Traveling/holiday with young kids, how is it done?
Discussion
Next year we are keen to travel with our 3/4 year old, but being our first and no other kids in the family I'm wondering if there are any tricks I'm unaware of?
He would be fine all day, we would have a great time and do lots of great stuff, it's the evenings that become an issue, his bedtime is usually about 7pm and he is grouchy and knackered by then, we may be able to push this to 8-9pm but no later than that. He is too old to be sleeping in a pushchair now.
The idea of being stuck in a hotel room every night at 8pm onwards isnt my idea of a holiday, and doing a mccann is frowned upon for some reason now.
Tips and ideas please
He would be fine all day, we would have a great time and do lots of great stuff, it's the evenings that become an issue, his bedtime is usually about 7pm and he is grouchy and knackered by then, we may be able to push this to 8-9pm but no later than that. He is too old to be sleeping in a pushchair now.
The idea of being stuck in a hotel room every night at 8pm onwards isnt my idea of a holiday, and doing a mccann is frowned upon for some reason now.
Tips and ideas please
When ours were little we made sure they were absolutely knackered after a morning on the beach or pool then we all had a hour or so siesta after lunch.
That kept them out of the sun in the hottest part of the day and gave them enough energy to get through the afternoon and evening and although their usual bedtime was 7pm we found we could usually stretch that out to 9 or 10 with a sleep in the daytime.
That kept them out of the sun in the hottest part of the day and gave them enough energy to get through the afternoon and evening and although their usual bedtime was 7pm we found we could usually stretch that out to 9 or 10 with a sleep in the daytime.
hyphen said:
Then don't go
or don't take him
or take a nanny/sitter with you to look after him in evenings.
We do have a child free break planned too, dropping him off at the Grandparents, but would also love a family holiday with him (and still an evening)or don't take him
or take a nanny/sitter with you to look after him in evenings.
Jaguar steve said:
When ours were little we made sure they were absolutely knackered after a morning on the beach or pool then we all had a hour or so siesta after lunch.
That kept them out of the sun in the hottest part of the day and gave them enough energy to get through the afternoon and evening and although their usual bedtime was 7pm we found we could usually stretch that out to 9 or 10 with a sleep in the daytime.
Yeh, good idea, a nap may well extend it to a bit later in the evening, thanks That kept them out of the sun in the hottest part of the day and gave them enough energy to get through the afternoon and evening and although their usual bedtime was 7pm we found we could usually stretch that out to 9 or 10 with a sleep in the daytime.
sidekickdmr said:
The idea of being stuck in a hotel room every night at 8pm onwards isnt my idea of a holiday, and doing a mccann is frowned upon for some reason now.
There isn't really much scope to go out partying with a small child passed out in a pushchair or a very tired child staying awake beyond their bedtime. Unless you have some kind of childcare you can trust in the evening, which unless you take it with you might be pretty hard to arrange (however, see below), you are going to be stuck in the room. If its got a balcony or a separate room then you can get some down time and have a drink/watch TV, but unless someone has a genius solution your night time partying on holiday ended around 4 years ago....
The McCann style evening piss up , courtesy of Mark Warner, is a possibility however. I beleive the McCanns were not actually Mark Warner guests they were just staying nearby and using their daycare. In the evening they were operating the Mark Warner style check-ins within their group. I went on a Mark Warner holiday once and the deal was you put your kids to bed and go out for a drink, leaving them in the room. The posho Mark Warner staff then took note of your room number and added it to their patrol which was marketed as a "listening service". If they heard crying or any other noise they would radio the bar, who would tap you on the shoulder and you would leave and go to the room to address the problem.
I believe Mark Warner also offer baby sitters, at a price. So join the "middle class butlins" and maybe that offers a solution for you.
He’ll be fine. Kids keep going on holiday and if they don’t, they fall asleep.
Ours manage 1030 easily enough after a few days acclimatisation and get up about 930/10
Ask yourself - what time do you want them to wake up on holiday and plan back from that?
The challenge is not keeping them up late in the evenings / it’s getting them out before breakfast closes in the mornings!
Ours manage 1030 easily enough after a few days acclimatisation and get up about 930/10
Ask yourself - what time do you want them to wake up on holiday and plan back from that?
The challenge is not keeping them up late in the evenings / it’s getting them out before breakfast closes in the mornings!
sidekickdmr said:
The idea of being stuck in a hotel room every night at 8pm onwards isnt my idea of a holiday, and doing a mccann is frowned upon for some reason now.
When my daughter was 1 or 2 we went to Madeira for a week. We booked a nice little hotel, just one room. When it was bed time for Arfby Jnr, we sat out on the balcony with a few bottles of wine, had a nice chat and watched the sun go down.Late nights were not really required, as Jnr was very much an early riser, so we were quite ready for sleep ourselves by 9/10pm.
The important thing to think about when booking is; what do you think you will get out of the break, your child will not benefit, so it must be something that you and your partner will enjoy, otherwise it's a waste of money.
ARFBY said:
your child will not benefit, so it must be something that you and your partner will enjoy, otherwise it's a waste of money.
That's perhaps not correct. At age 3-4, the child will love going in an aeroplane, hot weather/kids pool and activities, new temp home and so on.They watch Peppa pig and stuff, so they know holidays are exciting.
Remember to take your own child car seat with you on the aeroplane.
