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D.C. Area Babies
How often do you travel?
How often do you go on a family vacation (kids included)? I'm talking about big trips, like driving 6+ hours each way or getting on a plane and being gone for 4 or more days.
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Re: How often do you travel?
Ha! By your definition - NEVER.
DH and I travel once or twice a year to somewhere out of state, but C hasn't joined us. We do travel quite a bit with C to exotic locales 2-3 hours away (mostly DE-MD-VA beaches).
But, our family is almost entirely in-state so when we travel it's mostly just because of a whim or work. And we have local grandparents that are able to watch C while we gallivant.
We're doing two "big" trips a year right now.
One to the Outer Banks every September and one somewhere new. In 2012, we're headed to Cape Coral, Fla. For 2011, we went to South Dakota. We will most likely be doing Disney World in 2013.
We also had so much fun on our long weekend to PA last year, that we're planning another one for June.
Before DS we did one big trip a year (either a cruise, or more recently we went to Europe, and Hawaii knowing our traveling would change with a baby in our future plans).
With DS we're planning to still take at least one week-long trip a year (this summer will be to Myrtle Beach with friends), and then we take a few long-weekend trips usually to visit my family in SC (a 7 hour car ride) or NJ (a 4 hour ride).
So far DS is a good little traveler and I think we'd travel more if we had more PTO.
You are not alone! I just visited my sister in El Paso a few weeks ago with Baby Handy!
It was such a pain. While I enjoyed visiting her, DS is at a delicate age where keeping his routine keeps him happy, therefore keeps me happy.
I'm so thrilled to be staying at home for the holidays this year.
Off to the beach
DS 7/18/2010
Handy 2.0 Due Early August
2011/2012 Races
12/17/2011 Christmas Caper 10K
2/11/2012 Have a Heart 5K
3/17/2012 DC RNR Half Marathon
4/22/2012 10M Parkway Classic
10/28/2012 Marine Corps Marathon
Ah, this changes things! I think it's totally rational if your holidays are anything like ours... I love seeing family but it is such a PITA to bring all the kid stuff, not have any down-time/alone-time like you'd have on an actual vacation, cramming in three different family visits between Thanksgiving and New Year's, etc. I would honestly rather host than travel for the holidays, but it's hard for my grandparents to travel at this point so we really make an effort to get to see them. If it were just my parents and IL's I'd ask them to come to us now since we have DS.
Too much! This year we did Florida in January, OBX in June and California in August. After New Years we are going to Chicago and we have a trip to Vermont planned for August. We are hoping to get an OBX trip in too if we can get a last minute deal on a rental but we're waiting to see how it goes with having 3 kids before we decide about that one.
It is a lot of work to travel with the kids although it's gotten easier as they've gotten older. I remember we went to the beach for a week when DD was crawling and felt like it would have been a lot easier just to stay home since she was into everything and nothing was baby-proofed at the beach house.
DD1 9.24.06
DS 7.1.08
twins due 9.7.11 lost twin A at
DD2 4.7.12
so far, we have done that exactly once since Warner was born--our big Hawaii trip last January.
And once I took him with me on a roadtrip to Charlotte to visit some good friends from college. That was about an 8hr trip and we stayed for exactly 4 days...but it wasn't really a vacation.
But we've done a lot of mini-vacations closer to home. When he was about 5 months old we did a trip out to the mountains for a long weekend. Then when he was 10 months old we did a ski trip with a bunch of friends and rented big house for Super Bowl weekend at Snowshoe; that was about 4 days. And several times we have been to the IL's house down at VaBeach for long weekends.
Oh and I almost forgot, we did a long weekend in Chicago last summer.
So for small vacations, I guess we have done something once every 4ish months. But without me working our budget for "big" vacations is pretty much non-existent.
We have not traveled since coming home early from vacation in the summer of 2010. We were all miserable.
We are hoping to go to the beach for a week this coming summer. Otherwise, all relatives can come see us.
We used to take at least two big vacations a year before DD was born.
Since we've had here? We've only done it once--at family trip to the NC beach when DD was one. Otherwise, I don't know, I'm lazy I guess. It's just such a hassle to pack up all the stuff a baby/toddler needs to travel for a long period. I keep telling myself that when she's older, we'll start travelling again.
We have done two or three trips per year with T, and every time we come back saying we're not traveling again with her for a long time. She ends up sobbing at some point during every flight and has slept like crap everywhere except one trip to "grandmother's." (Gah - why does my MIL insist on being called that???)
I don't think you're crazy for resisting travel for the holidays - it's regular stress from traveling with a little kid compounded by the craziness of traveling at a busy time of year. We almost got pulled off a plane last year a few days after Christmas becuse they were overbooked (and let us get seated before deciding we were the ones that should have been pulled from the flight in the first place) and I was near to sobbing on the plane at the idea of missing our entire trip since it would be hard to rebook at that time of year. WAAAY too stressful.
We have traveled exactly zero times since LO was born, including long weekends. We are not traveling for the holidays this year, but I imagine we'll probably start to travel in the next year. We also are kind of trading off our once-large travel budget for daycare and home repairs. But we are also homebodies, so that kind of makes sense.
Long weekends (like NYC, Charlotte, Pennsylvania) maybe once every 2-3 months.
Vacation/vacations - once a year. Each time I come back less rested than when we go. Although flying with two was not bad. It's just the adjustment to someplace new and accommodating a crawling baby that is problematic.
