How old was your child when you first took them abroad? Hoping to go away next year, my son will probably be around 18 months old at the time we’re thinking of going... Wondering if he’ll still be too young? We just don’t want a nightmare holiday so want to go when he’s old enough to kind of understand what’s going on a bit more and enjoy it!
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Obviously it depends on what kind of holiday and I think lots of people might disagree with me but I always felt holidays when they were that small was the same drudge in a different place, ie. it did not feel like a holiday! With thé added crap of a routine change.
i think as long as you go knowing it’s not going to be the relaxing holiday that you used to have you will feel better than expecting a break.
Either that or wait til they’re old enough for a kids club for a few hours/doing a bit more independently (like not constantly having the worry of them wandering off/escaping/falling in the pool/needing full time entertainment at all waking hours).
I think either really small so they are portable and stay put or past the toddling, unpredictable stage! (But obviously to each there own etc etc)
i think as long as you go knowing it’s not going to be the relaxing holiday that you used to have you will feel better than expecting a break.
Either that or wait til they’re old enough for a kids club for a few hours/doing a bit more independently (like not constantly having the worry of them wandering off/escaping/falling in the pool/needing full time entertainment at all waking hours).
I think either really small so they are portable and stay put or past the toddling, unpredictable stage! (But obviously to each there own etc etc)
I realise that my post above was very focussed on my needs and not my child’s!
Dd was 15 months and ds was 14 months. Both to Disney. We took them to Salou for our first beach holiday, dd was 4 a ds was 20 months. It was only a week but we loved it. Hotel was family friendly, not far to the beach.
We’ve always done a variety of holidays abroad or the uk with them.
We’ve always done a variety of holidays abroad or the uk with them.
As someone without kids myself my comments are more an observation on friends who have travelled but have quite different parenting styles.
People who’s kids had rigid routines, always needed to be home indoors for their naps, made different food for their children vs giving them some of what have etc - their holidays seemed much harder work and less relaxing. My friends went with their 10 month old who’d just started to walk and said of course it wasn’t as relaxing but they kind of took it in shifts to chill / entertain the baby so they both got some down time, they also don’t pack giant bags and just reason that as long as there’s something she can eat and they can buy / grab whatever they need, they’re good to go. They weren’t hung up on routine and generally have always let their little girl nap in the pram when they’re out and about, she’s used to restaurants etc. My other friend always has to have the baby nap at home, has a really set routine and needs everything for every eventuality and she found it much harder because of course a holiday is a complete change of routine (that’s usually the part that’s relaxing!). My cousin is a nightmare when flying, every time she’s at the airport it’s like the first time she’s been let out of the house and is in a tizz, holds up every security line etc... so adding a baby in to the mix was a disaster and she said she’d never travel again. Again my friends who are sensible, organised, calm headed found it perfectly fine, you just need to buy and do things that make life easier.
People who’s kids had rigid routines, always needed to be home indoors for their naps, made different food for their children vs giving them some of what have etc - their holidays seemed much harder work and less relaxing. My friends went with their 10 month old who’d just started to walk and said of course it wasn’t as relaxing but they kind of took it in shifts to chill / entertain the baby so they both got some down time, they also don’t pack giant bags and just reason that as long as there’s something she can eat and they can buy / grab whatever they need, they’re good to go. They weren’t hung up on routine and generally have always let their little girl nap in the pram when they’re out and about, she’s used to restaurants etc. My other friend always has to have the baby nap at home, has a really set routine and needs everything for every eventuality and she found it much harder because of course a holiday is a complete change of routine (that’s usually the part that’s relaxing!). My cousin is a nightmare when flying, every time she’s at the airport it’s like the first time she’s been let out of the house and is in a tizz, holds up every security line etc... so adding a baby in to the mix was a disaster and she said she’d never travel again. Again my friends who are sensible, organised, calm headed found it perfectly fine, you just need to buy and do things that make life easier.
saying that some children are Well behaved than others lol
We first took ours abroad when they were 2 and 6 months. It was lovely, but we are pretty laid back
We flew when both our boys were 4/5 months old (obviously different years). No issues at all and they were long haul flights.
However, I once flew alone with my eldest when he was 2 years old and I still suffer from PTSD. It was a six hour flight and we had super economy seats - yes, more leg room but it meant I couldn’t block him in. He kept wanting to go to the toilet, wanted drinks, dropped food, ran up and down the aisle, refused to sit on my lap, refused to sleep, couldn’t be distracted by anything, no Pingu, no games, no colouring (This was before iPads were commonplace). Passengers kept giving me dirty looks, I spent 45 mins in the toilet letting him play with the taps as I cried over my failures as a mother. He promptly fell asleep at immigration.
I don’t want to put you off tho! This never ever happened again but my advice is to plan well. Tire them out as much as possible beforehand, bring treats but not sweets (I doped my son with haribos so he was wired on sugar!), fly economy and sit them by the window so they can’t get out!
However, I once flew alone with my eldest when he was 2 years old and I still suffer from PTSD. It was a six hour flight and we had super economy seats - yes, more leg room but it meant I couldn’t block him in. He kept wanting to go to the toilet, wanted drinks, dropped food, ran up and down the aisle, refused to sit on my lap, refused to sleep, couldn’t be distracted by anything, no Pingu, no games, no colouring (This was before iPads were commonplace). Passengers kept giving me dirty looks, I spent 45 mins in the toilet letting him play with the taps as I cried over my failures as a mother. He promptly fell asleep at immigration.
I don’t want to put you off tho! This never ever happened again but my advice is to plan well. Tire them out as much as possible beforehand, bring treats but not sweets (I doped my son with haribos so he was wired on sugar!), fly economy and sit them by the window so they can’t get out!
My first was about 8 months and my second was about 4 months. Both abroad... and travelled regularly abroad since. took them away at Christmas on 14 hour flight, but they are a lot older now.
Both of our boys were about 6 months on their first holiday. In both cases it was a cruise to Spain & Italy. The first one was great as DS1 slept really well. The second one was hell as DS2 never slept! We have shied away from hotel holidays, mainly because DS2 was such a bad sleeper so we didn't want us all to be trying to sleep in one room. We tend to do airbnb holiday lets, and choose carefully for access to things the kids will enjoy (beach/pool/parks etc). We've been all over Europe, including Hungary and Slovenia. We took DS1 to New York when he was nearly 4. We wouldn't have braved a trip like that with DS2 though, it depends on the kids and how adaptable they are.
We took our eldest to Dubai aged 7 months, she screamed her head off as we took off, my husband announced he wanted to get off. No chance sunshine, you are here for 7hrs 30!
I took my little girl when she was 6 months, it was fine, then again at 9 months but she was on the move crawling and trying to pull herself up onto things and it was abit of a nightmare. We then went to disney on her second birthday and really enjoyed that. She’s almost 4 now and haven’t been abroad since, couldn’t think of anything worse. Centre parks uk holidays for us as shes very active