We had one experience where we had booked taxi with child seat it was fine on way to hotel but on way back 2:30am ish collection long after coach left taxi arrives no car seat. So we say sorry not going / he replies it’s an error but to go back to collect it or have another pickup and bring it here will simply not get you to the airport intime. So we had to travel without but forced him to keep to no more than 40mph. Choice was miss the flights and take a hit miss work the following day and cancelling the pick up taxi back in the U.K.
We had one experience where we had booked taxi with child seat it was fine on way to hotel but on way back 2:30am ish collection long after coach left taxi arrives no car seat. So we say sorry not going / he replies it’s an error but to go back to collect it or have another pickup and bring it here will simply not get you to the airport intime. So we had to travel without but forced him to keep to no more than 40mph. Choice was miss the flights and take a hit miss work the following day and cancelling the pick up taxi back in the U.K.
hyphen said:
That's perhaps not correct. At age 3-4, the child will love going in an aeroplane, hot weather/kids pool and activities, new temp home and so on.
They watch Peppa pig and stuff, so they know holidays are exciting.
Not all kids love planes I can assure you. Longest we’ve gone on a plane with them is 3 hours and that’s been hell so 90 mins to Majorca is sensible. They watch Peppa pig and stuff, so they know holidays are exciting.
Also book a private transfer at the other end - reason coach drop off adds huge time to the already long trip for the kids
You do have to accept things have changed
You’ll want to get in for a meal early in the evening 6pm ish (with all the other parents there is a reason why they do that).
All inclusive is a smart way of doing things with kids. Drinks food kids clubs (but that means you joining in fully too).
Kids disco too you’ll be doing the conga
I’d recommend taking a tablet with some good films or dramas and a few bottles of wine/whatever you and Mrs fancy to enjoy on the balcony.
But don’t think of any of it as a chore enjoy it. Some kids 3-4 will have daytime naps, as it happens none of ours did so it was / is on the go all the time. Building sandcastles playing games in the sea/pool maybe going somewhere fun for the kids LOADS of factor 50 full UV body suits UV hats and neck covers. Inflatables balls. Take lots of books and puzzles too and a kids tablet too as there might be a point in a day where they want to be in the shade relaxing watching a 90minute cartoon film.
You’ll want to get in for a meal early in the evening 6pm ish (with all the other parents there is a reason why they do that).
All inclusive is a smart way of doing things with kids. Drinks food kids clubs (but that means you joining in fully too).
Kids disco too you’ll be doing the conga
I’d recommend taking a tablet with some good films or dramas and a few bottles of wine/whatever you and Mrs fancy to enjoy on the balcony.
But don’t think of any of it as a chore enjoy it. Some kids 3-4 will have daytime naps, as it happens none of ours did so it was / is on the go all the time. Building sandcastles playing games in the sea/pool maybe going somewhere fun for the kids LOADS of factor 50 full UV body suits UV hats and neck covers. Inflatables balls. Take lots of books and puzzles too and a kids tablet too as there might be a point in a day where they want to be in the shade relaxing watching a 90minute cartoon film.
hyphen said:
ARFBY said:
your child will not benefit, so it must be something that you and your partner will enjoy, otherwise it's a waste of money.
That's perhaps not correct. At age 3-4, the child will love going in an aeroplane, hot weather/kids pool and activities, new temp home and so on.They watch Peppa pig and stuff, so they know holidays are exciting.
3 - 4 is a great age to travel, I been holidaying with my 2 every year for 10 years, including taking my 1/4 year old (3 months
) to France.Welshbeef said:
Remember to take your own child car seat with you on the aeroplane.
This is great advice. I have rented cars where the price of the child seat cost more than the 10 days car hire. Also they are sometimes really crappy, but mostly they are really cheap seats that you would never consider buying yourself.What you will find is when you get to 3 kids as in a family of 5 and the youngest is over 2…… your options suddenly are really limited.
It’s either 2x rooms which are not always adjoining (but that’s double the cost)
Or you have to get a suite - not many of these and they are more than double cost of a family room
Or you go for a villa a lot more and always with a tiny pool that’s deep so not great for the kids - a large hotel complex have so many fun kids pools/shallow pools they better a villas options massively.
This is our dilemma.
We put 2 weeks into TUI to Majorca in Aug 21 it was £12k for an all inc …. Yep we didn’t go we camped for a few hundred pounds instead.
It’s either 2x rooms which are not always adjoining (but that’s double the cost)
Or you have to get a suite - not many of these and they are more than double cost of a family room
Or you go for a villa a lot more and always with a tiny pool that’s deep so not great for the kids - a large hotel complex have so many fun kids pools/shallow pools they better a villas options massively.
This is our dilemma.
We put 2 weeks into TUI to Majorca in Aug 21 it was £12k for an all inc …. Yep we didn’t go we camped for a few hundred pounds instead.
bolidemichael said:
I have a tip if you're flying -- shove as much heavy baggage as you can in the bag that contains the pushchair -- this doesn't count towards your weight allowance.
Abs wheel the pushchair right up to the platform that extends out to the plane. You will get it back in the same location - note once it was a fair wait / entire plane passengers long gone ahead.
Passport control - you cannot use the eye checkers with children so it’s the longer queue. Make sure you have drinks snacks and something to keep them occupied as queuing is no fun for kids / no fun for adults.
Make sure they write postcard to grandparents and their best friends. They love that sort of thing (even if it’s just a coloured “mess”).
Don’t be too pushy with new food/local food
Oh you must have ice cream time during the day - a bit like is it beer oh clock yet yes it is.
Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff