The sleek, stylish and highly-compact Cybex Coya is everything I could ever need in a travel buggy – and I’d go as far as to say one of its functions is pure magic
Heading on holiday with a baby as a first time parent is daunting in many ways. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that you want things to be as easy and comfortable as possible. When I was taking my seven-month-old baby on holiday for the first time, I knew we couldn’t bring my trusty Bugaboo Fox 5. Even though it’s incredibly smooth to use, it’s not very practical in terms of lugging around as it’s quite heavy and bulky.
Instead, I tried out the Cybex Coya travel buggy, which is part of Cybex’s Platinum range and costs £539.95 from the Cybex website. As soon as the package arrived, I knew I was going to love it. How could a full-size buggy arrive in such a small package? Not only does it look incredibly stylish – it comes in many different colours including Sepia Black with a Rosegold Frame – but it’s ultra compact. It folds together easily using one hand and is hand-luggage compatible. This feature is actually magic, I still can’t believe how small it becomes. It has a folded size of 53.5 x 45 x 22cm and weighs only 7.3kg. However, it’s in no way too small or flimsy. It’s incredibly smooth to push around – actually it feels like it glides.
Even though you can usually send a buggy free of charge as hold luggage, I liked the idea of bringing it to the gate in case he needed a nap before then. But I didn’t realise just how grateful I’d be for the fact you could bring it as hand luggage.
We were headed to Oslo, Norway for the weekend, from London Heathrow. It just so happened to be a day where part of the train route was flooded, so we needed to get off to get a bus the rest of the way. However, it was incredibly busy, and meant we got to the airport nearly two hours later than scheduled. Needless to say, I was super happy that the buggy could fold down so compactly so we could finally squeeze onto a bus. There’s also a carry strap which you can pull out and put over your shoulder – just like an over-the-shoulder bag.
We arrived at the airport with almost no time until take-off, so I popped the baby in the carrier, folded the buggy up over my shoulder, and we walked as quickly as we could to the gate – much quicker than having to wait for lifts as it meant we could just walk up escalators and stairs. When we got to the gate – five minutes before scheduled take-off – I could just put the buggy in the overhead locker. Not an ideal start to the journey, but at least I realised how important it is to have a compact and light buggy for travelling.
As we walked around Oslo, my baby loved seeing the world from a forward facing position. He fit perfectly in the harness, which has a one-pull system for adjusting the straps. It’s also super easy to release your child from the pushchair with just the push of a button. We took it on trains and busses, and drove over cobble stones with ease.
And on the occasion he did fall asleep in the buggy, I loved using the ergonomic lie-flat feature. With one hand you can easily recline the backrest to a lie-flat position, You can also pull the leg-rest up. It also started raining while he was asleep, so I made use of the rain cover which was very easy to attach.
A couple of weeks later we took the baby on his first sunny holiday to Albufeira in Portugal – which brings its own challenges. Again, we decided to use the pushchair, this time at London Luton airport and bring it onboard as hand luggage. Under the buggy there’s a shopping basket which we found was incredibly useful to put things in while we rushed through from security to the gate.
On this holiday, we found the sun canopy with a mesh section to allow airflow was key, as it was very sunny and warm. When he had a nap on the go, we did find we needed to use the Snooze Shade we had purchased so he wouldn’t be in the sun. However, you could easily purchase an umbrella to attach for more coverage. We even took the buggy to the beach, where our baby had several naps under the beach umbrella, in a reclined position. Thanks to it being so lightweight and easy to carry, we didn’t even need to push it on the sand.
If our baby could talk, I’m sure he would tell you how comfortable it was to lie and sleep in, judging by the look on his face when he was in it.
An added bonus of this stroller, which we realised going to and from the airport, is how little space it takes up in our boot. Our normal pushchair takes up most of the room, while we couldn’t believe how little room the Coya took. In fact, we’ll be using it for much more than travel going forwards – especially going on the Tube in London!
