Despite our mega-journey we actually had a lovely holiday in Spain. Here are some top tips I’ve garnered to help you make the most of your vacation with your horror.
1. Go self-catered.
This one was key for me. We stayed in a lovely villa with my parents and two of their friends. We had a fully equipped kitchen for me to prepare meals and snacks for the Baby. Jetlag plus the fact that the little guy is a touch high maintenance means he is not always on everyone else’s meal schedules, especially not the southern Spanish’s. I’d have hated rushing round trying to find somewhere open not full of smokers in the 8 and a half minutes we have between the Baby letting us know he’s hungry and a full meltdown ensuing.
We also had an outdoor eating area and portable highchair so he could throw three meals a day on the floor without any waiters glaring at me.
An added bonus was our villa came with it’s own pool. No getting up at the crack of dawn to grab a sunbed. No carrying three million things to take the baby swimming for 15 minutes and then trying to remember to take it all back again. Bliss. Plus the mummies could jump in for a quick swim and cheeky cocktail during mojito time nap time.
We were lucky enough to have help with the accommodation from my parents but house swapping and/or sharing a villa with friends is a great way to keep holiday costs down. Self catering is much cheaper than eating out for every meal for two weeks too.
2. Go with back up.
Lets face it, time spent with a one year old is not relaxing, and never will be. To combat this I recommend holidaying with other people who don’t yet know what spending hours and hours with a 1 year old is like. Top of my list would be grandparents who haven’t seen the baby for a few months and friends of a grandparent-ing age who don’t have grandchildren of their own and would like to borrow yours for a few hours. Gleefully hand him over and retreat inside for a siesta.
3. Go for a routine.
Ours came about naturally. He mostly had his meals at 7, 12 and 6. He napped around 9 and 1. He slept from 6.30-7.00pm. All these times were a little flexible and there were days where he missed naps but overall it made life easier. During the day at least. The little terror still hasn’t figured out sleeping through the night.
4. Go out and about.
Loads of fun things to do and explore in a new place. All that stimulation is bound to wear out your tot and bring cocktail hour (aka bedtime) on a little faster.
5. Go for it.
We’ve put off going on holiday for ages as I thought it would just be a struggle but I really enjoyed myself. Might even consider another little trip in the next few months…if someone figures out teleportation by then.
What are your tips for enjoying a holiday with kids?
It is a matter of survival at first. Our first holiday was pretty successful, but when everything is different you have to help yourself! Great list! #bigfatlinky
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I was amazed how well ours went but I think we had quite realistic expectations. I knew I wouldn’t be sunbathing and reading this holiday 🙂
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Yes yes YES to your #2!
Our first vacation with Chicken was not as stressful as we thought it would be – we had my parents AND my brother and his wifey (no cherubs for them just yet). The energy of Auntie and Uncle was so helpful, especially when Nana and PopPop lost theirs!
We also only ‘scheduled’ a couple things…the rest of the week was basically improv. From my experience:
Schedule + Chicken = Death of Schedule. Improv is the way to go! 😊
Happy for you that you had a survivable holiday! ❤️
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Good of your bro and sis-in-law to help out. If it were me on holiday I might be feigning sleep on the sun lounger 🙂
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Yes! There was definitely at least one day for I may have slept (complete with the snores, the teeth grinding, the dreams) for almost an entire day.
Lucky to have the fam with us that time! 😊
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Bet you needed to catch up a lot. We both feel like we have best part of a year of sleeping to catch up on…and the bags under our eyes to prove it.
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I loved travelling and holidaying with my daughter when she was young. You are motel/bound when the child needs to sleep or hotel bound lol whatever you call it…but it is so fun and I’ve always just gone with the flow on holiday. I find the best holidays for me were when there were no commitments and we could do everything on our own schedule. So I agree with the self catering! Such fun and when I am well I will be sure to do a lot more travelling and holidaying again!
Angela xx
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I agree, being over scheduled with a tiny tot is a recipe for stress. Hope you’re feeling well enough soon, Angela x
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The idea of a villa with a personal pool sounds fab. Nice to be able to run to your own schedule instead of a hotel’s schedule. The advantage of a hotel/restaurant though is when the meals get thrown on the floor, you don’t have to clean it up lol 🙂 #bigfatlinky
Debbie
http://www.myrandommusings.blogspot.com
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So true, Debbie. Cleaning the highchair after a bout of spag bol was a living nightmare.
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That’s the perfect trip with a little one. Jet lag is so hard – babies really struggle with it. My daughter & I traveled to the US when she was 21 months old. We stayed for one week & she never adjusted to US time until we were leaving. She was waking up ready for the day at 3am! This last trip, she’s a little bit older & did so much better! You have great tips for baby travel – especially your own space & family to help out! I’m so glad you enjoyed your holiday & will go again! #bigfatlinky x
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The US must be tought. Isn’t that a 12 hour difference? We didn’t sleep a wink the whole 22 hour journey so actually slipped into the time change quite easily. The Baby’s just a terrible sleeper plus has was a bit poorly.
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yup, yup I wanted to go self catered this year but was beaten down by my Mum and Chris (to be fair I’m not the cook!!!) I’m hoping to next year as we may be able to get our girl in bed before 10pm. Parents are just THE BEST on holiday. Glad you had an awesome time and I love mojito hour!! xxx #bigfatlinky
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We lived off bread, salads and bbq- not too tricky, especially if everyone has a go at cooking. Was lovely to get him to bed early and have a fun, grown up night too.
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Yup we did that in The States pre baby! I never ate so much steak….and I don’t even eat steak! Ooh bet u loved the bread after 3 weeks off xx
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Oh yes. Plus you just can’t get good baguettes out here so in reality it’s been years. Mmmm baguette and brie….
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No Brie…noooo! My work colleague is obsessed…x
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Can’t get enough. Neither can the Mrs. It’s really expensive here, as is all cheese. You should have seen her face at the Spanish prices.
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Perfect way of doing it. I agree with it being easiest if you can cook. So much easier! You still have the option to go out if you want but you don’t have to and it also helps getting into a routine.
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Defo. And even though we encouraged him to stay up our tot was ready for bed by 7pm- which in a hotel would have meant we were bed bound then too.
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Exactly! I love staying in an apartment or house.
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Me too
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