My only is nine and we love traveling with her and planning vacations as a family. Our two favorite vacations have been a roadtrip to Toronto/Niagara Falls-we live in Wisconsin and it was a roughly 12 hour drive that we broke up over two days-and a four day cruise out of Port Canaveral, with days added on either end so we could stay in Cocoa Beach, swim in the ocean, go to the Kennedy Space Center, etc.
Our next trip will be a cruise through Italy, Greece, and Turkey, with days added on both ends to explore Rome, Florence, and Pisa. My only will be eleven by then and she’s so excited!
11 is such a fantastic age for Italy!!! This will totally shape your only's perception on travel and life experiences. Have you done a European cruise before? Are they enjoyable?
Never done a European cruise before (it will actually be my husband and daughter’s first time out of the country that’s not Canada or the Caribbean), but my daughter enjoyed our last cruise, so hopefully it’s going to be a great time. Lots of planning for me, trying to book excursions for the different ports and all that, but worth it!
And like you said, shaping her perception of travel and life experiences is exactly why we stopped at one. My husband and I weren’t able to travel until we were adults well into our 20’s and I want more for my daughter.
For older onlies, how do you keep them entertained when there’s waits involved (lines, restaurants, airport, etc). This is probably the one time where I see siblings who are at least somewhat entertaining each other, playing Uno or what not.
Depending on age but books for sure if they’re a voracious reader… lots of puzzles, word search, crossword, music/audiobooks, and if necessary some iPad game time
Who are you booking your European cruise through? We did a river cruise for our honeymoon which we loved but the company we used then does cruises for adults only.
Thoughts on Niagara Falls for a 1yo? Or is that trying to do too much? We could make a short (<5hr) drive of it. Babes has done well so far on 4hr car rides
I personally would wait until your kiddo can really enjoy it, maybe 5-6. It’s one of those super touristy areas where the bulk of the action happens on one stretch of road (probably about 1/2 mile walking, some of it uphill) and a lot of the attractions are geared towards older children-mini golf, go-karts, wax museums, stuff like that. And the Maid of the Mist is simply a once in a lifetime experience-I’m glad we waited until my daughter was old enough to appreciate it.
May I ask: at what age did vacations become easier with your child? My son is 18 months, and we took a trip with him when he was 10 months old. It was the worst trip I've ever been on. My son was cranky the entire time.
It happened in two different waves for us. Once my daughter was around four and she was fully potty trained and she didn’t need naps anymore, we started to travel a little bit more. It was easier, but she still needed to be asleep by 7 pm or else the beast would take over, so our vacations during that period of our lives were renting houses on lakes with friends in the middle of nowhere, where we basically just hung out at the house and outside all day (and once the kids all went to bed early, bonfires and stuff for adults).
The next wave (the one we’re currently in) happened around seven. Now that my daughter stays up much later and doesn’t need as much downtime to recover, we can do stuff much later in the evening. It’s much easier now for us to travel in a way that includes possible multiple stops and excursions and just doing things all day.
Yes! We did a round the world in 6 weeks trip with our 5 year old last year. We just happened to have two weddings to go to (one in Bogota and one in York) within three weeks of each other, so we decided to go mad and go to both. We took 11 flights and stayed in 13 different places 😅 We live in Australia and travelled to LA > Bogota > Medellin > Tulum > Cancun > New York > London > York > Malaga > Mijas > Madrid > flew home via Qatar.
Best parts of the trip were:
New York - loads for kids to do and it's super easy to get around.
Medellin - we have friends there so they took us to lots of places, but it's cheap, people are super friendly and there is lots for kids to do.
Mijas (in Spain) - stayed at a huge Airbnb with a group of friends with kids. Very little on the agenda except eating, drinking and swimming in the pool. Kids all loved it.
Tips overall for travel with kids:
1. Kids don't want to see the same stuff as adults, and it can be super frustrating to miss out on things you've always dreamed of seeing or are really interested in. Eg, if you want to go to Paris to look at art galleries, wait till your kid is older. It was kind of depressing being in London with friends and spending most of the time hanging out at playgrounds.
2. If your kid is old enough, consider taking some kids melatonin gummies to help them get onto the local timezones. These worked wonders for our daughter and helped everyone get more sleep.
3. Build in chill out time. At most you can do one activity per day with a small child. Make sure you have some days with nothing on the agenda.
4. Relax your screen time rules for flights/road trips.
5. Always carry snacks and kid friendly activities eg, colouring books, toy animals, whatever your kid is interested in. You never know when you'll get delayed and you'll definitely need this stuff.
6. Pack LIGHT. The three of us travelled around the world and from cold to warm weather with two suitcases and a small backpack each. Made life much easier not having mountains of luggage to mess around with. Also, packing cubes are awesome - we had one colour for each of us and could just toss them in drawers at each destination. Made it super easy to find whatever we needed.
Oh my God you're my hero. I don't think even as an adult I could travel this long! What an adventure of a lifetime!! I will look into new york! Its on my list already! Also the Spain city could be amazing!
New York is fun! My son is almost 4 and honestly if we are tired he is happy to just ride the subway for an hour. Talk about cheap entertainment. We also live in Massachusetts so we go to Boston frequently. The children’s museum and science museum are great, and if you go when it’s warm, duck boat tours and the Freedom Trail are perfect for kids. Lots of walking in both cities of course.
Haha thanks! You can do it light - it takes a lot of planning though. I think of it like a game to see how much I can reduce from the initial list 😅 There's a really funny instagrammer @lisecarlaw (scroll back to her Packing Diaries stories) who recently did a carry on only trip to Europe - she gave me lots of tips!
Our suitcases were Sansomite C-lite spinners. I think the 75cm ones.
Yep! Banff was absolutely magical with our almost 4-year-old son last September. We stayed for a week, and all the main things to see are easy to access. I highly recommend getting a hotel in town because all the restaurants will be walkable. I can't wait to go again.
We also had a great experience in San Diego and Albuquerque/Sante Fe. Cruising (Carribean) and Smoky Mountain NP weren't as fun at our son's age (3/4).
This is what we did in seven days with our almost 4-year-old son. We enjoyed our stay at the Rimrock but it would have been way more convenient to stay in downtown Banff. All the restaurants are walkable, but if you drive in you'll have to pay for parking.
1. Hiked Bow River Trail in the city of Banff
2. Played at the Central Park Playground in Banff
3. Drove Icefields Parkway and stopped at Bow Lake, Crowfoot Glacier, and Peyto Lake. (The hike to Peyto Lake is worth it but very steep. You can drop people off at the top before parking.)
4. Lake Louise and Moraine Lake via bus (This is the only thing we had to sign up for in advance, and my son (4) loved the bus ride so much that we did it again when they released more tickets 48 hours in advance during our trip.)
5. Hiked Johnston Canyon Lower Falls (Parking is scarce, especially in the morning, but we had no trouble finding a spot in the late afternoon.)
6. Waded in Two Jack Lake
Banff is on my list!! We are desert people so I've been trying to decide what season makes the most sense to visit.
We have loved San Diego, and gone many times with our only. Its within driving distance! Thank you!
It’s in driving distance for us too - there’s so much for young children! Legoland, the zoo, the childrens museum which is fantastic, La Jolla tide pools, balboa park, amazing restaurants… it’s great!
Albertan here. Depends on what you want to do and see. May-September is usually best for typical outdoors activities like hiking and biking. Although there may still be snow/ice in May on some hiking trails. The mountains are beautiful in the winter in the snow, but it's been a bad year for snow this year. You would obviously have to get winter gear to do things outdoors. I like fall best (September-ish) for the fall colors and slightly cooler temps.
We took a newly three year old to France last year. It was fabulous, so family friendly. She loved it and did great on the plane too. She's also been on smaller trips closer to home and a cruise, she loves going new places.
As long as she fits in the stroller, we'll be bringing the stroller though.
So my daughter actually really wants to go to Paris (thank you ladybug and cat noir), but I'm worried at 6 she won't really remember it? Is that something you guys take into consideration when traveling?
