Tired Mom but want to do more than beach vacations

[Anonymous]

I’m not sure. I’ve traveled internationally with my kids and it’s hell. I’m starting to consider why we are so travel-focused anyway (families and individuals, societally). I plan on sticking to local trips and those that can be done with 2-3 hours driving tops.

As of yet, I have not found the juice worth the squeeze, as lond/big with kids are hugely expensive and stressful (to me!).

[Anonymous]

long^

[Anonymous]

All good tips here - but also use this board. People love to help and share itineraries and recommendations. My other tip is to start somewhere - maybe a beach vacation with an outing or two. See how it goes and if you want to do more or less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m so amazed by the fancy itineraries on this board. Costa Rica, Hawaii and Europe, packed with fun activities all day every day.

How is everyone finding the energy to do all this during a week off? Don’t you get jet lagged? Are you not tired the first 2-3 days of the trip, decompressing from the grind of work and parenthood?

I feel like I’m alone in wanting to do more adventurous vacations but just not having the energy capacity for more than a relaxing beach trip with the kids.

I envy and applaud those who do more! Please tell me your secret.

I am single parent and I travel frequently with six year old for business trips and "hush cations" where I need to work. I don't have secrets, but I do have some tips. When I had an au pair, I brought her. Because some of my high school friends have late teens or college students who are kind of "finding themselves," I have brought them along on trips - paying them, and paying for their expenses. I have also brought siblings and or adult friends with limited budgets where I pay for all expenses - and they hang out with kid while I work. If I travel by myself - and I need childcare, I use Care.com or a local nanny service. Otherwise, if it is just me and kid, I lower expectations for myself. Kids need to learn to self-soothe and deal with boredom. I actually love the beach with her. We go for the entire day with a cooler, some ratty beach toys, and books. No tech. If she whines, I create a scavenger hunt or give her bag and we walk and pick up trash. I rent an an umbrella and chairs and use state parks - much easier than carrying a lot of stuff and trying to find parking in Rehoboth. Internationally, I try to go for longer periods and put her in local camps. I also lower expectations of seeing everything. We just had a weekend trip Rome between destinations. We ate a lot of gelato, walked around a ton, but didn't do a lot of touristy stuff because we wanted to avoid the crowds. At this age taking the subway or staying in airbnbs is very exciting. We almost always stay in airbnbs and do one meal a day out, everything else is casual food in the airbnb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure. I’ve traveled internationally with my kids and it’s hell. I’m starting to consider why we are so travel-focused anyway (families and individuals, societally). I plan on sticking to local trips and those that can be done with 2-3 hours driving tops.

As of yet, I have not found the juice worth the squeeze, as lond/big with kids are hugely expensive and stressful (to me!).

Maybe it depends on the kids and where you go. My youngest was incredibly rough to travel with until he was around 2 because he did not sleep well in new places, but we still did it and it paid off. After that age he became very easy to travel with. When they were 4 and 7 when we first went to Asia and we all had an incredible trip. They are 11 and 13 now and I love traveling with them. We have done lots of national parks and some of the big places the OP mentioned- Hawaii and Costa Rica. We have also done things like OBX and my kids loved that too, but I don't find it any more relaxing than the other trips we have taken as they all require planning and keeping kids somewhat entertained. We have not done Europe because I don't thinks big cities, historical sites and museums would be much fun with my kids, but they do great on active vacation that include beaches, surfing, national parks, hiking, skiing....

OP- how old are your kids?

[Anonymous]

I personally think that beach vacations are the worst. There's so little to do. I like going to the beach, but it's like a one day activity for me and then I need other things to do. And yeah, I HATE having a kitchen. Cooking for my family is one of the biggest stressors in my life for me, second is cleaning up/doing dishes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure. I’ve traveled internationally with my kids and it’s hell. I’m starting to consider why we are so travel-focused anyway (families and individuals, societally). I plan on sticking to local trips and those that can be done with 2-3 hours driving tops.

As of yet, I have not found the juice worth the squeeze, as lond/big with kids are hugely expensive and stressful (to me!).

Maybe it depends on the kids and where you go. My youngest was incredibly rough to travel with until he was around 2 because he did not sleep well in new places, but we still did it and it paid off. After that age he became very easy to travel with. When they were 4 and 7 when we first went to Asia and we all had an incredible trip. They are 11 and 13 now and I love traveling with them. We have done lots of national parks and some of the big places the OP mentioned- Hawaii and Costa Rica. We have also done things like OBX and my kids loved that too, but I don't find it any more relaxing than the other trips we have taken as they all require planning and keeping kids somewhat entertained. We have not done Europe because I don't thinks big cities, historical sites and museums would be much fun with my kids, but they do great on active vacation that include beaches, surfing, national parks, hiking, skiing....

OP- how old are your kids?

Agree that national parks are great for the younger set. Honestly car based vacations, rather than cities, are a lot easier than cities (I include plane rides + rental car in this). We just have so much stuff that we need to have on hand for the 2yo.

I like to stay in an Airbnb with an outdoor area so that we can have an active morning (kids get up early) and then come home and relax in afternoon. Younger one takes a nap, older one plays outside for unstructured time. We've gotten lucky with some that had toys and we also bring some new ones of our own. Agree that managing a kitchen on vacation is a pain but it's convenient even though we don't cook.

[Anonymous]

I have posted above about traveling a lot with our kids and I think a lot of it comes down to the parents and their desire to travel. My husband and I both love nature and love to travel to new places. Neither of us ever wanted to put life on hold/not travel until the kids are gone or much older and we don't have family that can easily watch them. Plus we enjoy time away with out kids. Sure traveling with kids is a lot more expensive and not as relaxing, but to us it has totally been worth it.

We aren't getting any younger and tomorrow is never guaranteed so may as well explore the world while we can. It has also made our kids a lot more adaptable.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the ages of the children, tolerance for change of children and if you have a partner to share the child, IMHO. One option is to find a place with childcare for part of the day. That’s why I like the cruise thought. There is childcare so you have some alone time. I like a condo idea and tried to keep my child on a normal sleep schedule with some variety of restaurant meals and meals in. I liked places near a park or with playground equipment to wear my child out before bed.

I also like a Saturday to Saturday or a Friday evening to Saturday trip. This way the returning Sunday is laundry, grocery, wind down day. I do a Friday depart if I can fly at 5 pm to an east coast non-stop destination and then vacation can start on Saturday morning.