Where to travel with young children

To grandmother's house.

Oh that joke never gets old... (Sorry, Frank!) Have traveled to Europe with a child at both ages, roughly. But only one. You have to figure out bedding. Most places can give you cribs and we sometimes used a no-roll pillow to keep the baby in place with us. When she was a toddler, she could sleep on a blanket with a pillow on the floor and considered it camping. We rented cars once out of big cities. Lucca, Italy, for example, was a great destination because parking was easy; there are parks for the kids, and you can walk. Bigger cities were tough. Hard to maneuver subways with a kid. In Paris, we took the bus when our child was an infant. When she was toddler, though, we discovered playgrounds and carousels everywhere. Everywhere. Hope this was helpful.

For what it's worth, Rick himself suggests leaving the children with grandparents. I always found that rather odd and dismissive, but it also makes a certain amount of sense. Particularly with an infant, you are going to be spending most of your day and energy just being a parent providing basic needs, with little time or energy left for tourism. There is also the cost factor. Do you really want to be on a plane for 10 hours with a child on your lap? Each seat is another $1000. We are a family of five and our first trip was to the UK when the children were 11, 8 and 4. It was great. I think we could have justified trying it a year earlier, but that's all. Even with the most wishful thinking, younger than three and the memories will not last and the benefits are rather dubious. If you are certain you want to try it, all I can suggest is that you keep the trip as low-stress as possible and stay in a cottage rental for a week as a home base for day trips. This will be SOOOO much less stressful than staying in hotels and shushing the children every 30 seconds. The UK speaking English would be good, but you have to drive on the left. Scandinavia also speaks English almost universally and seem to adore children, but very few rental choices. France has lots of rentals, too and hey - it's France. It would probably be more relaxing to be in a rural area. But, while I greatly admire your willingness to take the children (and we have made it a family tradition to do so with older children), I would stick to USA trips with them for a couple more years. You could get a Euro-fix on your own with a quicky 3-4 day trip while the children are with other family perhaps?

I think I would either wait a while or leave them with grandma too. If you do want to bring them, there are many beautiful rural rental areas in Scandanavia, especially in Sweden and Denmark, mostly along the coasts or in lake areas. The Netherlands too, has a lot of spots like this along the N. Sea. Germany has wonderful family farm vacations and also areas along the coast that are family friendly. France has family camping parks. Croatia has a Club Med that can be fun for kids and I am sure I have left a lot of countries out here, but they all have vacation areas that are great for families. So, there are options, just not sure if it is worth it to come all the way to Europe to stay on a farm or be at the beach. You can do that in the US.

Agree with Darren...if you can travel in the US with them you can travel in Europe with them. Time to break in those little world travelers...

For your family trip I recommend 1 week at the beach, in a house or condo. We loved south Carolina beaches an returned to the same place near charleston each year while the kids were young (under 5). We also took trips to see family who lived in Canada. So that was our experience with long flights. Currently have two kids with children of their own who say they would NEVER consider a long, overnight flight (in other words, Europe) without lots of help and lots of money, and even then they are doubtful. There are just too many other options. The best option for us was leaving the kids with grandparents. Beginning with a weekend when mine were also 3 and 6 months, we eventually took 3 European trips of 10 days each, leaving the kids at home. This was beneficial for everyone-young kids who do better on a schedule, young parents who needed to reconnect as a couple, and grandparents who loved being completely involved while we were away. And we did travel with our children. The beach each year, one or more flights ton see family each year, Disney, various American cities and even costa rica when my youngest was 8. It was great. The turning point for more "cultural" trips was when my youngest was 5. He could eat at restaurants without children's menus, stay for 2 hours in a museum, sleep well in strange beds, "hold it" while looking for a bathroom, sit happily on a plane with minimal supervision. We started taking the kids with us to europe when the youngest was 9. We went almost every year for 2-4 weeks. These were the most incredible trips and something we all treasure. Bottom line is you should take everyone into consideration when planning a family trip. In my world it meant waiting just a bit till the kids had lots of other travel experiences under their belt. Good luck!

Hi Jennifer,
I'm going to be the outsider here. When I was recently inquiring about travelling to Europe with my daughter, I received the same responses. "Don't do it", "leave them with grandma", "you'll miss the trip while chasing them", "Europe won't be the same", etc. I'll politely state that I couldn't disagree more. My daughter is just over a year now, and we were in Italy this spring for 3 weeks. We planned the trip for that timing, since it was far in advance and we thought that she wouldn't be mobile. Well, she became mobile at 6 months, so by the 10/11 month age while over there, she was walking EVERYWHERE. Admittedly, it was a little tiring chasing her around, but no more than if we were chasing her around a different city of the US (she's been to several different states over here, too). So, I would say Italy (they LOVE children, more than you can imagine) is a great choice. We spent one of our weeks in an Agriturismo in Tuscany as a base for day travel and it was great. She could run around when we got back from our day's travels with no real dangers, and we could relax with some wine under the Gazebo while we watched her run in the lawn. I say do it, but only you know your children. Ours is a great little traveller, so it worked out. Take a night flight so that they sleep on the way over. I'll be happy to provide you with more info, but I don't want to hijack your board with a short novel. Trust me, do it, you'll love it.

Since nothing was said about the kids having traveled before, I would suggest waiting until they are older, too. There is a big difference between an eight hour car trip and an eight hour flight. Toddlers can be notoriously picky eaters when they can't get their usual food, and little ones can be thoroughly confused by the time difference. Even if you are accomplished at traveling with them in the US, the logistics in Europe can be overwhelming without your usual stroller/bed/car seat or whatever.

I misread your post to be 3 and 6 YEARS, so here is another bit of advice. We travelled on Lufthansa, and told them we had an infant. They placed us in the bulkhead with clip in bassinet and our daughter was delighted at her own little spot. She spent a little bit of time on our lap, but she was mostly happy in the bed with pillows and blankets (the airline even came around with little toys for her). If your 3 year old likes certain types of food, factor that in your country decision. Ours eats all types, but Italy was especially easy with the pastas and pizzas.

We left ours with grandparents untill they were around 10 years old. I think that is a good age to begin "intensive/international" travel.Can you do it with younger childer? Sure! I would just rather wait until they can understand some of the history, appreciate the art and the food and tolerate some of the "difficulties" with some understanding of why they have to.

3 years - that's probably doable. A 6-month old on top of that? I'd wait a few years.