Kid Travel Advice?

[chalgaryn]

Last month, we traveled with the kid and she happily slept in the hotel portable cribs and pack n plays, but it was clear that she was not going to fit in them much longer (I think she was already over the pack n play height limit, to be honest). We're traveling again in August, and I really don't think she'll be comfortable in those bed options by that point (and one rental house might not have a crib-type option available). We're tempted to transition her out of her crib and into a mattress on the floor soon (before she starts falling out of the crib onto her head more often than the one time that has already happened). We can do that early enough for her to be used to that before our trip, so something like an air mattress seems like a reasonable option. The biggest downside there is the space and weight in our suitcase. Putting her in our bed or on a second normal-height bed both seem like bad ideas since she really won't be used to either one. Any thoughts/suggestions from the more experienced kid-travelers out there?

P.S. Our trip is to a wedding in Santa Barbara that we're planning on combining with a few days in the Bay Area the first week of August. So this is also a heads-up to those of you in the area that we'll be in town :-)