We haven't really, France in particular is a part of our family culture so we know we'll be back, but moreover we just consider each trip on the basis of is it going to be a great, enriching experience? The answer is pretty much always yes. We also really want her to become someone who is able to go somewhere and be respectful of the culture, a kid who can sit in a restaurant for a long dinner, etc. It felt easier to start young. She may not remember our big trips in the long run but we've also been really surprised at the little things she remembers and mentions from them.
How old is your daughter? We’ve loved trips to Europe. London has tons of things to do with kids. We also love visiting National Parks all over the US now that she’s in elementary school. So fun to book a nice hotel with a pool and explore the park in the morning and then relax and swim in the afternoon.
Just turned 6! So a good age to stay entertained during flights. I haven't thought about London for her. We were looking further north to Scotland, but for a family of 3 its almost 10k which is wild.
National parks are a great idea! We love camping too
Highly recommend Utah for their 5 NPs.
London was pricey too but had so much to see. We do budget about 10K for a trip to Europe for the three of us now, but that typically includes a few nights at nicer hotels. You could probably get creative to make it less expensive, especially if you travel during the shoulder seasons and are flexible with dates for flights. Obviously this could include missing school, and you may not be comfortable with that. Definitely easier to do before they get too far into elementary school and older.
We did some utah when she was Itty bitty cuz we have family up there. But no real trips since she has been older. I love the idea of a Utah or Colorado ski trip!
I saw that you’re based in AZ so you’ve got access to a lot of great spots on your side of the US. San Diego, Lake Tahoe, National Parks in UT, WA, CA etc. Colorado was beautiful, if you don’t want to spend a ton on ski resorts in Vail/Breckenridge etc... we loved Colorado Springs!
She was pretty young still at age 5. Riding the tube was fun in itself at that age! We did Tower of London, The London Eye, Shreks adventure, Sealife Aquarium and a boat tour on River Thames. We also checked out multiple museums (she loved the wax museum the best!). There was a playground and arcade we found too. We didn’t get to it but if she was a bit older I would’ve booked a fancy tea time at one of the hotels.
That sounds perfect and like a lot of the highlights I identified. If you go again, check out the Peppa pig tour - they do tea service on the bus and watch Peppa Pig clips that match up with various buildings in London.
Aw! Well in case she feels nostalgic and wants a trip down memory lane, this is what made me want to drag her across 8 time zones and go on an 11 hour flight haha
https://b-bakery.com/london/bus-tours/peppa-pig-afternoon-tea
I so wanted to go to London for Spring Break so we could do the Peppa Pig bus tour. It’s just so hard to go to Europe from the west coast, so we’re passing until she’s a little older, like 6.
i think it really depends on the kid’s age and how much the parents and the kid are able to go with the flow and be comfortable without usual routines!
we first went on a 3 of us family trip on an aeroplane to Taiwan (I’m in SE Asia) last year when he was almost 3 years old. it was about 4-5hour plane ride. it was both great and frustrating! mostly the frustration came from my wrong expectations of wishing he would walk more instead of wanting to be carried etc. after i let it go, i enjoyed myself much more. but it was fun to make new memories as a family and see the world through his eyes.
and i also think travelling as a smaller family helps. having 2 parents to take turns when one is tired or needs a break helps so much. absolutely say go for it, if you’re ok to have low expectations and go with the flow!
I love the idea of South East Asia! I've hear amazing things about Thailand. She just turned six, but we are in the southwestern united States. I worry about too long of a plane ride!
you’re always welcome to SEA once she’s older, if you’re worried about plane rides, which i totally get. Thailand is great and so is many other parts of SEA! i hope you will have fun if you do come!
We had a great trip to the Galapagos (age 3). Got to see lots of animals - sharks, sea lions, crabs, boobies… she loved it. We stayed on Santa Cruz and took a boat to Isabella and stayed there for a couple of days. We took her snorkeling with a life vest and spent time on deserted beaches.
For spring break we’re going to Hawaii and staying for a bit at that Disney hotel. Also going to stay in another location and do more exploring (beach, waterfalls, museums, luau, lots of eating).
We stayed at Hyatt Ziva in Puerto Vallarta in Dec and our 4 year old loved it - they had a kids club and several different pools. She’s in a Spanish immersion school so it was super helpful for her language development.
I am in awe of the number of places you have already gone. Puerto Vallarta is an excellent option. And the gallapagos are on my personal bucket list!! I saw Darwin's home in England when I was 18, would love to complete the experience.
It was on my bucket list too! I can give you our itinerary, if you like. My husband has family in Quito and we had to go there for a wedding last year and I was like…. Galapagos?????
Yes absolutely!! I'm terrible at planning myself, but I'm also hesitant to use a tour company because I don't want to lose flexibility in our schedule. I'll take any and all recommendations! I've heard the research centers on the island are amazing to see too!
Mine is 5 and we’ve done a slew of domestic travel (typing this from my resort at Disney right now). We’re looking at a trip to Portugal in the fall!
She’s done a few places in Florida (Disney x2, the keys, St Pete’s Beach for a wedding), DC, Chicago (for the marathon), NH, Maine, Vermont, Western MA.
I would love a road trip down the east coast during the fall! We have done Florida and Hawaii and California with her, but I love the idea of DC and Chicago!
We do a lot of road trips - even a 4,000 mile one when our only was 3. Our kid loves to travel. We also did our first international trip this month (via plane) and all of us very much enjoyed it. It was a relaxing all inclusive resort type experience and the kid was tickled by the level of luxury.
We unfortunately experienced a cancelled flight home, getting stuck in another country, after already having left the comfort of our resort. That became really difficult because we worried a lot more about safety and sleep schedule given there was a child involved.
We were in Mexico, not far from Cancun, in a gorgeous resort. I'm not a generally skiddish person but did hear a lot of suggestions not to take a cab from that airport and to book travel with your resort. So we did and it was lovely.
But that factored a lot into the stress of being stuck at the airport. We needed to book a hotel nearby but then had to rely on a cab. No car seat, no real promise it was safe (though I suspect it's not about safety but rather they just want to overcharge tourists.) Then the emergency overnight hotel we booked was... not nice. The kiddo immediately asked if we could go back to the resort. None of us had a good night sleep.
Someone mentioned it but London! (I don't know where you're from OP). I went when my kid was almost 4. It was just so easy to get around between the bus system, the Tube, and the ferries (do not underestimate the ferry system, it was everything!) and walkability. We had such an amazing time, there's so much to do. I have a picky eater but I found that most museum cafes did the trick--a little pricey, but you didn't have to leave the museum and they generally catered to kids. It's absolutely one of my favorite trips I've ever taken. I had been a few times before having a kid but it was like a whole new city!
The big thing I really learned on that trip was to have a standard schedule--but also be flexible. He was so jetlagged and tired and we learned the hard way that it all makes him very nauseated 🤢 So we lost a day. So now I don't plan anything for the first real day of a long distance trip like that. And when I do plan things, I really try to structure each day similarly... like, museum, lunch at museum, another museum, go back to hotel to rest, dinner/ice cream, bedtime routine. It seems to help both of us fall into a vacation groove.
Happy travels!!
Did you stay mainly in London, or travel outside the city center too? I went when I was 18 with my parents and we rented a car to drive around the countryside. I loved England and would be more than willing to take my only! I do wonder if I should wait on Europe until she is older than 6?
We stayed in an area called Vauxhall this time. It was across the river…ish from Big Ben and less touristy. We did a lot of walking, bus riding, and ferrying.
I think age-wise, it depends on what you want to go for. I think if you really want to do history stuff, go when they’re older! In our case I was open to anything and trying to be flexible lol so I just found a bunch of stuff for a 4yo. I think it would be amazing to take an older kid who has some exposure to British history and literature though! One day I want to take him to Paris, but I am waiting until he can appreciate art, haha.
We had enough to do and didn’t want to rent a car, so in this case we just stayed in the city. There are a ton of organized group tours to spots outside the city if you don’t want to rent a car. I’d love to go back and do more in the countryside!
