Where did you / will you vacation with baby?

[anna7602]

We went to Key West, FL when DD was about 10 months old or so and it was perfect. We went for a destination wedding, but made a week-long thing out of it. It was nice to have my parents and other extended family around during the wedding weekend, but it was equally nice to have time for just the three of us after they all left. DD was still napping 2x per day then, so DH and I switched off. During the morning nap, one of us would stay in the room with her while the other went to the pool or hotel gym or went out and about and then it was the other person's turn to do whatever in the afternoon.

I took DD to France and England on my own when she was 15 months old and it was also very fun, but not a lot of downtime for me. Nonetheless, I thought that age was really easy to travel for her. She was still able to go in the carrier, so I didn't have to deal with the stroller and subways, and she was really interested in what was around her, but didn't want to run off and explore the way she did closer to age 2. (And more, importantly, she was still a long way off from the terrible twos.)

DH and I didn't go on any solo vacations when DD was a baby. She was still BFing and I didn't feel comfortable leaving her with anyone. I also didn't particularly want to bring a pump on vacation or stress about my freezer stash.

[Deleted]

We took Flybaby with us to Hawaii (from MSP) when he was 11 months old. We're taking him to Puerto Rico with us when he is about 18 months old. Hawaii was so fun with him, so I'm looking forward to the next trip!

[h]

We have taken our kids to our nearest beach (the Texas coast) several times, to DC several times (my ILs live there), skiing in Colorado a few times, and to San Diego for beach, Legoland, and the zoo. They have also been to my moms' house, my dad's horse farm, and my mom's lake house many times.

Beach vacations are pretty easy with babies as long as you minimize the time they spend out in the son. I think Destin or Hawaii would both work well. We rented a beach house in Galveston with my parents, step-sister, BIL, niece, and nephew when DS1 was 2.5 and DS2 was a newborn, and it worked out great.

[definitelyO]

We took DS to the following places - all involved flights
2 mo - to Michigan to my mom's house for a week

4 mo - to Florida for a friend's wedding -this trip actually sucked. he wasn't feeling good, cried on the flight, I was busy with wedding stuff, DH was stuck in the hotel with DS, etc...

6mo - South Dakota

11 mo - back to MI

I'm sure there at least 1 or 2 more MI trips before he was 2.

MIL and FIL lived 2.5 hours away so we would go there for the weekends as well not sure if that counts.

Since that time we've done a lot of domestic vacations but none international with DS. St. Louis, Atlanta, California, etc..

[Deleted]

5 months- North Carolina to visit family
8 months- Vancouver, CA for the Olympics
12 months- Kauai
15-18 months- San Francisco, Seattle, Sal Lake City
20 Months- NC again
24 months- Maui, Kauai

We are heading to England/Paris in two weeks for a family wedding.

He's a good traveler. We make sure to bring his pillowcase and seahorse and have lots of snacks and a suitcase of favorite toys.

It was easy when he was small. It's harder now because he has opinions on what he wants to do.

[Deleted]

We do an OBX trip with DH's family every year in July. Because of the baby, we're pushing it off until September. She'll be about 2 months old.

We're also planning to go somewhere in the Caribbean this Feb. with the kids and we'll do our annual FL trip in March. DD will be 8 and 9 months for these trips. DH wants to try to do Disney with the older boys in April but that would necessitate leaving DD with the inlaws. Not sure if they'll go for that. Hopefully they will.

We do a lot of beach vacations with the kids because they're still so young and it seems to work well. I'd like to start going other places soonish though.

[jend1018]

We are taking DS to Italy for 11 days in September. He'll be 9 months. We have a direct, overnight flight from Philly to Rome so hopefully he'll sleep. I am not looking forward to the return trip.

Next summer, we'll probably do a week at the beach with SILs/BILs and their kids.

[tardyfortheparty]

We went to Vermont and Montreal when DS was 15 months & to the Jersey Shore & Sesame place when he was 2. We have also gone camping a bunch. DD is 8 mos and we are going to the beach this weekend but not looking forward to trying to keep her from eating sand all day!

[Deleted]

Probably only to see mnparets (4hour drive), meet m parents at the lake (5.5 hour drive), and maaaaybe to see DH's parents (12 hour drive; I'd fly.)

[rootbeerfloat]

We took DS to San Diego at 9 months and San Francisco at 17 months; DD also went to San Diego at 14 months. These are ~5hr flights from HI.

I also took DD to Chicago at 6 months on a work-related trip. It was an 8 hr flight over, but even longer on the way back because it wasn't direct. Either way, it was fine traveling with a baby at that age because she just napped whenever she got tired and wasn't mobile.

[vegas]

8 weeks: DC and Virginia
4 months: Hawaii
10 months: Breckenridge and Denver, CO
12 months: Outerbanks, NC
15 months: Portland, Oregon
17 months: Virginia
18 months: Hawaii
23 months (trip is planned): Laguna Beach, CA

I'm sure there are more, but this is all I can think about right now. He's a great traveler (knock on wood) so we travel with him often.

