Will we get thrown off the plane? The boy won’t sit still unless he’s eating or asleep..

Is there any point going on holiday when we can’t actually sit still ourselves and relax, until he’s asleep?

How warm is too warm for a little un?

Help

leave it for a year or two or look for somewhere really child freindly, I know a nice place in the country southwest france, gites. specialises in children pool bar baby monitors etc pm me if you want details.

every one there has kids so you dont feel like your killing every one elses holiday.

Done warm and cold with kids younger than that, including transatlantic flights. It’s doable. They won’t remember it when they are 13 & 19 though.

Take a tablet to amuse them on the plane.

Don’t expect to get much adult time, be it smart meals, culture or peace and quiet.. So the same as at home, unless you take gran… So enjoy them being up late the way continental kids are, and hope you get some peace in the daytime.

If you think you can’t get the things you want from the holiday don’t go. It’s for you, not him.

^ what they said. We decided to save the cash and do uk holidays with a couple of cheeky grandparent aided kid free weekends as frankly my daughter would be happy if I parked the Campervan at the park 100m away from home !

And another. Our rules for holidays:
– Self catering
– Days out focused on what will be enjoyable for the children
– Happy tired kids = happy adults

Kids go to bed and we relax together (well except this year where I study for three hours for some exams and she reads a book.

we didn’t go abroad until the youngest was six. Caravan holidays with babysitting grandparents until then.

I love the sound of a baby/toddler crying on a plane

cousin in law & wife took there 17 month ish old on a 3 month tour of Thailand & India, he loved it, no issues on plane etc.
We were initially a bit wtf are they thinking but the idea is worse than the application, probably, maybe 😉

tooks ours away when she was about 8months, luckily had a big bunch of grannies sat around us who loved her to bits and babysat her for an hour whilst we chilled out and on the way back too as our flights coincided with theirs! air hostesses were great too – no problems with babys crying its the stag do w&nkers who annoy me 😉

friends of outs also took 18month to thailand for a few months similar to above experience flying out/back

We have been going abroad with our three kids since the youngest was about 3 months old. It is no big deal. Always Europe so max 3 hour flights. If that is what you want to do then go for it. Easy enough to amuse kids on a shortish flight and it is great getting away.

Did Fuerteventura with dd when he was around 20-21 months. Key is to pick your flight times carefully to work with his routine-ish. There’s plenty of advice online about good stuff to take for distraction techniques on the plane. Puzzles and colouring stuff can be better than videos on an iPad, even though one of them might work for a few minutes. Don’t pick unnecessarily long flights. But he’s yours – and you know whether you can manage him in a confined space for a few hours. It’s not exactly fun but is manageable with a bit of forethought. We went for all-inclusive, something I thought I’d never do but not having to cook and clean for a week was bliss.

Lastly, you won’t be the only people with a baby on the plane – it’s commonplace now. And you never know, you might just be sharing the plane with one of the STW Childhaterz Brigade. 😀

Assume it is still free for under 2 year olds on planes if you have them on
Your lap and it was a couple of years ago? got lucky the 3 times we did as there were spare seats on the plane so kids got seats anyway.

Best off getting an appartment/house/cottage if you can afford it so once you have got the kid to bed you have another room to go in or even a hotel room with a balcony.

I’d recommend a short flight (South of France, Spain/Balearics) where the weather is likely to be decent, take an iPad with some of their favourite TV shows or films on it and some colouring

Is there no a baby kennel or something you could use? 😆 Canny be much of a holiday if you are having to look after a wean!

First child, no because you worry about everything

Second, no problem, you soon realise that you don’t care about others on flights and the locals where you are going manage to have children

Under 2 it’s free flights….take them EVERYWHERE!!!!
We took our lad to cyprus for winter sun when he was a toddler. It’s a very child friendly place.
We have always believed in taking our kids with us to places, travel, restaurants etc. Only downside is that I now have two teenagers who appreciate good food and are happy to travel to any continent that their parents visit.

We took mini teadrinker to tenerife last year. Never been before and never fancied it but went with the in laws. Had a great time, stayed in Los Gigantes and some nice places to visit round there, Garachico was lovely and mini teadrinker was great throughout even on the plane there and back. Weather was nice but not stupidly hot, I’d go back although made me want a road bike, some awesome killer mountain roads to ride.