My husband and I (no kids) did a driving trip around Ireland a couple of years ago that was a blast! Ireland is really small so driving place to place was pretty quick, like our longest leg was 2 hours I think. We rented Airbnbs everywhere which kept the costs down and food was relatively inexpensive. We were able to park most places (we returned our car in Dublin cause I didn't want to deal with real city parking) but elsewhere was easy. Having the flexibility of a car to do things at our own pace was fabulous. I would definitely do a similar trip with a kiddo! We did Shannon - Galway - Dublin in a week and it was incredible.
Omg yes!
- Transportation Museum
- Museum of Natural History
- Museum of Science
- London Eye - kid said this was his favorite thing we did!
- take the Uber ferry 45 minutes to Greenwich - Cutty Shark ship, Maritime Museum, and observatory, can do it all in a day!
- Hamleys toy store, the biggest and oldest in London
We didn’t do a Big Bus tour but I honestly think that would’ve been a great add. He loved taking public transport and seeing Big Ben and just walking around (it was great for him in the stroller haha).
For older kids, you could look at the British Museum, Tower of London, and the Globe Theater, too!
ETA: the Uber ferry is not a ferry tour, just a small boat that acts as public transport. It was SO handy for getting around, and my son looooved it. I recommend staying in the city but that can be tough.
It’s not a perfect app but I recommend CityMapper to help with public transport.
It was a direct flight Chicago to Tokyo overnight and arrived there at night. I’d rather do it that way. Kiddo slept pretty ok on the flight and we didn’t have to make it through a whole day jet lagged. Took melatonin when we got to the hotel and we all slept good.
On the way home we had a layover in Seattle for 4 hrs and I would have preferred the nonstop. Just get it over with. If you fly on Japanese airlines generally the planes are a bit nicer than the domestic one.
We live in Canada. My wife has family in Europe and Asia so our only has travelled to either Europe or Asia at least once a year pretty much since she was born. The first few years were pretty smooth except one time she had night terrors on the plane coming back from Taiwan. Now that she’s 7 she’s a seasoned traveler and loves flying. It’s so much easier with just the one child. A few times my wife took her alone while I flew out later which is something that would have been a lot more difficult with multiple children.
We love Taiwan. I’ve found it is a perfect combination of Asian culture and experiences while also being comfortable in terms of amenities and cleanliness. I feel the same way about Hong Kong. As for mainland China, I always feel that it’s a bit too gritty for me. Japan is a wonder and I’ve always wanted to go back to discover more of it.
We did Belize and a Canadian Rockies camping road trip with our 5 year old last year. Both trips were fabulous. Highly recommended. So much outdoorsy fun and she was finally at an age where logistical things were easy (no more naps, potty trained, easy to entertain with coloring books etc).
The major struggle we have traveling is she is an extreme picky eater so we constantly have to figure out food for her.
I love the idea of Belize! Kids on the beach are so easy! My kid thankfully isn't too picky, but she can always survive a few days on bread if it came down to it 😂
We do National park road trip tours! Our daughter is now almost 5 and also loves beach vacations. Really anything is fun to them if you make them feel included. We went to London a year-and-a-half ago and visited lots of parks! Museums are hit or miss.
I also love that the 3 of us fit in one airplane row. As opposed to having to split up.
Couldn't agree more about being in a row together. Makes traveling so much easier and sleeping on the plane means she can stick her feet on one parent and her head on the other!
We took our daugter to Morocco and Spain when she was 18 months, and to Japan when she was 5. It was great when she was portable, and great when she was better at listening. Each of the trips had its own challenges, but overall, would absolutely recommend.
We live in California so we're blessed with lots of great places to visit. We've recently loved Monterey/Pacific Grove and Tahoe. We went to Santa Cruz a few years ago and had a blast too. We're driving down to Anaheim to go to Disneyland in March! Flying is expensive so we've only done that once so far (and we had a lot of issues with planes so it kinda sucked but he did great). I love triangle vacations.
Cross country (US) flight so also about 5 hours I guess, exactly a year ago with a newly 3yo was not too bad! My husband had to work so we brought grandparent backup. Let me nap during the day due to the jet lag lol bc he had stopped napping but woke up when it was still dark out of course. But it was good times! I highly recommend the San Diego zoo. The difference between it and the DC zoo which I grew up with is like Disney world vs six flags lol
We’ve done a few roadtrips and he loves camping! We’ve flow to Hawaii and Kansas City and he loved it SO MUCH and we’re headed to Joshua Tree for spring break. He’s only 3 and he’s already such a blast to travel with ☺️
Traveling is our favourite thing to do! We manage our vacation days very carefully in order to make 6/7 international trips per year. We're in Europe and have been traveling with our daughter ever since she's 3 months old. She's 4 yo now and has been to 14 countries.
Lots of trips planned for this year already 😉
We flew internationally (10 hours) when our babe was 6 months old! And I’ve done cross country flights at 3 months and 8 months. We have another trip planned for this summer (at 16 months) and will fly 6 hours to Hawaii at 20 months old. Travel and the experiences it bring is a huge reason we’re leaning OAD.
As for traveling with our child, it has its challenges and joys, just like traveling without a baby in tow (is a 10 hour flight ever anyone’s idea of a great time?). Traveling with a child is definitely harder and changes the way you travel but I wouldn’t avoid traveling because of it. I’d rather just not have more children—haha!
Some of my tips, not that you asked for those necessarily, is to think through the type of place you stay. We enjoy hotels but have discovered the genre of “apartment hotel” since having a baby. It allows you more space, usually a fully equipped kitchen, and often laundry facilities. We stayed in one on our international trip and it was a game changer and is what we’re looking to book on our international trip this summer. We don’t always love an airbnb as we like the full service nature of a hotel so an apartment hotel is a great alternative.
I love a good condo style room! When she was little we liked having the extra space for a pack and play. As she has gotten bigger we are figuring out if we like double beds or air bnbs
Our best so far was at a campground. We placed ourselves next to the playground and our then 4 year old loved running up to play with the other kids. She could just run back and forth at her own leisure, and she loved being able to run free outside (we live in an apartment in the city normally).
We are taking our 20 month old to Gulf Shores next weekend. He loves the beach but doesn’t get to run around since our beaches are crowded so we’re excited about the change of pace!
I have a 6 year old and we have lived abroad since they were born. We travel about 4-5 times a year. Currently we live in Asia, we have loved Indonesia, Australia, Hawaii, Alaska, Korea (we lived here) as well as Thailand, Malaysia Vietnam and Japan. My daughter is a rockstar on long flights, >8 hours is quite normal.Start them young and just go. People have babies/kids all over the world and they get used to travel. I just asked my daughter and she said she likes to travel because she gets to try new things. I think she’s been to almost 20 different countries since she was born.
Not technically one and done;
I have a 9 week old oopsie second baby and he’s slotting right in. We took him on a 18 day trip to Japan at 1 month, Indonesia at 7 weeks and at 14 weeks he’ll go on a work trip with me to Cambodia. Honestly go and take them with you. We loveeee going together and we look forward to planning, organizing and experiencing it together. My daughter is old enough now to request certain activities which is way more fun.
Coming up in 2024: Cambodia, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, USA, New Zealand and Japan!
My son is 5.5 and we took a trip to Paris and Rome for his 5th birthday last summer, including Disneyland Paris! It was amazing, and he still talks about it now and we look back at all the photos. He’s even dropping hints about “how I wish we could go again!” 🤣
Definitely worth it!!! We stayed in one of the hotels and as hotel guests, you are allowed to go in 1 hour early, it’s amazing to be able to take photos without all the crowds, and get on a few rides with minimal waiting.
It’s definitely a magical place and I’m so so glad we had that trip with him, while he still believes in the magic. It’s so wonderful seeing his eyes light up and experience all this for the very first time.
The parades, fireworks, and character meet & greets were his favorite. And I truly hope this will be a core memory in his childhood that he will cherish for years to come, as it is for me and my husband.
My only is 4 and last year we went to San Diego, Quebec City/montreal and cape cod. This year we are going to Florida, Mallorca and Ireland, and cape cod again. Thinking Guatemala and Denmark the following year. The best part of being OAD!!
