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I went with a 5 mo so not toddler, to England.

I just followed his sleepy cues and it worked out well. He never needed much adjustment

@Adira: When I travelled within Europe with my son, we were either at a hotel (austria) or staying with family (italy). When we're on vacation, we maintain the same nap schedule, so that means we're back at home base for at least 1 nap a day now.

Do you have an idea where you want to go? My son isn't super flexible, so there would have been no way we could have done a sightseeing trip to Rome, as an example.

@Adira: we haven't gone to Italy with a toddler yet. But honestly when I think of the sights you'll want to hit it'll be harder with a toddler in tow! But I guess it depends on how old X will be?

We really want to go back TO. Cinque Terre, Italy for our 5th so LO will be about 3.5. Possibly a second. At around 1.5? But we will likely stay put in CT and hit whatever major city we fly into if we make the trip happen.

Depends on how you travel. It'll have to be altered for a LO. But besides that I wouldn't worry that much. LO's sleep doesn't get affected much by travel. She naps in a stroller so we absolutely wouldn't waste 3 hours in the hotel every day. But then if we're staying at least a week we might some days. I would rent an apt over a hotel. We did that almost in every city during our honeymoon via VRBO.

I think the most difficult part is the logistics of what you want to see. For example, the public transportation is rather simple to navigate, but when you want to go into the Colosseum, you might have to take your toddler out of the stroller. If they are napping, do you wake them up? Do you wait? IIRC, there are a lot of stairs, so you have to find a place to leave the stroller, and bring your bag, possibly carrying your child, etc etc. That's the stuff you have to be prepared for and also adaptable to!

If you don't have a rigid schedule, I think anything is possible, but realistically, with my son and his schedule dependence, taking him somewhere like that is setting my son up to fail.

So for now, we stick to things that are kid friendly. Another option is something like Europa-Park, if you've been to Disney, it is a total let down, but it could be fun, and it's in Germany.

We have a few opportunities to go to Europe in 2014. Dh wants us to all go, but I haven't decided if I wanna put myself through it. Dd will be 3 years old and DS will be 1.5. Will let you know how it goes if we go!

I tagged along on a work trip with my husband to New Orleans when my daughter was 20 months old. So, not international, but still, a big trip. I would not have planned this trip just for the sake of it. We had a lot of fun, but we'll save our real trips for when she's old enough to walk around on her own and to remember it.

We had a wonderful, time, though. We spent all of our time just walking around exploring the French Quarter and the surrounding neighborhoods. My daughter sleeps well in her stroller, so that was easy. A major hassle was eating - eating three meals a day in fancy restaurants was not fun. We had little snacks in our room, but she was not hugely into them in general. We did love to raid the fruit bowl in the mornings. But I'd suggest getting a room with a mini fridge and trying to have milk and cereal for the mornings and simple sandwiches with fruit for lunch. Or whatever your equivalent is - just anything to cut down on the number of times you're asking your toddler to sit politely in a restaurant.

I'd also suggest keeping plans fairly loose and unstructured. After a few days we were all kind of sick of the heat, the noise, the smells - everything. So we just bailed on our afternoon plans, went back to our room, and spent a few hours watching cartoons and eating snacks. It was really refreshing. If I'd had some big plan already set up or paid for, we might not have taken the break, and we'd probably all have been miserable by nighttime.

Have fun! This was one of the funnest things we've done as a family. It showed me that my daughter is a great traveler IF she gets her needs for calm and downtime met. Same as me, really.

My SIL and her husband live in Italy for the year and we figured out how to make ff miles work so we can visit them in the spring. DS will be almost 2 at that point. Since we can only go for a week, we thought about the 24 hour travel day on the way there and a long one back, plus the 7 hour time difference and decided since we would want to SEE things, it would be best to leave DS at home with my parents, who are comfortable taking care of him. It's kind of terrifying to be away from him for (a total of) 8 nights! Eek! But, I think he will be better off staying in a comfortable environment and we'll be able to sight see without an over-tired toddler who has jet lag.

@Mrs. Pinata: Gahhhhhh Omg jelly!!!!!! You have to hike the trail. When are you going? Hopefully it's open. There is a restaurant in Manarola over looking the Riviera that has the most amazing seafood antipasto we have ever had. And we consider ourselves to be amateur foodies.
I will dig through my email and send you a link to this apartment rental site that rents out apartment in each of the villages. We had this awesome little apartment with a view of the Riomaggiore into the Riviera. It was so amazing. We were only there for two nights but if we stay longer I would have rented an apartment that has a a kitchen.

@Adira: ask shopaholic... She did this!

@Adira: DH had a business trip to Italy last summer for two weeks, and we thought about taking Chloe. We decided against it because the idea of her sitting on a plane for 13 hours didn't seem like fun.

I have family that lives in northern Italy, and it would have been nice to see them!

My husband said Milan is incredibly family friendly, but he didn't go anywhere south. I'd imagine Rome would be hard and boring. I know my toddler wouldn't care about the Vatican!

We went with a 2 year old and I'm back and alive to tell the tale! We didn't go to Italy, but I'll tell you breaking up the flights made is more manageable for us. How old will you LO be when you try to go?

We did 3 Europe cities this past August when DS was 13.5 months. We stayed in 1 hotel and then rented 2 apartments which worked really well. He took most naps in his stroller which I didn't want to happen but it ended up working just fine. People thought we were crazy but we wanted to travel so we just did it. We're so glad we did, as the little guy was a champ and we have the best memories.

oh, also, I've heard Italy is super child-friendly in terms of actual friendliness/enthusiasm for kids, but not child-friendly in terms of elevators/having high chairs at restaurants, etc. Maybe other people have had a different experience? We're going in December, so I can report back...

@lamariniere: We're in Portugal. Wish there were others here!

@lamariniere: yes, it's really lovely here!

@SugarplumsMom: We are in Lisbon and love it! Have yet to live through a winter here but lived here last summer and moved from the east coast (of the US) this fall. People love Porto, so though I haven't been I can't speak to it, but I will put in a plug for Lisbon. It's beautiful, cheap, surprisingly great food, lots of English spoken/understood, good art and walking, and the weather is good for Europe (about 20 degrees warmer than NY, on average, I think... maybe not quite as warm as Seville, but really great in my book!). It is close to Sintra and Évora, great day trips or overnight trips. If you want more thoughts, about traveling here with kids or about the city/Portugal, message me on my wall. I'd be happy to email!