Just not bother going abroad with kids ?

[toomanyleggings]

If you’re not loaded it’s such a massive gamble. I get massive anxiety before we go. Over the years taking kids abroad we’ve had travel sickness to the point of everyone being covered in vomit on a flight, broken bones, stomach bugs, food poisoning, ear infections and that’s nothing when you read about these people whose holidays have been ruined by wildfires, storms, airport standstills. I love a bit of sun but I’m really at the point were the stress is too much. Last holiday I tried to prep as much as possible, short flight, private transfer, kids had travel sickness stuff, lots of changes of clothing in the carry on, I took almost a full medicine cabinet with me but it was still stressful. Dd got food poisoning, I slipped around the pool chasing after the toddler, had a sprained ankle and cut my face badly. Appreciate these things happen at home too but it’s more stressful when you’re abroad and you’re paying so much money to have a ‘good time’. Anyone else feel like this?

Yup. All of that is so much easier to deal with if you're in your home country.

Ive never understood people taking young children abroad, sounds like my idea of hell tbh.

We do Eurocamp type holidays in NW Europe. Often in our own tent. We can take everything we need from home and don’t have to worry when packing. Plus it costs a fraction of AI holidays. If it does go tits up ( never happened) I wouldn’t feel gutted about the £1,000s spent. My teens still love those holidays and won’t entertain a hotel holiday, they love a foreign supermarket 🤣.

Do whatever works for your family, staycation, UK break, cheapie self catering, doesn’t matter what other people think a ‘real’ holiday needs to be.

@ZeroFuchsGiven I know loads that do it and never seem to have these experiences so I always feel like it’s just me

I have DDs 1 and 4 and we haven’t been abroad since I was pregnant with the eldest. Have stuck to uk cottage holidays - driving much less stressful than flying, food is same as at home, can still relax in evenings as no chores to do and get to explore a different part of the country. National Trust membership also makes for easy days out.

I don’t plan on going abroad again until they can both swim and can be trusted near a pool without needing me to watch them like a hawk!

Loads of us don’t do it because it’s a lot on money for potentially a lot of stress. I know so many people who have waited for their kids to be much older before attempting it, or one trip when kids were small and brevet again.

I agree. We never took DC abroad until they were 9 or 10. By then I had absolutely had my fill of massively overpriced damp cottages in wales, Devon and Dorset, and was desperate for a bit of sun. But we always did self-catering. Far less likely to get food poisoning if you do. And you can keep it simple so you aren't cooking all the time.

@TotalOverhaul this is the thing I get so sick of the rain here

Never took the kids until they were 10, now they go abroad with their friends and we go as a couple. Ds18’s fav destination is Cornwall

We've done it since DS was 9 months and love it. We've never had more than an ear infection touch wood so just bought antibiotics from the pharmacy on site. Airport wise we let him run around to tire him out and if he did cry on the plane etc yes we would comfort him, but I have quite a thick skin so it never really bothered us and he can't remember. He's 9 now and loves a holiday.

You say that when abroad you are paying so much more money to have a good time, but I just don't think that's true. A major reason for going abroad is it's so much cheaper (and far more reliable better weather - entertaining toddlers in endless rain is grim). I can take my three for a package holiday all inclusive in Tunisia for 2 weeks next May for £1,500 all in. What could I do in the UK for that? Yeah the travel is a pain, but overall it's a no brainer.

@IVFbeenverylucky is that outside of the school holidays? Flights as well? I can’t imagine what kind of all inclusive you’d get for 1500 for 2 weeks and four people really?

Wow, you've had a lot of mishaps on holiday! Mine are now teens and we've been abroad every year, the only thing that's happened was an ear infection about 6 years ago. But, yeah, sure, if you're prone to accidents then it's easier to deal with them at home.

When DS was little exH and I went away with him and a group of other couples with kids of a similar age which was nice. It was easier though because there were 2 adults to each child.
Now I'm remarried and have DS (12), DSD (11) and another DS (6) and this is the first year we've been abroad with them and it was lovely. Before this we just did seaside holidays which were easier.

Other than the airport bit I actually don't mind it!