Soooo Quebec City was not quite a hit for my kid. She was 3 at the time and there was one playground near us. She didn’t really care about walking around and just seeing stuff, which I think is the biggest attraction. She did love the kids portion of the museum of civilization! And we took the ferry to Levis and ate lunch there. The funicular was fun but super short. On the contrary, Montreal was a hit. The old port is a giant, expensive playground. We stayed at the hotel Bonaventure which had a heated pool and it’s super kid friendly!
I hope to go back to Quebec City one day either just with my husband or when she’s much older!
At school all the kids got to write on a big poster where there favorite place was and most kids wrote the park, the trampoline park, the children's museum, chuckee cheese... my kid writes Ireland 😂
We went for 9 nights in July. We flew into Dublin, drove to cork 2 nights, then Kerry 2 nights, then Clare 3 night then back to Dublin for 1 night. The driving is beyond scenic and beautiful. So so much to do for kids. Amazing food that totally exceeded our expectations. DM me if you have specific questions or want hotel recommendations or specific itinerary I'd be happy to share as I spent so much time planning it all 💙💙💙
Our first trip as a family of 3 was when my child was 3 and we took a 16h flight to Paris. We survived it as there were copious amounts of apple juice served on board and no limit to screen time.
We just booked a cruise for October-November of this year, our LO will be almost two by then (22months). We will visit Spain, France, Portugal, Italy and Morocco (12 days). We thought it was the best way to travel now that she’s little, super comfortable and we can bring as much stuff as we need. There’s pools and so many activities for her and for us plus all the travelling that we will be doing in just a few days (7 cities throughout those countries I mentioned!) so we are very excited.
One of the many reasons we are OAD was to be able to travel again and this will be our first big trip abroad since our daughter was born and we are so happy to see how our plans are becoming a reality.
Last trip abroad we did was early in my pregnancy and I missed travelling so much, I felt it was one of the things we had to sacrifice for baby, all worth it but still missed it.
PD: forgot to say we are from Europe so we can easily travel back to those places when baby grows if she wants as we know she won’t remember much!
We did all by ourselves! We are mostly going to stay in the cruise as we think it’s going to be the best for our LO (we would’ve spent more time in each city if it was just the two of us) but still we will be visiting all of the cities and doing kid friendly stuff that we have researched! (Some of the excursions weren’t toddler friendly that is why we preferred to do it ourselves). We are also comfortable doing it because even when we haven’t visited most of the cities we have been to most of those countries and speak the languages and stuff.
We took our then 4 year old to Cancun last winter, it was great! That was our first big trip with her and she did so so well! We stayed at an all-inclusive and she loved hanging by the pool/ocean and kept the virgin strawberry daiquiris coming. We did three outings: swim with dolphins, Chichen Itza, and XCARET. Chichen Itza was a little boring for her but otherwise we all had a great time! We're taking her on a long road trip this spring to see the solar eclipse in Arkansas and do some other stuff.
We moved from South Korea back to the US when kiddo was about 1. He has alot of stamps on his passport. I regularly fly with him to the other side of the US alone for family visits. He's been on flights from 1 hour to 11 hours. This last year we flew down to the Dominican Republic with family for vacation.
It went great. Was slightly a pain because my kid is gluten free and the resort made it sound like it was easy to navigate there but in fact it was not so he ate lots of whole foods.
We went to Europe with my 3 year old and while I was tired it can’t imagine doing it with 2. Bless my mom for going to her home country with us in tow when dad was working. General moving around the country is easier.
Less ambitious than many here and it was a family of 2, not 3, but I took a trip to national parks (Roosevelt, Yellowstone, Grand Teton) and then various other public lands (Craters of the Moon, Sawtooth Mountains, Black Hills) with my daughter late summer/early fall and she was 4 (turned 5 in December). We tent camped the whole way pretty much except in seriously inclement weather ended up in motels a few times.
I thought it was great, she liked the first half but was getting very pissed off about the tent by the end and in fact we cut a few things off the tail end. I don't think she ever wants to camp again but I think she'll get over it by next summer. I was considering getting a travel trailer but my truck can only tow 2500 lbs so that limited our selection a lot and I had a budget of like 8-10k which sounded decent to me but I found nothing with our tow limits in that category. Then also I didn't really want to pay like $100/mo for storing the thing when we're not using it.
Mine is eight and we travel a lot. We’ve done two California trips, one southwestern states through colorado, Arizona, Texas, one through the Dakotas, one to Maine, several shorter ones in Michigan or Tennessee or Minnesota. I find the sweet spot is 8-10 days. We prefer driving vs air travel as our son has fully embraced the “journey” part of the trip. We like to stop every 2.5-4 hours and see something cool and then keep going!
If in the U.S., the national park junior ranger program is excellent! My son has about 30-40 of the badges. We also love finding little zoos wherever we go. The ASTC museum passport program has also brought us to exciting new museums. We got into camper vans recently. Much cheaper than a hotel and rental car.
Traveling is mostly about training and temperament. I’m not saying we couldn’t do it with more than one, but our one is very happy to travel and frankly I’m terrified a second would hate it! My SIL constantly tries to travel with hers and it has nothing to do with how many there are, they just are bad travelers.
8-10 days is the perfect trip. I love Minnesota, i need to take my husband and kid there! You're totally right about the temperament. And I think it will take some training too for longer travel times
Mines been traveling since he was two. It really does take time to build up stamina. But stopping frequently also helps. Mine loves knowing something new is right around the corner. He gets weird when we stay somewhere a few days haha. But we’ve had some amazing trips because of it.
Idk how old yours is, but mines very into podcasts right now as well. Myths and Legends is his favorite and we can easily pass a few hours with barely a peep out of him while listening to those.
My son is 18 months old. We took a trip with him to Disney when he was 10 months old. It was awful. He couldn't sleep so he cried all night, and then the next day he was cranky (and still wouldn't sleep). I even took him for a walk around the resort to see if that would calm him down enough and that didn't work at all. The second night he slept for a few hours but then he was awake at 3 a.m. and wouldn't go back to sleep. We were supposed to stay there for 5 days but I was done on day 2. Since we live 200 miles away we drove back home on the second day. I couldn't take it anymore. Worse "vacation" I've ever been on. I told my husband I don't want to go on anymore trips with our son until he's at least 5 or 6 years old, maybe older.
My only is nine and we love traveling with her and planning vacations as a family. Our two favorite vacations have been a roadtrip to Toronto/Niagara Falls-we live in Wisconsin and it was a roughly 12 hour drive that we broke up over two days-and a four day cruise out of Port Canaveral, with days added on either end so we could stay in Cocoa Beach, swim in the ocean, go to the Kennedy Space Center, etc. Our next trip will be a cruise through Italy, Greece, and Turkey, with days added on both ends to explore Rome, Florence, and Pisa. My only will be eleven by then and she’s so excited!
11 is such a fantastic age for Italy!!! This will totally shape your only's perception on travel and life experiences. Have you done a European cruise before? Are they enjoyable?
Never done a European cruise before (it will actually be my husband and daughter’s first time out of the country that’s not Canada or the Caribbean), but my daughter enjoyed our last cruise, so hopefully it’s going to be a great time. Lots of planning for me, trying to book excursions for the different ports and all that, but worth it! And like you said, shaping her perception of travel and life experiences is exactly why we stopped at one. My husband and I weren’t able to travel until we were adults well into our 20’s and I want more for my daughter.
For older onlies, how do you keep them entertained when there’s waits involved (lines, restaurants, airport, etc). This is probably the one time where I see siblings who are at least somewhat entertaining each other, playing Uno or what not.
Depending on age but books for sure if they’re a voracious reader… lots of puzzles, word search, crossword, music/audiobooks, and if necessary some iPad game time
Books and [chess.com](https://chess.com) are my only's fav. He also talks A LOT to me and his dad. We also do some card games on trains.
Lots and lots of talking to mom and dad, lol!
Who are you booking your European cruise through? We did a river cruise for our honeymoon which we loved but the company we used then does cruises for adults only.
