5 Things I hate about my Travel System

Travel, at some point in your little one's life you're going to have to leave your house. Maybe it's for a doctor's appointment or to go see your parents. Heck, perhaps it's a lovely picnic in a secluded park with lovely sandwiches. They don't have to be sandwiches... not everyone loves those. At some point travel will call you outside your door and how you get there depends entirely on your travel system. AKA the Stroller/Carseat combo.

Not unlike PB&J, the Travel System is a beautiful combination of a stroller and car seat. Made to fit together just like a dovetail joint, these two items provide you with easy traveling. However, there are some things I wish I'd known when I bought my travel system.

1. Reclining Seat

You don't think about this much because you assume your baby will be in their car seat for a good portion of their travel time. That, however, is not the case.

We bought the Graco Verb Click Connect Travel System, we were going to get the Nimblelite but decided on this one. While we are happy with our purchase overall, the lack of reclining in this stroller makes having a sleeping baby not very fun. The seat does recline just not fully flat. There are strollers that do recline completely or almost flat, and in hindsight, we should have bought one of those. It's too late now of course since our son is 4 months old now. In two months he will be sitting upright most of the time and it won't matter that the stroller doesn't fully recline. It would have been helpful during his first few months though since he spent much of his time in his car seat while asleep during travel.

We got the Graco Verb during a sale and got a great deal. It normally runs for 194.99 and I think we paid 165.00 for ours.

The other thing about this stroller was the car seat was supposed to be adjustable but it isn't. The thing about the travel system vs buying the car seat separately is you don't get the adjustable base for the car seat. I'm not sure why they don't give you the adjustable base, but it's annoying to not have it.

2. Bar on Carseat not great for toys

A lot of car seats that I saw had little cute toys on the handlebar for babies to play with. However, with the Snugride 30 car seat, the toys hang right in my son's face which naturally, makes him mad. So the V-Tech toy I bought for his car seat hangs too high when up above him and too close to his face when pushed down. The car seat armbar only clicks so far forward and I didn't realize how annoying this would be.

You don't realize how important it is for your child to have something to play with until they get bigger. My son has a Skip Hop Fox Bandanna Buddy that can hang and while it will hang on his car seat, there is no place for it to hang on the stroller except for the shade. This works fine because Ferguson is pretty light, so he doesn't weigh the shade canopy down much but a heavier toy that made music or flashed lights would probably be too heavy.

3. Uncomfortable Seat

Of all the stroller's my husband and I looked at, we thought this one was fairly cushy. However, upon receiving it we noticed that the seat was not very soft. Of course, we didn't think much of it because he'd be in it when he was older. Now, of course, it seems like it's not very comfortable. There's a very fine balance of comfort with babies. It can't be too soft, but it also can't be too firm either.

I've looked into Stroller Cushions and may buy one to try. Just to give my little guy some more comfort.

4. Basket Gap on the bottom is fairly small

Every stroller I saw came with a small basket on the bottom. However, the backset on the Verb Click Connect stroller is too small for even two medium-sized bags. My purse fits under there and barely one other bag. The basket was advertised for groceries to be put in it. You could fit one bag of groceries down there, but they couldn't be in the bag. I'd estimate you could fit maybe 5-10 items depending on their size and weight.

5. Stroller is Too Light

Weird I know, but yes this stroller is actually too light. My diaper bag is too heavy for the handlebar when fully stocked. We went to a small outdoor concert and here's what was so heavy in my diaper bag.

1. 10 Diapers
2. Pack of Wipes
3. Two changes of clothes
4. Two Swaddle Blankets
5. 4 Flannel Burp Rags
6. 1 can of formula with about three bottles worth of formula inside
7. Two empty bottles
8. Two bottles of purified water
9. Three pairs of socks
10. Two thin Baby Einstein Board Books

Ten items were too heavy for the stroller to hold. If you bumped it at all without my son in it, the stroller would tilt backward.

Normally this wouldn't be an issue because my son would be in the stroller the entire time. However, at the concert, we were holding my son back and forth and I had to put my remaining items in the seat to anchor the stroller down. Eventually, I took the diaper bag off the handlebars altogether. In this instance I would suggest buying a BackPack Diaper Bag instead of a Satchel Diaper bag like I purchased. In this case, having a bag you could carry on your back would be an easier item than what I do.

There you have it, five things I hate about this Travel System. While these things do loathe me, I would still purchase this stroller just for the benefits it does have. Here are some good things about this stroller:

• Lightweight
• Sturdy
• Four Individual wheels
• Sun Canopy
• Reclining Seat (Not all the way, but fairly good for a 194.00 stroller)
• Undercarriage Basket (A small one albiet)
• Folds fairly flat
• Four cup holders
• Snack section
• Parent's shallow section (For keys or your phone)
• Comes with a Carseat and normal base if you buy it as a Travel System

So is it worth purchasing? In my opinion yes, many of the issues I stated here can be solved by using different equipment. Of all the strollers Graco makes, this is possibly one of the better lightweight models. If you're going to be traveling a lot, this stroller is the way to go.

May you walk the road less traveled- Robert Frost