Long haul holiday (from UK) with a 1.5 year old

[Beaufort89]

Hello!

Looking for advice on a semi adventurous holiday with a 1.5 year old.

I have a BA reward flight to use and I want to use it on a long haul business class flight. I have to use it within a year which for certain destinations it means booking now. We had a baby at the start of this year so she will be around 1.5 when we travel.

My husband and I travelled a lot before baby. We’re from the UK and spent a couple years travelling so have visited South America, Asia, Australia etc. Lots of Europe of course.

I would love to go to Japan but I don’t know if that would be amazing with little one? Other places on my list are Nepal, Vietnam, Bali. All maybe not great with a baby. We have travelled a lot with her already. She’s been to Morocco, Spain twice and Greece twice so she is pretty good on an aeroplane. Longest flight she’s done is 4.5hrs.

I’m considering Hawaii with a stop in San Francisco. Is Hawaii worth it from the UK? Because it’s a lot of money… Is it Amercian Tenerife? We have been to the Galapagos and I was told that is Hawaii without the destroyed eco systems.

Other thoughts were Mauritius? Caribbean would be an option but we’ve missed the boat on using the reward flight for that because it would be hurricane season in August/September.

Would love any advice or suggestions thanks.

Ok so I can only offer suggestion for some of the places, as haven’t visited all of the ones you mentioned.
Mauritius - very pretty but I would say with a 1.5 year old you would miss out on the snorkelling an d for us it was the best part of Mauritius. We were lucky enough to see and swim with dolphins and whales in the wild and it was amazing. Otherwise the hotel was lovely but I don’t think it is on my top 10. If you do go - then remember to take cardigans it gets cold at night. Caribbean - we have only been in August - never had any issues at all. We have been to the Dominic republic, St Lucia, Barbados and Bahamas. I cannot think of one negative thing to say about any of these islands. I mean I know we stayed at lovely hotels but the island and the beaches are beautiful.
Hawaii is absolutely beautiful as well but bear in mind that my experience was before the fires. The people are incredibly friendly and you get such an all encompassing experience of food, culture with some comforts from home. We would definitely go again.
Japan, Nepal and vietnam not been but Japan is next on our list
Bali - also an outstanding place. We did a lot of walks as the views were stunning (amazing waterfalls and lush greenery) but again with. 1.5 year old not sure if it would be practical. The other activities were water based activities and snorkelling as well.

Japan is awesome. We don’t have kids but I don’t see why it would be a bad place with a young toddler. We saw plenty of people with little kids who seemed to be having a great time. It’s clean, safe and there’s a huge variety of things to see and do.

How about South Africa? Only 1 hour ahead of the Uk so you won’t have to worry abut adjusting nap and sleep schedules or jet lag.

Maldives was easier for us
Did Bali too, but get a driver

Japan will be fine with a little one, but they are pretty portable at that age so you really could go anywhere, easier now than at 3/4 when they sleep far less. I would suggest a sightseeing trip is better done in text year than when they no longer have a pushchair

@Beaufort89 You won’t get a BA direct flight to Bali, Hawaii, Nepal or Vietnam. BA reward flight would get you part of the way. Is that what you want? Or would a direct flight to somewhere be better?

Have you looked at availability on their web site? There’s not much availability in business as a rule to popular destinations. We have used these flights regularly for years . We find some cities in USA always have good availability (eg Denver for Colorado Rockies, Philadelphia and LA might be ok) and you would find USA easy for baby. I’ve been to Japan but not with a child. August would be silly hot and humid. Food might be an issue. We saw few babies sightseeing.

It would be an easy holiday to have a villa in the Caribbean. Some islands are wonderful and are quiet. We like the BVIs and have stayed on Virgin Gorda. Fly to Antigua and then onwards to Tortola. I’d go no later than June but you need to check availability. BA only fly to major islands but you could use ferries or internal flights to stay somewhere better. BequIa is lovely for example.

Hawaii is an American playground! Too far and too overrun. My other tip would be South Africa. Very easy driving and food not an issue and plenty of family friendly accommodation. Cape Town or Joburg both possible with reward flights. Cooler in our summer but better availability of flights then.

However I’d start checking flights because some destinations are difficult if you want business. We did get Tokyo but you need to get lucky. Ditto San Fran. Caribbean could be similar. We got Denver for last May and need to use our next reward flights but we have 2 years on them now so less pressure.

I think the key thing here is probably weather ie what time of year, and then if there just happen to be any available flights…!

Vietnam and Bali would both be fine, easy to travel around and kid friendly - but, the timezone is going to be difficult.

Mauritius is a good shout because of time zone being similar.

In my view you can go anywhere with a toddler really, it’s just what you actually do when you get there. I think in Japan you might miss out on a lot of eating / nightlife / cultural opportunities by having a baby with you. In Bali or Vietnam you can just schlep about with a pram more easily.

Agree with @TizerorFizz re direct flights not being on rewards flights. I usually go to HK or Singapore and change.

Cathay fly out of Hong Kong and you can use miles for reward flights (no tax!) directly from there too which can save a few pounds too.

Also @TizerorFizz and not to detail the thread - how do you find the price once in the Caribbean? Thinking about going early next year with baby + toddler, flights actually looking ok but concerned it will cost several hundred pounds a day to just exist.

