Good vacation location to go with a 1 year old?
We're considering a summer vacation to take with our 1 year old son. Nothing too long (maybe 5 days tops) and we're trying to stay in the US. Looking for recommendations on cruise lines or resorts in particular. Thanks!
(Are we nuts to consider a cruise, given that our son will probably be toddling by the time we go? He pulls himself up and 'cruises' around the furniture these days but hasn't yet started to walk.)
4 Answers
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We went on a 2-week trip to Europe when our son was 15 months old. Planning ahead was hard, because like you, we didn't know how much he'd be walking, what his nap schedule would be, or what his eating habits would be (eating out a lot is hard!). Those are things that you'll just have to adapt to as the time comes.
Here are some things that we found really important, but every kid is different :
- Make time to have unstructured play in a park every day, possibly even twice a day. A busy day of going from sight to sight, etc. is pretty stressful for a toddler. There were several times where we "saved" a day that was going poorly by finding a nearby park and just letting our son play and run around. Something like an inflatable beach ball would be easy to carry everywhere, and is instant entertainment.
- Eating out all the time is hard. We stayed in a hotel, so we didn't have a kitchen or anything. We were making frequent trips to supermarkets & convenience stores to pick up milk, yogurt, bananas, bread, cheese, etc. for snacks along the way. Having an easy way to manage & carry a day's worth of food would have been great.
- Air travel in several legs is both easier and harder. At this age (12-24mos) kids have a really hard time sitting still on plane and car trips. Long flights (4+ hours) are especially hard unless you time it right. We picked our flights to be in the late-ish evenings, and it worked pretty well, and our son slept for long portions of the flight. We brought his car seat with us on the plane. Taking several legs makes this somewhat easier, but is also harder because of the changing planes, etc.
- If you can, rent a house or suite, so that you have a small kitchen. Having separate sleeping room for your kid will be useful too, and will let you enjoy your evenings more.
- Strollers are useful for on-the-go napping, but they're also a burden in other situations (public transit, for example). Pick and choose what you bring carefully.
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We went to Maui when our daughter was about 1 year old. We went the "rent-a-condo" route and it worked out great. Having the kitchen and washer and dryer in the condo helped a lot. The down side was that she was really getting around at that age and the condo wasn't really set up for a toddler, there was a little too many nick-nacks that she could grab.
We did buy a seat for her and brought her car seat on the over-night flight back home so she was comfortable sleeping.
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Have you considered a Stay-cation? I know you are thinking bigger than that... but honestly it can be WAY more memorable for the whole familiy....
You turn phones off, don't answer the door, and order pizza in, eat at restaurants, and go see local things you don't always let yourself do.... the zoo, or a waterpark, or a smaller theme park, hiking... you might be surprised with what you can come up with... Take lots of pictures just like you would on vacation.
And best of all, let yourself take a nap the same time your kiddo does!
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Looks like you've had a bunch of great answers to this already.
We went to a pretty nice resort in San Diego that was REALLY kid friendly. 5 pools, all of which were beach entry and heated, for small crawlers/ tot swimmers. I think it was called Pelican Inn or Pelican resort or something like that. It was right near Sea World, which we didn't go to, but we did go over to the Zoo, which was quite fun... really slow with the small ones, but the air tram was neat and the kiddo seemed to get a kick out of seeing the animals.
Steve -- thanks for the response. I've been thinking about a vacation also. Followup on the logistics. Were most of the naps on the go? Our son is accustomed to sleeping in his swing, and we're not about to haul that thing with us. I am thinking that he would get too cranky if we don't find a good way for him to nap uninterrupted?
Looking back, do you think the trip to Europe was worth doing, or would it have been better to wait until he was a little older? I find the logistics challenging as it is when we make day trips out, let alone on a different continent!
- Evelyn, Apr 26, 2010