[eurobin]

Since my ex and I have been separated, my daughter and I have traveled to New England twice. It's not the easiest thing in the world to wrangle a toddler through an airport, but it was doable. But the reason we went to New England is because that's where my parents live... we stayed with them both times.

I'd like to plan a short vacation for just DD and I this year, maybe 3 or 4 days? But I don't even know where to begin. She's 28 months now, so still pretty little. She's too young for Disney or other big theme parks (IMO) although I did take her to Storyland, which is a theme park based on nursery rhymes geared to littler kids and she loved that. She loves to swim and play in the water, too. I think she'd have fun anywhere, really... I'm just nervous about *me*. I know I could go-go-go-go and be a Super Mom and make sure she has the time of her life, but I'd actually also like to enjoy myself as well. I know I'm not going to be able to sit back and nap while my two year old splashes in the ocean or anything, but I also don't want to worry about other travelers shooting us death eyes or anything because she's rambunctious and two. I want fun, not stress.

One thing that's tripping me up now that I'm single is that a lot of cool looking ideas, like Great Wolf Lodge, do "family funpacks" which are a good deal if you're a family of four. We are only two.

I know there's not going to be a simple fix around these things, but if you've successfully taken a vacation for pleasure by yourself -- no other adults -- but with your child(ren), tell me about it. Where did you go, how old were your kids? Was it worth it or did you need a vacation when you got home?

 

[meandmine]

Great question.

We do long-weekends and tend to drive or go by train where we can stop when we feel the need and go as fast or slow as we want or, in the case of the train, move around, explore, play and see great scenery with low stress and comfortable seats.

I tend to get a king size bed in hotels since I know the girls will climb in with me any way and that way we are not squeezed into a double bed.

I tend to go rarely, but go relatively high end -- that way I take care of me (nice bathrooms, nice towels and sheets, maybe a pool with a hot tub).

Honest to goodness, once I splurged on *one* night and high tea at the Ritz Carleton with my girls to celebrate my new job. It should have been heaven, but the Ritz we went to needed a little updating -- still the concept was right-on. The girls loved high tea and the huge room and luxury pool/spa area. But, one night was hugely expensive -- special, rare treat.

Not something an 18 mo. old would enjoy.

I don't know how near the beach or a lake or mountains you are, but those are my other destinations. Two nights at the beach off season where we can walk, collect shells and pretty much have the place to ourselves. Or ditto for the mountains. For lake, we head to my brother's for a week every summer. My girls love just hanging out and swimming, kayacking, reading, play board games. For excitement we went blueberry picking and to the local library one rainy day.

I also love history so I will go to a historical area or site and stay in a nice hotel -- indulge my interest, expose the girls, and stay in a nice place.

Again, this may not quite fit the bill with an 18 mo. old.

Finally, a lodge with a big common area with a roaring fireplace in the winter is great for a couple of days. Just curl up with little one near the fire and read while she colors or plays. Often families appear and you can chat while she discovers a new "friend." We have a bunch of beautiful state parks nearby with really affordable lodges.

Ok, those are samples of what I have done.

Could luck planning.

M

 

[guestmama9915]

If you can afford it, go on a cruise! Especially the ones that are kid friendly. You can even drop the little one off if you wanted (and she went for it) in their "babysitting" area or whatever. I went on a cruise once (still w/ the ex then) and they actually had a really good set of rooms + mini pool for the kids where you could drop them off and they played and did crafts for the older kids and stuff. I didn't feel comfortable doing it then, but if I could afford it now... that might be a nice vacation.

 

[pranamama]

my solo vacation was so "stress free" I had a blast!

 

[NolaRiordan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tripleaces If you can afford it, go on a cruise! Especially the ones that are kid friendly. You can even drop the little one off if you wanted (and she went for it) in their "babysitting" area or whatever. I went on a cruise once (still w/ the ex then) and they actually had a really good set of rooms + mini pool for the kids where you could drop them off and they played and did crafts for the older kids and stuff. I didn't feel comfortable doing it then, but if I could afford it now... that might be a nice vacation.

Don't know if I would recommend a cruise. I took my DD when she was about 3. I tried a couple times to drop her off at the day camp / day care center. The teachers were super nice and welcoming but she wouldn't be there alone. She didn't know anyone and wouldn't let me leave. I did stay and she played there for a while, but that was it. The other thing that was annoying was the food. Breakfast and lunch were buffet style and I felt like I spent too much time up and done getting her food and then I never got a chance to eat. And the fancy dinners just took TOO long for a 3 year old. The food was good and there were multiple courses and it was just hard to keep her amused through the whole meal. YMMV of course. I think a cruise could be fun if you were with other people.

My recommendation would be to rent a cottage / condo on the beach. Those are my favorite vacations with the kids. We bring lots of sand toys and swim, walk on the beach, look for shells and rocks. If it rains you can still go to the beach since you're getting wet anyway, and jump in the waves. Inside we play games, do crafts, read books, etc. It's lovely.

I've been divorced for less than a month but my X never wanted to take family vacations. So we just went without him and had lots of fun.

