We are new parents, so really naive to travel with children! Next year I'll be 30, LO will be 2, and it'll be our 5 year anniversary (all within 4 months of each other.) we want to take a nice trip, and cannot for the life of us decide whether to vacation with or without LO. If we vacation with her we are thinking Hawaii or Disney, without her we are thinking Hawaii or Paris. She would stay with my parents (my mom is primary caregiver) if we don't take her.
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I love traveling with kids!
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M was about 18 mo when we took a trip without her to Charleston, SC. We had a great time and she had a great time with my parents. We were only gone for 4 days. This summer we took her on her first vacation and obviously did a lot of kid-friendly activities. We also had a great time. But for a 5th anniversary, I'd suggest child-free if you can swing it
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I vote without LO. I actually do love traveling with LO but it's not relaxing, so for a celebratory trip I'd say no LO.
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If you have childcare that you're comfortable with I would go without the kids.
DH and I did a trip sans toddler when she was about that age. Even though I did the heavy parenting lifting he needed the adult vacation more than I did (and I really needed it). I think it was really good for us individually and as a couple. For me, it sort of celebrated the completion of baby's total physical dependence on me since we had weaned just a few months prior. We ended up conceiving #2 on that trip so it was really good for our family too.
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Go without since it is your anniversary. Plus I think it is really important to have couple time.
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I would go without the kids. We went to Vegas kid free for our 30the bdays and Charleston kid free for our 5th anniversary. LO gets to go on a beach vacation every year but we go with my family and have extra hands. Vacationing with kids without some help is fun, but not really vacation to me.
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I say it depends. We took a trip with LO around that age and it was great- I loved doing new things with her and seeing her have such a great time. But like @lawbee11: it isn't really a vacation for you. We also did a weekend away while LO stayed with my mom and it was amazing and relaxing, even though our destination wasn't nearly as exciting.
Are you planning on a second LO? If you are I say definitely take a vacation without kids first.
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@Foodnerd81: Still undecided! I say that as we are riding around with her in the car so she will sleep as she's miserable teething lol.
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If you can swing it, go without LO. Our LO has traveled a lot and is good at it, but if there was ever an option to just go as a couple, I would seriously consider it. We did a short weekend without her for our 5th, and it was nice. We don't really have the option to travel without her, so I would totally take advantage if I could.
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I really think it depends on the kinds of activities you want to do. If you really want to see and do Paris, I would go kid free. If you are just relaxing on a beach, especially if it's all inclusive (no cooking!) I would bring kids. That's awesome that you have the option of going with or without her.
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Totally up to you! Prob will depend if you've spent significant time away from here at that point and whether she is a good sleeper
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Funny piece on vacation vs trip: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7789310.
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We've done both and for your anniversary I highly recommend just the two of you. My son was 2 for our 5 year and it was really hard to leave him, but it wound up being really good. We had a lovely time and were able to reconnect. We Skyped everyday with our son and he hardly seemed to care; he was having such a great time with his grandparents.
My husband's 40th is coming up and I would love to go away again just the two of us but it will be more complicated because we will also have a 6 month old by then. I say take advantage of alone time when you can!
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We love traveling with LO, but if you're comfortable leaving her with your mom, why not do that? It will be a nice treat.
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At 2, I say without! I'm finally at the point at 22 months that I'm comfortable leaving her for a little longer and would love some time away! We do a beach trip with her every year that's a blast, too but for a bigger trip it would be just us!
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I'd highly recommend without. This way, you get to reconnect with each other and relax and enjoy your time away. You can always take another "just because" trip with LO. My answer is also based on the fact that your mom is already LO's primary caregiver, so you'd have nothing to worry about when you're away. We went to Hawaii without our (then) almost 3 yo to celebrate our 5-year anniversary this past spring. It was amazing
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We love traveling with our kiddo and we've taken her everywhere. We haven't been on a vacation without her and honestly don't think we will. I think I would miss her way too much to have fun without her
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We've decided we're doing Hawaii in 5 years, when our son is 10. I want to be able to go on a helicopter, do a volcano hike, etc and since it's kind of a hike for us, I want him to remember it.
Now, having written that, we've yet to go on a vacation without him since he's been born. My husband is jut not keen on it, I think it's mostly guilt, lol. We've travelled a fair bit and I will say there's pros and cons to every age. I've learned to do what is comfortable for me at that moment and right now, it's to travel as a family.
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We are about to take a 5 day vacation without lo! He is really too young to enjoy travel yet at only 2 and we don't want to wait years to finally go away again.
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T is 10 months- we went to Hawaii for two weeks over thanksgiving- it was great- I did not get to read as much as I would have liked though. We just booked another 2 weeks in Hawaii in October for our 10 year anniversary, she will be 20 months. We are doing the best of both worlds- my in laws are coming with us. I don't us seeing leaving T for more than a night or two anytime soon.
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I would jump at any chance to go to Hawaii without my kids, lol.
That being said, we are going to Disney in March with our 2.5 year old. I'm not expecting it to be relaxing in the slightest but it will be a lot of fun!
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Depends on what type of trip you want it to be.
Do you want to sleep in? Do you want to read a lot? Do you want to have a lot of sex? Do you want to drink? Do you want to be free to do whatever activities you'd like, on a whim? If so, don't take your daughter.
Or, do you want to experience the joy of your daughter playing in the sand, or meeting her favorite character? Do you want to focus on her and making memories? Are you okay with waking up early and sticking to schedules and not being spontaneous? Then take her!
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@pinkcupcake: Same with us! We haven't traveled without DS either, and I think if we did, we'd do that annoying thing the whole time of "oh, J would love doing this" - at this point I think he makes the trip more fun. But of course that depends on how easy to travel with your LO is.
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