ok, help...NY with 17 month old or not?

[sophabaubles]

dh has to go to New York for business in march.

we are trying to decide whether to all go (including 17 month old ds) and either stay for a week in the states (visiting friends in massachusetts - sp?) or stay a couple of days and then go on to the carribean for a proper holiday.

we have never been on holiday with ds before!!! we have been living between dorset and london for the last year, and have spent all our weekends and holiday time there...but i don't think this counts in terms of how he will be both travelling and staying in an unfamiliar place.

the thing i'm most worried about is the flight.

so:

are we nuts for even thinking about it and shall i tell dh to go on his own just for the 3 days that he has meetings.

shall we bite the bullet and all go, including a carribean holiday in the process.

shall we just go to the states with ds for a week.

if it's the latter two, any tips for making an extremely high energy full-on combat ds bearable (both for him and for me) on the flight (sedatives? straightjacket?..). and any tips on places to go with a toddler in NYC? or the carribean?

phew. if you've read this, thank you very much.

if you can be arsed to post some advice i thank you even more.

xx

Well their are plenty of New Yorkers who manage with kids, so you should be ok

Go enjoy and fly Virgin, by far the best with kids of all shapes and sizes, book child a seat for half price (even tho you don't have to, as its better than on your lap for 8 hrs) and take your carseat on the plane, pop child in it and away you go! Take Medised to knock out if all else fails, although should be loads of entertainment for a 17mth old, you get packs of stuff to do on the plane if it is virgin, plus the usual TV's, then theirs the usual cups, sick bags etc for them to play with, not to mention the rest of the plane to anoy!

dunno about the Carribean yet, I've not been that lucky, but as for NYC with kids there's lots to do.....

Central Park, Rose Centre for Earth n Space, Natural History Museam (usual dinosaur collection) Cable Car rides oh and here's a few links!

Related Links
www.gocitykids.com
parentsknow.com
Big Apple Parent
Queens Parent
Little Ones NY
plus www.newyorkkids.net

Go and have fun, its a great city, with so much going on, just make sure you have comfy shoes on, as the 1st time I got there I walked from Port Authority Bus Terminal, right down to Battery Park and back again just gawping at everything, then spent two days recuperating due to BLISTERS, but wow what a city (and I'll shut up now as I'm frothing!

I will be very interested in how you get on! My dd is 18m. I have friends in Connecticut and an open invitation to visit. Just as I felt up to organising it (and saved all the vouchers from the Mail for a free flight) DD got to the stage where she was less portable and I didn't think she would be up to an 8 hour flight.

Can't offer any advice - but a 2 hour flight to Majorca was no problem!

2 adults + 1 child = a worry-free journey I would think.

Would you stay in New York for the 3 days that your husband has meetings and then all travel up to Mass?

That sounds fun, as does a Caribbean holiday. Definitely do one of the two!

We took our daughter to Washington DC for 4 nights when she was 21 months old. The flight going there was no problem but I have to say the return flight was a bit of a nightmare - mainly because she had caught a bug while we were there (as had I) and she cried a lot during the flight. As it was a night flight, I was really conscious that she might be disturbing everyone else. As a result, we have tended to holiday locally since! If you go ahead, I would suggest seeing if you can get a day flight back (may curtail your stay a bit though) and really stock up on those medicines!

Having said that, I was in NY recently (without kids) and really felt that it would be a great place to go with the kids some day. I would agree that Virgin Atlantic seem to be well prepared for kids - I checked out the kids channels for future reference and they have lots of the BBC kids programmes playing (eg Ballamory).

Central Park is great - the kids zoos are right down the bottom end near the 5th Avenue shops and there are great play areas too. Even the toy shops are great just to look in - the ToysRus on Times Square has a Ferris wheel inside!

I'm sure you'll have a great time if you go.

