Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

To take a 3 yo backpacking/inter railing?

89 replies

FragrantBumFluff · 17/06/2023 20:27

Is this a total crazy idea?

We have been invited to a wedding in Europe next summer. All of us including DD who will be just 3.

The obvious thing to do is fly there and fly back but it’s a nice destination so we were thinking making a short holiday out of it, then had the idea of going to another destination nearby and suddenly we are considering taking a month off work to travel around Europe a bit. I travelled a bit in my student days but it was a lot of drinking and partying so there are so many landmarks I’d love to visit again or for the first time as a family.

Is this a totally mental thing to do with a preschooler?

OP posts:

Leafytrees · 17/06/2023 20:31

Sounds unrealistic and enjoyable. I'm sure you could all have a lovely time at the wedding but make ithe travel elements as easy as possible so you can actually enjoy it. Travelling with an overtired, out of routine toddler sounds like super hard work.

jc12689 · 17/06/2023 20:31

I don't know. Went interail when I was on my early 20s. Not sure I'd want a young child in tow.

Beginningless · 17/06/2023 20:33

Personally I’d rather stick needles in my eyes but people do this kind of thing. Only you know your child and your own nature, to judge how this might go.

summerlovingvibes · 17/06/2023 20:34

Do it. You'll have a fab time. As long as your child is the kind of child to enjoy / be fairly chilled, it's totally possible! I've travelled a lot and if I had money now I'd have no issue with taking my 3yo something like that - she'd love it.

Stompythedinosaur · 17/06/2023 20:35

I think it sounds nice. I think my dc would have been fine doing this.

TheWayTheLightFalls · 17/06/2023 20:35

Personally I’d rather stick needles in my eyes but people do this kind of thing. Only you know your child and your own nature, to judge how this might go.

All this.

WWYDIYWMRN · 17/06/2023 20:36

Wouldn't do it with a 3 year old, but hats off to you if you can!

Glitterbaby17 · 17/06/2023 20:39

Depends so much on the child - with DD at 3 I would have loved this, with DS who is 3 next month it would be a nightmare as he’d want to be running up and down the train, running away when you were checking tickets etc

stinkywiskers · 17/06/2023 20:39

No, it sounds ace! Do it!! We've traveled a lot with our son (he's now 6). He loved it (and still does)- he had us by his side. He loved (and still does) the excitement of new and different places. It was much easier to do age 3 vs now. He's somewhat harder to please and we have to plan round him a bit more. Age 3, we largely did what we wanted to do. Now we'll find places we pass through with parks, or a pool. Make the most of it!

Tontostitis · 17/06/2023 20:39

Is it for your benefit or the 3 year olds? I don't know a 3 year old that would enjoy it but you know your child. It sounds quite selfish to me.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 17/06/2023 20:40

Look into the practicalities first. One of my colleagues tried to take his primary-age DDs interailing last summer, but found that child seats had to be booked and paid for in advance in many countries, but added massively to the cost and detracted massively from the freewheeling flexibility they fancied. I can't remember which countries this was, and I don't know if this is a post Covid thing or whether it's still in place.

VivaVivaa · 17/06/2023 20:40

Sounds great! 3 yo DS would love seeing new cities and if all else fails he loves a train ride When I interrailed in my early 20s we moved on every 48-72h - I definitely wouldn’t do this with a toddler and I would instead do fewer places and stay for longer in each one so she doesn’t become too bamboozled (3 yos are very good at making their emotions known 😂) I also wouldn’t plan too much in the way of sightseeing…but i’d personally be more than chuffed just to see different play areas, cafes and parks in Berlin and Vienna and Prague etc! Happy planning!

FlounderingFruitcake · 17/06/2023 20:43

I’d definitely go to the wedding and make a holiday of it but a month inter railing with a 3YO sounds fucking horrific, and my kids are ‘good travellers’ e.g. no issue with a transatlantic flight or driving to the south of France in a day. People do do it though and I’ve always wondered about the reality of it vs. the snapshots you see on Instagram but maybe you would have a great time, you know your DC best.

