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Holidays

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Original poster

The thought of going away with toddlers..

32 replies

Lollyloup91 · 05/02/2023 19:09

Puts me off ever looking. But plenty of people I know seem to go away once or twice a year with no issues it seems and lots of happy photos of social media!

We've taken DD away twice, she's 2.5 and both times were just 3/4 night stays in the UK. Both times were HARD WORK, she didn't like not being in her bed, she was unwell, she didn't sit still for more than 10 mins and we were too knackered to enjoy the evenings with her asleep.

We have a DS on the way and I had the idea of having a holiday abroad when he's 1 next year, also before DD goes to school. But looking into it I'm thinking it would be a huge waste of money and generally just hard work....

Anyone else feel like this?

OP posts:
Serp · 05/02/2023 19:53

Yep! Very hard work ! Especially if your the go to parent for feeding, changing nappies, putting suncream on, comforting them through the night, chasing them around the dining area, handling the tantrums, trying to orchestrate naps with day trips etc. urgh, it gives me shivers thinking about it. We have been away a lot and I'm always unwell and exhausted by the end of it. We have lots of lovely smiley photographs of course, but I know the reality! 🙈

user2391 · 05/02/2023 19:59

Depends on what you want from the holiday I think. It's not going to be super relaxing (unless you take or stay some where with childcare). But you can show your toddler lots of things they might not see at home which I get a lot of joy from; Playing on the beach, boat trip, castle, NT property, ice creams etc.

Catsstillrock · 05/02/2023 20:07

Hmmm it is hard work. However we have family abroad so had to do it and the plus side is by 4 or 5 years they were good travellers.

waiting can work, but can mean holidays are tough later as your older child is thrown by things being different.

my suggestions would be:

abroad -

option 1 sunny villa / house with a pool.
But make sure the layout is safe (ie toddler can’t access the pool alone). We didn’t do this as family have a small apartment in a complex with a shared pool. Can’t complain about this but I don’t like it. Still a faff to ‘pack’ and go down to the pool / come back for another toy / snack / toilet trips. One year we did a second week sharing a villa with friends. Lovely pool, fab view, only outings to the local village for croissants/ pizza. Heaven.

option 2 all inclusive
100% worth the money. Out of school term time and with an under 2 actually doable cost wise. We went to Mauritius (rainy season which meant rain every morning but still sun in the afternoon and cost less) and Tenerife in those years. Not sure we’ll afford that again. They get into the routine of meals etc. Most have kids clubs which are good and we found if we went with them at the start they did get settled and we could have a few hours off. Or at least one of us there with them (so not dreaming up activities) while the other read a book. Our older one still talks about the fridges with free ice cream! Overall it’s a week off the life admin of ‘what’s for dinner / whose cooking / what shall we do everyday’?

still worth massively relaxing your standards. Pasta for dinner every night. All meals in front of a screen if it helps. Ice cream twice a day for the kids. No sight seeing. It’s like going to the park daily with sun. They don’t want to sight see, and you don’t want to sight see with them.

Flowerfairy101 · 05/02/2023 20:07

Yep! Took DD who is now 2.5 away when she was about 11 months and it was awful, ended up all in the same bed, only DD got any sleep and the evenings we were too scared of waking her to put the telly or lights on so we played cards by torchlight in almost absolute silence. She's always been an awful sleeper. I'm hoping to take her abroad maybe when she's 4 but as she's only lately started sleeping through I can't bear to risk messing it up. All my friends have taken their toddlers abroad by now and said it was fine but I just cannot even contemplate it yet.

GalaxyBlobs · 05/02/2023 20:09

Similar to @Flowerfairy101 DD is a wonderful sleeper except when we go away. She goes completely bonkers and is up multiple times. I don't function on no sleep very well, (who does) and I end up hating the idea of holidays by the end x

NeverTrustAPoliceman · 05/02/2023 20:20

It depends on what you want to do. A family I know cycle camped from Birmingham to Spain with their two year old.. They kept actual cycling to a few hours a day, had lots of time to find parks and explore, and had the most fantastic time.

