I'm jealous of all of you that travel without your DH! Mine refuses to ever go a night without seeing DD, so we are banned from traveling without him. And he hates traveling for a variety of reasons, so we never see family. If he allowed it, I'd probably visit my family 4-5 times a year.

I also find traveling solo with DD much, much, MUCH easier than traveling with DD and DH. DH has so much anxiety and I'd take a screaming kid over a screaming husband any day!

Op, I think unless your parents are elderly and no longer fly, you are required to go no more than once a year, flying to them that is. This is a tough age. When you are able, you should try to visit sometimes alone while keeping the once a year journey with the kids up.

I’m in DC and parents are in the west. No direct flights so it’s 2 three-hour flights. I visit every summer for at least 3 weeks with my
toddler and sometimes a fall or winter trip for a week. My husband usually flies one way with us and then I return with the toddler (and currently pregnant). I don’t mind traveling solo and find it worth taking advantage of being a SAHM with flexibility on dates and flight options.

It’s difficult whatever you choose to do. My family lives in FL and I go once a year for a week. Dhs family lives 4 hours away in NC and we only go for weekends/long weekends. This means my family is jealous how often we see my in-laws. And my in-laws are jealous that my parents get a “real vacation” and more than a weekend. I only get 2.5 weeks a year! Hard to win

Anonymous wrote:Leave the car seat at home, rent one when you get there. Check your bags and have a backpack as your carry-on. With both hands free, one 2.5 YO will seem less daunting.

+1 to backpacks!
I took my 3yo to Europe for a week this summer. DH has to work. No suitcase helped (he carried-on has toddler backpack and I brought a regular size backpack). It was fun. We washed and wore the same 2 sets of clothes, but airport and travel was easy.

Anonymous wrote:My parents live 7/8 hour drive away or would require a connection if I were to fly. I haven't visited since we had our first several years ago. They don't exactly like my husband and just as I thought it might be doable with my son who's almost 4, I got pregnant, so there's no way I'm making that journey alone anytime soon again. They drive here once or twice a year.

Oops, to clarify my son is almost 4 and I'm pregnant.

One family is 10 hours by car and I go once per year. Other set is 4 hours away and we go 2x a year

My parents live 7/8 hour drive away or would require a connection if I were to fly. I haven't visited since we had our first a year ago. They don't exactly like my husband and just as I thought it might be doable with my son who's almost 4, I got pregnant, so there's no way I'm making that journey alone anytime soon again. They drive here once or twice a year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family is in CA and we visited probably twice per year when I only had 1 kid. Once or twice per year now that we have 2. After 2.5 they can pay attention long enough to watch videos on the plane if you allow it, but it's still hard until they are 4 or 5.

I would be so sad if my daughters came to visit me once or twice a year once they grow up. Not to be rude, but thats just how I would feel.

So you’d expect your grown up daughter with kids to visit you more than twice a year from across the country? You know that most women work and/or have budgets and cannot afford to do this, right?

Anonymous wrote:My family is in CA and we visited probably twice per year when I only had 1 kid. Once or twice per year now that we have 2. After 2.5 they can pay attention long enough to watch videos on the plane if you allow it, but it's still hard until they are 4 or 5.

I would be so sad if my daughters came to visit me once or twice a year once they grow up. Not to be rude, but thats just how I would feel.

Anonymous wrote:We bought an extra carseat to live at the grandparents’ house. The flight is shorter than 5 hours for us (if direct), but I have made the trip with and without DH since our first was born. The kids are in school now, but in a typical year, we travel to see the grandparents 2-3 times a year, and DH usually comes for one of those times (& we usually drive now, about 12 hours). Before they were school age, I took him/them more frequently, often by myself.

+1

Traveling concerns aside, do you want to and can you afford to go more frequently? Because if so, look for tips to make traveling easier. We have car seats and a pack and play the grandparents house and my mom picks up a Target order of diapers/wipes for me.

2.5 is getting into a good age to be occupied for longer stretches - my youngest is not quite 2.5 and imagine ink, kindle, snack, and stickers covered our 3.5 hour flight last week. I had more in her backpack, but she was fairly content. I even read for awhile.

You can do this - if you want to.

We bought an extra carseat to live at the grandparents’ house. The flight is shorter than 5 hours for us (if direct), but I have made the trip with and without DH since our first was born. The kids are in school now, but in a typical year, we travel to see the grandparents 2-3 times a year, and DH usually comes for one of those times (& we usually drive now, about 12 hours). Before they were school age, I took him/them more frequently, often by myself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Japan for 2 years and my parents were on the east coast. I did about 2x trips/year, half solo, half with DH, from the ages of 0-3.

Please share all your best tips!

Well- you are not going to like my best tip- I always bought my kid a seat. $$$$ but no way we could have made it otherwise.

Well OP has a 2.5 year old, so you'd have to buy a seat no matter what. I personally preferred lap baby until they were done BF. Then they got their own seat.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Japan for 2 years and my parents were on the east coast. I did about 2x trips/year, half solo, half with DH, from the ages of 0-3.

Please share all your best tips!

Well- you are not going to like my best tip- I always bought my kid a seat. $$$$ but no way we could have made it otherwise.

I just took my first solo flight with my 4 year old, 2 year old and am pregnant. It was an experience. Kids did way better than I thought, even with the delay. As a pp stated I had a zillion snacks, kindle tablets with headphones and minimal baggage. Best $1000 I have paid so I didn't have to drive 14 hours round trip in 4 days with 2 kids. It was a super small plane and 4 year old had to be across the aisle from me as well. She did great.

I was traveling up to New York to visit my parents solo - we try and go up there at least once a year with all the kids and they come down 3-4 times a year. I probably see my mom 6 times a year between my house, my sister house (close drive for me) and my moms house (super far drive for me). I see my Dad 4ish times a year.