ContinuousProcrastination · 17/06/2023 20:45

Both my kids would have hated this at 3. They wouldn't have considered it a holiday, and wouldn't have understood what was interesting about any of the places we were visiting. They would have been tired and bored.

RedToothBrush · 17/06/2023 20:48

Do it! DS was lovely at this age and we travelled lots. But I wish we'd done more.

Don't let people who don't do this type of travelling put you off. If you think your child is chilled, just do it. It's an opportunity you won't get much when they are older.

At 3 you can still just about shove them in a backpack and carry them too.

ContinuousProcrastination · 17/06/2023 20:50

So i guess it depends what you are asking:

will having a 3 year old affect your own enjoyment of it. This depends on your ability to not be bothered about whether your child gets fractious and isn't loving it, not let whinging etc spoil things for you. Or it depends on whether your kid is easy going, flexible, not prone to whinge etc, doesnt mind strange food, sleeping on the hoof, packing light so not having many toys etc

will the 3 year old actually enjoy/appreciate it. High chance the answer to this is no.

Emeraldrings · 17/06/2023 20:53

Totally depends on your child. DD1 would have been fine but DD2 would not have been. DS was 3 today and couldn't cope with being out of routine for the day so I wouldn't take him either. However if you have a chilled child it might be fine.
I wouldn't plan too much and would be prepared that you might have to cut the journey short and come home.

lookslikeabombhitit · 17/06/2023 20:57

I have a 3 year old. I can't even get him to walk nicely from the car to the front door (4 metres if that...) so I'd rather saw my own legs off than take him travelling on trains around Europe at this age. 😂

HappyAsASandboy · 17/06/2023 20:57

Depends on the three year old. I have a three year old who would be an absolute pleasure on this sort of trip. He's calm, sees fun in the smallest of things, happy to sit still when required (mostly!), happy to watch an iPad for an extended period of necessary, sleeps whenever he needs to as long as he has a buggy or a lap to sleep on and sleeps well at night. I'd take him any day.

My older kids would be far harder work. They have food requirements and get bored and need the loo at annoying times and don't sleep in the day so then they need a reasonable bedtime (yet don't agree with me on that and so won't go to bloody sleep). Far harder work!

Do it while your DC is young!

Diddykong · 17/06/2023 21:01

I have a 3yo and there is no way I'd do this. He can do an hour on the train but is incredibly loud and I have to constantly remind him to talk quietly and I'm always apologizing to everyone sitting near us. It involves taking a full suitcase of activities , colouring books, picture books, pencils, pens, puzzles. Invariably he will eat the entire packed lunch in the first 2 mins of the journey and then be starving for the last 58 mins and this causes huge meltdowns where he will not be consoled or reasoned with. That's one hour on a train. A whole 'holiday'? Nope nope nope

coxesorangepippin · 17/06/2023 21:02

Totally depends on the three year old.

HuckleberryBlackcurrant · 17/06/2023 21:02

Not for a month. We did an overseas trip for a month and stayed with family so had a 'home base' and even that was too much.

I think this is a trip better taken when your child is around 10.

GoldenGorilla · 17/06/2023 21:02

Totally depends on your child and what they’re like at that age, which you really can’t predict as they change so quickly.

might be lovely.

More likely to be awful, based on all the 3 year olds I’ve known.

just do the wedding. Go for a proper travel around in a few years if you think she can handle it.

AnnesBrokenSlate · 17/06/2023 21:04

Depends if you have other DCs too and if you're thinking this is a holiday to give your 3-yr-old memories. The 3-yr-old won't remember it and won't have the same travel wonder as you. For them, it's just travelling and then ... well, what? Are you planning on city breaks? museums? beaches? Your DC will enjoy some more than others.
I've travelled a lot and so have our DC since they were tiny. As have our friends and their DCs. None of us would have chosen inter-railing with a 3-yr-old. Worth thinking about health care too.

CurlewKate · 17/06/2023 21:05

We did loads of this sort of thing with our first child. She was a natural born hippy and loved it all. Second child? He would tell us off if we were late to do bedtime. So I really think it depends on the child. But you'll only know if you try. So I say go for it!

Flip

1 2 3 4