asschergirl

Hello all

I'm new to this forum and wanted your advice and idea as to nice vacations to take with a toddler or child? Next year will be our 10th anniversary and we were long awaiting a trip to the French Polynesia but after being on the Foder forum it is not a good idea because of the sun's strength for our then 1.5 year old child. I don't want to leave him behind because we both work full time and would love to spend our vacation time with him and spend as much of our free time as we can with him.

When I search online for family vacations ideas I get the same places: Disneyworld, theme parks, etc. I'm looking for a more 'special' destination since it will be a milestone we're celebrating and my husband and I have traveled extensively to the US and the caribbean, and most of those ideas don't interest us. I find on cruise critic upscale cruise line passengers are not exactly welcoming of a child onboard, and wondering if you could give me places you've been to with your child that are not quite typical like Disney.

We are taking him on a cruise in a few weeks and Maui in the fall. We are planning on taking him to Disney when he turns 2, but I'm at a loss for a nice, safe, and welcoming vacation idea for our anniversary that would include a child in the picture.

Thanks in advance!

Momliz

I wouldn't rule out french polynesia - just keep him in the shade, some. A little sun is not going to hurt. He will probably nap during the time when the sun is hottest anyway, so you go back to the room and chill.

toedtoes

How about something like Niagara Falls?

For the "romantic anniversary" part, you have Niagara on the Lake, wineries, etc.

For the "family vacation" part, you have the Falls and all the activity surrounding them.

The best is that they are close enough together that you can split up the days - a nice day of winetasting, then an evening watching the fireworks over the Falls or a day of activities like Maid of the Mist, Cave of the Winds, etc. and then a nice dinner in NOTL.

thursdaysd

Try asking on the Europe board. Many, many Europeans take their kids on vacation every year....

atp2007

When my son was three we took him to Italy with us (mid-1980s) and it was the best thing we ever did. He was fussed over constantly by older Italians e.g. grandmothers would volunteer to watch him along with their grandchildren at restaurants, waiters would take him and sit him on the bar and give him treats like ice cream, my wife was always pushed to the front of rest room lines, teenage girls at tourist sites would share lunch with him,...). We developed a schedule that really worked well. In the morning we would tour the churches and see the paintings of the "Mommy and Baby" or the "Angels", then have lunch, maybe a siesta time before touring again, then hit the parks in late afternoon so he could play and burn off energy with the local kids. We would then walk him in his stroller until he fell asleep and then have dinner.
(Conversely, it seemed easier to have a dog with you in the UK than a child. We once had to ask if we could take him to a Pub lunch when the dog owners didn't have to. Almost nobody paid an attention to him or offered to help anywhere in the country.)

My wife also read a good trick for keeping him amused on flights when he didn't find a young girl n th plane to entertain him. She would buy some small inexpensive toys, wrap them up and parcel them out to him at intervals during the trip. We later realized we could also do this with is own toys, hide a few away weeks before traveling, then use them the same way on the flights. These days there are the individual screens on many flights and electronic toys to distract them.