So mini RRR is 6 months old and the wife and I are pondering on whether it’s feasible to zoom off for a last minute holiday with the sproglet.

Does anyone have any real world experiences to share? How long is too long to fly with the little ‘un? How hot is too hot? Should we just give up on the idea?!

We were thinking of Europe/Balkans as opposed to anything mega distance away.

Hopeful thanks

It easier to travel with them at this age than in a year when they can walk and won’t sit still on the plane. You won’t know how they will be on a plane till you try. At that age we typically said 2hrs was max. I know plenty of people who for family reasons fly to/from Asia (14 hours) with kids that young.

We generally found gites (France) / villa (Spain/Portugal) type holidays good with kids that age. You have you own space and go indoors at hottest part of the day. Also any specific “kids club” type resorts are good.

If you go and rent a car take the car seat and check it will fit, you can often rent car seats too.

depends entirely on the individual child, ime.

you’ll know if they’ll play up, not sleep whilst away and generally make it more of a pain than staying at home and having days out.

if you think the kid will behave then do it.

For various reasons we flew lots with my little one from three months old up until now, at three, when mum and her are flying 20 hours to join me in Oz. This included short hauls to the UK, mid hauls to Canary Islands, plus the occasional 10+ hour flight. Just make sure you have food and nappy requirements covered twice over. Imagine a five hour delay in the airport with shops shut. Layer the clothes as planes can be cold but destinations can be warm/hot. We (well, my wife) always (breast) fed at take off and landing to help with the ears, but have never had a problem. We also had milk powder and water and invested in bottle heater, which was way too hot so needed extra cold water to cool down. Six months old so you might be onto easier food options.

It is easier when they are younger, but a collection of books and of course the iPad help when they get older.

If they do cry, it’s not great but 1) you can’t hear it once you are a few rows away, and 2) on a holiday flight to Mallorca or similar, everyone has or has had kids so levels of understanding tend to be high.

Oh yeah, get a log book. We did that with our first ever flight – happened to be BA but sure others are available. We get this signed every time we fly. Josephine is now up to 30+ flights and 70000 miles. That’ll grow significantly tomorrow…

Bottom line, don’t stress it, kids pick up on that. If you and your partner are cool, them your kid will also be cool.

Oh yeah and EDIT always good to keep kids exposed to new stuff. Travel is good.

Majorca and Minorca, short flights, child friendly resorts, nice beaches! Find a holiday and enjoy, we went a lot when my daughter was younger. Make sure the hotel pool is heated though.

Ex workmate took his toddler to the Carribean. Flew back early due to child to settling with the heat. Spent next 18 months paying off the credit card bill.

No worries, flew to New Zealand and back with our son that age, no problems.

We’ve been taking ours since they were wee. Mini W2K mkIII will be heading off with us this time, he’ll be just short of 4 months old. Short haul – we’re only flying to Alicante – so shouldn’t be too stressful for anyone (other passengers too!).

Heat might be an issue, this’ll be the first time we’ve gone in August as we have to go in school hols now, so we’ll see what happens. We’ve got fans and the like so hopefully we can keep him cool enough, we’ll just have to come home if it’s no good for him!

Depends entirely on your kid. Only you have the experience to decide.

We went to the US with ours at that age, and the flight was hard work. She kept wanting to get down and explore the plane, which wasn’t easy as she wasn’t walking obviously. We had to plan our flight time to be 8 hours of one-on-one child entertainment rather than a relaxing time of reading or watching movies. This was pretty tough the first time as we had a night flight on the return leg. Soon learned not to do that!

You know your kid though, we don’t.

Hmm, it could be do-able then it seems.

Right then, can anyone recommend an above all else QUIET ish resort somewhere like manorca or Majorca?! I absolutely hate busy places and am emotionally scarred by our last trip to such a place where I had to wipe another mans sweat off me as he slid into the sun lounger rammed against mine :-S

We took no 2 on holiday to Turkey when she was 4 months. The flight should have been around 3 hours but ended up being about 8 as we turned back mid way, returned to Gatwick, got the plane fixed and then went again…

It was fine. It could have been a nightmare but it turned out fine. Always a bit of a gamble at that age.

this was a Neilson holiday – silly expensive in term time but you won’t have to be limited to that so you may pick up a good deal. We’ve been to Ortakent, Sivota and Lemnos and all were great (as I expect are the others). It does mean you get to do some things too.
http://www.neilson.co.uk/

Its easier at this age than when they’re 1-2 and wont sit still etc.