That's not for me but we had lots of holidays when the DC were small. We just kept things simple, had few expectations, and enjoyed being in a different place.

Catsstillrock · 05/02/2023 20:22

Also, if you want to travel on Mat leave I wouldn’t wait until the end. We did a long (6 week) trip to DHs country, dc2 was three months old when we set off. worked well as he still napped a lot.

He slept like a trouper in the sling / buggy / car while we did stuff (walks) or to went to places. Wasn’t hot though (and I planned it so it wouldn’t be)

trying to do stuff with a 1yr old and 3.5 yr old is… ambitious, I’d say.

if you do find a holiday you enjoy, repeat it next year.

DHs family apartment means we do the same thing every year and our kids love the familiarity. So they don’t go bonkers with the over stimulation of too much new stuff. And they do sleep there, once older than 2, or maybe 3!

Amethystanddiamonds · 05/02/2023 20:32

Adjust your expectations and it's all good. We were the city break, always on the go holiday types. Now we have young DC we go to center parcs, child friendly hotels with a toddler pool with slides and a playground or get our own villa with a pool and close to a playground. Basically you have to keep it simple and lower your ambitions. We stick to one outing a day (if we bother at all) and most outings are child orientated. I mean I don't really want to go to the zoo in Spain as we have loads of good ones here but it keeps the DC happy and allows me to perhaps see something I want to do (briefly and usually involving an ice cream bribe) the next day then all is good.

Privatemedical246 · 05/02/2023 20:38

Do you have any childfree couple friends that you would have gone away with? We did this and it was a game changer. 4 adults looking after 1 toddler. Granted we still did night waking (ended up on a camp bed in our room as didn't want to be alone) but it was lovely as they loved spending time with our child, helped entertain at mealtimes and looked after for short periods e.g. to go and shower/get ready for evening out. We did hire a villa so that when DS was asleep we could chill and play games etc

SadadassoSad · 05/02/2023 20:59

We took our children to Majorca every year when they were toddlers…definitely easier to entertain than a soggy holiday in UK ! We took Grandchild this summer to exactly the same place and it really was fine.
No holiday will be 100% relaxing with little people but I would recommend a warm week away over the risk of miserable weather here .

4thonthe4th · 05/02/2023 21:03

We have taken our children abroad every year from them being babies. It’s much easier abroad than in the UK. Better weather, more to explore etc
We’ve done a mixture of private villas with pools & hotels including AI and had swim up rooms. The easiest is probably a hotel with a swim up room/private pool; the baby/child can nap indoors and you can have the balcony doors open and be in the pool or sunbathing on the terrace.
Villa is like being at home; they can play indoors or in the garden, you can keep to their home routine and cook food they like but with the added benefit of the weather and the pool.
We absolutely love our holidays with the DC.

DappledThings · 05/02/2023 21:03

We always enjoyed it. Didn't get much relaxing by the pool time unless we were with extended family but we still enjoy visiting new places and seeing the sites.

Fundays12 · 05/02/2023 21:07

I went abroad with a 6 year old and 20 month old. It was pretty awful to be honest. Far too hot as the height of the summer, the flight times got changed to the middle of the night, they were out of routine and exhausted. We thought about going this year (would be ages 11,6 and the youngest addition would be 4) but decided against it with the airport strikes, prices and memories of the last holiday. We booked a week in Butlins instead with a gold apartment, all the activity passes and will drive. It means we can divide and conquer as there are activities for all the kids. At night we may or may not go to the shows

TheUsualChaos · 05/02/2023 21:12

We've just done UK breaks since having DC2. We could have taken DC1 anywhere with no probs. DC2 - different story. The thought of delayed flights or having to constantly stop him from legging it around the pool. Hell no. Why would we pay out ££££ to be even more worn out and stressed than at home 🤣 I think another year or two and it will be more conceivable.