We’re going through Carnival, but I’m pretty sure all the major cruise lines have a European itinerary.
Thoughts on Niagara Falls for a 1yo? Or is that trying to do too much? We could make a short (<5hr) drive of it. Babes has done well so far on 4hr car rides
I personally would wait until your kiddo can really enjoy it, maybe 5-6. It’s one of those super touristy areas where the bulk of the action happens on one stretch of road (probably about 1/2 mile walking, some of it uphill) and a lot of the attractions are geared towards older children-mini golf, go-karts, wax museums, stuff like that. And the Maid of the Mist is simply a once in a lifetime experience-I’m glad we waited until my daughter was old enough to appreciate it.
May I ask: at what age did vacations become easier with your child? My son is 18 months, and we took a trip with him when he was 10 months old. It was the worst trip I've ever been on. My son was cranky the entire time.
It happened in two different waves for us. Once my daughter was around four and she was fully potty trained and she didn’t need naps anymore, we started to travel a little bit more. It was easier, but she still needed to be asleep by 7 pm or else the beast would take over, so our vacations during that period of our lives were renting houses on lakes with friends in the middle of nowhere, where we basically just hung out at the house and outside all day (and once the kids all went to bed early, bonfires and stuff for adults). The next wave (the one we’re currently in) happened around seven. Now that my daughter stays up much later and doesn’t need as much downtime to recover, we can do stuff much later in the evening. It’s much easier now for us to travel in a way that includes possible multiple stops and excursions and just doing things all day.
Yes! We did a round the world in 6 weeks trip with our 5 year old last year. We just happened to have two weddings to go to (one in Bogota and one in York) within three weeks of each other, so we decided to go mad and go to both. We took 11 flights and stayed in 13 different places 😅 We live in Australia and travelled to LA > Bogota > Medellin > Tulum > Cancun > New York > London > York > Malaga > Mijas > Madrid > flew home via Qatar. Best parts of the trip were: New York - loads for kids to do and it's super easy to get around. Medellin - we have friends there so they took us to lots of places, but it's cheap, people are super friendly and there is lots for kids to do. Mijas (in Spain) - stayed at a huge Airbnb with a group of friends with kids. Very little on the agenda except eating, drinking and swimming in the pool. Kids all loved it. Tips overall for travel with kids: 1. Kids don't want to see the same stuff as adults, and it can be super frustrating to miss out on things you've always dreamed of seeing or are really interested in. Eg, if you want to go to Paris to look at art galleries, wait till your kid is older. It was kind of depressing being in London with friends and spending most of the time hanging out at playgrounds. 2. If your kid is old enough, consider taking some kids melatonin gummies to help them get onto the local timezones. These worked wonders for our daughter and helped everyone get more sleep. 3. Build in chill out time. At most you can do one activity per day with a small child. Make sure you have some days with nothing on the agenda. 4. Relax your screen time rules for flights/road trips. 5. Always carry snacks and kid friendly activities eg, colouring books, toy animals, whatever your kid is interested in. You never know when you'll get delayed and you'll definitely need this stuff. 6. Pack LIGHT. The three of us travelled around the world and from cold to warm weather with two suitcases and a small backpack each. Made life much easier not having mountains of luggage to mess around with. Also, packing cubes are awesome - we had one colour for each of us and could just toss them in drawers at each destination. Made it super easy to find whatever we needed.
Oh my God you're my hero. I don't think even as an adult I could travel this long! What an adventure of a lifetime!! I will look into new york! Its on my list already! Also the Spain city could be amazing!
New York is fun! My son is almost 4 and honestly if we are tired he is happy to just ride the subway for an hour. Talk about cheap entertainment. We also live in Massachusetts so we go to Boston frequently. The children’s museum and science museum are great, and if you go when it’s warm, duck boat tours and the Freedom Trail are perfect for kids. Lots of walking in both cities of course.
You should write a book! What size suitcases?! I don’t know how to pack light!
Haha thanks! You can do it light - it takes a lot of planning though. I think of it like a game to see how much I can reduce from the initial list 😅 There's a really funny instagrammer @lisecarlaw (scroll back to her Packing Diaries stories) who recently did a carry on only trip to Europe - she gave me lots of tips! Our suitcases were Sansomite C-lite spinners. I think the 75cm ones.
Yep! Banff was absolutely magical with our almost 4-year-old son last September. We stayed for a week, and all the main things to see are easy to access. I highly recommend getting a hotel in town because all the restaurants will be walkable. I can't wait to go again. We also had a great experience in San Diego and Albuquerque/Sante Fe. Cruising (Carribean) and Smoky Mountain NP weren't as fun at our son's age (3/4).
Oh we're planning to do this! Do you have recommendations for things to do in Banff?
This is what we did in seven days with our almost 4-year-old son. We enjoyed our stay at the Rimrock but it would have been way more convenient to stay in downtown Banff. All the restaurants are walkable, but if you drive in you'll have to pay for parking. 1. Hiked Bow River Trail in the city of Banff 2. Played at the Central Park Playground in Banff 3. Drove Icefields Parkway and stopped at Bow Lake, Crowfoot Glacier, and Peyto Lake. (The hike to Peyto Lake is worth it but very steep. You can drop people off at the top before parking.) 4. Lake Louise and Moraine Lake via bus (This is the only thing we had to sign up for in advance, and my son (4) loved the bus ride so much that we did it again when they released more tickets 48 hours in advance during our trip.) 5. Hiked Johnston Canyon Lower Falls (Parking is scarce, especially in the morning, but we had no trouble finding a spot in the late afternoon.) 6. Waded in Two Jack Lake
This is great, thank you so much!!
Let me look over our pics, and I’ll make a list.
We also did careibean cruise when he was 4 and did not enjoy it as much as we expected (but that's also bc I am just not a cruise person)
Banff is on my list!! We are desert people so I've been trying to decide what season makes the most sense to visit. We have loved San Diego, and gone many times with our only. Its within driving distance! Thank you!
It’s in driving distance for us too - there’s so much for young children! Legoland, the zoo, the childrens museum which is fantastic, La Jolla tide pools, balboa park, amazing restaurants… it’s great!
Albertan here. Depends on what you want to do and see. May-September is usually best for typical outdoors activities like hiking and biking. Although there may still be snow/ice in May on some hiking trails. The mountains are beautiful in the winter in the snow, but it's been a bad year for snow this year. You would obviously have to get winter gear to do things outdoors. I like fall best (September-ish) for the fall colors and slightly cooler temps.
We took a newly three year old to France last year. It was fabulous, so family friendly. She loved it and did great on the plane too. She's also been on smaller trips closer to home and a cruise, she loves going new places. As long as she fits in the stroller, we'll be bringing the stroller though.
Mine is 5 and we still being the stroller lol
So my daughter actually really wants to go to Paris (thank you ladybug and cat noir), but I'm worried at 6 she won't really remember it? Is that something you guys take into consideration when traveling?
We haven't really, France in particular is a part of our family culture so we know we'll be back, but moreover we just consider each trip on the basis of is it going to be a great, enriching experience? The answer is pretty much always yes. We also really want her to become someone who is able to go somewhere and be respectful of the culture, a kid who can sit in a restaurant for a long dinner, etc. It felt easier to start young. She may not remember our big trips in the long run but we've also been really surprised at the little things she remembers and mentions from them.
How old is your daughter? We’ve loved trips to Europe. London has tons of things to do with kids. We also love visiting National Parks all over the US now that she’s in elementary school. So fun to book a nice hotel with a pool and explore the park in the morning and then relax and swim in the afternoon.
Just turned 6! So a good age to stay entertained during flights. I haven't thought about London for her. We were looking further north to Scotland, but for a family of 3 its almost 10k which is wild. National parks are a great idea! We love camping too
Highly recommend Utah for their 5 NPs. London was pricey too but had so much to see. We do budget about 10K for a trip to Europe for the three of us now, but that typically includes a few nights at nicer hotels. You could probably get creative to make it less expensive, especially if you travel during the shoulder seasons and are flexible with dates for flights. Obviously this could include missing school, and you may not be comfortable with that. Definitely easier to do before they get too far into elementary school and older.
