Cybex - Libelle 2 Travel Stroller

I’ve had the YoYo for two years now and it’s my go-to everyday stroller. I also have the Cybex Libelle 2 which I keep in my car. I think it glides pretty smoothly- I don’t notice any rickety sound (unlike the Libelle) That’s actually one of the reasons I love. A couple of caveats though. For how expensive it is, it doesn’t come with any accessories, no cup holder or anything but you can always get a cheap stroller caddy and stroller clips from Amazon. All the YoYo branded accessories are ridiculously overpriced. Also, if you purchase the footmuff (it’s pricey but I recommend it for the winter) it will make it difficult to fold, not impossible but you do need to force it a little. Lastly, it doesn’t not fold as easily for me as it does in the videos at all. And for reason the canopy is forever detaching itself when I open it, so it’s definitely not a one-handed motion. All that said, I love how compact and small it folds down. My girl is 2.5 and I’ll be sad when she outgrows it, but I definitely feel like I got my moneys worth. Btw don’t know where you’re shopping, but I got a really good deal on mine (open box) from GoodBuy Gear. I think I paid $100-150 under retail price

We just completed our trip in November with our 14 turned 15 month old on the trip. Depending on personality, toddlers can be easy travelers. Ours never fussed, and did well sleeping in our Cybex Libelle 2 stroller and in the baby carrier. A LOT of locals had the same if not similar strollers we noticed and many used baby carriers too. Happy to answer more questions if you have since we just completed our trip. We also utilized the Tokyo Chapter blog to read up before we went. We stayed in Tokyo and Kyoto and found kid friendly accommodations in both cities, while also easily finding places to eat. We kept expectations low, and recognized we may have to head back earlier for naps or change our restaurant destinations depending on little one’s hunger. Don’t let others scare you from traveling with your kid, if you have the time and money do it, life’s short. There are plenty of kiddo’s around in Japan of various ages, some behave great and some cry too which may shock many on Reddit. Japan has babies and they do cry! If the country wasn’t child friendly you wouldn’t find kid accommodations so easily.

I did the Chicco Corso LE travel system - absolutely worth it. Rides sooooo smoothly and is so easy to push. Bumpy roads, gravel, rock - it’s nothing. It’s not too tall for me at 5’4 or too short for my husband at 6’1. The leather handlebars look so nice. It was nice that the chicco keyfit35 fit in it so we used that when our daughter was an infant. It’s my go to stroller for walks anywhere. It is a little bulky though so I also have Cybex Libelle 2 as our travel stroller since it’s super compact.