We never travel around the holidays. We're busy enough that time of year and airfare is too expensive.
DD1 9.24.06
DS 7.1.08
twins due 9.7.11 lost twin A at
DD2 4.7.12
2 or 3 times/year. Once to see my family, once to see my husband's family & once (hopefully) to do a family vacation. Next year we're thinking Italy, but my parents would come to serve as extra helping hands & we would serve as their experienced travel companions.
i hate holiday travel. hate, hate, hate, hate, HATE. And I felt that way before kids. We're travelling to see my family for xmas & i'm already dreading it.
Once a month? Before this pregnancy we traveled a lot.
This year we did 2 weeks in France, OBX for a week, Chicago, New York, Ohio, Nashville. I'm sure there's more. We've driven cross-country with DS twice. He's also been to Florida, Las Vegas, California, Texas, Chicago multiple times, etc., etc.
word.
we got to stay home for Christmas last year and it was glorious. I hosted Christmas dinner for my mom's side of the family and I loved it. This year we'll be with the ILs at their house and I'm sure it will be fine, but I really loved having everyone at our house last year and having Warner open presents in front of our (real) tree on Christmas morning ;-)
and don't get me started on the traffic on I-95. I think we'll leave at 2am this year to avoid it.
Since H was born, we've traveled to the beaches in SC twice but it wasn't really "vacation". It was taking H to meet family but they just happen to live near a well known vacation spot.
Other than that, we've not traveled with her. We may wind up going to MIL's house near Christmas since a bunch of friends of the family up there haven't yet met H, but that is a 4 hr car ride.
I definitely think with a child, going on a trip becomes so much work, and no way in hell would I do it at the holidays, esp. if it involved flying or a long car ride.
WnW, you are not crazy!
All our family is here except my sister and BIL and they visit often. We have traveled very little. 5+hrs each way when DD was 5mo old and again when she was 14mo old. Since we had DS, we flew to Boston when he was 5mo old and DD was 2 y.o. and in Sept of this year (35 and 15mo old) we went on a real vacation, to Cancun. My parents came and helped out, tremendously (we also paid their way).
I think it does get easier as they get older, I was shocked at how well DD did at 2, how well she adjusted to change in routine.
Like Gigs, we are planning Disney for Spring 2013.
My fantasy is to have one family vacation and one just-us-2 vacation per year once the kids are older and can be left w/ grandparents.
We took a week-long trip to some Nat'l parks when DD was 11mo old, she was going to come with us but my parents said they'll watch her. It was amazing! And, TMI, but DS would not be here now if DD had come with us LOL
We'll see how it goes but we are tentatively planning a just-us trip for 2012. We will also start doing more weekend trips next year, I want to take the kids to see Thomas in PA and maybe Hershey Park, etc.
Family has a beach house in SC but I think it'll be years before I can brave that drive!
We refuse to make big trips for the holidays. Everyone else is sans kids and come visit us if they want to see us. Probably selfish, but we don't feel like suffering through holiday travel with two small children.
As far as big trips go, we take about one a year. We're flying to Arizona to see my family in February. We spent a week outside of Charlottesville back in July, and took 4 days in Lancaster in September. Those are smaller trips distance wise, but the time was still extended.
Well, for us there's a difference between "trips" and "vacations." We go on one vacation each year, to Maine, usually for 1-2 weeks. We drive, it's 11 hours but we break it up.
We travel to Ohio to visit the ILs over the holidays (and other times of year), and that's a 6-7 drive. We generally don't stay there more than 4 days (that's including travel days).
TTC #2: BFP 12/17/11, m/c 1/7/12 and D&C 1/12/12
baby blog/cooking blog
Ok, you're making me feel less guilty.
I think I can handle one big trip a year, and I like the idea of the grandparents coming along on vacation, too -- that way we can all spend time together, and there's a higher adult:kid ratio. Maybe I will float this idea for 2012.
We had a great trip to Maine this summer. We stayed in the same town MIL lives so it was great to visit family but have our own space (cabin on the lake).
The drive was long, so I'm not sure we'll do it every year. But we'll definitely go back!
Off to the beach
DS 7/18/2010
Handy 2.0 Due Early August
2011/2012 Races
12/17/2011 Christmas Caper 10K
2/11/2012 Have a Heart 5K
3/17/2012 DC RNR Half Marathon
4/22/2012 10M Parkway Classic
10/28/2012 Marine Corps Marathon
Oh, I get it. I felt that way the first couple of holiday seasons DS was around. The traffic plus all the preparation...ugh. It is better now that he requires less stuff.
My parents live about 6 hours away and we usually go down there twice a year, although we've stopped going for holidays. My folks come up here for either T-giving or Christmas. DH's family lives 3 hours away and we see them more often. They also are great about taking DS off our hands and so it feels like more of a break to visit there. My parents, not so much.
We went to the Outer Banks this year for a week. We also went to Atlanta for a wedding. We've gone to Louisiana a couple of times for family things. But we've yet to do a "get on a plane and take the whole family on vacation thing." Plane trips have always been for weddings or family things.
Probably about 4 times per year?
I hate traveling for the holidays, though. Especially if it's only for like 4 days. Everything feels so rushed and crowded.
I tell my parents and others that I'd rather see them when we can focus on visiting... versus during the craziness of the holidays.