To go abroad with a toddler and baby or stay local??

[Proseccoprincess33]

As the title suggests my husband and I are debating whether to go abroad this year or stay local for our holiday. Our son will be 2.5 at the time of travel and our daughter will be 9 months. We have priced both trips and they are roughly the same cost. I just wondered what people's views were and whether they had any experience they were wiling to share? I'd love to go abroad. We haven't been away in years but would it just be a stressful disaster 😳😳 Thank you in advance for any advice x

Admittedly I only have one child thus far (not for lack of trying!) but I LOVE taking our son abroad. We went train hopping around Emilia Romagna when he was 18 months, visited Granada and Nerja when he was 22 months and are now going to Sicily in June when he will be 2.5 :D

I think the key to success is planning accordingly. Things we did that helped:

1: We made sure we had a spare change of clothes, snacks, small quiet toys, baby headphones and a iPad for the plane.

2: We showed our son videos of airports and planes for a few weeks beforehand (and also played airport pretending to go through security etc) so he was at least a little familiar with what would happen.

3: We bought a good travel buggy. We have the Ickle Bubba Globe which is cabin sized, lies flat and is half the price of a Babyzen Yoyo. We also got a SnoozeShade to go over it for naps on the go.

4: Show up to the airport early so you're not queuing for as long to get through check in. I'd also recommend keeping passports and tickets etc in a zipped wallet so it's easy to access.

5: Travel light and book an apartment rather than a hotel. With access to a washing machine, a balcony and good weather, we could do eight days with one carry on sized suitcase (for son and his reusable nappies) and one medium sized suitcase for husband and I. An apartment also gives you a space to relax alone after you've put the kids to bed. We've done a mixture of both in the past and stayed in an apart-hotel but decided apartments were more convenient (and cheaper!) with a toddler ultimately.

6: Have a good changing bag! I have the Cath Kidston Smart nappy bag (bought it on FB Marketplace unused for really cheap) which we used to take on our travel days out and about in the UK as well as abroad. Son has now potty trained and I'm kinda sad I won't be bringing it this time 😂 The best part about it was that it had a smaller bag inside that you could remove and that fit perfectly in the basket of a travel buggy. Inside I could fit a set of toddler cutlery, bibs, four terry nappies with a spare change of clothes, bum cream, cloth wipes and spare nappy wraps... basically everything I'd need for a day out in one tiny bag.

7: We got a fold up travel booster seat for restaurants so we didn't have to worry about there being a highchair. We went with a foam style one rather than a rigid one. This also fit, with the changing bag, neatly under the buggy.

8: Research restaurants in the area you're staying beforehand. I have an Excel sheet filled with restaurants that I know everyone will be able to eat at (after viewing their menus online and checking their trip advisor rating). It sounds extreme but when you're tired after a long day exploring it makes it so much easier to just pick a place off a list, whack the directions into Google and walk there knowing you'll get a good meal and don't need to waste any precious time waiting around.

Sorry for the waffle but I hope some of this info helped! :D Happy to answer any more questions you have.

@TheBirdintheCave thank you so so much for taking the time to write this and share so many amazing tips! So helpful and so much appreciated. I do think my son would really enjoy going abroad and I think once we got there we would be glad we went. Like you say it is all in the organisation!

I will definitely look at apartments. I was torn as to which kind of accommodation would be best so this really helped and the prep for airports. I will definitely do the same with my son.

Enjoy Sicily. Safe travels xxx

Glad I could help! Travelling light with a toddler is one of my autistic passions at the moment 😂 I hope you find a nice apartment and have a smashing time abroad!

I am very excited about Sicily. One round of IVF to get through before then though 🤞🏻

@TheBirdintheCave good luck with your round of ivf. A few friends have mine have been through it and thankfully have had success. Such an emotional and difficult journey but so worth it in the end hopefully 🙏 So hopefully you will be heading on hols with a little healthy bean in the oven then ❤️ xx

@Proseccoprincess33 I really hope so 🙏

We took our DD abroad for the first time at 2.5 roadtripping Italy, stopping in different places most nights. We did a little driving mid morning and mid afternoon where she would nap and be ready to go when we arrived at the next village. One of our easiest trips we’ve done. We packed super light (a hand luggage backpack each only) which helped whilst travelling. We found having access to kitchens, somewhere to sit out at night whilst she was in bed and a slow pace with low expectations made the trip a success. It completely changed the way we travelled going forward in a positive way

@TheBirdintheCave 🙏❤️❤️

@CornishAdventures thank you so much for your response. I'm so glad you had such a positive experience and really enjoyed your trip ❤️ Helpful to consider having somewhere to sit out while they nap and sleep at night and to have low expectations 😂

I am feeling more positive about the potential to go abroad now after these responses 😊 xx

One thing you may need to consider if you choose a resort: restaurant opening times

We went twice abroad last year and both times the main breakfast wasn't served before 8.30am (small offerings from 8am onwards, like rolls and ham, jam and cereals) and dinner wasn't before 7.30pm. The a la card restaurants were open from 8pm onwards (Tenerife and Rhodes).

Especially breakfast would have been a disaster when DD was a toddler, 9am was snack time for her, breakfast was 7am at the latest. And I didn't fancy having lots of snacks in the hotel room that early without being able to get out.

