Holiday regret with a toddler?

[googledidnthelp]

Has anyone planned a nice holiday abroad hoping it will be the best time and full of happy memories for it to be far from it and you regret even going?

We are supposed to be going away next year and our DS will be 2.5.

He is currently in a tricky stage where you can't predict what he wants to do happily and what he will refuse, just want to be carried and doesn't want to interact. and I'm starting to wonder if we are just going to be wasting a lot of money for tantrums in another country.

Should we wait a year?

We did go away this year but we went with family and was that bit younger and we had less expectations than we may have next time.

No regrets just memories good and not so good.

We travelled extensively and lived in different countries. Relatives often commented how well behaved and adventurous he was in restaurants as he would eat adult choice meals from 3 years onwards think pan fried scallops, prawns, steak etc.

I would just go for it.

Food is actually a huge issue for us at the minute and that alone does stress me out, it doesn't help that who knows how much things can change in 6 months and what is a worry.l now could be done and dusted but there will always be another concern to take its place.

21/2 was the tipping point when holidays became enjoyable for us. As the children have got older, holidays have got better but I do think you can have a nice time away with a 2yo. Just have low expectations about what you might be able to do and take things slowly.

I've had my kids away every six months from they were 12 weeks old inc. to Las Vegas

1 - 2 was horrendous tbh

Wouldn't sit down, kept trying to kill themselves and cracked up every dinner time

My next holiday is child free as I'm broken

But we also have a family holiday booked for a week before the youngest's third birthday so I'm hoping she's more civilised then

No. I planned a holiday abroad with a 2 year old expecting it to be hard work, occasionally tiring and for him to need the same, if not more supervision than usual.

I was not disappointed and I did actually enjoy myself. If I had gone hoping it will be the best time and full of happy memories I probably would have been disappointed. As per a PP it’s all about expectations. They are still 2 year olds after all.

My only advice would be don’t pick a hotel with children’s activities that are too wild for them. We went to a hotel this summer with a waterpark/ slides/ bounce pad and it was hellish because our 2.5 year old wanted to go on all the time and there was a lot of tantrums and other kids who were older and rougher. With hindsight we’d have been better off and she would have been contented with just a normal pool

Also, you could wait a year, but I wouldn’t necessarily say a 3.5 yo is much easier than a 2.5 yo. If you want to do holidays you are best just cracking on and doing them.

We had lovely holidays with DC of that age. What are you planning to do?

We travelled extensively with ours, the trick is to do trips you will enjoy that you can adapt for dc rather than a full on kids holiday. I mostly took road trips but also went backpacking on trains, buses, ferries etc. We just made sure we incorporated park trips etc into the day

With all 3 of my kids I found 3-4 much worse than the " terrible twos"

Nope, no regrets here. Three holidays with our son so far at 18 months, 22 months and 2.5 years.

Each holiday had its ups and downs but more good memories than bad. Our son loves going on 'holi-beach' as he calls it and keeps asking to go back.

Next year we'll have a three month old in tow as well :)

We have taken our toddler abroad a few times, the closer she got to 3 the easier it has gotten.

She is a very fussy eater so we have chosen to go self catering. I take her favourite dry foods in case and buy yogurts/ fruit / ham etc out there. We feed her in the holiday flat before going out for a meal / take her a packed lunch and that's worked well for us. She's eaten and slept well while we have been away.

I have also found slightly cooler destinations better so for example Tenerife in January and Portugal over Easter. We have had lovely holidays and she often talks about them x

Mines 5 and I've always regretted it at some point or other during the holiday 🤣 but overall its always been totally worth it and I'm dying to book another as soon as I get back.

Ds loves kids clubs which is a huge bonus 🤣

Self catering or AI with a massive buffet sorts most food issues. (Both of mine very fussy).

Otherwise same shit different location but at least you get some sun.

I had a brilliant time on holiday with both my kids when they were wee.

Our first holiday was when my DS was 2.5 years and he was so much better behaved than at 3.5 so there's hope!

Just come back from holiday with a 3 yo, can confirm it was mostly hideous with a couple moments of loveliness

We went abroad with our almost 3.5 year old for first time this year. Was better than expected overall, glad we went but no regrets at all that we waited until this age.

We spent a long time choosing destination (direct flight of no more than 2 hours from our local airport, no early morning flight, relatively short transfer to resort) and hotel (apartment style rooms so we had living room and bedroom, relatively small hotel so quick and easy to get around, decent evening entertainment as we knew we would be in hotel in evening etc). Really glad we did our 'homework' as I think it really was the difference between an enjoyable holiday versus everything just being more stressful than it is at home.

We are lucky that we've holidayed with dc since they were a few months. Never had any issues and always loved it. At 2.5 it's easy to really tire them out at the beach and pool. Dc was always shattered and had nice long naps where we could chill in the sun.

Go whilst it's cheap and not stuck to school holidays