Honeymoon with a nearly 3 year old in tow, WWYD?

[navyeye]

We're getting married June 2015 and our son will be 2yrs and 8 months old. He's a good traveller so far, we've done a month camping around France, a few planes to Spain and Dubai and he's quite happy and relaxed (and easily amused with an iPad).

Although we have plenty of family that would look after him really we'll I don't want to leave him for longer than a week. So this leads me to my WWYD question.

1 week in Europe (where!!) without the toddler
Or
2/3 weeks long haul somewhere that has childcare facilities (where?!)

We usually go on kind of back packing holidays so like to travel around a little but can you do that sort of thing and still have childcare? It seems most childcare options come with package holidays but we aren't really package holiday people.

Any help, I'm making this into such an issue (OCD issues) when really it isn't!

I would go on a family holiday. I wouldn't be able to enjoy a holiday without my children.
But equally I wouldn't have had the same honeymoon experience had we the children before we got married.

Could you look at booking a few different family friendly hotels that have childcare if you don't want to book a package?
Why don't you want to book a package? Agents such as Virgin and British Airways are very good for packages with a few different destinations and internal flights etc.
Out of interest what is a package holiday type of person?

If you've got a nearly three year old; it'll be a holiday, not a honeymoon. You can't have a traditional "honeymoon" when you're already a family, you're missing the point. It was originally supposed to be the last chance to do all those things that are correspondingly more difficult the bigger your family grows...

Orangetart, thanks for the reply. I think you're right I wouldn't be able to enjoy myself properly if he wasn't with me.

Chickenfajitaandnachos - package holiday person meant someone that sits for 2 weeks in the same resort. I would happily do this as I am a beach bum, but DF is an action person so we usually end up doing some activities likes walks and kayaking and move around the area a little. I didn't know you could get one operator to book lots of little stops? I'll have a look into that, thanks!

Yes floggingmolly I understand it won't be a honeymoon in the traditional sense with a toddler with us. But I like to think it won't be an all out family holiday. For example on a family holiday I wouldn't leave him in a kids club or with a babysitting service. We'd also pick a place that was 100% geared towards children but I'm hoping for a more grownup place with activities he would still enjoy.

I didn't know a package holiday person meant that. I booked a package when I went to Cape Town but we didn't get much time for sitting down as there was so much to see and do.

Op A package means booking your flight, hotels or other accommodation and transfers or car hire through one provider rather than separately through multiple providers. There is no 'type' of person that does that. Whether you book them as a package or separately has no bearing on whether you choose to sit round the pool all day or go out and about sightseeing, touring, water sports, diving or whatever.

Would a multi centre holiday suit you best? Virgin and trailfinders are great for this. You could do Caribbean ( lots to see, plenty of sailing, rain forests, good hotels with kids clubs, diving, can do more than one island etc) or Southern Africa, South America, USA, Australia, Far East.

Many kids clubs don't start till four years old so check that.

I understand a package holiday means you book with one operator. I just assumed this meant you always stayed in one place and took day outings or relaxed around the pool.

We usually travel around a country and I didn't realise this was possible if you book a package holiday? I will have a look at virgin and trailfinders thanks heels99.

Hire a camper van - that way you can move around but have all "home" comforts for your son. Corsica?? Sardinia???

Campsites are usually very child-friendly - and you can have a variety of hiking/beaching. Weather should be nice there then too.

Floggingmolly I'm sure OP is perfectly aware of what a traditional honeymoon looks like.

Is it so hard to see someone happy about their upcoming wedding/honeymoon without rubbing your hands together and saying "excellent, I know how to piss on your bonfire"?

FWIW OP I would lean towards a shorter, child free holiday myself and then maybe go on a short break with the 3 year old when you get back. I totally get the opinion that holidays are for family, I usually agree with that, however I would see this as a one off exception given the circumstances! Anyway, we are most in need of a bit of adult time when we have three year olds, not pre-children like the tradition - you'll appreciate it more now!

I would do a long weekend without your toddler - total luxury and relaxation. And then a week away with the toddler - family holiday, lots of fun, not relaxing! Sounds lovely.

Funnily enough I'm looking at campervans now, new zealomds looks lovely and so does Solvenia (!!). I'll look into Corsica and Sardinia too, thanks for the suggestions :)

Thanks letticeknollys, I thought the post was a bit odd too, we deliberately had children before marriage as we weren't bothered about being married. But actually, now we're all here we love the idea of getting married! I think we will be going on a three night uk break immediately after the wedding anyway so that will be a mini "proper" homeymoon!

Good idea! Hope you have a nice time, whatever you decide!

I agree with the idea of a campervan around New Zealand. Do it before you're tied to school holidays. It's a fabulous place (I am biased as we honeymooned there). But we're planning a return and it is a shame we'd be quite restricted on the when.
June might be chilly(ish) but also a bit less touristy and you could try the skiing / snowboarding etc out there.

seasavage thanks so much for the reply, we have decided on Hawaii and NZ in Dec 2015! Woohoo!better start saving :/ Thanks for the advice :)