We went on our first foreign holiday with julian jnr when he was 5 weeks old, we then went on a few more and it was fine until he approached 1 year old, then it was a bit of a pain from 1 year old to 2 years old, then its fine again.

We flew to Singapore at 5 months with our first. Really not a problem and they get their own bulkhead cradle and more leg room for the parents. Regarding the heat its just a case of being sensible and lots of pool action – they are so easy to look after at that age, you just don’t realise it till later 8)

Regarding quiet, what about Croatia? Never been myself, but my Wife has, and we are off to a all inclusive hotel on the coast next week. I’m guessing its 3 hours flight. Now with number two at 4 months its a case of on booby for take off and landing.

6 months is easy, 18 months is hard work.

Not sure about quiet resorts – we stayed at the north end of Platja d’Aro (Girona area north of Barcelona) a couple of years ago, that wasn’t too bad, separated from the busier part of town by a short walk, ideal for a post-dinner coffee or G&T, but far enough away that it wasn’t noisy.

Northern Spain also has quieter resorts, certainly less touristy, but the weather’s a bit more of a risk.

just got back from turkey. our baby was asleep before we took off and didnt wake till we landed! tbh, if theres two of you to share the work its easy. we had a 7 month plus a 4yr old this time so one of us was always looking after one or the other, became quite hard work. baby didnt like the heat either, but it was ridiculous, 42/43 degrees. the 4yr old went to the canaries at that age, was no problem really.

another ball ache tho is all the food you need to take. mrs ordered 3 million ellas kitchen pouches and them big tubs of formula from boots at the airport. we had to lug these two massive carrier bags full of the shite, plus the nippers and all the hand luggage onto the plane and to resort!

dont fancy doing it again in a rush…

The traveling is the simple bit.

Its what you do when you are there that will change the most from what you are used to before children.

Junior did the Semaine Fédérale cyclotouriste in the baby seat at 7 months in one of the hottest Summers I can remember. He just slept or sat sucking a bottle of water or milk most of the time. Every country I’ve ever been to is geared up to providing for babies, something to do with local women having babies to care for I suppose.

I’ve no intention of flying with my two young children unless I’m forced to. I find car/ ferry holidays much less stressful.

6 months is a nice age – they’ll stay where you put them and amuse themselves with toys (for a short while, anyway).

We flew to Singapore at 5 months with our first. Really not a problem and they get their own bulkhead cradle and more leg room for the parents.

Not on all airlines – do check.

another ball ache tho is all the food you need to take. mrs ordered 3 million ellas kitchen pouches and them big tubs of formula from boots at the airport. we had to lug these two massive carrier bags full of the shite, plus the nippers and all the hand luggage onto the plane and to resort!

Another reason to head to somewhere in western Europe – food and nappies are easy enough to buy here.

neilco’s comment about making sure you have enough with you to cover possible delays is spot on – we got caught out by a flight cancellation once when one of my girls was still in nappies. The airline offered us another flight at stupidly-early-o-clock the next day, too early to bother heading home so we booked into a hotel. Of course we didn’t have enough nappies, which meant finding a late-night supermarket and buying a whole load more than we wanted, and having to throw some away as they wouldn’t all fit in the suitcase…

Puerto Polenssa was one of our favourite resorts. Can’t recall the hotel where we stoped at, evening strolls along the beach on a walkway are very nice and the beach was huge and clean.

Off to the Canaries at the end of September with what will then be a 21 month old. Worried now. 😕

Took our lad on holiday from 6 months. No big problem but lots of care taken to avoid too much direct sun. The little pop up one sided tent /shelters are great for the beech.
Make sure you take your own child seat baby carrier thing. The hire car companies charge a fortune. if you have a spare leave it in the boot of your car at the airport.
I saw a couple in a real panic because their luggage had gone missing on homeward flight including child seat. They had a 100 mile drive home to consider!