 

[MsChatsAlot]

We've done short trips in our area. The kids love being in a hotel, they love the pool, games rooms, etc. I would recommend a place where you can roam (beach, mountains, parks) and let your little one be able to be a little one. I have no suggestions of places to go, but I've always travelled with my kids and I've been single since number two was in utero...so it's just sort of normal for us.

I hope you find something and have a lot of fun. And if you do find specials for families of 4, why not call the place and see if they could give you a similar special for 2?

 

[Holland73]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eurobin I know there's not going to be a simple fix around these things, but if you've successfully taken a vacation for pleasure by yourself -- no other adults -- but with your child(ren), tell me about it. Where did you go, how old were your kids? Was it worth it or did you need a vacation when you got home?

Ds and I were living in Europe the first 18 months of his life and we traveled quite frequently one our own (France, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, US)for long weekends and a couple of 1-2 week holidays.

Since moving back to the US, we have taken long weekends to various surrounding areas in WA, CA and OR. Nothing longer, due primarily to having been in grad school and/or lack of funds. Although, I am starting to get antsy, having been in the US for so long, and am starting to look at a trip to Mexico or Canada for this summer.

:

Within the next year or two, we will be returning to Europe (ds will be 6-7 years) for a few weeks.

For me, any travel away from home is worth it! Traveling when ds was younger required a lot more organization and preparedness, but for the most part, it was great.

Did I need a vacation after such a vacation? Honestly, it was more like I needed some extra time to myself, by myself. Therefore, I arranged to have a babysitter for a few hours for the next couple days after returning.

 

[tangent]

I took my dd to Great Wolf Lodge when she was about your dd's age. I went with another single mom and it was fun. I never felt like I could really kick back and relax, but I did have a blast. We shared a suite, which was cheaper. I also made many trips to the beach and met my family there. They help watch her sometimes, which is a break. It's the only time I've had a break, in fact, when I've flown to where my family is and let them watch her, too.

I think until your dd is older it's just really hard for a single mom to travel without being totally on top of the situation. Toddlers are fast and curious and full of energy. It gets easier as they get older! Good luck!

 

[DaughterOfKali]

We went away for a couple nights alone for the first time in September. We only drove about 1 1/2 hrs to the destination. I brought lots of stuff to keep ds occupied in the B&B. I also brought snacks.

We had awful weather almost the entire time so it made it difficult. Otherwise, it was ok. Oh, and ds was 5. Couldn't have done it when he was younger.

 

[lilyka]

I took my three kids to Yellowstone. they were 2, 5 and 8. it was a blast. if it was just me and the baby I would stay in a nice hotel somewhere with nanny service. that way after she went to bed you could slip down and have a drink or something. or even stay in a suite so you could just go to the other room and relax a bit, order up room service or a massage. My favorite place to go is chicago. cheap and easy to get around, reasonably priced nice hotels available, a beach, tons of fun stuff for families. Any big city with public transit is a pretty good score. our hotel provided free shuttle to the airport so we would catch a ride to the airport and then catch the L from there. I can imagine that would be super easy to do with a wee one.

 

[Momily]

I think a big city vacation would be great at that age. Our first trip solo (other than visiting friends and family) was to Baltimore when DS was 3 -- we just spent one night and did the train museum one day, played in the pool that night and again the next morning, did the aquarium the next day.

The next year we went to New York City which was even better -- he loved the Metropolitan Museum of Art -- where we saw the Pyramids and knights and armor, and then played on the sandy Egypt themed playground next door. He loved wandering in central park and seeing the boats on the pond there, and the Ferris wheel in Toys R Us made his day. I would think New York would be even better with a "stroller aged" child because they'd likely fall asleep and let you see the stuff you want to see too.

We also did a beach vacation at age 4 that was great -- we went to Sanibel Island which has no waves (because it's on the gulf) and split our time between the pool and the beach -- it was lovely.

Another single mom and I teamed up and went to Deep Creek Lake in MD when he was 3 and that would have been totally doable alone too. We also did a cruise together and that would have been doable alone too -- DS LOVED the idea of room service, so that took care of the "formal nights" and seeing all the different beaches at different ports of call was fun. We also left the kids with a babysitter one afternoon and went to the spa.

 

[meemee]

even tho i was still with my ex i have been traveling solo since my dd was 2 months old.

first of all i didnt need a me time. we did things together. and honestly by 8 we were both soooo pooped that we both conked out for the night.

my dd and i share similar interests. either we went on walks, hikes or explorations - either in nature or in cities. when i went with friends i got a little bit of break.

but mostly we were out, out, out. just came to the hotel room to rest.

sometimes i would call 'watching' a friends house a vacation. coz we would go and explore all the parks and social stuff around them in the same city.

as a mommy it has always been solo vacations. so i dont really know any different. every single time i knew it was a blast. no matter what we did.

 

[eurobin]

I think I'm going to do Great Wolf Lodge... if I go midweek, it's not that expensive and I know she'd have a complete blast. It's not far from home, either. I feel kind of comfortable about it because it'll be a good way to test the waters (literally and figuratively

) of vacationing just the two of us.