Going on vacations during the toddler/baby years -- yay or nay

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are really too young to remember these trips - at this age, going to the grocery store is just as exciting as going out west or the Caribbean.
If you think you will still have a good time traveling with them, then go. But they won't get anything out of it - other then being more cranky and prone to meltdowns.

x100000

As others have said - we all put different values on things. For us travel was non-negotiable - it's the only way to see extended family. When the kids are this young - it can be cheaper to travel with them - you don't have to buy them an airplane ticket, they don't cost extra in a hotel etc. A poster mentioned they didn't have to drag a car seat all over Europe - neither did we - we used trains and public transportation - no carseat needed. If its important to you, there are ways to make it work. Its not just about the kids - its about the experiences together as a family. While our kids won't remember their trip to Seattle at Age 1 - the rest of the family loved being together for the holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We never saw having babies/toddlers as a reason to stop traveling, so we didn’t stop. We knew they wouldn’t remember, but we enjoyed traveling with them, and we still do (they’re now teen/tween age).

This is what it comes down to. If you the parents want to travel and think you will enjoy travelling with the necessary additional stress and planning and constraints of young children, go for it! If full-time parenting with all it’s stressors and routines but in a foreign city sounds awful, give it a miss until they’re old enough for everyone to have fun. The kids will be happy and like (or not like) travelling as adults either way.

I’ve always been a limited planning, just chill and people watch kind of traveller so I don’t mind my trip to Munich being mostly a tour of playgrounds and cafes and maybe 1-2 actual tourist attractions. It’ll be fun for me and DH and we’ll make it fun for the kids just as we make trips to the pool fun for the kids. But I don’t think it’s, like, improving for the kids — it’s purely because we’ll have fun.

[Anonymous]

OP, make sure you read the many threads on this forum about requesting that other travelers switch seats so families can sit together. That will give you a sense of how people in the US treat families with kids who are traveling.

[Anonymous]

The key at that age was to not mess with time changes. We went to Florida and the Caribbean a lot. My DS loved the pool so we'd stick him in one of those puddle jumpers and enjoy a margarita. We'd be up early just like home and end up having early dinners, sometimes in the room, but it was nice to be away.

High end resorts treat kids and families really well. For example, Four Seasons has a free kids club and kids under 5 eat free. The Ritz Cayman is great for kids of all ages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The key at that age was to not mess with time changes. We went to Florida and the Caribbean a lot. My DS loved the pool so we'd stick him in one of those puddle jumpers and enjoy a margarita. We'd be up early just like home and end up having early dinners, sometimes in the room, but it was nice to be away.

High end resorts treat kids and families really well. For example, Four Seasons has a free kids club and kids under 5 eat free. The Ritz Cayman is great for kids of all ages.

Watch the age restrictions and potty training restrictions for the kids clubs though, including 4S. They are fantastic when your kid can take advantage of them.

[Anonymous]

Our trips with young kids were pretty much all visits to family and family camp.

Two weeks every summer with my parents was great. My parents are super helpful, their house was well equipped, enough bedrooms/beds, and a community with great pools, playground, lake with a small beach.

Family camp starting when kids were 3&4 gave DH and I time to relax because the kids were off with counselors every morning.

We starting doing bigger trips when the kids were both in elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do. Introduce them to traveling young so that they will be good travelers later.

Yes...I agree. I took my oldest kid to Tokyo, Paris, and Hawaii from 15 months to 2.5 yo+. She's a fantastic traveler now, and even did well on that Hawaii flight as a 2.5 yo.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PP who said 1-2.5 is most challenging. Would not recommend unless you have the patience of a saint and low expectations. We flew to the Caribbean for a family reunion in June. The main reason we went was to see elderly extended family as we may not get the chance again. DS turned 2 while we were there.

It was OK overall, but there were some very tough moments, including a 1.5hr meltdown on arrival from sheer travel exhaustion. No relaxation whatsoever for me or DH as DS is active and needed eyes on him at all times. Family, understandably, was doing their own thing and didn't help, nor did we expect them to.

If you and your kids are pretty easygoing or you're up for the challenge, go for it! Neither was the case for me, so that will be it for family air travel for the next few years.

[Anonymous]

I say yay. Like others said, before 1 (or they start getting mobile) its pretty easy to travel with them.