We went abroad when DD was a toddler but preferred self catering and just had lunch on the go and a dinner of bread and cold meats and cheese. DD was in bed and DH and I had peace and quite on the terrace with snacks and wine.

Combatting continental restaurant opening times is one of the reasons we chose Italy as a destination the first time round. The time difference meant that it didn't feel like bedtime at 7pm to our son and he naturally woke up later in the morning and napped later in the afternoon anyway 😅

Lucky you. It didn't matter how early or late DD went to bed, she was up at 6.30/7am most mornings.

If she didn't go to bed by 8pm, despite naps, we had hell on earth the next day. One odd day yes but two weeks holiday would have meant I needed another two weeks to recover.

@reluctantbrit thank you for this. I really appreciate it. I'd say we would be aiming for apartment with being able to self cater one of the reasons. Ds is being soooo fussy with food lately I fear he wouldn't eat for the entire week otherwise lol aside from the food timing issues did you find that in going abroad there were more positives or negatives? Thanks again xx

We did our first overseas trip with kids last year when they were 2.5 and 11 months. I was so worried, but it was honestly much easier than I anticipated and we had a great time! Things that we found helped:
Went all inclusive - I was worried about my fussy eaters but there were no problems at all. They came home being less picky and enjoyed trying new things!
We went to Majorca, this was the perfect flight time and they were much better behaved than I imagined 😄
Baby napped in her pram in the morning by the pool and then in the afternoon they both had a nap in the room. We booked a room with a terrace so I was able to get on the sunlounger whilst they slept - perfect!

I'd also say pick a resort with a great creche to give you the option for a bit of downtime.

Just to compare, we did a caravan holiday in Devon a few months later and I really didn't enjoy this. Didn't feel like a holiday at all as still had to cook some meals and tidy up. Plus having to find things to entertain the kids when the weather was bad.

So a vote for abroad, all inclusive from me!
We're venturing a bit further to Greece in a couple of weeks 😀

@Proseccoprincess33 I forgot to recommend the Baby Bjorn travel cot! Again, we got this unused second hand on eBay (but Baby Bjorn sell spare mattresses for it if you did buy a used one) and it is just the best thing. It's so quick and easy to put up and down, fits in a slim bag, is so lightweight yet feels comfortable for our son and is all machine washable 😬 Our son naps in it when we go to visit friends and it has come on both of our abroad holidays thus far. It will be coming to Italy this year even though my son sleeps in a bed now as the changeover happened unexpectedly after I'd already booked places without spare beds 😅 Greece next year will likely be very different.

I love a proper change of scene so I’d go abroad if it costs similar

I remember a poor mum whose baby got chicken pox while away. The insurance wouldn’t pay for dad and toddler to stay, so they went home as scheduled, and mum stayed with baby until it could fly.

@DustyLee123 That's a really good point! Buying a fully comprehensive travel insurance policy is really vital, especially if kids are too young for certain immunisations. We've only just managed to get our son the chicken pox vaccine as there was a shortage in our area 🤦🏻‍♀️

As our family lives abroad we travelled quite a lot since DD is born and one thing I found was that go with the flow is the best. You will never have the same set up and routine and for 1-2 weeks it really doesn't destroy your child's life.
We love going away and I think the positives outweigh the fact that you may feel you travel with everything but the kitchen sink.

When we went to Majorca when DD was 2 we found that you may need to be flexible, she hated having a UV suit on when in the water so you adjust to layering her in suncream and put it on when pottering around on the beach. She is 16 and still doesn't like wet clothes very much.

Or the fact that milk tastes differently so, unless it's chocolate milk, she just went off for the duration of the holiday. There is always plenty of yoghurt instead to give her dairy.

@Rachaelrachael thank you so much for your reply. Great to know you felt abroad was better and that you have a direct comparison to a more local holiday. Thank so much for your advice and tips. I hope you have an amazing time in Greece. It is so beautiful ❤️

@TheBirdintheCave thank you for this. Sleep is always a worry so if you have any means to ensure a bit more shut eye it is always welcome. I will look into this and the bag. Thank you so much x

@Lcb123 thanks for your input. I somewhat feel this way too.

@DustyLee123 thanks for this. If we go away I will make sure we have good insurance cover. Def taking no. Chance with 2 little ones ❤️

@reluctantbrit thank you for this. You are so right. I think if we go away we need to go with a flexible mindset. I usually find that as long as the kids are well fed, we have snacks with us and they are not over tired then things are pretty great. I will keep my son off nursery the wk before we go anywhere as if he's sick it won't matter how flexible we are 🙈

We've always travelled abroad with our two. They're 5 and 2 now and we've done Majorca, Menorca, Salou, France x 3. Would have been a few more but Covid!

As another poster said we just go with the flow and suspend routine completely on holiday. We lie in, eat late, let them eat what they want (within reason), stay up late for discos and to watch fireworks, afternoon naps for everyone.

DS was 9mths on his first trip and DD was 7mths. Perfect ages.

Get a flight bag for your buggy and you can fill it with nappies and beach towels!

We're off again in a couple of weeks, Belgium, France and Holland, can't wait!