First have to start off saying that this is my first post ever on Reddit, and I’ve decided to post here as we wouldn’t have gotten through this trip without all the amazing advice, tips, etc. I found in this subreddit. My wife and I have always wanted to go to Japan and even though our close friends and family thought we were crazy we decided to with our two kids (22 & 4 months) this past May. For anyone in the same boat wondering if it’s doable, believe me it is.. but it’s going to come with some hard times, so just be prepared and give yourself a little grace when things don’t go as planned. For those curious, our trip itinerary consisted of the following: Landed in Narita (9pm arrival) Night 1 in Tokyo Day 2-6 Osaka (day trips to Nara and Uji) Day 6-9 Kyoto Day 9-15 Tokyo Late departure from Narita on day 15 Airplane We flew Zipair out of San Francisco, we are actually from the east coast but the flight cost to go west first and then fly out was still cheaper than flying out of the NY area. When flying with Zipair the toddler price is like 20% of the full fare and they’ll provide a seat and car seat for you to use. You also get priority for extra leg room, which was incredible since our oldest didn’t love sitting in the car seat for 11 hours. She’d get down walk around and play in the extra space. You will get split up though if traveling with four. They put me and my daughter on window and middle on the end row and then my wife and son middle and aisle in the middle section. So essentially there was one person in between us. They have to do it that way since the car seats can only strap into certain seats. Like others have mentioned on here, you’ll just want to load up on snacks, snacks and more snacks. We brought a bunch of DYI activities for her to play with and then gave her a phone to watch her favorite Disney movies. One thing about Zipair, they don’t have screens, so you’ll just need to be prepared for that. She essentially commandeered my phone for half the flight. The flight really wasn’t too bad though. Our daughter is pretty active, she had a couple minor meltdowns because she was tired and couldn’t get comfortable in the car seat (fell asleep on me) and not wanting to be changed in the bathrooms, but other than that it went pretty well. We prepared for the worst and it worked out to be fine. Stroller As many have advised you’ll want something light and that can fold up easily. So we opted for the Cybex Libelle 2 for this trip. We decided we were going to take turns carrying the baby in the carrier (Ergobaby) and use the stroller for our daughter. Could not have been a better decision for us. There were so many moments I thought to myself I’m so glad we didn’t bring the double stroller. Getting on and off crowded trains, navigating tiny streets and mass crowds, carrying it up and down stairs when we couldn’t find an elevator, folding it up and putting it under a table at a restaurant. Also, we noticed SO MANY other people were also using the same stroller. Felt immediately justified in our decision. Carrying our LO wasn’t really that bad, he weighed like 13lbs at the time. We took turns a lot, my wife would take him out to nurse or we’d take him out on the train during a long ride while he was awake. For the record, you can definitely do Japan with a double stroller. We saw many people doing that. It would just require a bit more work and probably be difficult in a number of situations. Restaurants / Food Eating out with a toddler is quite an experience anywhere let alone Japan, and honestly not a super enjoyable one. We love food, and especially Japanese. One of the main reasons we booked the trip in the first place However, our toddler made each meal feel like a chore. I need to preface this by saying that we’ve never given our child a phone while at a restaurant to watch something, and we absolutely don’t judge those who do, it’s just not something we want to do. However, we honestly felt like we had no choice at times but to feed her quickly and then once she was done give her the phone so we could enjoy our meal. She’s just too curious and wants to touch everything, especially when trying to enjoy ramen at a counter only restaurant. Also, she got in the habit of drinking 80% of her water and then dumping the remaining 20% all over the table. Like pretty much every time we sat down to eat. So that was fun! A few pieces of advice we wish we really considered and thought of regarding restaurants and food: 1. Make sure your kid is hungry. Too many times she’d been snacking and by the time we sat down she was just not hungry and wanting to play or explore. 2. Let your kid walk around before sitting down to eat. We kept her in the stroller for long periods of time before getting to a restaurant. Now that she was out of the stroller the last thing she wanted was to sit more. 3. Always have a toy or an activity, anything to distract. And if you have to hand over a device to keep your sanity then so be it. Our only rule was she had to eat before we gave her the phone. Once she was all done, she was able to watch her shows. 4. Always have snacks on you when traveling around. The convenience stores are usually readily available, but better to be safe than sorry. Also we saw a number of locals let their kids eat on the metros. Adults don’t, but if your kid needs a snack no one is going to give you a dirty look. Just remember to take your garbage with you. 5. Have a plan for breakfast. Far too often were we grabbing stuff to go at 7Eleven or FamilyMart and eating outside before starting the day. Go to a grocery store and load up on some things for breakfast to enjoy in the room. Will save you a lot of time, money and be less of a headache. Hotels If staying at a hotel, be prepared to co-sleep. We learned that a lot of Japanese parents co-sleep with their young ones. You can definitely find hotels with a crib, but there aren’t many. We personally never had an issue and have done it from time to time back home, so wasn’t a problem for us. Just something to be aware of. Also, highly recommend staying at a place with an onsen. Our hotel in Kyoto had one and it was amazing. My wife and I took turns each night after the kids fell asleep. Honestly was one of the best parts of the trip. Very relaxing after a long day of walking around and corralling the kids. Nursing Before our trip I’d had stumbled upon a recommendation to download this app called Mamapapamap Nursing Room App, which shows you nursing and changing room locations nearby. It’s totally free and run by volunteers. We used it everyday and really came in handy when we were in places that we weren’t too familiar with. Many department stores also have a place specifically for nursing or bottle feeding your babies. It was really nice knowing that no matter where we went there would be a place for my wife to go and nurse in privacy. At the same time, we spoke to a couple locals about nursing in public. They had told us that it is perfectly fine to do so and that they themselves have done it when they had babies. So every so often my wife did nurse our son on a park bench or restaurant, etc. however she did always cover herself with a light wrap to be polite. Transportation Getting around Japan was fairly easy, even with two kids in tow. Having a small stroller definitely helped as I mentioned. We mainly stayed on the transit system, never rode a bus (wasn’t against it, just never needed to) and only took taxis a handful of times. Fun fact, it’s completely legal to have young kids sit on your lap while in a taxi. No need for a car seat, which is why we opted against taking them. However, supposedly a private car service to/from the airport isn’t considered a taxi, so that wouldn’t be allowed. But not 100% on that, so curious if anyone has any experience there. For all transit we both used a Suica card through the wallet app on our phone. Super easy to use. Only thing I’ll point out is you’re better off going to the counter when traveling on the Shinkansen or if using the Keisei Skyliner to/from Narita airport. It’ll save you the hassle of trying to figure things out on the kiosk yourself and if traveling with young ones that’s the last thing you need. Also, regarding the Shinkansen, I’d personally recommend to book ahead of time when traveling with kids. We took the advice that you can just show up and get tickets, which you definitely can do and we did. However, because of that we were unable to reserve seats that included the large luggage space since everything was booked up. I know some will mention luggage forwarding as an option, however we managed to get all of us packed into one large suitcase, plus our two backpacks, so we decided to save money and just roll with it. Other than that getting around Japan was a breeze. Google Maps was our best friend and made things super easy. We switched on the Accessibility setting on the app, as others have mentioned, to locate elevators as well. Although we did find ourselves wandering around a few times in search of them, but more often than not it was a non-issue. Activities / Attractions Last thing, I wanted to point out a few places we visited that our daughter loved. - TeamLabs Borderless Tokyo was a huge hit. She loved all of the different rooms and enjoyed following some of the art through the halls. - Osaka World Expo was pretty awesome. We only got to go inside a few pavilions (EarthMart, Future City, France, Singapore), but personally enjoyed walking around and seeing all of the pavilions from the outside. There were a few areas for kids to run around, play and interact with things too with was nice. - Arashiyama Monkey Park near Kyoto was a lot of fun. This was definitely a challenge as we each had a kid in a carrier. The hike up is no joke, but we did it and it was a great experience. Our toddler loved feeding the monkeys and watching them run around. Was really great to see her face light up. Totally worth the hike. - Deer park in Nara was really cool to see, but was a bit overwhelming keeping our daughter from picking up droppings and trying to yank their tails. Also, there was the moment she was bucked in the shoulder and forced to the ground. And while she cried for a second, I’m pretty sure my wife was more shaken up then she was. - Tokyo Disney Sea was a lot of fun. This was her first Disney experience and she loved it. Even at 22 months she’s a bit of a daredevil, so was all in on all of the rides she could go on. Plus there were a ton of rides we could bring the 4 month old on as well. Was honestly surprised by that, but was nice that way we could all enjoy as a family. While the trip was difficult at times we have absolutely no regrets. My wife and I said that this trip was either going to pull us apart or bring us closer together and I’m happy to say it definitely strengthened our bond. For anyone debating about going with little ones, personally I’d say go for it. It was a trip we’ll never forget.

