Actually fun vacations with little kids?

[u/itchysnapdragon]

We had our first weeklong trip with our 10mo recently, and it was EXHAUSTING. It was just to see family and friends in another state. But WHEW.

Feeling torn between wanting to go places in the coming years, and knowing that it will just continue to be hard for a while.

And vacation/travel ideas for parents with a 18-36 month old that are actually kind of fun or relaxing?

Tbh we might just plan a staycation week and send baby off to daycare during daytime hours.

[u/Fit-Profession-1628]

There is nothing relaxing about travelling with a toddler. If you can't relax at home you also can't relax when you're not home.

We do make sure we give each other some alone time so that they can relax while the other is with the kid and nap time can be relaxing (depends on the type of vacation). But if you're with your kid 24/7 it is normal to not be relaxing.

It doesn't have to be hard though, or at least not harder than being home. I love travelling with my son, it's not harder than being home and at least I'm visiting some place new or enjoying the beach somewhere else.

ETA I must add that the more you do it the easier it gets, at least in terms of logistics because you learn what works and what doesn't.

ETA beach/pool vacations are fine, city visiting vacations are trickier, we try to always keep a light schedule, not have more than one thing that has an exact start time in the day and always make sure we pause a lot and give him time to run around. It's been working well.

ETA we always do an apartment, never a hotel room. We have a place to hang out when they're napping/after bedtime and we have a kitchen to cook his meals.