I disagree about the night flights Pabla. Sorry you had such a bad experience with your daughter being sick, but I would say that night flights are better on the whole, because the kids will (usually) sleep for at least a couple of hours.

took dd1 to ny when she was 22mnths. fine on flight - fascinated by everyone & everything.
I would rec. Virgin too.
Went to carribean when dd was 34 mnths & dd2 was 6mnths. My best holiday ever! Stayed in lovely hotel - staff adored children & could not have been nicer. Warm sea..., lovely weather, but not too hot - go for it. Wish i was going..
(I think its easier to go away when they are littler & are happy to go along with what you want).

oh thank you so much for your responses...i'm excited now, maybe we should bite the bullet.

virgin sounds the ticket definitely...

any recommendations for place to stay (NY and carribean) that is 17 month old friendly??

We stayed in Windjammer landing, st lucia. Lovely. Quite hilly.

Went to NY recently with a girlfriend. Stayed just off times square - good location.

We were in NYC in October, with our (then) 17 month old. She loved it! Where you stay really depends upon what you want to do --- Times Square is centrally located, but very loud and crowded. We stayed on the Upper West Side, near the Museum of Natural History, but that was only because we used to work at that museum, and so had many people to visit. There is also a great children's museum up there, and the Central Park Children's Zoo is great (depending on the weather).

I really loved our hotel. Our hotel room was actually quite large (the size of our old apartment, in fact)!

maomao, what was your hotel called?

Flights are never going to be easy with a bubbu but would advise a night flight as kids should eventually crash out, well that's the theroy!

I'd bite the bullit and just go for it!
Have a ball

we did the hike to New Zealand when dd was 18 months so that grandma down there would meet her. Was a loooooooooooong flight and as dd was and is very small and light for her age the doc couldn't prescribe a sedative at all, not even piritin (which I believe is just an antihistamine that makes them a bit drowsy).

We managed to survive the fligth though by letting her run up and down the aisle. The flight crew didn't mind (Singapore airlines) and even the head stewardess from 1st class cam to the back and played with dd! Had one passenger uttering something about us letting dd run loose, so I told him the alternative... a screaming banshee for 22 hours right in front of him! That shut him up.

My advice... take fav toys, paper, pencils and anything else you can possibly squeeze into your hand luggage to keep ds occupied... and at least you'll only have 8 hours to go

We have just come back from Oz with a 29 month old and a 8 month old. To be honest the flight wont be the most pleasant ever, somebody else suggested a night flight and I would second that. The flight out for us was good but the flight back wasnt so good, but we had a fantastic holiday, I too was worried about the flights and I'm so pleased I didnt put the trip off because of the flights. Just think that the flight may be a bit stressful but you will probably have a fantastic holiday. I would go for it.

Sorry, I was away for a few days, and just saw this! It was called \link{http://www.ontheave-nyc.com/main.htm\On the Ave}. It was a great location for the Upper West Side, and very near major food markets (Fairway and Zabar's).

we've decided to bite the bullet and go. and more recommendations for baby friendly new york hotels (pref inter-connecting rooms, and that provide cots???)

tia

bump?

Click through the "take the family" link at the top, then click on city breaks, NY NY. Has advice etc there.

I would recommend going on BA rather than Virgin. They will prebook the bulkhead for anyone with an "infant" (ie under 2 year old without a seat). I go to the usa twice a year with my children and have never not gotten the bulkhead. They have these great cot things that go on a table that are strong enough to hold even a large under 2 (my dd was the size of a 3 year old). They always let you take your buggy on board (as long as it's an umbrella type) and the flight attendants are super helpful. NYC with children is really easy. Everyone is helpful and the subways are super easy to travel on. I have never had to wait more than 30 secs before someone offered to help me carry my buggy up or down the stairs, and people are always leaping out of their seats to offer me or my children a seat on the train. All the restaurants have highchairs and it's really child friendly. You should be able to get a travel cot supplied in your room for free in just about any hotel. Pack a large empty suitcase as you will want to buy everything there...it's so cheap.

I agree with SofiaAmes. I've flown on both BA and Virgin, and Virgin was really awful. The basinette was too small to hold my dd, and there just wasn't as much room. BA was much, much better. I vowed, after our last flight, never to fly Virgin again.