Are we mad? Hol with 3yr old and 8 wk old?

[moojie]

We are looking to go away in June when DC2 with be approx 8 weeks old (due early April) My ds will be 2.11yr. I don't really mind where we go apart from within Europe (short flight etc)

We have been away with ds since he was a baby but stayed in apartments so had washing facilities and his own bedroom etc. I'm not so sure about doing that this time purely because of the self catering side of it with a newborn but it maybe the best option.

We want somewhere with a pool and activities for ds as the main aim of this holiday is to spend some quality time together as a family. DH runs his own business so 'time off' in the UK never quite happens!

I have been looking at all inclusive but that gets expensive. Budget it probably £2k for a fortnight.

Anyone done this and got any recommendations? Are we mad? Not necessarily looking to book now and may end up doing it last minute unless we spot a good deal now!

Thanks

Definitely do-able! Babies at that age are so portable, it's brilliant! And if you are breastfeeding it is even easier as you don't have bottles/sterilisers to worry about. I'd second your guess of going self catering - it's much better when you have children, of whatever age and you don't have to stick to set meal times or battle people for a spot next to the pool. So much more relaxing.

We use www.ownersdirect.co.uk to find an apartment/villa when we go to Spain.

We like the Costa Blanca, flights to Alicante are quite frequent from the UK, we hire a car from Alicante Airport and drive an hour down the coast to a small town called Javea.

Javea is brilliant if you have kids (mine were 3 and 7 last year) - there is a fab beach, surrounded by a sweeping prom which is packed with loads of lovely bars, restaurants and ice cream parlours . We rent a apartment about 10mins walk from the beach so we get the best of both worlds. It is a very family friendly resort and because it is not built up like Benidorm (which you pass on the drive down) it feels so much more relaxed. The highest building is 6 storeys! Javea has in 3 distinct areas - the Arenal (the beach) the Port and the Old Town, so you do have a choice of where to go during the day and at night to mix it up a bit. We like to spend the first weeks vegging by the pool or the beach and then take the car out in the 2nd week and explore the beaches up and down the coast.

There are lots of apartments with shared pools to rent and also some stunning villas. Plenty of little grocery stores and supermarkets if you don't want to eat out every night (we failed on this and came home about 2 stone heavier!).

Just my recommendation, I don't work for the Javea tourist board, honest! We just really enjoy it, it has everything we want in a holiday and last year met a family who had been returning for 30 years! I think in total we spent close to £2k - including apartment hire for 2 weeks, flights for 4, car hire, insurance and spending money. We also booked a hotel near the airport for our return flight as it was at stupid o'clock in the morning.

We've re-booked for July and I cannot wait!

Sorry that turned out a bit long!

IMO the very idea of even thinking about what you are planning is enough to make me run gibbering to the hills.
The 3yo doesn't care about going away on holiday, the 8 week old ditto.

Now, if you were talking about going away at the end of the summer, I might just consider it. The weather is September is often nicer than June.

We went to a fab place in France, where they catered for babies and toddlers, we didn't even need to take buggy, steriliser, potty, anything child-related as it was all there for us.

Also, there was a lovely play barn with trampoline, ride alongs, lots of land around to play in with sandpit and playground, it was great and made things so much easier with regard to not having to pack half the house up.

Stayed Here

Tend to agree with piprabbit. The UK is lovely in June, so why not stay put and go away in September. Baby will be that little big bigger and you will benefit from the weather when it isn't too hot.

have done it with all 3 of my kids when they were 6-8 weeks old. you will need to pick the child's name quickly so you can organise passports. we used mobiles in france as found selfcatering good the fact that you had facilities around and lots of other kids (so no tuts from OAPs if someoone spoke above a whisper). Plus you can take loads of crap in the car.

planes were more trouble as there was lots of waiting round in communal lounges which we found more stressful - think we only did this once

I didn't go away when mine were under 2 but I would say that a good place to consider is Majorca.

We're going away next week to an all-inclusive in Lanzarote with a two yo and three mo and tbh I'm dreading it! Mainly because it's a four hour flight, and the baby is waking every hour at the mo so I'm likely to be knackered!

Last year we went to a fab complex called Las Brisas in Lanzarote. ( google it) We had a lovely self catering apt, great pool on site and a very short walk to the lovely town and beach. I'd go there again like a shot but dh thinks AI will be easier. Personally it's my idea of hell so we shall see!

we like brittany as it wasn't too hot, so didn't have to be too concerned about kids overheating. june is really nice then as most places are pretty quiet and its easy to park right next to the beaches.

Yup. Completely mad. But I do like that in a person!

You are not mad at all..I did it with a 10 week old and a 21 month old, to Majorca in June last year.Stayed in Puerto Pollensa, fab family resort, not too tacky but everything is walking distance , beach, restaurants, shops etc. Stayed in 3 bed self-catering apartment near the Pinewalk in the Belresguard complex, great for children, swimming pool is very child friendly.Self-catering was easy,shop is 5 mins away, just went out for dinners.Everyone loved it.It's a good time to go away as your 3 year old can have lots of time with their dad after the upheaval of a new baby .

I'd do it.
Probably wouldn't fly though, would drive to French campsite though so can just throw anything and as much as you like in back of car. Lots to do for your older child, very relaxing and easily within budget so plenty of £s left to spend on fabulous food.
(singingsands, I agree Javea is a nice town!)

Hi there.
I live in Tenerife and have a small childcare business so i know many of the hotels and apartments here and of course, the areas and local attractions.

if you consider Tenerife and would like some advice on anything at all, just let me know and i will do my best to help you.
my email addy is [email protected] if you do want to pick my brains.

And i have looked after a few babies under 8 weeks old so you are not mad.
We also have 3 iceland supermarkets here so you can get all of your home from home goods including nappies, wipes, formula milks etc so it could save you packing the things that you could get here.

Well the way I see it is that if you don?t do it you?ll just be stuck at home wishing you didn?t. We took our son on a plane from as little as 2 weeks old. Were we?re living in Costa Blanca Spain at the time but I had the baby in the UK. We flew back to Spain two weeks after the birth, and it was fine. Then six months later we flew to Toronto Canada via Heathrow, then back and forth to Spain.

To be honest with a little bit of organisation and planning of sleep times and feeding times your best to fly before the tiny ones can walk; believe you me I would rather fly with babies than toddlers any day. Now my son is 3 it?s more difficult as he wants to get up run around and just cause chaos were ever we go.

What we find works for us is we stay in private holiday homes rented by the owners, for a number of reasons. Firstly is you get more privacy so if your tiny ones are having problems ie,teething,bad wind or generally up all night you don?t upset the whole hotel and resort and avoids embarrassing mornings at breakfast to say the very least. Secondly you get loads more room instead of pokey little family hotels room where everyone has to creep around trying not to wake the baby. Or worst still trying to be a bit intimate while on your holiday. And the third reason is the most important COST, you defiantly get more for your money than a hotel or resort.

We have had great success and some wonderful memories renting villas, apartments and even a cottage in Canada from the owners. We normally use a rental company called www.ownersrentals.com to find our holiday rental homes, we have never had a problem and all the owners we have met have been more than welcome to look after us.

So no you?re not mad you?re just human, go for it you?ll be glad you did when you get back.
Good Luck
Holly x