Have Stroller Will Travel: Peg Perego Travel System

The Italian Stroller In A French City…

Stroller Reviews For Travel With Baby…

I may have mentioned before that I have a bit of a stroller problem – a real fan of the pram. I adore our Uppababy Vista; our Safety First jogging stroller has been our workhorse at home and away; a hand-me-down Joovy Caboose saw us though a year of daily use. But our first set of wheels was a Peg Perego. And we had the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio car seat that went with it. I must’ve put hundreds of miles on our Peg on my first mat leave, but we rarely traveled with it. But the travel we did do with our Peg Perego travel system was pretty good!

Peg Perego was THE stroller to have when my daughter was born, and we dutifully forked over almost $500 like most middle-class new parents in 2005/6. That seems pretty cheap by today’s stroller standards, but back then people thought we were nuts. We borrowed our friend’s Primo Viaggio car seat, as those older models had lower height and weight limits and my tall girl was out of it by the time she was four months. Luckily, by the time Bub came along, Peg Perego had raised those limits AND made the Primo Viaggio able to be used without a base, so we purchased one then. Bub stayed in that until he was about seven months old  – and I could barely carry him in it!

Our model of Peg was the A3, which they no longer make. It is very similar to the Pliko or the P3 which is what is still around today, but our A3 did not have an umbrella fold and you could steer it with one hand. Well, you could if you were me. At 6’7″, my husband could not push it comfortably – he had to either really stoop over or push with one hand and walk beside it. Complaining about it was apparently necessary as well 😉 As the weight limit for our Perego was only 40lbs, and Bub was a big boy, I knew we’d have to find something new eventually, but our Peg Perego had a nice trip to Quebec City before we sold it for a great price on Craigslist…

Bub Enjoys Vieux Quebec…

I really liked how the Primo Viaggio car seat securely clicked into the stroller, and having the option of 10-week-old Bub lying flat in the stroller or up in the car seat in the stroller while we were traveling was really handy. I didn’t like him always crammed in the seat, but once he realized he could sit up in the car seat and see everything around him, he refused to lay flat in the stroller ever again! But with having both the car seat and the stroller with us was great, as the weather was quite inclement and we were able to hop in a cab when necessary, as in a pinch you could install the car seat without the base.

The Peg Perego stroller managed ok on Quebec City’s cobblestones, but it definitely wasn’t  as smooth a ride as our jogging stroller or Uppababy would have been. However, the smaller size of the Peg was great for restaurants in Quebec City. Babies are welcomed everywhere but the tiny size of the 400-year-old buildings make bringing your stroller to the table impossible. As Bub was definitely pre-highchair, we’d bring him to the table in the car seat and fold the stroller and store it by the entrance – seemingly the norm for Quebec City parents and visitors alike.

Both my daughter and I cried when we sold our Peg. We put a lot of miles and memories in that stroller – it definitely served us well. I think Peg Perego makes excellent products and they have excellent customer service as well. When I needed a replacement part (lost instruction manual, our basket ripped and a hubcap thing fell off one wheel) a quick phone call and it was in the mail the next day.

The Pliko P3 and Pliko Switch look like great strollers for today’s traveling parent who doesn’t want or need to purchase a big everyday stroller and a secondary lightweight stroller for travel. The lighter weight limits and non-extendable handles prevent me with big babies and tall husbands from getting another Peg, but I adore their products and think the Primo Viaggio is the best infant car seat on the market. As far as a travel system goes, I think Peg Perego is one of the best. I was glad to have the Primo Viaggio car seat adapter for our Uppababy Vista, as we kept Bub in it as long as we could.

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