Travelling with children has never been on the top of my list of things to do regularly but this summer things changed. My Dad bought a family holiday home in Mallorca, meaning I was going to have to get over my fear of solo travel with two young kiddies and sharpish. It was then I started to browse the good old internet for anything and everything that could possibly make my life easier and I just so happened to stumble upon the wonder that is the BabyZen YOYO+. Now, I have previously admired this beautiful little stroller from afar, mainly on Instagram but I never considered one for our little gang as we have our huge travel system still in use and goodness knows I have no room for another pram. But now regular travel was on the agenda, I just knew we had to try one out.
Our stroller arrived a few days before we were due to travel and Ste and I excitedly opened the packages (the chassis arrives separately to the colour pack). We assembled it fairly easily with the help of a good old YouTube demo and we were good to go. We chose the beautiful taupe colour way with black chassis, it sounds completely ridiculous and a pre-parent me would laugh in my face at this statement but it is a really good looking pram. The colour ways are earth inspired and muted and the taupe complimented the Mallorcan colour pallet perfectly. Who doesn’t love a good colour match?!
One of the main selling points of the YOYO+ for me was the ride on board and seat that is available as an accessory to the stroller. This clicks on with great ease and allows toddlers (and also very lazy six year olds up to 20kg) to ride comfortably on the back of the YOYO+. I wasn’t travelling solo this time but for future purposes, being able to keep both children contained, safe and within arms reach is a huge bonus to me. The board unfastens and fits snugly into the little drawstring bag that comes with the stroller.
The YOYO+ is certified hand luggage size meaning you can take your stroller onboard your flight and pop it in the overhead locker. This is so much easier than battling with a tiny boy that refuses to hold your hand through the airport until you reach the baggage reclaim and your beloved buggy. However, I will never learn my lesson with budget airlines. We flew Ryanair to Mallorca and we were refused the space to house our YOYO+ on board the aircraft and it was taken from us at the airplane steps and popped into the hold. We then had the airport battle with the aforementioned two year old only to reclaim our baggage and find that the seat unit for the ride on board had been lost in transit. Luckily, on our journey home we were greeted with a more understanding flight crew who knew all about the BabyZen YOYO+ and its over head locker dimensions and we walked right onto the aircraft with the stroller. I can’t tell you how convenient this is!
The YOYO+ has so many plusses when it comes to travel, its super lightweight, easy to fold into the smallest of bundles and it is also so easy to push. Once I’d gotten the hang of the fold technique it became so easy to stop fold and pop over our shoulder and carry around. We headed to a beautiful, non pram friendly fishing village on our travels and I had no problem at all carrying it over my shoulder the entire way around the harbour whilst we explored. Had we had another pram/stroller with us, we’d have had to have abandoned our adventures.
We had a little more rain that we would have hoped on a meant-to-be-sunshiney holiday but the water proved no issue for the YOYO+. The large UPF 50+ hood provided not only sunshade but also a great escape from the less than lovely weather. There is also a super easy to use rain cover that comes with the stroller. Another lovely little feature is the zip pocket in the back of the hood, perfect for phones, bank cards, tissues and snacks - all the parenting essentials. The stroller has several recline positions, perfect for when you absolutely must get a view of the giant fish in the marina and perfect for those lazy holiday snoozes. Woody was so comfortable the entire time, he is a big boy for his age but there was plenty of room for him to relax and travel in style.
If you’re looking for the perfect stroller for travelling I think the BabyZen YOYO+ is it. It ticks all the manoeuvrability boxes, its small, it looks the part and you can wear it as a backpack, where else are you going to get that?! I’ve ditched our travel system in favour of this little piece of equipment and my car boot has never looked so empty. I can see why this has won awards such as the Mumsnet Best Luxury Buggy. It does come with a luxury price tag but I strongly believe that the quality of this stroller and its abilities is truly reflected in the price.