To not have attempted to go abroad yet

We absolutely love trips and holidays with our children!! I travelled a lot pre-kids and now with kids has just made it even better. There is literally nothing I'd rather do. But we're fairly relaxed, not tied to routines on holiday and our kids have travelled abroad since being 9mths (oldest) and 7mths (youngest). I think going from being so little has made them amazing travellers, they've done short haul, long haul, Interrailing trips, European road trips, beaches, cities, mountains.
Our youngest is 5 and has been to France three times, Belgium, Holland twice, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Menorca, Florida, Greece. I can't even imagine not letting her experience all that, she's had the best experiences. (Obviously not basing on finances but just purely on age).

Depends on what you want from a holiday abroad. We had some lovely holidays when the kids (x2) were teeny - Northern France, the Black Forest, the Tyrol and Lake Garda. We found it best to stay in apartment hotels so we had space to chill out when they were asleep. When they are awake you can take turns if you need downtime (or you could look at Kinder hotels), but also it is quite fun discovering things you wouldn't do on a couples holiday like an Alpine park with a raft on a pulley so you could cross the river, and an amazing Alpine zoo in Innsbruck.

Or if you like centre parcs, try centre parcs in Belgium, Holland or France. It tends to be cheaper than the UK, the food is better and the weather is usually nicer.

My 2 are older teens now but I’ve been taking them on holiday several times a year since they were born.

But I’ve never found my kids particularly stressful at home or abroad and I live for my holidays. There’s nothing better than feeling the sun on my skin.

I also think relaxed parents makes for relaxed kids and I’m never more relaxed than when I’m on holiday!

I think it depends on WHAT you do rather than being "abroad".
I find it easier, because it's new, so they are easy to entertain.

It only becomes a disaster when people try to recreate a child-free holiday with their kids. That is never going to work!

Why? I flew from auckland to Doha a few years ago and there was a family with small kids behind me I think the little one( about 2 or) must've slept 12 hours dolid on the plave

We’ve been on several abroad trips with our 5 year old and just turned 3 year old, with two planned this year. But that’s because for both of us travel was a huge part of who we were before we had kids. We’re not doing it for them, we’re doing it for us! It’s not relaxing, obviously, but then we’re not the all inclusive lie about by the pool all day type of people anyway. And honestly our May half term trip coming up is costing less than a week away in a caravan in England. Yes the kids would love the caravan just as much, but we love being in a different country and exploring somewhere new. It 100% all depends on what your priorities are as a couple and a family, for us travel is one hit that doesn’t make it right or wrong.

We’ve been abroad multiple times a year since my eldest was 4 months old she’s 8 now. My youngest is 4 and he is such hard work at home but when we are away it’s so different and I love it. Don’t find it stressful at all (apart from the packing 😂)

I wouldn't bother. It's looking after the children in a less convenient place, and it costs a lot of money. However as they get a bit older and can swim on their own suddenly it gets good again, so save up for that.

Some people do long haul with young children which baffles me to no end- must be awful! I think flying 2-4 hours with small children is completely manageable and obviously no jet lag to consider.

She said it would be a struggle to afford it if you actually read the thread

That wasn’t the question, though. If OP had said “going on holiday will cause financial hardship for an extended period, is it worth it?” I’d have framed my answer differently.
OP asked if it was worth going on holiday or was it SSDL, to which my answer is yes.

I have 3 kids. We have been abroad pretty much every year since my first was 6 months old.
It's really not stressful. It's less, you don't have to cook or clean for 2 weeks - just focus having fun and playing with your kids.
Yes, they'll be out of routine, but they'll adapt quickly.
It's great fun.

You do it if you don’t want to stop travelling.

Well the benefits I guess are no household chores, no cooking or driving, but all depends on the type of holiday you are going on!

It was so much fun. We had the travel pram and a backpack with reins as he was just walking. He pottered around wherever it was safe for him to, and in the pram if it was crowded.

We are very lucky that he LOVES aeroplanes so flying with him is a breeze, as long as he can see out of the window he’s happy as a clam.

The pre-school age is great for foreign travel. At that age they are up for anything!
Unless your children are naughty, I'd go for it!

The positives… little kids are genuinely excited about flying and watching the aeroplanes from the airport window… most parts of the world are more welcoming to little kids than the UK… Sun and adventure make your child sleepy so you’ve a better chance of a good nights sleep… if you go all inclusive you care less about how picky your kids is, there’s bound to be something they eat…

It’s full on but if you have an equal partner you can take it in turns to give each other a break.

My little one us not quite 3 and we’ve had 3 holidays abroad so far, and seeing the joy on his face has been wonderful.

I can't even remember the amount of trips my kids have been on or how many flights. We live abroad and have done all their lives and we have always exploited our proximity to other countries. I am going to write down all of the places we have travelled to because I genuinely have been meaning to make a list! As I write this I have not yet counted.

Dubai x a few
Oman
Sri Lanka
Bahrain
Jordan

All over Northern Italy many many times, camping and city breaks everywhere, as we live here but that doesn't count!

Camping trips:
Italy: many! Too many to count.
Drove all over France x 2
Germany
Spain

Beach hols
Spain
Sickly

City breaks
Berlin
Paris
Zurich
Sarajevo

My mind has gone blank and I am sure that there are more but our kids all got passports as tiny babies and we are obsessed with travelling. We are going to America for a month this summer. 3 kids aged 4,8 and 11. Been travelling since the eldest was a baby.

Mine were absolutely fine. My nephew and nieces on the other hand...
You know your kids. Mine have always had my laid back personality and were no bother at all.

They were never the type to have tantrums or try to make a great escape, etc. We didn't go away much when they were little due to money but they knew how to behave at home and it wasn't any different being abroad. I didn't see it as it's my holiday and they're going to ruin it, I saw it as 'its our holiday and they'll get attention and to explore then I'll sunbathe/relax when they're ready to let me.' 😁

To be fair to @DappledThings we did quite a few of the things on that list! He loved the Zoo (we actually went twice) and Palmergarten, and he was entranced by the Christmas Markets, especially the carousels! His favourite thing is transport so he’d have been happy riding the tram all day to be honest!

We went to Copenhagen before we had him and that will hopefully be our next city break, SO MUCH for little kids there.

I've travelled with mine since they were months old. I have three children and my youngest was at Disney in Florida at 9 months, the other two were 3 and 4.

We went to Thailand a couple of years later, after another couple of trips to Florida.

Life's too short and your children need to see the world if at all possible. Whatever you do don't go to an all inclusive or beach or pool holiday, you'll all be bored rigid!

Well that depends. It took us twice as long door to door to get to Cornwall than it did to get to Majorca. I vowed (after a 9 hour car journey with two toddlers who didn’t fall asleep until the 8th hour) never to holiday in this country again - and it wasn’t much cheaper either!

We’ve taken ours abroad every year since they were babies, they are 18 months apart. Never had a bad or particularly stressful holiday. It is what you make of it.

I’ve had some of my best holidays at those ages. But, I love holidays and love the break from routine and not having to work, being in a different country, eating great food, seeing new things, relaxing in a beach, etc.