Oopswediditagain2023 · 05/02/2023 21:17

No, we've always had lovely holidays bar the odd "blip". We go self catering now (hotels and the timing of breakfast, plus having people in the Nextdoor rooms etc was always a bit tricky for us personally). We just take it very easy which we enjoy, rather than trying to fit too much in!

RandomMess · 05/02/2023 21:19

DH refused to go on holiday, in hindsight he was absolutely correct. 3 DC in 3 years, at home you had all the safety stuff and could hear/tell what they were up to and all slept really well. Not worth the risk of upsetting the cart 😂

RandomMess · 05/02/2023 21:20

Cat = cart but yes the cats missed us dreadfully when we went away to visit family.

pharmachameleon · 05/02/2023 21:23

We didn't go away with DS until he was 3 and I'm glad I waited. Mind you the first place we went was to see family in Los Angeles. Looking back now I must have been mad to take him on an 11 hour flight and somewhere with an 8 hour time difference but it was actually great. He didn't sleep the first night due to jet lag but was fine every other night. Or maybe it was awful and I've blocked it out! He's an amazing traveller now (he's 12).

DelurkingAJ · 05/02/2023 21:24

Two options, we found:

  1. all inclusive, chill by the pool and roll with it. Best we did was Crete in the last week of the season (DSs were 4 and 18 months and had a ball).
  2. villa somewhere very near the beach big enough to bring doting grandparent(s) if you have them. This solved the problem of DS1 (then 3 and unable to swim) running kamikaze into the sea whilst DS2 (6 months) tried to eat sand because we had 3 or 4 adults watching them simultaneously! We had a wonderful time in the French resort of Royan on the Atlantic coast. Also, DM delighted to shop and cook more than her fair share (and as she’s a far better cook than me or DH that was an added bonus)

Either way, we kept them on U.K. time, they got up later and we could have supper at a relatively adult time.

Rachaelrachael · 05/02/2023 21:24

Last year we took our then 11 month old and 2 year old to an all inclusive in Majorca and it was so much easier than I thought it would be!
No worries about food, everything they could possibly need available 24/7.
They took a long nap every afternoon and we booked a room with a terrace so I got a bit of sunbathing in while they napped. Then knackered them out at the kids disco until around 9pm. They were honestly so worn out they have never slept so well (and haven't since 😂)
3 months later we took them to a caravan in Devon and that was an absolute nightmare. Always worrying about sorting the next meal & entertaining them in rubbish weather.
All inclusive is the way forward 😀

Abouttimemum · 05/02/2023 21:25

We’ve done a few abroad with our now 3 year old and always had a really great time. I wouldn’t fancy it with two though!

DelurkingAJ · 05/02/2023 21:28

Oh yes, and I’m never going to Cornwall again with small DC after the year where (in August) it rained for 12 of the 14 days we were there and the highlight was the municipal swimming pool (smaller than the one at home). We had all the wet weather gear but we could have done everything we did there from the comfort of our own home at considerably less expense!

(Older DC, fine, they surf and swim and I shiver but at least they’re having fun not weeping at me because it’s cold!).

ifellintoarabbithole · 05/02/2023 21:42

We are currently on a long haul holiday with a 4 year old and 1 year old. Not gonna lie, it has been hard work, as the only downtime for me and DH is when the kids are asleep (which doesn't happen in the daytime!). They were both a dream on the 9 hour flight, which I was dreading. But it has been the longest we have all spent together as a family, and it has been absolutely joyous. The pools, weather and beach have been amazing and the kids have gotten so much out of it. I would say do all inclusive, so you don't have to worry about food. And 7 days is probably long enough. And I wouldn't fly longer than 9 hours! Do it while you can ☺️

Hedonism · 05/02/2023 22:11

Holidays with toddlers = same shit, different location (and less of the things that make it easier at home, like allllll of their toys).

I wouldn't not do it though - you just have to alter your expectations.

LyingDogsLie1 · 05/02/2023 22:14

I really enjoyed all inclusive with a 3 and 1 year old.

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