When did you first travel without the kids?

[Deleted]

I ask because H and I are now engaged in the debate...

We're hoping to fly out to SF this fall for a 49ers game. We can't decide whether we want to try that crazy with a toddler that could be either 16 or 17 months depending on when we go.

We haven't been away from him yet and while I'm thinking mom and dad can use 3 days of fun in our favorite city, I keep worrying about what will happen to him if something happens to us (Yes, I have a morbid fear of flying...)

He'd probably stay with my mom if we decide to go without him and I absolutely trust her to take care of him. She's amazing with him and he adores her. But of course, we'd worry. And we'd probably miss him. And H keeps mumbling about how he'd like his son to go to a game with him at Candlestick, even if said son never remembers it.

But then there's a six-hour flight...with a toddler. TSA...with a toddler. And for heaven's sake, a professional football game...with a toddler. I just think we'd be insane to take him.

So, yay or nay? When did you first travel without the kids? And how did you deal? How long were you gone?

[Deleted]

DD was a year and a half when we left her for a long weekend. We came home early because we missed her. We only went away to DC, which is a 4 hour drive. Overall, we had a great time.

[brghtstar]

I traveled for the first time with my daughter when she was 5 months old but that was 12 years ago before all of the new rules. We still travel at least once a year and haven't had any issues.

[Kristinmo]

DS is 2.5 and we still haven't gone anywhere without him. I've taken him to visit my sister for a few days without DH and I've been away for work but we've never gone places without him.

DS is awesome on planes but we've never been on a flight longer than 4 hours. I've never had any issues with TSA other than a weird TSA agent giving him hard candy when he was 14 months old without asking me.

[meshaliuknits]

We haven't traveled together without her yet. We were going to in May for our anniversary, but my ILs had that weekend booked for something else and work won't allow us another shot for a while. So, it was going to be when she was around 20 months.

We did take her up to Seattle when she wasn't quite 12mo old. Security was a snap. The plane ride didn't suck, but I wouldn't do it for fun either. We are considering taking her to Hawaii later this year, so it clearly wasn't that bad.

If you do decide to bring rookie, he can crash at my house and play with BabyLiu during the game.

[eddy]

Leave the kid! If you have a trusted option then take advantage! You will worry at first, but then your first adult only day you will be like kid who? Lol
I think j was around a year old when we first stayed away from him for more than a night.

[cookiemdough]

DS was about 7 or 8 months. One of my friends had a destination wedding and DH and I flew out for 3 days. It was a little strange at first, but we got over that probably within the first couple of hours and had a great time. Since then we have done one longer trip to Puerto Rico when he was about 2.5 years old and a few overnights away since then.

Your DS will be fine. Take a trip just the two of you!

[GailGoldie]

i wish we took more trips alone in the past years.... but we didn't. We took just DS1 on a weekend trip to Cornell for a football reunion for DH - the twins were 1yo and stayed with my sister.... but we never went anywhere ALONE that was more than 1 night and closeby... until last August.

We went to Hawaii - the kids all stayed at my sister's house - the anxiety leading up to it was so much for us- we were so upset about going- but once we got there (as we expected) we were totally OK with it and loved having time alone as a couple again. The twins were 2yo and DS1 was 4yo.

we're planning to do a trip alone soon - next time DH gets sent to Paris for work (he goes a few times/year) i'm going to go with him -- and now i'm looking forward to it - knowing that all will be OK and it's so good for our marriage.

[basilosaurus]

I'm pretty sure my parents left me with my aunt (someone who didn't like or have experience with kids) before I was 6 months. They traveled regularly at least annually after that. I know they skied when pregnant with my sister, so I was only about 14 months at that point.

[cookiemdough]

Also given the point of the trip is not really geared towards kids (football game) I really wouldn't put myself through the stress of a long flight and the unpredictability of having a toddler at an sporting event that will take a few hours. 3 days is the perfect amount of time for a first trip away together!

[vccake]

We went away when DS was a year old. It was a 10 day trip to SF, camping in Kings Canyon and camping in Yosemite. It took a lot of preparation to get my parents ready -- I'm such a dork -- bc they totally were fine and didn't need a thing from me. I did have a temporary poa or something like that.

6 days in, we came home and skipped Yosemite and then we spent 3-4 days with my parents which was great.

In truth, a week was great. 10 days was overkill.

[earlgreyhot]

At almost 18 months for three days, two nights. DS stayed with ILs and we had a great time. It's an annual trip with friends and we did cut it a little short, but could have stayed the additional night. I also recently took a solo trip by air for a weekend. That was freakin' amazing!!

I was really nervous at first for both trips, but once we got in the road I relaxed.

[Deleted]

We are planning on leaving ds with the in laws for 6 days in December, so he will be 7 months. At this point I'm fine with it. We will do a night test run a month or so before so I can get comfortable,

[pescalita]

In the threads I've seen on the topic, it varies widely.

We're going for our first night away Saturday!!! And I'm SOOOOOOOOOO excited. Mostly because there's lots of beer involved, but also, holey mother of God, a full nights sleep!!!!

[humpty]

I haven't gone away, but my kids just left on a 7 hour drive to spend the week with my MIL. My youngest is 17 months.

If you feel comfortable leaving him, and you know he is in good hands, go for it!

[frlcb]

Depending on who you ask we are either awesome for doing it early or the worst parents alive for doing it - we left him overnight at 4 months for a wedding, 6 months for a weekend in Paris, various 3 day trips til he was 2 and then we left him for 2 weeks to go to Asia. I will say the Asia trip was hard, because he got sick while we were gone and I realized that it would take us 2 days to get back since we live on the East Coast and we are in Asia, but he was fine and only had an ear infection. We left our daughter alone for the first time overnight at 7 weeks for a wedding (with ds and my parents) and for a weekend wedding trip at 5 months, then we have done 2 more weekends away since, and she is now 13 months.

If you do go (and I totally think you should) make sure you leave permission for your mom to take him to the dr/hospital.

Oh, and we travel all the time with our kids, so it isn't that we don't like to travel with them, we just also like to travel without them, I think it is healthy for us.

Edit: Every trip away they have stayed with my parents or my IL's, so we felt comfortable doing so.

[Rainy Night in Soho]

My parents went to Hawaii and left 5 kids ranging in age from 18 months (me) to 13 years old behind (with two aunts taking care of us and I had been sick the week before). This was way before cell phones & internet. My mom recently said that she would have been fine with calling once or twice, but my dad called nearly every day.