We did a lot of 3-4 hour car trips when DS was that age because he'd sleep most of the way. We did easy stuff and kept our expectations low. Flying was not so great in the toddler years, especially with him as a lap baby. But I was fortunate to get a job at an airline so we could get DS his own seat and then it was a lot more manageable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do. Introduce them to traveling young so that they will be good travelers later.

Yes...I agree. I took my oldest kid to Tokyo, Paris, and Hawaii from 15 months to 2.5 yo+. She's a fantastic traveler now, and even did well on that Hawaii flight as a 2.5 yo.

Not at all necessary. We did not do this and our kids are still great travelers. You are free to travel however you like, but this is not the “reason” you have a good traveler.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do. Introduce them to traveling young so that they will be good travelers later.

Yes...I agree. I took my oldest kid to Tokyo, Paris, and Hawaii from 15 months to 2.5 yo+. She's a fantastic traveler now, and even did well on that Hawaii flight as a 2.5 yo.

Not at all necessary. We did not do this and our kids are still great travelers. You are free to travel however you like, but this is not the “reason” you have a good traveler.

I disagree. As much as I love going places, travel itself is draining, filled with plenty of unknowns and last-minute changes. Learning to navigate that is important to enjoying travel. Trying to get a teenager, who has never traveled across time zones, missed a flight, slept in an airport due to weather delays to "enjoy" traveling is a challenge. This was one of my sister-in-laws experiences with both her kids - they waited until the kids were older and now they never go anywhere because the kids don't want to explore, try new foods etc. The other sister-in-law started at infancy with her kids - they are both willing to get through the miserable parts of travel to get to the good parts. So I do think starting young helps the kids to appreciate travel. Our own kids - we started around the year mark, and I learned a lot about how best to manage a family while traveling - the things we needed to make the bad parts better, types of locations and activities that we all enjoyed. I don't believe our kids would be the seasoned travelers they are today without that early start and consistency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do. Introduce them to traveling young so that they will be good travelers later.

Yes...I agree. I took my oldest kid to Tokyo, Paris, and Hawaii from 15 months to 2.5 yo+. She's a fantastic traveler now, and even did well on that Hawaii flight as a 2.5 yo.

Not at all necessary. We did not do this and our kids are still great travelers. You are free to travel however you like, but this is not the “reason” you have a good traveler.

I disagree. As much as I love going places, travel itself is draining, filled with plenty of unknowns and last-minute changes. Learning to navigate that is important to enjoying travel. Trying to get a teenager, who has never traveled across time zones, missed a flight, slept in an airport due to weather delays to "enjoy" traveling is a challenge. This was one of my sister-in-laws experiences with both her kids - they waited until the kids were older and now they never go anywhere because the kids don't want to explore, try new foods etc. The other sister-in-law started at infancy with her kids - they are both willing to get through the miserable parts of travel to get to the good parts. So I do think starting young helps the kids to appreciate travel. Our own kids - we started around the year mark, and I learned a lot about how best to manage a family while traveling - the things we needed to make the bad parts better, types of locations and activities that we all enjoyed. I don't believe our kids would be the seasoned travelers they are today without that early start and consistency.

I think part of it is the personality of the kids. I started travelling at six months old, have always loved it, etc. But one of my best friends in college left Wisconsin for the first time when she went to college in Massachusetts, got her bag, purse, and phone stolen in succession the first time she went to NYC by herself at 20 and had lots of silly little things go wrong on her first international trip (to Canada, with me; we almost missed our connecting flight, her credit card got flagged the first time she tried to use it abroad because she didn’t know to call her bank and tell them she’d be travelling, etc). She’s one of the most enthusiastic travellers I know as an adult. I have several friends who are capable travellers but don’t enjoy it at all and only do it under duress and some of them did travel as kids.

[Anonymous]

We enjoyed a couple Caribbean trips when they were very little. We took my daughter to Paris when she was almost one but not sure that was worth it. Definitely would not have done it if my parents hadn’t come too, so we had a good adult/child ratio. We went to a family wedding in France when they were 2 and 5 and had a good time but again there was lots of family there and our touring aspirations were low.

[Anonymous]

Oh, and we also enjoyed NYC when they were very little.

[Anonymous]

We did not go on vacations until our twins were 3. I don't regret waiting. Money was tight in the early years and we were reluctant to do anything that upset their sleep schedule. We did travel (train and fly) to visit family but nothing beyond that. Now we take several big trips a year and I am glad I saved my money when they were super young. But if you have good sleepers and only one kid who is still napping, trips may be for fun for you - so go for it.