Just saw you mentioned myrtle beach, we have actually agreed to go there in September with my inlaws. Dh and I arebplanning to have some dinners out alone while mil watches the kids.
Does anyone have experience traveling with three kids? Fear of not being able to travel is one of the issues holding us back from having another child. I can do two, but I am afraid the logistics (not to mention cost, to make it MM) of traveling with three kids would kill us.
DH and I joke that we only go where our car can take us. Airfare for five is spendy and until very recently, the thought of packing for all of us, getting everyone through the airport and relatively happy during the flight has not been appealing AT ALL. We've driven to FL twice and TX once. Packing up the car, stopping whenever we need to, etc has just worked out better for us so far.
Every two years we meet my parents in FL and rent a beach house for a week. I like the stationary aspect of that. Getting there takes planning and a lot of time but once we are there - that becomes base camp. Packing and unpacking every couple of days = no thank you.
You can definitely travel with three. But I do think the ages make a huge difference.
We've flown a lot since DS was born but have only stayed in a hotel once so far. Air travel really isn't bad with DS, it's just the gear that comes with him that can be overwhelming.
This year, the trips we have planned all involve hotel/timeshare stays. We have a trip to CT for a wedding in August when he will be 14 months old followed by a trip to Orlando three weeks later. Then, we're heading to DC for SIL's wedding on New Year's Eve. After that, I am hoping to go on a family cruise to Alaska right after DS' 2nd birthday. We will also travel without the kiddo for a week or so this year as soon as DH figures out his new work schedule.
I want to continue to travel with our kiddo and any future ones. This deire, along with other lifestyle choices, makes me think we will stop at 2 kids. Then again, who knows. I kinda want 3 :-)
Post by tennis7733 on May 11, 2012 20:43:03 GMT -5
We have a nine month old and have taken a few short plane trips to visit family. It's definitely a hassle but still worth it.
We are taking a vacation in a few weeks to club med in Florida. I like the idea that 1)it's in Florida 2)they have childcare! 3) it's all- inclusive so we won't have to worry about meals.
Does anyone have experience traveling with three kids? Fear of not being able to travel is one of the issues holding us back from having another child. I can do two, but I am afraid the logistics (not to mention cost, to make it MM) of traveling with three kids would kill us.
We travelled quite a bit (both driving and flying, including internationally) until we had three kids. Now we have four and I only want to drive or, take the train, at least until we have some older kids. Airport security is quite difficult. We still get around though. We just went to New York for a week with all four.
the ease of travel is going to depend on the age & personality of your kid.
my kid was a dream to travel with until he could crawl. then he'd get pissed off anytime he was in a carseat for more than 1 hr. like screaming at the top of his lungs not matter the bribe of toy/book/food/milk/bottle/pacifier.
he's almost 2 now & it's getting slightly better but we're still a slave to the nap schedule (and, yes, we've tested to see how much we can stretch & that was an epic fail). Life in general is so busy that close, driving vacations where we have a car & ultimate flexibility are right now 100x more relaxing than being at some exotic locale trying to figure out where to eat, will he enjoy activity x?, planning the whole thing, etc. And we were really adventurous travelers before the kid. we've actually really enjoyed some vacations that we would have never considered before him...everything is just so new & amazing to them that it can make even the cheesiest thing fun for you too.
so, yeah. hope for the best, but prepare yourself for doing a few local or domestic vacations.
Post by savannah11 on May 11, 2012 22:08:50 GMT -5
Both our families are a plane ride away so we've done a lot of flying with the kids. It was easiest when we just had one. He flew all over, including to an all inclusive in Mexico. We moved across the country when he was 10 months old which required flying for house hunting trips and the actual move. Then we lived in a hotel for over a week until our stuff arrived.
There was a point after #2 was born that I told DH we needed to take a break. It was getting too stressful to manage both kids and getting through the airport. Now that they are 5 and 3 I feel like we could go almost anywhere. It's just more expensive to buy 4 plane tickets.
Post by doctorsbaby on May 12, 2012 0:00:35 GMT -5
We took DD to Hawaii right before she turned a year. It was a great trip, just in different ways than vacations before she was born. We rented a condo off of VRBO so that we had a full kitchen and plenty of space. My sister went with us and my DD adores her. We were able to get a little bit of time to ourselves but DD was still nursing every 2 hours and I refused to pump on vacation. We planned all of our days around DD, so if we had a busy day then next was just hanging around the condo and the pool/beach.
We went to San Francisco when she was 16 months old, stayed in a hotel on Union Square. It was a nice trip too, again planned around DD and making sure she had plenty of time to play and nap.
Our next big trip is 3 days in New Orleans and a 5 day Western Caribbean cruise right after DD turns 2. I'm hoping to take advantage of the childcare on the ship and be able to lay out by the pool.
Post by doctorsbaby on May 12, 2012 1:07:11 GMT -5
I just listed vacations in my pp...we frequently 1-2 times a month drive to LA or Salt Lake. The only things that make those trips bearable for DD are the DVD player & stopping to let her out of her seat every 1-2 hours. It now takes us 5 hours to get to LA & 9 hours to get to Salt Lake from Vegas.
Hotel tip - Residence Inns have two bedroom suites that aren't too pricey and have full kitchens. We try to stay there when we travel so the kids have their own room and the kitchen is a must for us because of food allergies.
DH and I went to Hawaii every winter before we had kids... we didn't go the year DD was born, and then we took her with us (along with the ILs) when she was 1. After that trip, we were like, "Next year is going to be JUST US!" We left her with the ILs and everything was just great. We had an amazing time and while we missed her, we seriously needed the alone time together (and probably should have done it sooner.)
We do lots of road trips and have gone camping once (like, hike-in >1 mile, sleep in a tent, no electricity.) The camping thing was when she was 6 months old and wasn't mobile yet, so that was OK. I can NOT see camping like that with a mobile baby or a young toddler.
Post by tardyfortheparty on May 12, 2012 17:12:15 GMT -5
We haven't flown anywhere since we had kids but have done lots of driving trips...4-5 nights away. We've done the beach (Jersey Shore!), Sesame Place, Vermont and Montreal. We also have even gone tent camping a few times. Lots of work but lots of fun too! If we stay in a hotel, we try to get a two room suite to that we can put the kids to bed and then still stay up and enjoy our trip.
To a point it depends on the kid, but I'd like to think that our on the go, traveling lifestyle has helped shape her personality in this regard. We haven't really stopped traveling, we might have done a few things differently if we had no kids, but not much. We work at using credit card rewards that get us free flights, that helps w/ cutting costs.
With the 2 of them, we've only been to Disney World so far (w/ a 3.3 year old and a 3.5 month old). With DD1 we've been to Phillies spring training in Florida, Illinois to visit family, San Francisco for pleasure and a wedding and France - that's just the air travel trips. We've also done many weeks 6 hours away at a family vacation spot, weeks down the shore, time in Virginia, New York, Maryland, visiting family, friends, weddings, etc.
This year we have trips planned to the poconos & cape may. 2013 we are planning on doing a European destination - we'll have a 2.5 year old and a 5.5 year old.