[bunch]

We went to charleston last week. It was perfect, I could have stayed another week. We went to the beach, a water park, several parks, a walking tour a boat tour and lots more. It was nice because there were lots of thing to do close by that could be done in 2 hr increments (in between naps). The house where we stayed was not baby proofed, so sitting around and hanging out was not much fun. I would also suggest staying somewhere with a kitchen. Dd would not have tolerated 3 meals a day in a restaurant.

[slug*bug]

We did a bunch of road trips (Switzerland, the Netherlands, etc.) and trips involving short flights/train travel with DS between 2-10 mos. of age. We did the fjords in Norway when he was 14 mos. old (I was newly pg w/#2.) I was so glad that we pulled the trigger on the trip when he was little: we did Norway in a Nutshell and, in hindsight, it would've been really hard with two toddlers and I don't think we would've done it if we'd waited until after #2 was born.

ETA: I'd ditto anywhere that you can find reasonably priced apartments. We did this on several trips (Switzerland for skiing, Paris) and it was SO much easier than hotels: the kitchen and a little extra space for DS to play and to sleep while we relaxed was well worth the extra research on the planning end of the trip.

[ECB]

Under the age of 18 months, we took DS to the Outerbanks twice, to Chicago once, and to Mexico.

[BAMFMrsB]

We are planning on WDW in Jan for 1 week (for the marathon). BabyBAMF will be 4mo old. DH and I both reeeeeeeeally wants to do another cruise too. I'm debating taking our child with us - all of our fam is local. They COULD hand him off every couple of days to ILs, parents and sis, and no one would be overwhelmed. But DH said "who wants to watch a baby for a week?!" I was like "uhhhhhh... grandparents???"

But then again, he could cruise with us. We could wait until next fall/winter season & he'd be 1+ by then.

[sarahlindsay]

Unfortunately we haven't really done full-on "vacations", just visits to friends and family. Prior to DD turning 18 months, she had been to Colorado, Indiana, and a coupl eof trips to a lake house 3 hours away. We're looking to take more true family vacations instead of just family/friend visits (which are still fun, but not the same thing) soon.

[frlcb]

We have been traveling a lot since ds (4) was born. His first trip was to Spain and Portugal at 10 weeks, then to the US from London at 14 weeks. We travel at least once a year back to the UK now that we are in the US, and dd did her first trip there at 7 months. They have been to Belgium, Scotland, DC, Arizona, Vegas, Florida multiple times (Destin, Tampa, Orlando), Asheville, Charlotte, Savannah, Texas, Jackson Hole, I know I am forgetting some. We basically travel with them like we would travel without them!

[liveintheville]

We did Aruba when kid 1 was 9 months. It was a godsend. I wanted zero chance of being stuck in a hotel room with a screamy kid so that's why Aruba. We'd get up, settle under a hut, get drinks on the beach, watch kid play in the sand and nap.

[drloretta]

When DD was 4 months, we did a week-long road trip from PA to New England. We did some weekend trips (2 hours-ish) to see DH's family when she was small. At 16 months we flew from Philly to Tahoe to spend a week with my family.

[everam01]

I was a bridesmaid for my BFF's wedding in Cape Cod when the boys were 2.5 months old. The flying was fine - they slept the entire time - but the driving was a little stressful.

We just took them for a long OBX weekend when they turned 1 and it was a LOT harder. It was impossible to toddler-proof the cottage we rented. I'll opt for a hotel next time.

[Ashley&Scott]

So far we've only attempted one trip. We went to visit DH's parents over a long weekend. What is normally a 5.5 hour trip was 7 hours. DS was not a happy camper. We won't be attempting another (long) road trip for a while.

[Deleted]

At 5 months, I went to visit my sister in Davis, California. I'd go anywhere with a non-mobile baby. Super easy. We had loads of fun.

At 11 months, we went to Banff. Stayed in a great baby-friendly condo. It was great.

[fortmyersbride]

We take the kids on about 3-4 trips/yr:

Once a yr to FL to stay with my ILs. One week on the beach, very low key. We started taking them around 6 wks old.

Once a year to visit great grandparents.

Once or twice a year to Atlantis in the Bahamas. We have a time share there, it's very family friendly, everything you could want is on property or close by, there's babysitting services and lots of kids programs.

And DH and I will occasionally tag along to each other's conferences for work. If it's just a long weekend we'll leave the kids with family. If we're going for the whole week then we bring them along. We started leaving DS for the long weekend when he was 1 yr old, and will probably do the same with DD when she reaches one. I don't know when we'll leave the kids for more than a long weekend, I don't feel ready yet.

[kangaroo11]

We are big travelers, so my mom is already talking about going on an Alaskan cruise or to Yellowstone or a fall trip to New England. I will be 6 months pregnant when we go to Italy/France this year, but I guess that doesn't count.