understand what made it a safe option for our daughter.

The Pico is built with a strong aluminum frame, has a 5-point harness, and is designed for children who are at least 2 years old and meet the seat’s height and weight requirements. It is also approved for use in cars and on airplanes. For me, that mattered because I did not want a “convenient” option that made me feel unsure. I wanted something that felt practical and safe.

And once we actually had it in our hands, my husband felt so much better about it.

Of course, with any car seat, you still need to read the manual, follow the instructions, and make sure it is installed correctly. That is not the area of parenting where we freestyle. But what I appreciated right away was that the Pico did not feel intimidating. It felt like something I could learn, use, and confidently manage on my own.

And that is really what this car seat gave me: freedom.

Freedom from having to pay extra rental car seat fees every time we travel.

Freedom from wondering what kind of seat we will get when we arrive.

Freedom from avoiding certain trips because I do not want to deal with the logistics.

Freedom to take an Uber, shuttle, or rental car and know we have our own seat with us.

Freedom to let our daughter ride with grandparents or another caregiver without making car seat transfers feel like a whole production.

That last part might sound small, but any parent knows it is not. If she wants to stay at Grandma’s for the night, or someone else is helping with pickup, being able to move the car seat easily makes such a difference. You are not wrestling with a giant seat, sweating in the driveway, and questioning every life choice. You can just move it, install it, and go.

The Pico is forward-facing only, so it is not for newborns or younger babies, but for our current stage of life with a toddler, it fits such a real need. It is the kind of product that makes sense for families who travel, families who use rideshares, families who rely on grandparents or caregivers, and families who just want one less thing to make leaving the house feel impossible.

And as a mom of three, that is usually what I am looking for at this point.

Not perfection.

Not something that magically makes family travel effortless, because let’s be honest, someone is still going to ask for a snack five minutes after you packed everything away. Someone is still going to need to go to the bathroom at the worst possible time. Someone is probably still going to lose a shoe.

But a product that removes one major stress point?

Yes, please.

The WAYB Pico has quickly become one of those travel items I wish I had known about years ago. Because I know that version of me sitting in the airport parking garage, close to tears, would have felt so much more confident if I had something like this with me.

Traveling with kids is never completely simple, but the right gear can make it feel possible.

And sometimes, possible is exactly what a mom needs.