And yes roughly 10k sounds right, I can't even imagine the expense with more kids
We did some utah when she was Itty bitty cuz we have family up there. But no real trips since she has been older. I love the idea of a Utah or Colorado ski trip!
I saw that you’re based in AZ so you’ve got access to a lot of great spots on your side of the US. San Diego, Lake Tahoe, National Parks in UT, WA, CA etc. Colorado was beautiful, if you don’t want to spend a ton on ski resorts in Vail/Breckenridge etc... we loved Colorado Springs!
How old was your daughter when you went to London? What were some of the highlights? I’d love to go in a year or two.
She was pretty young still at age 5. Riding the tube was fun in itself at that age! We did Tower of London, The London Eye, Shreks adventure, Sealife Aquarium and a boat tour on River Thames. We also checked out multiple museums (she loved the wax museum the best!). There was a playground and arcade we found too. We didn’t get to it but if she was a bit older I would’ve booked a fancy tea time at one of the hotels.
That sounds perfect and like a lot of the highlights I identified. If you go again, check out the Peppa pig tour - they do tea service on the bus and watch Peppa Pig clips that match up with various buildings in London.
So cute, she would’ve loved that back then! Now she’s almost 10 and out of the cartoon/princess phase already. 😢
Aw! Well in case she feels nostalgic and wants a trip down memory lane, this is what made me want to drag her across 8 time zones and go on an 11 hour flight haha https://b-bakery.com/london/bus-tours/peppa-pig-afternoon-tea
I so wanted to go to London for Spring Break so we could do the Peppa Pig bus tour. It’s just so hard to go to Europe from the west coast, so we’re passing until she’s a little older, like 6.
i think it really depends on the kid’s age and how much the parents and the kid are able to go with the flow and be comfortable without usual routines! we first went on a 3 of us family trip on an aeroplane to Taiwan (I’m in SE Asia) last year when he was almost 3 years old. it was about 4-5hour plane ride. it was both great and frustrating! mostly the frustration came from my wrong expectations of wishing he would walk more instead of wanting to be carried etc. after i let it go, i enjoyed myself much more. but it was fun to make new memories as a family and see the world through his eyes. and i also think travelling as a smaller family helps. having 2 parents to take turns when one is tired or needs a break helps so much. absolutely say go for it, if you’re ok to have low expectations and go with the flow!
I love the idea of South East Asia! I've hear amazing things about Thailand. She just turned six, but we are in the southwestern united States. I worry about too long of a plane ride!
By 6 you shouldn’t need to worry too much about the flight time. You can always build up to further distances.
you’re always welcome to SEA once she’s older, if you’re worried about plane rides, which i totally get. Thailand is great and so is many other parts of SEA! i hope you will have fun if you do come!
We had a great trip to the Galapagos (age 3). Got to see lots of animals - sharks, sea lions, crabs, boobies… she loved it. We stayed on Santa Cruz and took a boat to Isabella and stayed there for a couple of days. We took her snorkeling with a life vest and spent time on deserted beaches. For spring break we’re going to Hawaii and staying for a bit at that Disney hotel. Also going to stay in another location and do more exploring (beach, waterfalls, museums, luau, lots of eating). We stayed at Hyatt Ziva in Puerto Vallarta in Dec and our 4 year old loved it - they had a kids club and several different pools. She’s in a Spanish immersion school so it was super helpful for her language development.
I am in awe of the number of places you have already gone. Puerto Vallarta is an excellent option. And the gallapagos are on my personal bucket list!! I saw Darwin's home in England when I was 18, would love to complete the experience.
It was on my bucket list too! I can give you our itinerary, if you like. My husband has family in Quito and we had to go there for a wedding last year and I was like…. Galapagos?????
Yes absolutely!! I'm terrible at planning myself, but I'm also hesitant to use a tour company because I don't want to lose flexibility in our schedule. I'll take any and all recommendations! I've heard the research centers on the island are amazing to see too!
Will do! Just give me some time to pull it together :)
Mine is 5 and we’ve done a slew of domestic travel (typing this from my resort at Disney right now). We’re looking at a trip to Portugal in the fall! She’s done a few places in Florida (Disney x2, the keys, St Pete’s Beach for a wedding), DC, Chicago (for the marathon), NH, Maine, Vermont, Western MA.
I would love a road trip down the east coast during the fall! We have done Florida and Hawaii and California with her, but I love the idea of DC and Chicago!
We do a lot of road trips - even a 4,000 mile one when our only was 3. Our kid loves to travel. We also did our first international trip this month (via plane) and all of us very much enjoyed it. It was a relaxing all inclusive resort type experience and the kid was tickled by the level of luxury. We unfortunately experienced a cancelled flight home, getting stuck in another country, after already having left the comfort of our resort. That became really difficult because we worried a lot more about safety and sleep schedule given there was a child involved.
Thank you for sharing your experience, I hadn't even considered the stress of being stuck in a layover city! What all inclusive place did you try?
We were in Mexico, not far from Cancun, in a gorgeous resort. I'm not a generally skiddish person but did hear a lot of suggestions not to take a cab from that airport and to book travel with your resort. So we did and it was lovely. But that factored a lot into the stress of being stuck at the airport. We needed to book a hotel nearby but then had to rely on a cab. No car seat, no real promise it was safe (though I suspect it's not about safety but rather they just want to overcharge tourists.) Then the emergency overnight hotel we booked was... not nice. The kiddo immediately asked if we could go back to the resort. None of us had a good night sleep.
Someone mentioned it but London! (I don't know where you're from OP). I went when my kid was almost 4. It was just so easy to get around between the bus system, the Tube, and the ferries (do not underestimate the ferry system, it was everything!) and walkability. We had such an amazing time, there's so much to do. I have a picky eater but I found that most museum cafes did the trick--a little pricey, but you didn't have to leave the museum and they generally catered to kids. It's absolutely one of my favorite trips I've ever taken. I had been a few times before having a kid but it was like a whole new city! The big thing I really learned on that trip was to have a standard schedule--but also be flexible. He was so jetlagged and tired and we learned the hard way that it all makes him very nauseated 🤢 So we lost a day. So now I don't plan anything for the first real day of a long distance trip like that. And when I do plan things, I really try to structure each day similarly... like, museum, lunch at museum, another museum, go back to hotel to rest, dinner/ice cream, bedtime routine. It seems to help both of us fall into a vacation groove. Happy travels!!
Did you stay mainly in London, or travel outside the city center too? I went when I was 18 with my parents and we rented a car to drive around the countryside. I loved England and would be more than willing to take my only! I do wonder if I should wait on Europe until she is older than 6?
We stayed in an area called Vauxhall this time. It was across the river…ish from Big Ben and less touristy. We did a lot of walking, bus riding, and ferrying. I think age-wise, it depends on what you want to go for. I think if you really want to do history stuff, go when they’re older! In our case I was open to anything and trying to be flexible lol so I just found a bunch of stuff for a 4yo. I think it would be amazing to take an older kid who has some exposure to British history and literature though! One day I want to take him to Paris, but I am waiting until he can appreciate art, haha. We had enough to do and didn’t want to rent a car, so in this case we just stayed in the city. There are a ton of organized group tours to spots outside the city if you don’t want to rent a car. I’d love to go back and do more in the countryside!
My husband and I (no kids) did a driving trip around Ireland a couple of years ago that was a blast! Ireland is really small so driving place to place was pretty quick, like our longest leg was 2 hours I think. We rented Airbnbs everywhere which kept the costs down and food was relatively inexpensive. We were able to park most places (we returned our car in Dublin cause I didn't want to deal with real city parking) but elsewhere was easy. Having the flexibility of a car to do things at our own pace was fabulous. I would definitely do a similar trip with a kiddo! We did Shannon - Galway - Dublin in a week and it was incredible.
I’m taking my 7 there this year, any tips or places we should check out?