Just been to The Algarve with 14mth and 4 year old. Was deffo easier last year when we went in September when the youngest was less mobile. We tried to pick flight times that meant he would be having his afternoon nap. Worked fine till sat on the plane going to Menorca, then they announced the 4 hour delay. Fly Easyjet rather than tour company airlines.

Do it. We have been to Majorca, Menorca etc too. Pick a hotel with good facilities and somewhere you can take a wander around and don’t worry about food, take some staples but you will always find something familiar. Most brands in uk are European wide.

Great fun, playing in the pool and just spending a whole week with them. You will find yourself looking jealously at the people relaxing on the sun loungers, sipping a cocktail and reading a book as you run around after the kid though.

Sorry not read any posts other than the op.

Do it ! JUST do it .

For one reason or another our little girl was over a year and we wished we’d gone on hols earlier with her.

If you’re lucky they will just want to sleep and eat the whole journey.

Will be fine. Do it.

Yep fine, head to Greece, Crete, Corfu, one of the smaller Islands.

Some great sandy beaches and kids just need a bucket and spade and a splash of water and they are happy for hours. Although one of ours went through the tasting everything phase and just wouldn’t stop eating sand. He only stopped when he bit a chunk out of a bar of soap.

Our 3 were born and raised the first couple of years there and they survived.

I assume they are still napping, try and get somewhere close to the beach so you can head back after lunch so you miss the strongest sun and get a bit of a snooze, can’t beat a nice snooze after lunch.

Plus pretty much everyone speaks English, so if you need a pharmacy for the little one for what ever reason you’ll have no problem communicating with the pharmacist.

We went to Greece with MissJ when she was 6 months old and she was no problem at all. Only bad thing was that I was so concerned about keeping her out of the sun that I forgot about myself and got burned to a frazzle.

12 hours to South Africa on Virgin with a 6 month old was a breeze. 8 hours to the US on Delta with an 11 month old was a nightmare.

Difference was mostly down to the airline. Delta could not have been less helpful.

going round europe for a month with a 2 month old.

they don’t care as long as they can sleep and eat and shit.

yes, some good advice above and I agree, do it. Flew with daughter to canaries villa when she was about 3/4 months. No problems.

feeding on take off / landing is good advice as the change in air pressure can make ears hurt and drinking helps the pressure.

the other good advice is to stay calm and chilled.

ignore any dumb fellow passengers tutting, they arent worthy of your time.

basically theres a lot of logisitcs, carefully plan. job done. holiday. and as said once you arrive the fun starts, it’ll be different but still good.

If they do cry, it’s not great but 1) you can’t hear it once you are a few rows away

That’s really not true you know.

Interesting ..

Ok, so next question – how does it work with taking a car seat, luggage and a pushchair on a plane? Presumably you have to pay lots for the privilege? Is there a limit to the size of pushchair thing (ours is quite bulky)?

I also need to find a quiet location .. Just choose a random resort in menorca…

We stayed at Insotel Punta Prima in Menorca. Was quite nice and gets some good reviews on Trip advisor. Short transfer from the airport which is ideal.

Flying with baby I think you get 2 free items. We always take a mclaren style buggy but seen others with whole travel systems including car seats.

Stayed at Cala n Porter on Menorca last year and it was very quiet. Hotel was geared up for SAGA, so you can imagine the clientelle, but that made for a quiet holiday, apart from our then 4yo that was! Hotel staff couldn’t do enough for us and even gave us a freebie upgrade to a bungalow rather than the normal rooms.

Ok, so next question – how does it work with taking a car seat, luggage and a pushchair on a plane? Presumably you have to pay lots for the privilege? Is there a limit to the size of pushchair thing (ours is quite bulky)?

You need to check with the airline as they’re all a little bit different, but they’re typically pretty generous. I think on one flight, we had a car seat and a push chair in addition to normal luggage allowance. Not come across any limits on push chair size. They take it off you at the door of the aircraft, and then toss a coin and either return it to you at the door, or send it to baggage reclaim.

this is one of the more bizzare threads on stw – why would it be any different to being at home ?

Poah

I guess it’s the change in climate, flying , waiting , change in environment for sleeping, whether or not it’s actually possible to relax / worth the effort etc

this is one of the more bizzare threads on stw

😀 Yeah, course it is.