English Family Trip

We are in London now and our son and his family, with a 22-month old ( and a 4-year-old) were here with us for a week. It was great---we went to Kew, the Transport Museum, the V&A, Natural History Museum, and some playgrounds. It was all fine. She did have her "moments", generally when we were still out and about when it was time for nap, and she resisted napping in the stroller. But she also enjoyed the museums and especially Kew. There is a nice playground in St. James Park. We ran out of time to take her to the Princess Diana play area in Hyde Park. The V&A has a " paddle pool" in the central courtyard that children enjoy wading in.

Wow that all sounds amazing!! Thank you so much! I am looking these all up now!

My daughters wasn't that young the first time I took them, they were 4 and 6, with that said, I would tell you to take her and go. I would suggest going May through October. I have been in England in each of those months. Pick something that you want to do in the mornings when she is fresh and rested, then when it gets lunch time you can get lunch and take it to a park so she can get out of the stroller and run around and play. If you are comfortable letting her nap in the stroller do so while you do things in the afternoon. There is the Princess Diana's playground at Kensington Palace, get some bread let her feed the ducks and birds in the park, that is fun. When she is 3 or so when you travel, buy a disposable camera and let her take pictures of what ever she wants, she'll love it. Go and have a great time.

I can't really make any recommendations for London specifically with a little one, we haven't taken our almost 5 year old daughter there yet, but I will say don't be afraid to take them. Yes you will have to adjust how you travel since you will have a third person that relies on your for everything. You probably won't be able to do everything you want but you will still enjoy what you do and make lots of memories. Plus you can see things through your daughters eyes, which might change how you look at something. Our daughters very first trip was at 9 months old to Manchester, England and Munich and she has returned to Europe every year since. People thought we were crazy for traveling with such a young one, and some would probably still agree, but we love to travel and wanted to instill that in her. She's an excellent traveler, it may be luck but I like to think it's because we just jumped in and did it (or because I went to Germany while 5 months pregnant with her) and she loves to fly.

Plan to adjust your day based on if you need to return to the room for her to nap. Our daughter napped in her stroller with no problem so there were many days she would just do it that way, other days I would go back to the room for her to nap in the room. I never had a problem finding diapers, just know her weight in kg (pounds not always on the package), as the size number is a little different than what we have in the States, they even have Pampers if that's what you prefer. I've never had a problem with getting a crib while in Europe, sometimes a pack n play but just know that a lot of hotels will charge for that crib/pnp per night. Our hotel in Munich usually charged 10-15Euros per night. Try finding a park one day or two to allow her to run and just play. I know some people don't like using them but at that age we carried one of those backpack harnesses with us so that she could walk. She was holding our hand most of the time but that was also around the time that she was resisting that so it helped us to have it. She actually loved wearing it because it was a monkey backpack.

In my opinion you can always find something that a little one will like to do but at her age she'll most likely go along with whatever you are doing with a few minor adjustments. At almost 2 they are more interested in playing with toys or playing outside and that's something you can easily accomodate just about anywhere.

I can easily give you other tips and advice. We have been all over Germany, to Manchester and Copenhagen with our daughter so I've learned a lot of things. As long as there is money to go overseas we will always do it at any age with her. Don't be afraid of it.

When we traveled to Europe with our 1 and 3 year olds, we found the playgrounds in neighborhood parks were so fun. They seemed to have different, and more interesting, play equipment than we have in the US for the kids to explore and be a bit adventurous on (especially in Germany). My advice would be plan to see what interests you, but then find a playground.

We spent a summer in England when my first son was around 18 months. He was very active, so it was really a summer of chasing him around and finding every park in the area! We still had a great time though. We took trains or buses (or boats) everywhere, which he enjoyed! There are also a lot of farms with petting zoos that are great for little ones. The only museums of interest to him were the ones with airplanes. We went on tours of everything we wanted to see during his nap time while he was asleep in his stroller. Got a lot of help lifting the stroller up stairs! But strollers -- even folding ones, are a nightmare on the Tube. Some places don't allow strollers, but have backpacks you can borrow. Buckingham Palace ran out of loaner backpacks, so I had to carry a very heavy toddler through the whole place so he wouldn't get trampled. It will definately be a different type of trip -- you will do things and see places that you probably haven't on your other trips and you will talk with a lot more people! You'll be more focused on her and see less of what you'd normally want to see as you plan around nap times, bed times, cranky times... -- but I think it's worth it. I think it is helpful if you stay in one place as much as possible and do day trips. We've gone on several trips with our boys since -- now they are teens and we will be going again this summer. We all enjoy our trips together so much!

We took each of our kids to Europe for the first time when they were between the ages of 9 and 11. We did this for several reasons. First- their grandparents BEGGED to keep them when we were gone, and the kids loved being with them without us around. Second, We were at a stage in our life where we NEEDED a week or two to ourselves occasionally (at that time every 2 or 3 years, eventually, twice a year... LOL). Third- the expense of taking very young children was more than we wanted / could afford to spend. And finally, because we felt we should wait to take them until they could understand and appreciate where they were and what they were seeing.

Toni- waiting until they can appreciate what they are seeing is the route we are going. They are turning 4&6 this year, but we'll still wait a number of years yet. We need the time for us and I am not ready yet to fork over that much money at their age, though they are good travelers in the US.