After several international and cross-country trips, I think Dave and I have this down now.

We’ve gone to San Diego and Philadelphia several times, Baltimore once, and Tokyo once….and we have yet to take a car seat with us. I shudder at the thought of lugging our toddler convertible car seat through an airport and onto an airplane. And then you have to put the car seat somewhere on the flight, and there is no way Bean is sitting in a car seat for a 6 hour flight.

So, for now, we are highly dedicated to traveling without a car seat.

Here’s how we do it:

1. Make sure transit can cover you, or that you can get a car seat upon arrival

You likely already know if you can get to your departure airport using transit. We can take BART to SFO or Oakland, so this is an easy option for us.

You also have to check out transit coverage at your arrival city. We’ve either traveled to city centers with extensive transit (San Diego, Baltimore, and Tokyo) or to visit family, who had extra car seats for us.

Keep in mind that you won’t only have to take transit to the hotel, but to any sites you’d like to see.

Rental car companies do have car seats you can rent. We used one for a leg of our San Diego trip. It was a solid Ok, but nothing I was too psyched about.

2. Pack as lightly as possible.

Obviously, no car seat means no car. Which means you’ll be taking the role of camel on this trek.

Dave and I are incapable of packing lightly for Bean (oh, hello potty seat from home), though, so really this means we bring practically nothing for ourselves. Pack for yourself like you’re going on an Alpine adventure — just the necessities.

3. Utilize camping backpacks or look into buying a camping backpack

Ok, this is our caravan to/from the airport.

Dave: Camping backpack and Maria’s rolly suitcase.

Maria: My carry-on bag and Dave’s carry-on bag, pushing Bean in her stroller.

We wouldn’t have enough arms for two rolly suitcases, because someone needs to be pushing a stroller.

4. You can always take Amtrak instead of flying. No, really, I’m being serious.

We got a “roommette” for our trip down to San Diego, and the three of us had a blast. We could turn our chairs into a bed for toddler-daddy nap time. Meals were included in the roommette fare, so we dined in old-timey style in the diner car, looking out over the Pacific. Bean got to run around the Observation Car, preening at all the other long-haul Amtrak riders (who are fairly game for any kind of diversion.) When our train arrived early to our destination, they even packed us a to-go dinner.

5. Save the number of a black car taxi company on your phone

My biggest hesitancy with traveling without a car seat was: what if something happens, if Bean gets sick, and we have to take a car to a hospital or doctor?

There are black car companies out there that have car seats available. Look them up before your trip, and save their number on your phone. They charge an arm and a leg for the service (in the DC area, I estimated about $100 for one trip), but it’s good to have in case of emergency.