To rent a stroller or carry one from home

Strollers are a very handy part of taking a trip with a child.  Most larger places-including malls- now have strollers you can rent, but are you better off to rent one or to carry your stroller from home?  We have done both and both have worked well--until this last trip!  Below are the pros and cons on both.

If you carry your own stroller, you will know that you have one that your little one is comfortable in.  It's theirs and they know all about it.  Familiarity is sometimes really good.  If your little one is really little, this can be big since they will need to lay down in the stroller at some point and this is much easier in an consumer stroller rather than a commercial-type stroller.  On the other hand, you will have to carry that huge stroller around.  It must be folded to be on buses and if you go on an attraction and leave it parked, will it be there when you get out (most likely yes-we've never had ours messed with)?  If you have a baby, packages, and a stroller, you will need atleast three adults to carry all of this on a bus-trust me!  We had a stranger help us get a stroller on and off the bus last week.  Another consideration is if you are flying, will there be a fee for the stroller and what special handling do you need to do for it?

If you use the commercial stroller, you will receive a receipt when paying the rental fee and if the stroller is missing when you come out of an attraction, you show the receipt for that day and they hand you another stroller-easy-peasy!  There's no carrying it on buses!  (Yay!)  On the other hand, you do have to carry the baby more that way or have a possibly whiney toddler to "drag" around.  The commercial strollers are easy to get in and out of-that's bad and good since the little one can get out while you are moving unless they are strapped in securely.  The commercial strollers are also not plush, but are made of hard plastic so not much comfort from home there.  The fee of renting a stroller for a day can range anywhere from $5 at the mall to $20 or more in a park. 

As you see, there are many reason to use either type of stroller, so weigh them carefully to make the best choice for your family.  With a little one, we've always carried ours from home, but as they get older, we choose to rent.  Good luck with whichever way you go.