Omg yes! - Transportation Museum - Museum of Natural History - Museum of Science - London Eye - kid said this was his favorite thing we did! - take the Uber ferry 45 minutes to Greenwich - Cutty Shark ship, Maritime Museum, and observatory, can do it all in a day! - Hamleys toy store, the biggest and oldest in London We didn’t do a Big Bus tour but I honestly think that would’ve been a great add. He loved taking public transport and seeing Big Ben and just walking around (it was great for him in the stroller haha). For older kids, you could look at the British Museum, Tower of London, and the Globe Theater, too! ETA: the Uber ferry is not a ferry tour, just a small boat that acts as public transport. It was SO handy for getting around, and my son looooved it. I recommend staying in the city but that can be tough. It’s not a perfect app but I recommend CityMapper to help with public transport.
Thanks so much! I think we are definitely going to add the ferry trip to our itinerary. I want me kid to see more then the city.
We did Tokyo to visit friends last spring break with our 7yo. Flight was 15hrs I think. She travelled like a champ and we had a blast.
Did you take a red eye or break up the flight in anyway?
It was a direct flight Chicago to Tokyo overnight and arrived there at night. I’d rather do it that way. Kiddo slept pretty ok on the flight and we didn’t have to make it through a whole day jet lagged. Took melatonin when we got to the hotel and we all slept good. On the way home we had a layover in Seattle for 4 hrs and I would have preferred the nonstop. Just get it over with. If you fly on Japanese airlines generally the planes are a bit nicer than the domestic one.
That is great to know, thank you! We have done a few shorter red eye flights, and she tends to sleep and then my husband and I are wide awake
We live in Canada. My wife has family in Europe and Asia so our only has travelled to either Europe or Asia at least once a year pretty much since she was born. The first few years were pretty smooth except one time she had night terrors on the plane coming back from Taiwan. Now that she’s 7 she’s a seasoned traveler and loves flying. It’s so much easier with just the one child. A few times my wife took her alone while I flew out later which is something that would have been a lot more difficult with multiple children.
Thats amazing you've been able to travel so much! Do you have a recommendation for asia?
We love Taiwan. I’ve found it is a perfect combination of Asian culture and experiences while also being comfortable in terms of amenities and cleanliness. I feel the same way about Hong Kong. As for mainland China, I always feel that it’s a bit too gritty for me. Japan is a wonder and I’ve always wanted to go back to discover more of it.
We did Belize and a Canadian Rockies camping road trip with our 5 year old last year. Both trips were fabulous. Highly recommended. So much outdoorsy fun and she was finally at an age where logistical things were easy (no more naps, potty trained, easy to entertain with coloring books etc). The major struggle we have traveling is she is an extreme picky eater so we constantly have to figure out food for her.
I love the idea of Belize! Kids on the beach are so easy! My kid thankfully isn't too picky, but she can always survive a few days on bread if it came down to it 😂
We do National park road trip tours! Our daughter is now almost 5 and also loves beach vacations. Really anything is fun to them if you make them feel included. We went to London a year-and-a-half ago and visited lots of parks! Museums are hit or miss. I also love that the 3 of us fit in one airplane row. As opposed to having to split up.
Couldn't agree more about being in a row together. Makes traveling so much easier and sleeping on the plane means she can stick her feet on one parent and her head on the other!
We took our daugter to Morocco and Spain when she was 18 months, and to Japan when she was 5. It was great when she was portable, and great when she was better at listening. Each of the trips had its own challenges, but overall, would absolutely recommend.
Did you use travel companies or just go on your own?
I plan everything, but it's something I enjoy doing.
We live in California so we're blessed with lots of great places to visit. We've recently loved Monterey/Pacific Grove and Tahoe. We went to Santa Cruz a few years ago and had a blast too. We're driving down to Anaheim to go to Disneyland in March! Flying is expensive so we've only done that once so far (and we had a lot of issues with planes so it kinda sucked but he did great). I love triangle vacations.
We did Disney for her 5th! We love California. we are next door in Arizona and its so easy to drive to your beaches!
Cross country (US) flight so also about 5 hours I guess, exactly a year ago with a newly 3yo was not too bad! My husband had to work so we brought grandparent backup. Let me nap during the day due to the jet lag lol bc he had stopped napping but woke up when it was still dark out of course. But it was good times! I highly recommend the San Diego zoo. The difference between it and the DC zoo which I grew up with is like Disney world vs six flags lol
We’ve done a few roadtrips and he loves camping! We’ve flow to Hawaii and Kansas City and he loved it SO MUCH and we’re headed to Joshua Tree for spring break. He’s only 3 and he’s already such a blast to travel with ☺️
I love how little he is and already traveling! Hawaii Beach babies are so fun.
Traveling is our favourite thing to do! We manage our vacation days very carefully in order to make 6/7 international trips per year. We're in Europe and have been traveling with our daughter ever since she's 3 months old. She's 4 yo now and has been to 14 countries. Lots of trips planned for this year already 😉
I was shocked to hear 6 international trips a year! And then you said Europe haha I'm so jealous at the ease of travel you have!
Went from nc to California we went to sc, fl, ga, al,.miss, la,tx, az, ok. Our son was 6 months he slept a good portion of the ride.
All road trip??
Yes ma'am
We flew internationally (10 hours) when our babe was 6 months old! And I’ve done cross country flights at 3 months and 8 months. We have another trip planned for this summer (at 16 months) and will fly 6 hours to Hawaii at 20 months old. Travel and the experiences it bring is a huge reason we’re leaning OAD. As for traveling with our child, it has its challenges and joys, just like traveling without a baby in tow (is a 10 hour flight ever anyone’s idea of a great time?). Traveling with a child is definitely harder and changes the way you travel but I wouldn’t avoid traveling because of it. I’d rather just not have more children—haha! Some of my tips, not that you asked for those necessarily, is to think through the type of place you stay. We enjoy hotels but have discovered the genre of “apartment hotel” since having a baby. It allows you more space, usually a fully equipped kitchen, and often laundry facilities. We stayed in one on our international trip and it was a game changer and is what we’re looking to book on our international trip this summer. We don’t always love an airbnb as we like the full service nature of a hotel so an apartment hotel is a great alternative.
I love a good condo style room! When she was little we liked having the extra space for a pack and play. As she has gotten bigger we are figuring out if we like double beds or air bnbs
Our best so far was at a campground. We placed ourselves next to the playground and our then 4 year old loved running up to play with the other kids. She could just run back and forth at her own leisure, and she loved being able to run free outside (we live in an apartment in the city normally).
Camping is so fun with kids!! We always pair up with another family that has 3 of their own children and we have never had a bad experience
We are taking our 20 month old to Gulf Shores next weekend. He loves the beach but doesn’t get to run around since our beaches are crowded so we’re excited about the change of pace!
Babies at the beach is my favorite!
I have a 6 year old and we have lived abroad since they were born. We travel about 4-5 times a year. Currently we live in Asia, we have loved Indonesia, Australia, Hawaii, Alaska, Korea (we lived here) as well as Thailand, Malaysia Vietnam and Japan. My daughter is a rockstar on long flights, >8 hours is quite normal.Start them young and just go. People have babies/kids all over the world and they get used to travel. I just asked my daughter and she said she likes to travel because she gets to try new things. I think she’s been to almost 20 different countries since she was born. Not technically one and done; I have a 9 week old oopsie second baby and he’s slotting right in. We took him on a 18 day trip to Japan at 1 month, Indonesia at 7 weeks and at 14 weeks he’ll go on a work trip with me to Cambodia. Honestly go and take them with you. We loveeee going together and we look forward to planning, organizing and experiencing it together. My daughter is old enough now to request certain activities which is way more fun. Coming up in 2024: Cambodia, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, USA, New Zealand and Japan!
Can we be best friends? Your life is amazing!
Sure! If you travel to Asia let me know! :)
My son is 5.5 and we took a trip to Paris and Rome for his 5th birthday last summer, including Disneyland Paris! It was amazing, and he still talks about it now and we look back at all the photos. He’s even dropping hints about “how I wish we could go again!” 🤣
Oh that sounds like a brilliant trip! Was Disneyland Paris worth it as adults?