First abroad holiday was with DS who had just turned 2 at the time and it was to Florida from the UK. He was great on the plane, loved being at the airport, loved being on holiday. Yes his sleep went to shit and it wasn't the holiday we were used too but it was still fine. I was 20wks pregnant too
2 weeks time we fly to Cyprus with DS now 3 and a 6m old. I'm nervous for the airport with all the shit we have to take, but it'll be fine
Nice weather, don't have to cook and wash up for a week, cocktails on demand and two kids who love water and generally are pretty good. Maybe I'm lucky, who knows but I'd much rather be abroad!

That sounds like you've been incredibly unlucky.

We've travelled abroad 2-3 times a year since my oldest was 14 months old, youngest took her first trip at 4 months and we've made the best memories imaginable.

I'm sure there were stressful moments, only standout ones I have though are the times the in-laws came with us and caused minor dramas.

We tend to be so much happier and more relaxed when we are away from the pressures of work, school, mundanity - but that's what a holiday is, isn't it?

We have a dedicated playlist that we add to every year for driving to the airport filled with songs that remind us of our previous hols.

Planning, booking and having hols to look forward to are what keeps us going.

Pre children me and DH loved travelling and would go on 2-3 holidays abroad a year including a long haul destination! We now have a one year old and 2.5 year old and those types of holiday do not appeal to me at the moment! I really want to wait until at least my 2.5 year old is potty trained and probably the one year old too. Even then,
I don’t see us jetting off too far with 4/5 year olds. We were discussing this last night and we’ll probably start with a European centre parks!
Sometimes I feel bad that we’ve not made these memories with the kids yet but we do loads of days out etc instead.

@MrsR87 don't feel bad! Remember at this age they won't remember anyway, they're your memories! Plus my 3 year old keeps asking to go to butlins (we went for his birthday) and not once did he ask about going to Florida 😂

@toomanyleggings Yep, outside of school hols. Tbf my kids will be 3, 2 and baby, so baby free and (sometimes) one of the others is too. I appreciate that most families can't take advantage of something like this, but I just reacted to the comment about money. Whatever the age of your kids/school hols situation, holidaying abroad is very often a lot cheaper. The only way to do it very cheaply in UK is to camp; I've done loads of camping (including here), but doing it with young kids and our crappy summer really doesn't appeal, and it can't be much more (if any) to do it somewhere with better weather.

Literally just returned from Spain holiday with 9mo DS, SS10 and SD6. The whole experience was anxiety inducing and I’m not in a rush to repeat it anytime soon. I hated it. And we were lucky enough to return just before the flights being cancelled.

If my overseas holidays had been as beset by disaster as yours OP, I'd definitely stay at home in future!

We didn't take DD abroad till she was 10. It wasn't the cost, it was a variety of other factors. DH had to travel for work quite a lot so airports weren't his favourite place. Neither of us like lounging on a beach, let alone by a pool, not fond of heat. There's a ton of great places to go in the U.K. - a kid can have a blast in a rock pool so long as you've got wetsuits etc.

We took dd to sorrento in the Easter when she was 10 - she was old enough to enjoy Pompeii, Herculaneum etc. And then she got into watersports (which we'd also enjoyed before we had her) so we did a lot of Nielsen's in the summer hols, but also things in the U.K., Paris, Rome etc at other times of year.

@cheezncrackers in fairness mine like to tag team various lurgies at home as well so I don’t know why it should be any different abroad

DH and I have a week in the sun without our 5 DC and take them on few UK based breaks throughout the year (cheap and cheerful) which they love. Long weekends and it isn’t too long for them and no more than a couple hours away from home. It works perfectly. No guilt as DCs look forward to these “holidays” for weeks and we pack plenty into them. Best part is when they are starting to get tired and act up on day 3/4 it’s hometime 😀

I'm pretty lucky as I've never had those issues with my dc and I don't get particularly anxious about travelling abroad. I've always gmfiund it a bit exciting to go to different countries and I like that my dcs are familiar with going abroad. We never have issues with travel sickness or even much sickness in the UK really, which I guess is just fortunate for us.

Never had issues with things like natural disasters although we keep up with current affairs so we'd probably opt not to travel with enough notice. I suppose if you never go abroad it's a safe way to ensure that it'll definitely never affect you, but then you could also say that about UK holidays and just never go anywhere!