Zipair did let us carry our stroller onboard. The cybex libelle folds up super small so once they saw that we were good. We went back and forth on doing 1 or 2 strollers. We opted for 1 mainly because our son was still so small (13lbs) carrying him everyday wasn’t going to be a problem. If you have a 1 year old who weighs double that, it might be tough. The other problems we realized with two strollers is that you both are always engaged and tied up. Navigating could be tougher because neither of you are hands free. If you have luggage you’re also rolling around, that’s another challenge. I feel like if we were in your situation we’d probably opt for a front and back double stroller. I want to say we saw a decent amount of people with the Joovy Caboose or something similar. Not too familiar with all of the options, but there definitely were people with some of the bigger ones. Just need to weigh the pros and cons based on your itinerary and plan.

I don't have experience with any of those strollers but we went on a trip to Portugal when my daughter was 1.5 years old and I bought the Cybex Libelle and loved it! It was small enough to fold up in restaurants, fit in the overhead bin, super light to carry in a bag, but also nice enough to ride on the cobblestone sidewalks. I went to look it up and it's on sale right now!! [Cybex Libelle](https://joylink.io/magic-black-stroller)

I have this stroller and love it! It fits in the overhead bin when traveling which is why I chose this one- [Cybex](https://joylink.io/cybex-travel-stroller)

We have the Cybex Gazelle S2 and let me just say it’s like having the BMW of strollers. I got this one because I’m kinda future proofing for 2 kids and I don’t wanna have to buy a new one. It’s soooo smooth and the suspension is insane. The only downside is it’s quite heavy and bulky, but I love using it for everyday. I have the Cybex Libelle 2 for travel. We also got the Cybex Cloud T as an infant carseat because you can lay the baby flat, which removed the need to buy the bassinet. But, we recently got the Cybex Callisto G 360 as a growing up carseat and looking back, I would’ve just opted for this since it’s infant to until they don’t need carseats anymore. Now, all these options are high quality but very bulky/heavy duty. The lightest infant carseat I would consider is the Nuna Pipa Aire RX. The Gazelle comes with adaptors already, so it can be used with any carseat, not just Cybex ones.

Cybex libelle! Folds down smaller than a rollaboard suitcase

cybex libelle ultra compact stroller but still super smooth push for a little stroller. husband is 6’2 as well and the handle is a little low for him but it wasn’t a big deal for us. basket isn’t huge but the handle bar has these hook things so you can hang bags easily

I did not go with Uppababy because my friend had it and it was huge. I am 5’ 2” and on the go a lot and wanted luxury but not giant. I initially went with the Cybex Priam but it also felt very large lugging in and out of the car by myself. The way it doesn’t technically latch made it awkward to maneuver. We were doing some traveling so I got a Cybex Libelle for the fold but it wasn’t great for under 1 because it didn’t lay flat for nap, so then we tried the Cybex Coya. We took it on to vacation in Hawaii and I LOVED the fold and look, but the seat doesn’t sit fully upright (similar to Bugaboo Butterfly) so my son hated sitting in it. We then bought the Nuna TRVL LX - different than regular TRVL and we love it! It has a one hand fold, decent size basket, nice sturdy bar and lays flat for nap time. I wish I would have purchased this one from the get go for my on the go/trvl stroller since the nuna car seats pop right on it for infants. Given I realized how important size is, if I were to do this all over again… I would have gone with a Nuna Triv OR Cybex Gazelle as my luxury stroller for something with a bassinet and then the TRVL LX for our on the go stroller.

we bought a travel stroller (cybex libelle) and a big stroller (nuna triv next) - ended up using the travel stroller like, 99% of the time. Big stroller just sits in the garage now and we use it for walks around the block but for everything that requires actually going in a car, we use the travel one