HELP!! Provence - 2 men with a baby girl.
 

Hi everyone,

First of all...thanks to all of you that have posted informations for others to learn.

I've gotten many ideas for my 10days trip to Provence at the end of September. I'll be travelling by a rental car with my son and his 2yrs. old daughter....yes, a very active 2 yrs. old darling.

So...can anybody make some suggestions on the basis of her...as to where we should make our (2-3) bases. Ideas on how to deal with her meals along the way among these small towns and villages ?...Eventhough, my son has been feeding her every day, I still don't have much confidence since this is our first trip abroad with her.

Again....thanks.

ZABAI

Can't add much help except that you must remember that those small towns shut down between noon and at least 2pm. Make sure you have everything for your granddaughter before noon, or it will be a very long couple of hours!!

..would suggest trying to rent a small place for a week and then staying somewhere else for the other 3 days. Try choosing a town rather than a city. Choose something fairly "central" which would allow day trips with driving less than an hour one way. The flat/house will allow more meals at home (esp breakfast as well as an occ dinner after a long day). IMO 2 year olds are some of the most challenging travelers (and I have 3 kids). Try to keep things quite flexible. If you do she will be much happier and so will you!

What area of Provence? Nimes or over in Sault? Apt? Vaucluse? Avignon?

zabai..try looking at the french website for gites. I might base myself in the luberon..easy drive to avignon..st. remy not too far.

Hi,

Thanks travelbunny & cathies, I'll try to work out your suggestions.

bellamiyagi...we hope to go to all the places you mentiion, except for Apt, which I don't have information yet.

Thannks

Hi again,

Actually my main concern is my grand-daughter. It's her meals that we have to plan ahead.
If it were just us adults, we have been trvelling around before. ...But as I mentioned, this is the first time with a little child tagging along....umm!!
It'll be a challenge.

So...I hope to get more ideas on this.

THANKS !

Being the mother of a two year old, I would be looking for a place with some laundry facilities. Two year olds tend to get very dirty.

I would also bring along many, many snacks. There are tons of toddler foods that travel well and will keep her happy until a real meal can be located. I would think that street food might maker her happiest. Long restaurant meals and two year olds don't really mix.

Make sure you have a stroller she can fall asleep in. Where are you originating? Is jet lag going to be a problem?

Bring any possible medicines you might need from home. Things like tylenol, cough medicine, etc. You don't want to be trying to figure out French dosages. If you will be traveling there by plane, she will probably get sick before your trip is over.

When traveling with my children, we have what is called the "fun bag". I assume she is still in diapers, so you will need a bag with you at all times anyway. Our fun bag is filled with diapers and wipes, but also crayons, coloring books, crafts, etc. A trip to a local craft store before you go can fill up your fun bag with all sorts of things that will make her happy in times of long confinement. A favorite of my children is our giant bag of colored pipe cleaners. We make hats and animals and all sort of things and it is impossible to make a noise with pipe cleaners. I've become sort of a self-taught piper cleaner artist. :)

Find some things that interest her. Kids that age love water. Be sure to browse fountains, street performers, funny looking things, etc.

Good luck. If you will be driving a lot, maybe someone can sit in the back with her and keep her company. Learn a few finger songs before you go (itsy bitsy spider, etc.) Oh, and if you are bringing an iPod, find some kids music to put on it. She'll love it.

Hi kelliebellie,

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
I'm taking ALL of your advices.

JET LAG is one of my biggest concerns!
It'll be a ten hrs. flight before we land.
Any tips or tricks while we're in flight ?

Yikes, ten hours! I have a "no more than two hours out of our time zone" rule, so I don't exactly know what you are in for. My friend took her two year old to Saipan. It wasn't that much fun.

Some people say to give children's benadryl to the kid to make them sleepy on the flight. The problem with this is that it can backfire and actually make them more awake. So I wouldn't try that.

If she can sit long enough for movies, then I would definitely take a dvd player. Or movies on an ipod. I have a great Panasonic LS50 that has an optional 12 hour battery.

Familiarize yourself with her carseat. Putting it into a rental car can be tricky. Make sure you understand about the locking clip and the shoulder belt. So make sure you have one with you. Here:

http://www.carseatsite.com/lockingclips.htm

Newness is good for kids this age. Hit the dollar store and stock up on cheap little toys that will amuse for an hour, but not the end of the world if they get lost or broken. Bring some books that travel well.

Bring a gazillion wipes. Stash bags of them everywhere. Bring hand sanitizer too. And suntan lotion.

I don't know if swim diapers are big in Provence, so bring those if you are going to be getting into any body of water or pool. Some pools make you put plastic pants over the swim diapers. Gerber makes them and you can buy them at Wal-mart.

Actually the baby food aisle at Wal-mart is a good place to go. They have tons and tons of finger foods all wrapped individually. Dum-dum suckers are good emergency tantrum stoppers too, but again, have the wipes handy.

Take a good camera and really try to get some portrait-type shots of her that shows she is in Provence. They would look amazing blown up. Maybe in a field of poppies. Some of my best framed pictures are from trips. Make sure you get her feet in the photo. It looks much more professional that way. Just a pet peeve. :)

I'm sure I'll think of more later. If you were a married couple, I would advise you to leave her home. But if you want to take her to spend time with grandpa, then that is pretty cool. Just know that your pace is going to be slower and enjoy the little moments.

From my observations, children under the age of 3 are practically never a travel problem and go with the flow.

Overanxious adults/parents are a bigger problem.

Hi kelliebellie,

No...we try not to medicate her unless it is really nesessary. Even when she has runny nose, but no temperture, we just let her sleep a lot, drink juices more than normal, usually she recovers after a few days.

