H and I are looking for somewhere to go next March during my spring break. DD will be a year old. We've done plenty of adults-only vacations, but I'm at a loss when it comes to kid-friendly. Here's what we're looking for:
- "guaranteed" warm temps (i.e. I'm leaning against Florida because we've had friends go in March and find that it's in the 60's)
- no more than a four hour direct flight from Chicago (will be DD's first flight);
- would consider domestic or international
- low-key; we are content to stick around the resort if there's a nice pool or beach. Open to some exploring but it's not a must-have
- 6-7 nights, budget probably around $3-4k
- We are used to adults-only, higher end hotels. Obviously we aren't able to go that route, but I'd still lean toward a smaller boutique hotel experience vs. a huge bustling hotel with lots of kids.
- H and I have been to Las Vegas, Disney World, Cancun, London, Paris, Italy, Thailand, Hong Kong, South Africa, Seychelles, Jamaica, Iceland, Dominican Republic, a cruise (Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. John, St. Lucia, Antigua, Barbados, St. Maarten) among others. We weren't cruise fans.
Any thoughts on Arizona (Sedona)? Maybe an island in the Caribbean? Direct flights are tougher though.
I was going to say Turks & Caicos but I know when we flew there from Chicago we did have to change. How about Isla Mujeres? You fly into Cancun so there are lots of flights, then take a ferry over to the island. Lots of smaller hotels and easy access to town/restaurants, and the beaches are nice. When we went it was February and warm enough to swim.
We just went to Sedona as a day trip a few weeks ago and I think you'd be bored out of your skull after a couple days. You could split it up with Phoenix, but it's sort of a sprawly city and IMO wouldn't feel like much a vacation, even if you stay at a nice resort in Scottsdale, KWIM?
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime. Mark Twain
T&C is my top choice right now, but the flights seem like a pain. From looking on Kayak, they all seem to be overnight and/or the itineraries are 15+ hours.
I would go for Puerto Rico. Direct flights from NYC are about 4-hours-ish, but I can't remember exactly. No idea what the flight time would be from Chicago, but it's an extremely family-friendly place with a nice selection of different kinds of hotels and resorts, depending on what you want. Bonus is that you can pick up whatever you need for the baby at a Walgreen's there.
Could you get a direct flight to Costa Rica? We had great weather at the beaches while we were there in January. I'm pretty sure March is still dry season. PS DD is gorgeous!
Hmmm, I wonder. I'll need to look into this. We went in 2011 and there were no direct flights back then, but I think United might have a direct now. March in CR would be excellent!
Thank you! I'm hoping to make a world traveler out of her. You can never start too early, right?