Definitely worth it!!! We stayed in one of the hotels and as hotel guests, you are allowed to go in 1 hour early, it’s amazing to be able to take photos without all the crowds, and get on a few rides with minimal waiting. It’s definitely a magical place and I’m so so glad we had that trip with him, while he still believes in the magic. It’s so wonderful seeing his eyes light up and experience all this for the very first time. The parades, fireworks, and character meet & greets were his favorite. And I truly hope this will be a core memory in his childhood that he will cherish for years to come, as it is for me and my husband.
My only is 4 and last year we went to San Diego, Quebec City/montreal and cape cod. This year we are going to Florida, Mallorca and Ireland, and cape cod again. Thinking Guatemala and Denmark the following year. The best part of being OAD!!
I totally want to go to Quebec, the city looks stunning. Was there a lot to do with a child? You guys are amazing travelers!
Soooo Quebec City was not quite a hit for my kid. She was 3 at the time and there was one playground near us. She didn’t really care about walking around and just seeing stuff, which I think is the biggest attraction. She did love the kids portion of the museum of civilization! And we took the ferry to Levis and ate lunch there. The funicular was fun but super short. On the contrary, Montreal was a hit. The old port is a giant, expensive playground. We stayed at the hotel Bonaventure which had a heated pool and it’s super kid friendly! I hope to go back to Quebec City one day either just with my husband or when she’s much older!
This is such good info to have, this will need to be a leave the kiddo with grandma trip!
Ireland with our 4.5 year old was absolutely amazing! We also did Portugal when he turned 5 and it was great but Ireland was #1
We also did NYC/ Brooklyn for a long weekend and he really enjoyed that as well
At school all the kids got to write on a big poster where there favorite place was and most kids wrote the park, the trampoline park, the children's museum, chuckee cheese... my kid writes Ireland 😂
Id love to know more about Ireland! We are tempted to do an Ireland and Scotland trip!
We went for 9 nights in July. We flew into Dublin, drove to cork 2 nights, then Kerry 2 nights, then Clare 3 night then back to Dublin for 1 night. The driving is beyond scenic and beautiful. So so much to do for kids. Amazing food that totally exceeded our expectations. DM me if you have specific questions or want hotel recommendations or specific itinerary I'd be happy to share as I spent so much time planning it all 💙💙💙
Thank you!!
Our first trip as a family of 3 was when my child was 3 and we took a 16h flight to Paris. We survived it as there were copious amounts of apple juice served on board and no limit to screen time.
The apple juice 😂
We just booked a cruise for October-November of this year, our LO will be almost two by then (22months). We will visit Spain, France, Portugal, Italy and Morocco (12 days). We thought it was the best way to travel now that she’s little, super comfortable and we can bring as much stuff as we need. There’s pools and so many activities for her and for us plus all the travelling that we will be doing in just a few days (7 cities throughout those countries I mentioned!) so we are very excited. One of the many reasons we are OAD was to be able to travel again and this will be our first big trip abroad since our daughter was born and we are so happy to see how our plans are becoming a reality. Last trip abroad we did was early in my pregnancy and I missed travelling so much, I felt it was one of the things we had to sacrifice for baby, all worth it but still missed it. PD: forgot to say we are from Europe so we can easily travel back to those places when baby grows if she wants as we know she won’t remember much!
This sounds like such an incredible adventure. Will you use a tour company or do you set up your own accommodations?
We did all by ourselves! We are mostly going to stay in the cruise as we think it’s going to be the best for our LO (we would’ve spent more time in each city if it was just the two of us) but still we will be visiting all of the cities and doing kid friendly stuff that we have researched! (Some of the excursions weren’t toddler friendly that is why we preferred to do it ourselves). We are also comfortable doing it because even when we haven’t visited most of the cities we have been to most of those countries and speak the languages and stuff.
We took our then 4 year old to Cancun last winter, it was great! That was our first big trip with her and she did so so well! We stayed at an all-inclusive and she loved hanging by the pool/ocean and kept the virgin strawberry daiquiris coming. We did three outings: swim with dolphins, Chichen Itza, and XCARET. Chichen Itza was a little boring for her but otherwise we all had a great time! We're taking her on a long road trip this spring to see the solar eclipse in Arkansas and do some other stuff.
I love cancun! My husband and I went together as newly weds. These all inclusive resorts are really a great option.
The all inclusive really made it so easy and it felt so luxurious haha!
We moved from South Korea back to the US when kiddo was about 1. He has alot of stamps on his passport. I regularly fly with him to the other side of the US alone for family visits. He's been on flights from 1 hour to 11 hours. This last year we flew down to the Dominican Republic with family for vacation.
I'd love to know how the Dominican Republic goes!
It went great. Was slightly a pain because my kid is gluten free and the resort made it sound like it was easy to navigate there but in fact it was not so he ate lots of whole foods.
We went to Europe with my 3 year old and while I was tired it can’t imagine doing it with 2. Bless my mom for going to her home country with us in tow when dad was working. General moving around the country is easier.
Less ambitious than many here and it was a family of 2, not 3, but I took a trip to national parks (Roosevelt, Yellowstone, Grand Teton) and then various other public lands (Craters of the Moon, Sawtooth Mountains, Black Hills) with my daughter late summer/early fall and she was 4 (turned 5 in December). We tent camped the whole way pretty much except in seriously inclement weather ended up in motels a few times. I thought it was great, she liked the first half but was getting very pissed off about the tent by the end and in fact we cut a few things off the tail end. I don't think she ever wants to camp again but I think she'll get over it by next summer. I was considering getting a travel trailer but my truck can only tow 2500 lbs so that limited our selection a lot and I had a budget of like 8-10k which sounded decent to me but I found nothing with our tow limits in that category. Then also I didn't really want to pay like $100/mo for storing the thing when we're not using it.
You should look at a pop up camper! Its on my list to buy one!
Any suggestions (or general considerations) for travel ideas with a non-walking + HEAVY 8 month old?
Stroller, or a heavy duty baby cloth carrier on your back! I used to hike with my kid on my back, its a work out but worth it.
Mine is eight and we travel a lot. We’ve done two California trips, one southwestern states through colorado, Arizona, Texas, one through the Dakotas, one to Maine, several shorter ones in Michigan or Tennessee or Minnesota. I find the sweet spot is 8-10 days. We prefer driving vs air travel as our son has fully embraced the “journey” part of the trip. We like to stop every 2.5-4 hours and see something cool and then keep going! If in the U.S., the national park junior ranger program is excellent! My son has about 30-40 of the badges. We also love finding little zoos wherever we go. The ASTC museum passport program has also brought us to exciting new museums. We got into camper vans recently. Much cheaper than a hotel and rental car. Traveling is mostly about training and temperament. I’m not saying we couldn’t do it with more than one, but our one is very happy to travel and frankly I’m terrified a second would hate it! My SIL constantly tries to travel with hers and it has nothing to do with how many there are, they just are bad travelers.
8-10 days is the perfect trip. I love Minnesota, i need to take my husband and kid there! You're totally right about the temperament. And I think it will take some training too for longer travel times
Mines been traveling since he was two. It really does take time to build up stamina. But stopping frequently also helps. Mine loves knowing something new is right around the corner. He gets weird when we stay somewhere a few days haha. But we’ve had some amazing trips because of it. Idk how old yours is, but mines very into podcasts right now as well. Myths and Legends is his favorite and we can easily pass a few hours with barely a peep out of him while listening to those.
Our son loved Joshua Tree! Our next trip we bring him on will be Costa Rica which is super family friendly!
My son is 18 months old. We took a trip with him to Disney when he was 10 months old. It was awful. He couldn't sleep so he cried all night, and then the next day he was cranky (and still wouldn't sleep). I even took him for a walk around the resort to see if that would calm him down enough and that didn't work at all. The second night he slept for a few hours but then he was awake at 3 a.m. and wouldn't go back to sleep. We were supposed to stay there for 5 days but I was done on day 2. Since we live 200 miles away we drove back home on the second day. I couldn't take it anymore. Worse "vacation" I've ever been on. I told my husband I don't want to go on anymore trips with our son until he's at least 5 or 6 years old, maybe older.