Been skiing ( group holiday so as much catching up with mates) from 6 months with eldest and also early summer or autumn trips to med for some sun. Kids love it and can be surprised what they remember. Eldest remembers walking a wood land trail in the snow looking for plastic animals from when he was 2.5 years old.

It’s a different holiday. No relaxing by the pool when your 2 year old is tear arsing around but actually nice to spend lots of time with them without the distractions of all the jobs you would try and fit in if you were holidaying at home. Their highlights are also different from yours. Last year eldest loved being driven in the taxi sliding around because there were no child seats!

Hmmm it could be do able then?! Mini RRR isn’t really interested in the iPad or videos/TV so we’d have to be creative with the in flight entertainment!

Where’s warm but not too hot for a toddler in mid August (only time we can go)?

Why not stick ’em in the hold in one of those pet carriers? Most aircraft holds are pressurised these days I believe.

Sounds like a great idea. Go somewhere close, I’d suggest southern Spain / Canaries etc. (but then I live in Spain and I’m biased). Pick a family-friendly hotel, if you can get one with babysitting so much the better 🙂
Also, if you like doing cultural stuff (visiting museums etc.) now is the ideal time – once your lad is older and no longer in a pushchair it’ll get a lot harder.

Flying will be fine, just remember to take a bottle/baby cup of water to help him swallow and even up ear pressure. And remember he has as much right to be on the plane as any of the child haters, and they were young once too.

Edit:

Where’s warm but not too hot for a toddler in mid August (only time we can go)?

Costa Brava would be OK, or Canaries. Not southern Spain, probably. Although if you do like the locals and avoid going out at midday it’d be fine.

Be f’in careful with the sun. Sounds stupid and obvious but we gave th eldest sun stroke within a bout 2 hrs of arrival first time out and yes he was wearing suncream and a hat. Just sat down for lunch in the shade, were there for a while, the shade moved and he got zapped for maybe 15 mins max. Had to get the doctor out at 4 a.m. etc. He was OK after a couple of days. 😐

Wicki – I’d be interested in details of the place you know but can’t seem to PM you.

Sun stroke – yeah I am worried about that as mini RRR rips off his hat the second it’s put on and is too young to really understand / obey orders!

Be f’in careful with the sun.

Very good advice. Apart from a hat & cream, get one of those long sleeve tshirts they can bathe in.

We’re off to Greece in a month with our 9 month old. Grandparents have a house out there so plenty of help. Just concerned about amusing her for 3 hours on the flight.

Any tips?

First child, no because you worry about everything

Not everyone does 🙂

We are going away in a few weeks, mini-me will be just over three months old.

Can’t wait!

Take a tablet

I recommend Diazepam

Oh god I really hope that we don’t have some screaming brat on my next flight. Can’t you have more fun staying closer to home?

Oh god I really hope that we don’t have some screaming brat on my next flight.

I sincerely hope you do. 😆

we went to Sicily with a 4 1/2yo and a 20month old, the flight was fine, have books, crayons, stickers and snacks (I wouldn’t want to do more than 3 hours tho)

they fall asleep as the plane is landing, this is very common due to the increasing air pressure, which is mildly infuriating as they don’t sleep during the flight ! 🙂

We went to Menorca last year with our 18mth old. Early flight out so after we woke her up early to get to the airport she fell back asleep on the plane and the connecting bus journey on arrival.

We headed out to the beach most mornings for an hour or so, then back to the apartment for a long lunch & sleep in the shade/air con. We then usually headed to the pool area mid to late afternoon when most of the heat had gone.

Self catering at the apartment was much easier than trying to eat out but ours is a nightmare at sitting at a table for more than 5mins.

Perfectly doable and she loved the beach/pool. Best she’d ever slept overnight at the time! So much so we’re heading back to the island but a different resort this year.

It’s not about whether they’ll remember it when they’re older. She loved the adventure and beach/kids pool with all the slides etc. Something which is difficult to find and guarantee in the UK.

We took our 4.5 year and 14 month old girls to Tenerife in March. The flights went far better and easier than expected, and as Ed Hornby suggested, take loads of books, snacks, stickers, drawing and some smallish toys suitable for the flight. The flight crew were great too and heated up the youngest lunch for her.

