A MUST for traveling with infants or toddlers

I have had this bed for about a year, and don't know what I would have done without it. This is the ORIGINAL peapod, not the new PLUS version.

This bed is very lightweight (about 5 pounds), and comes in its own zippered bag with handles, but it fits easily into a regular suitcase, and could fit into a carry-on sized rolling case and takes up a little over half of that.

It is a pop-up tent that rolls back into itself to fit in the bag - sometimes rolling it back up is tricky, it just depends on where you grab and fold. If it doesn't work quickly, let go and grab it again and try again. It comes with a separate blow-up mattress that is flocked with that velvety feeling stuff used on regular blow up mattresses. It comes with its own pump, but it takes about 2 minutes to blow up by mouth, so I don't bother taking the bulky pump with me. There is also enough room for an extra blanket in the bag that I tuck around the mattress.

The whole front of the bed zips open via two zippers. There is mesh all the way around the top. At 18 months old, my daughter now has to hunch over a bit when she's sitting but she can still lay comfortably in it.

When she was younger, I wished that it zipped up to the TOP as I wanted to bend over to lay her down while she was sleeping and it is tricky putting the baby straight into the tent that is on the floor.

Now that they have the new bigger tent, I will be upgrading as I think she's right at the limit of using it now, but the bigger one is 6" bigger in diameter, so it is NOT as easy to travel with and will NOT fit in a small suitcase. That is something to consider between getting the original and the Plus ones. I am glad I did it as I did, as I never had the extra piece of luggage that a pack n play would be, but always had the comfort of our own bed.