I went to Tioman island in on Malaysia with my 2 DCs when they were 18 months and 3.5 years. It was wonderful. My 3.5yo cried when we had to leave!

If you went to Nepal, you'd have to be very careful to avoid food poisoning. We went when our DCs were 10 and 12 and all of us got food poisoning or at least diarrhoea apart from the 10yo who refused to eat practically everything except for boiled rice, fruit and pizza. If you do go there, I would highly recommend Chilean and the Elephant Breeding Centre. We stayed in a hotel there that had elephants.

Chitwan not Chilean!

We went to Japan when our DCs were teenagers. They loved it.

Disneyland was good and so was Kyoto.

I imagine (but I'm only guessing) that Japan would be very child friendly.

Naoshima Island would be great with a small child. Kyoto not so much.

@MidnightPatrol Last time we went we were on a yacht (AI for just us) and then hired a villa for week 2. So we splashed the cash! It’s expensive. We’ve not been for a while but I’d probably go to a more difficult to get to island and have a villa. Ferries good in BVIs for example so you can visit other islands. Nothing is cheap though due to everything being seen as luxurious. I guess it’s why people use AI resorts but we wouldn’t. I have to say I’m over beach holidays now but with dc they were great.

Hawaii is hugely expensive and I found the jet lag terrible. However, it is a very beautiful place. I’m not a beach or meal out with drinks sort of person, so I dare say I found it a tad boring. If that kind of break interests you, Hawaii is the place. I went to O’ahu for reference.

People saying Hawaii is an American playground have presumably only been to Oahu. We went to Maui and Kauai - Kauai is amazing (where Jurassic park was filmed). Really beautiful. It is expensive once you get there though, food in supermarkets is expensive.

It’s an American state. It’s not a wilderness destination . It cannot be accessed by BA from Uk. Huge time difference for baby. Would I bother? No because other countries are much easier.

There's long haul and then there's REALLY long haul and the latter I would absolutely not want to do with a 1.5 year-old. I travelled a lot with my first (we were living OS for the first two years of his life), but having been to both Hawaii and Japan I wouldn't want to do that flight - particularly from the UK to Hawaii - with such a young DC. I would do up to 12 hours - particularly if it included an overnight flight, but 11 hours plus 6 hours (to Hawaii) would be tough, particularly if you have an active DC who wants to get up and walk about a lot. I've been that parent chasing a toddler up and down the aisles of a plane and god it's exhausting on a long flight! Japan is amazing, we went this year. If I went again I'd fly via the ME and with a baby I'd do a night or two there just to break up what is a very long flight (14 hours to Tokyo from London). Even in a business class seat it's a loooong time to be on a plane.

We absolutely love Hawaii, we’ve been to Big Island, Maui, Oahu and Kauai a couple of times from the UK (had a couple of days in LA on the way out to break the journey)
All the islands are beautiful and we found the people very friendly, best to hire a car and go explore.
Mauritius also very beautiful, can do some island tour excursions to go see the sights but with a baby you’d obviously need to take turns in any water activity.
Age 18months we took our daughter to Grenada and St Lucia, we had her backpack carrier so still got out on excursions, had a great holiday.

I would do Mauritius of those choices as the least jet lag, also would consider Dubai if not height of summer when you go as it’s lovely and safe and kid friendly. And Thailand. Bali’s best season is our summer months so that’d be great with a stop in Singapore she’d love to toddle around there.

@ladybirdsanchez other passengers in business won’t be pleased about anyone chasing a toddler or a toddler being very unsettled. Business travellers might well be needing to work immediately after the flight so won’t be happy about a disturbed flight.

Why do 17 hours to Hawaii when very lovely places are 10 hours or even less and direct! Japan is now a longer flight than it was due to avoiding Russia.

I would go to Hawaii (though BA don’t fly there). We did a business reward flight to LA and then flew AA to Honolulu after a two night break (both ways)

I highly recommend Hawaii, absolutely stunning.

Cape Town, Mauritius or somewhere in the Middle East would be my picks.

A friend with three young children adored Japan last month.
I also know a person who took regular holidays to Malaysia with children because it was safe and lovely.
New Zealand is great too.

But nor would passengers in economy, in business you are paying for the seat and additional service, not a child free environment. I’m really fed up of this “children should be in business” idea that there seems to be on mumsnet, we take ours in business and it’s absolutely fine. We behave respectfully and do our best to minimise disruption to others, just as we would in economy.

Watching the replies with interest as looking for a destination ourselves although ours will be a bit older.

@YaWeeFurryBastard Ok. Well behaved dc absolutely fine! Ours went business from around 6 when we started long haul. It’s very annoying in any cabin to have very unsettled dc all night and running around. I think most business travellers do expect to sleep on a flat bed. That’s what you are paying for above all else. However many parents these days don’t give a fig about anyone else. By all means go first but don’t upset everyone else. If dc are great travellers it’s not an issue is it.

How old is baby, and how available are reward flights?
If at all possible, go before baby is 6 months. No food worries, and totally portable.
Next ideal is before they are moving.
The absolute worst ages, imo, for travel is from about 1yr til 3 or 4 yrs. They want to be on the move, and have such a short attention span.

That all said, Japan would almost certainly be great. Equally, I reckon you could have a great American holiday - tho I've never done Hawaii, so can't comment on that.
HK would also work. So maybe a couple of places in the Far East?

Not with current world events, but Lebanon and Jordan would also be on my list.