Hi,

My husband and I are planning a trip to NL&L this summer and I have a dilemma I was hoping you can help me with.

We normally like being active and seeing lots of nature on trips so when planning this trip, we were thinking of going to St. John's for a bit of culture and nature on the Avalon peninsula and then Gros Morne for hiking. Normally we would go whale watching, bird watching, hiking. However, we recently had a baby (well, not that recently - she will be 20 months in July) and I think we need to adjust our travelling ways and expectations
I still think St. John's would be a great place to visit, but I am less sure of Gros Morne. I would LOVE to see Tablelands and hike the Gros Morne trails, but I'm just not sure this will be doable or enjoyable with a toddler. My other concern is, seeing how late we are planning this, that we won't be able to find suitable accommodations. Normally we would stay at a B&B or even a cabin, but with the baby I worry about disturbing other guests in a B&B and the lack of everyday comforts in a cabin. So, another option is to go somewhere else - Placentia Bay, Twillingate, Bonavista, but I worry that there won't be enough to do there.
Anyone been to any of these places with a small child? Any advice on what would work best? I'm such a worrier, and this trip has got me all stressed out so that I'm more dreading it than looking forward to it Please help ease my worries with some sound advice )))

I don’t see any reason why you can't do the things you’ve mentioned. Yes, you will have to adjust your expectations somewhat but that is a small price to pay to do the things you enjoy.

When our daughter’s kids were little, they had a super back carrier. Plopped the littlest in and off they went. They’d been adventurous travellers before they had kids and saw no reason to change. We were on a trip with them to Dominica and did a strenuous hike through the rainforest which was a couple of hours at least of up and down over rough terrain.

When our own kids (3) were little the only holiday we could afford was camping with a VW van or soft top camper. We went all across the country when our first born was a toddler, and number of trips of various distances from then on.

It can be done if that is what you want to do. Be realistic about how much you can do each day. Make sure you have snacks available at all times and break up the long drives. Have regular mealtimes. Expect to have days when your little one, or you, are overtired or grumpy--if it that happens at home it will on a trip.

I’d talk to the host at BnB’s you would like to visit. They will be able to advise you on the suitability of the accommodation, and I bet most would be happy to have a toddler to entertain the other guests. When your daughter cries, it is going to bother you a lot more than strangers.

Go ahead with your planning, relax, have a great time.

Thank you for your reply eliz!

We would still like to avoid B&Bs (it's also nice for the baby to have her own room to sleep in - otherwise, we're all going to bed at 7:30 .
Does anyone have any suggestions for a cottage or a cabin or apartment we can rent in the area?

We stayed in Bayside Cottages in Gros Morne. Very basic, but clean, and private. I think the cabin we were in might have shared a wall with another cabin, but that was all. We didn't stay in Bonavista, but rather in Elliston nearby. We stayed in Island View Cabin, and it was amazing! It's very private, two rooms, and you can see whales from the porch. The owners live nearby and were so nice and helpful. Then close to Twillingate, we stayed at Daisy's Place (The Old Salt Box Co.). Just one bedroom, but so cute, and again, very private. Kind of out in the boonies, and we loved it. We also stayed at Harbour Couture in Southport, and loved it! It's got two floors, and is in a building that used to be a store in a tiny fishing village.

I would definitely plan on going to St. John's. We loved it. There are a lot of options from there of stuff that you can go to see. The drive to Gros Morne is rather long, and depending on how your child travels, you might be better off just doing St. John's and Elliston/Bonavista (stopping here an there along the way). The neat thing about Newfoundland (one of the neat things--we loved SO much about it) is that you can see whales and puffins without doing a lot of hiking. We saw SO many whales from the Bonavista lighthouse, and also from the lighthouse south of St. John's. And we saw a whale breaching over and over and over again from the beach at Elliston. Late July. So you won't have to do long hikes to see great beauty.