Places to go before you have kids?
 

My husband and i are in our late twenties and love to travel. We've been to quite a few places (mainly in Europe) but for the past couple of years have put travel plans on hold because we have been busy working, saving to buy a house, and last year we got married. Next year we want to start a family and so are going to make the most of our time we have left as a couple and take the time to travel later on this year and the beginning of next year. So my question is - what places do you think are better to travel to before you have kids? I realise that most places are kid friendly these days, but i'm looking for just a few destinations that would be better visited as just a couple without kids.

The places that we wanted to go and have put on hold since having kids:

Egypt
Nepal
Macchu Picchu

In short, anywhere that will be "hard work" but rewarding - trekking, really long flights, getting up at dawn to see the temples before the hot sun comes out, going to places that will prompt the comment "not another ruin? aw mum..."

OR anywhere romantic and relaxing (carribean, mauritius, santorini) that would just be wrecked by a small annoying person :-)

I would say China, because of the pollution, and India, because of the difficulties of traveling there (unless you have a lot of money) are the biggies.

I might add North Africa, and if you were thinking of riding the Trans-Siberian you might want to do that first - I met a NZ couple taking it before they went home to have kids.

You'll get more answers if you most on the individual forums, not many people read this one.

I would add SE Asia for all the reasons mentioned above.
Go while you can.

HT - really? I think you'd be fine taking a kid to SEA. Easy travel and lots to see.

If you ever had a desire to go to Las Vegas, do it now. Otherwise don't bother until you want to take the kids to the Grand Canyon when they can remember it.

Like everyone says above, places that are long distance travel. For me that would be Australia, China, Africa, Middle east, etc...
Also, places that may be more luxurious will be wasted with little ones in tow. So, stay at the nicer resort or hotel and dine in the finer restaurants. Fine restaurants really don't want small children.
When the kids are young, family beach house or condo rentals are the best in my opinion.
We did fly to Hawaii while I was pregnant with a 14 month old (on my lap from the east coast). We stayed at the beautiful Halekulani (business end of trip) and then went onto Maui. Our little girl, who is now 19 traveled great from day one, and went to restaurants well too. She only made a scene in one restaurant and that happened to be the only fancy one we dined in on that trip. (live and learn).

You will be fine traveling with little ones, but take the far away more luxurious trip n ow and enjoy it!

More remote Adventure Trekking Destinations and high risk health destinations come to mind for me. Incalandadventures.com due to altitude Inka Trail was a priority for me.Deep amazon huaorani.com Africa Nepal Asia India remote China Russia. Some destinations like galavengalapagos.com are more fun with kids. travelforkids.com a good site to explore.
www.mdtravelhealth.com
details pediatric health risk that would be my main concern.
Malaria prevention usually the biggest pediatric concern..
Lots of children in Africa do not "Survive to 5" due to this.
worldvision.org has a new program helping kids there we are helping with.

Happy Hunting!

You may want to re-post this in the Lounge. There's a lot more traffic and people with widely varied travel experiences. The individual travel boards tend to focus on that one area of the world.


I would say that anything more adventurous or physically demanding might be best done without small kids. It largely depends on your interests rather than actual locations. If you like luxury style trips, then before kids is a good option. If you don't like luxury trips then there's no reason to do one now. Australia is a very long flight from the US, but what a great place to take kids, even very young ones.

I go back and forth about China... I absolutely loved it and they seemed to adore little kids. However, pollution might be an issue.


Instead of figuring out where you can go now that you might not want to once you have kids, I would figure out a list of places that you really want to go to and THEN weed out the ones that can be done easily with kids so that you're left with the one(s) that you might be best to do before kids.

Time of year and budget also matters. If you're planning on traveling in December/January, then suggestions are going to vary from if you're traveling in May/June. What about your budget? A $7,000 budget each opens a lot of options that aren't on the table for a $3,000 each budget.

If you love to travel, don't give it up just because you're planning to have kids. Kids do travel (some better than others) and you can figure out quite a few ways to adjust your normal travel routines to fit their needs but still get to go.

Well, we now have two kids and we travelled a lot before and still travel now that we got them. Our first born, who is now seven has been to 16 countries already! And some of them twice. Basically, I believe you could take them almost anywhere, there are some which are more tricky or where kids are not allowed until a specific age. Here are the once, which I think you should explore before starting a family:
- Bhutan and Tibet due to high altitude
- safari in Africa cause you can't take kids before the age of seven or eight
That would be it. Otherwise happy travel with kids, it can be exhausting but fun as well.

Any place that you would want to spend long afternoons in a museum. It may be a long time before you really get to enjoy a day at an art museum (if you ever did :)

Good to think ahead as life changes drastically with kids. That said we have traveled to Europe and throughout the USA (including Hawaii w/kids - yes I did a 14 1/2 hour flight with a 4 & 5 year old). My kids travel well and often so it hasn't been too much of an issue but it does alter what you can do. My suggestions for pre-kid trips:

African Safari
Mediterranean Cruise
Any place you find romantic - Paris, Hawaii - you can go with kids but it is a different trip

Good luck!

I agree about long long overseas flights. It is hard enough for adults to adjust to time changes and when to sleep but kids are especially sensitive and their time clock really gets messed up. Some take kids from day one on trips just so they know what life is about and how they will adjust but I've seen some pretty cranky tired babies in Europe and some pretty tired and cranky adults because of the C,T, kids....Short trips, camping, fun kid places for kids, romantic, long flights for adults until the kids are older....

We have traveled with the kids since they were born. The only kind of trip I would rather do without them would be a high end restaurant/foodie trip, as they would not enjoy that. Fortunately neither would we.

Last summer's beer pilgrimage through southern Germany and Czech Republic probably wouldn't have gone as well with kids in tow.

Also Santorini, Caldera view side. Steep cliffs, many lack guard rails. Not a place for little kids.

I'm in agreement with everyone who said long flights overseas or long treks. Unless my children were in their teens, I probably would want to see New Zealand, Australia, Japan without them. That flight over the Pacific is way too long for a younger child, for me at least.

The Canadian Rockies, we went many years ago before our now 16 year old was born. Lots of hiking and beautiful outdoors. We did Banff, Jasper and Lake Louise. Flew into Calgary, rented a car and went North! I think we stayed in 4 different hotels. My husband still talks about it.

Macchu Picchu is great when you are light and can climb a decent elevation. If you already visit much of Europe, try Southeast Asia or Latin American for a change!

I would suggeat SE Asia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia are great place to visit without kids. Yes, you'll find exciting place to visit there but going with kid can be little complicate.