Anonymous wrote:Honestly- that sounds like a nightmare, not dream, vacation. Kids that are too young to appreciate/ behave should stay home.

+1

Dream vacation and extended family don't belong in the same sentence

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:African safari. I would go for Botswana. Maybe stay at Little Mombo where you would have the entire camp to yourselves. Lots of bonding time around campfires and in the cars looking for animals.

No thank you.

+1. Not at the ages of the kids listed. If my parents are still in good health in a couple of years when my youngest nephew turns 6 or 7, we’ve promised ourselves a safari in Tanzania. But with little kids, this just wouldn’t work.

With a 1yo???

I don’t think there is a dream vacation with extended family and a baby/toddler.

Maybe a nice mega resort where everyone can do their own thing like Atlantis. Maybe Hawaii but that is a long flight for a 1yo and the baby will probably be up at 2-3am daily.

My youngest is 4 and considering Hawaii.

Dream vacation would not involve extended family.

Anonymous wrote:A cross country RV trip could be fun!

Wrong thread

Anonymous wrote:My parents want to take the extended family (8 adults and 7 kids ages 1-13) on a 2 week vacation to celebrate a milestone anniversary. We can pick anyplace but all have to agree. This will be a trip of a life time for us so we want to go big and go nice. What would you do? We are having a hard time thinking of someplace that is good for kids and adults.

Dream vacation would not be two weeks long with those kid age ranges. Someone is going to be frustrated at not being able to do much with the one year old. Those with older kids will be able to not only do more but, travel to farther places. Honestly unless you stagger the trip it sounds miserable. Sorry!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:African safari. I would go for Botswana. Maybe stay at Little Mombo where you would have the entire camp to yourselves. Lots of bonding time around campfires and in the cars looking for animals.

No thank you.

+1. Not at the ages of the kids listed. If my parents are still in good health in a couple of years when my youngest nephew turns 6 or 7, we’ve promised ourselves a safari in Tanzania. But with little kids, this just wouldn’t work.

A cross country RV trip could be fun!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We love to do this once every few years and we'll get a big house somewhere in Europe. It's always so fun. We went to Spain in 2019 and stayed at this house (https://www.elmolinospain.com/). Was wonderful - huge grounds with a pool and tennis and animals and fresh eggs from the chickens. And close to a lot of really great places. I think we went to Ronda, Granada to see the Alhambra, Malaga, and Seville.

We've also done this in Provence and Italy and it always works out well.

Any recs for specific houses in Provence or Italy?

I've been digging through all of my travel stuff and just cannot find the name of the Italy house, sorry! But here's the one we stayed in in Provence a few years ago: http://www.onlyprovence.com/villas/hirondelles/?search=true&sort=&dateArriving=&dateDeparting=&sleeps=8&beds=&baths=&price=&pl=IP&collection=&v=IP&weeks=4&am1=&am2=&am3=&am7=&am9=&am10=&am12=&am5=&am6=#prop-village

DP. Have traveled internationally with extended family (including young kids), first to Provence and then Tuscany. 3 families max though. It obviously gets more complicated the more families you add. These houses would be small for your group I think, but helpful starting points for rental companies. Both times, we had chefs come in a couple of nights during the week. Also key is being right outside a town so we had market/restaurant/pastries/dessert/walking around options. For the second trip (Italy), we had arranged tour guides with transportation - this enabled us to really enjoy the scenery. Finally, definitely resist the temptation to pack in too much sightseeing.

Provence link (same rental company as above poster, it seems) - http://www.onlyprovence.com/villas/vendanges/. Flew into Marseilles and did day trips to Avignon, Aix en Provence, Gordes (and nearby lavender fields), and Cassis.
Tuscany link - https://www.emmavillas.com/en/tuscany/il-molinaccio-14+2#details. Spent 48 hours in Rome before driving to house. Stayed right outside Montepulciano and did daytrips to Pienza and Sienna, and Montalcino; and then explored Orvieto on the way back to Rome.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there no possibility of waiting 5 years for this? It will be so much more enjoyable for kids 6+ (And everyone else involved). This is coming from someone who has traveled all over with her kids since they were infants, but it was a lot of work and not nearly as much fun as it could’ve been. For a “once in a lifetime” trip I would want at least the majority of the kids to remember it too. My youngest is almost 7 and travel is so much easier and more fun now than it was when he was a baby plus his two older sisters (all within 5 years of each other).