Thank you very much...and keep them coming !!!


Hi kerouac,

I'm starting to agree with you on your last comment.
ha ha !!!

..disagree..when a well known columnist was writing about travelling with kids his advice for age 2-4 was "dont"..I dont agree with him but I do think age anout 18 months to 3 1/2 about the worst time..at least it was with my kids.

At that age they are escape artists with no sense of danger and a love of exploration. That can be a huge problem. Fortunately, your grand-daughter will still be too young to figure out how to lock herself in the loo at the local park (son pulled this stunt in Paris at 5 and we had to get the guard to unlock the door -- son thought it was a riot, we didn't).

You'll need a car seat and stroller for sure. Have your son bring enough diapers. Learn how to determine size in Kilos -- I was very knowledgeable on the metric system, and we screwed up royally in France when our son was 15 months, buying diapers that went up to our son's armpits and had fluffy cotton inside. Yep, when he went number 2, you can ONLY IMAGINE what it was like scraping poopy cotton balls off his body. :D

Food will not be a problem, just have bags of cereal,like cheerios, etc. on hand. Children really do exist in Provence, I swear! The locals will help you.

can get good quality disposable diapers in France now.

First off, good for you guys!

One thing you should be aware of for restaurants (don't be afraid of them!) is that every one has their own version of "fromage blanc," ranging from cottage cheesy to yogurty, but all are good. We found that this was an excellent thing to ask for right as you sit, explaining that it is for your little granddaughter. It's not on the menu, but they'll have it, and it is a great way to keep her occupied and not get hungry while waiting for your food.

If she's a mature enough eater, another tip is to time the meal so that she gets her plat (main course) while you get your entree (appetizer), and then you get your plat while or shortly before she gets her dessert. Meaning you won't get dessert - but it's a way to cut down on the 1.5-2.5 hour meal to more like 1 - 1.5 hours, and make her feel like she's eating with the big boys. This worked like a charm with our 2 year old in France.

Hope that helps!

I don't know why caring for a 2 year old in Provence is any different than for caring for one in the US (i.e., "Two year olds have a sense of adventure" "Kids that age love water")

One would think overanxious grandma already knows that.

I guess a lot of people just want to exercise their overparenting muscles on this thread. "Two men with a baby girl" strikes me as a sensationalist headline. Most men I know can handle a two-year old baby girl, this being 2008 A.D.

France is a first world country with diapers, baby food, fresh fruit and potty seats.

My girl was 2 years old when we went to Italy the first time, we didn't have any issues with her. One thing that was very helpful and important was to have a stroller. She would fall asleep there and we had the chance to visit places and walk to our leisure while she slept. Try and get some snacks and drinks for the road and regarding jetlag I think we as adults had mor issues with it than the child.
Don't fret. Kids can adjust amazingly fast.
Good Luck!

On the subject of meals... we were in Cannes with a nearly 2 year old in March. Our meal "plan" involved:

Breakfast - same as us (orange juice, fruit, toast / croissant). Bought lots of youghurts, fruit juices etc in the local supermarket and kept them in the fridge for emergencies.

If you're in a hotel it's a good idea to nab some of the fruit and keep it with you to feed her as a snack during the day. our girl generally didn't want to eat anything big at lunchtime (maybe because of the heat, or just the change of scene?) but was happy to graze on melon saved from breakfast, bread rolls from our table and a taste of our lunch.

In the evenings we tried she would often eat from our plates. Surprisingly she loved deep fried whitebait (I've heard lots of kids do) so i would order that as a starter and she would share this. Alternatively we would get a small portion of pasta for her.

After we had our starters we would give her a bottle of milk we had brought with us in a cool bag, pull down the hood on the buggy so it was "dark" and she would go off to sleep leaving us to have main course / dessert in peace. At least that's how my rose-tinted memories tell me things happened.

Not sure if any of this will give you assistance! We found the supermarkets very good for juices, yoghurts, snacks but not good for meals (we had a microwave in our room and vainly tried to feed her some of the supermarket-bought meals but she just wouldn't eat them.)

You may well end up just feeding her lots of snacks and not so much "real food" - we did, anyway. If so I wouldn't worry - it's only 10 days and it shouldn't spoil the "home" routine as she will associate that with a different environment.

We have travelled with our son many times from Australia to the UK and Europe, the first time he was only 15months old. This wasn't easy but... the next time he was 3 and truly jet lag isn't a problem, they adapt very easily. They will just nap as it suits them. ditto the stroller comments and make sure you have lots of snacky things. Many restaurants will love to help you, well certainly in Italy they love little ones.

Have some cds for the car with sing a long songs etc. Picture books like Spot etc, the interactive ones keep them intersted for HOURS. Have a bag of toys, which goes with you everywhere! Also make sure you take her favourite soft toy/blankie or other comfort "thing". do not forget this!!

It would be easier to hire a house/gite for some of the time rather than B and B everywhere. You can always make a quick hot pasta dish with tasty sauce etc. in your own kitchen. Or even hot toast and something if the going gets really tough.

Try not to over do the activities during the day. Try and do the driving at her normal nap times, this way she will be willing to participate in activities when she is awake rather than trying to push her along pointing things out and oohing and aaahing when she would really just rather be napping. A tired and cranky child is absolutely no fun at all. Work around her schedule. Rest when she rests could be a good idea and then everyone is happy. Well Grandpa and granddaughter will be OK, son can maybe go off on his own and do some of those other things just he would like to do and see.

Don't be afraid to give each other some time apart.

Good luck hope it goes well.
Schnauzer