Our flights times were very good, morning out and evening back so our youngest had a couple of naps on the plane. The summer schedules can be a lot more varied but see what you can find.

Ibiza, Majorca would give you a shorter flight time and should be cooler in August than Cyprus, Greece and Turkey I’d imagine. The Canaries would be a slightly longer flight but will give you a slight breeze to help keep cool, but don’t forget to cover up in the sun (obviously).

We stayed at Hotel Isabel in Costa Adeje in Tenerife. It was a family focused hotel, staff were great and I’d highly recommend it. Beaches and promenade are lovely, and a zoo and waterparks are close by too for longer days out.

May daughter is 5 this year. She’s never been on a plane.

But she has holidayed every year in the south of France. In fact, she spent her first birthday in Lyon.

She’s a fair skinned little redhead like me, and doesn’t seem in the least bit fazed by the heat – and it’s plenty hot enough in the Var in August!

Several trips have been with my in-laws, though last year was just the three of us in an apartment in Cannes. We all had a great time (as always down there – alas I’m too poor to buy a second home).

You’ll be fine!

What did you all do about transfers with little uns? I’m guessing they have to sit on your lap on a coach of whatever?!

Can you hire cars with decent child seats abroad?

Our one had been to Canada, America, Singapore & Australia before she was one. We’re not normally such awesome jet-setters but we wanted to show her off to all the family while she was still fairly portable and we didn’t have to pay for a seat 😀

She travelled well and is a natural charmer so spent quite a lot of time smiling and waving at everyone. That got us brownie points in the bag right from the start to make up for the odd tantrum later on. Flight crew are always great. You should (automatically ?) get bulkhead seats and a bassinet which is a small perk of travelling with a baby. Not that they really appreciate it. I would have loved to have had my own bed on that flight to Australia. She only spent a couple of hours in it.

You probably won’t get any time to relax. Holidays with children aren’t holidays, they’re childcare in a different location.

NZCol – we have more or less done that, we went camping at a site about 20 mins’ drive from home. Worked great !

Took our then 18 month old daughter to Florida, she was a bit under the weather before we went and the holiday/climate sorted her out.

They didn’t/don’t give under 2’s a seat on the plane, so she had to sit on my knee for the whole flight. The explosive Diarrhoea somewhere over the Atlantic was fun to deal with. She was fine, we’d packed spare clothes for her in the hand luggage. The brown smelly stain on my clothes wasn’t pleasant for everyone around me 🙂

“Can you hire cars with decent child seats abroad?“

We hired a child seat with our car in Canada. It was a crappy seat and cost almost as much to hire for two weeks as it would have cost to buy.

For Australia we took our own one. We were allowed to check it as part of our luggage, there was no extra charge on Singapore Airlines but YMMV.

Can you hire cars with decent child seats abroad?

Just to add to Sundayjumper’s post…

We hired in Fuerteventura – as it was on more of a budget, we went with a cheapo hire company. The seat seemed ok, but tbh, I’m glad we didn’t have to test it during the week. It was also filthy.

When we went skiing and hired a car from Europcar (good rate thru Easyjet website), everything was much more shipshape with the car seat. It was sound, clean and simple to install. Sometimes, some things are more important than saving thirty or forty quid over a week’s car rental – if travelling with dd in a seat, we won’t be going cheapo again.

Also, if you’re hiring a car, don’t forget to purchase your insurance extras policy here first. (moneysavingexpert gives some good options for this.)

We hired a car in Tenerife and the had a car seat hired as well. You can actually take your own car seat with you, regardless of weight as it’s luggage for the little one. One of of the girls at work recently brought one for there flight.

Similar to this http://www.mothercare.com/Bugaboo-Bee-Compact-Transport-Bag/638559,default,pd.html there are cheaper ones to go for though.

We took our daughter on numerous holidays to places like Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia in her first three years as we were living in Hong Kong at the time. Was no hassle at all, and in fact the Asians dote on children and we would always be surrounded by fawning locals wherever we took her – restaurants, shops, hotels, the beach etc. Quite different to stuck up Europeans who give you that look of horror/disdain when you walk into their shop or restaurant with a toddler!