Sorry...but wait 5 years for a trip?

If I learned anything from covid is that you do things now, you take the trips you want and can take, and see the people you love. I wouldn't wait 5 years for a trip. I'd plan a trip knowing the limitations of the people going.

Agree 1000%

We've done these several times. When the kids were little, we went to Jamaica and stayed in villas (at Round Hill, Tryall Club, and Half Moon in this order) where everything is included - chef, cleaning, etc. Half Moon has a great kids club FWIW. We've also rented houses in Costa Rica, Mexico, and the Bahamas and hired a chef for the week. I think not having to cook or find a restaurant for every meal with a large party is pretty key, along with having the mindset that not everyone needs to do things as a large group. For example, in Costa Rica only some of us went on an all day zip line, horse, and water adventure, while some others went on a farm tour, and others just hung out at the beach. Hawaii is another great option (although when we were there we stayed in a hotel vs. villa). Enjoy your trip!

OP, could you plan a trip around your family roots?

My mom’s ancestry is in one European country, my dad’s another, so we did family trips to those places and they were really meaningful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did this for my parents’ anniversary, and went to Yellowstone. Key factor: we stayed in the Old Faithful Inn. DH and I had an 8-month-old at the time, and a 3yo, so some days one of us stayed back from the planned activity with the baby. I have to say, breastfeeding with a cover while sitting on the deck watching Old Faithful was not so bad, as far as baby-limited-vacationing goes. And we were able to do plenty of things with everyone, including a wonderful boat ride on one of the big lakes.

You’ll have to book that trip at least a couple of years ahead, and good luck getting enough rooms for all those people!

Well, my mom booked our trip one year in advance, and it involved getting five rooms at the Old Faithful Inn, but feel free to stomp all over this when you haven’t actually lived it.

When was this? I was just at the old faithful inn last month and apparently it’s now nearly impossible to get rooms and tour groups book them 4-5 years out.

Rooms are released each May/June for the following year. This year it was at midnight Mountain time, so by the time I got up at 6 am one of my nights wasn't available in the room I wanted. But there was plenty of overall availability on that day. If you want 5 rooms at OFI it is certainly doable on that first day rooms are released.

Anonymous wrote:Is there no possibility of waiting 5 years for this? It will be so much more enjoyable for kids 6+ (And everyone else involved). This is coming from someone who has traveled all over with her kids since they were infants, but it was a lot of work and not nearly as much fun as it could’ve been. For a “once in a lifetime” trip I would want at least the majority of the kids to remember it too. My youngest is almost 7 and travel is so much easier and more fun now than it was when he was a baby plus his two older sisters (all within 5 years of each other).

Sorry...but wait 5 years for a trip?

If I learned anything from covid is that you do things now, you take the trips you want and can take, and see the people you love. I wouldn't wait 5 years for a trip. I'd plan a trip knowing the limitations of the people going.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did this for my parents’ anniversary, and went to Yellowstone. Key factor: we stayed in the Old Faithful Inn. DH and I had an 8-month-old at the time, and a 3yo, so some days one of us stayed back from the planned activity with the baby. I have to say, breastfeeding with a cover while sitting on the deck watching Old Faithful was not so bad, as far as baby-limited-vacationing goes. And we were able to do plenty of things with everyone, including a wonderful boat ride on one of the big lakes.

You’ll have to book that trip at least a couple of years ahead, and good luck getting enough rooms for all those people!

Well, my mom booked our trip one year in advance, and it involved getting five rooms at the Old Faithful Inn, but feel free to stomp all over this when you haven’t actually lived it.

When was this? I was just at the old faithful inn last month and apparently it’s now nearly impossible to get rooms and tour groups book them 4-5 years out.

Hawaii
St John (hire a chef)
Mexico all inclusive
Nantucket
Alaska Disney cruise
Italy Amalfi coast or Tuscany
Southern France
London and Paris
Scotland
Tokyo and Kyoto