Vacation plans during maternity leave?!

britb618 · September 2014

Has anyone planned (or in the past gone) on a vacation during their maternity leave?

With my first she was born July 4th so we took our annual trip to our family lake house when she was about 6 weeks old for ten days and then rented a beach house for three weeks at the end of the maternity leave (weeks 9-12). I figured it would be a while until I got to go on vacation after maternity leave and wanted to enjoy my time off. It actually worked well for us because we had family with us to help so we got to relax and they got to bond with baby too.

With our son being due in January and knowing I will be going back to work during summer (blah) and unlikely to be able to take too much time off after maternity leave, we just booked a week down in Captiva Florida! Super excited because we took my daughter there last year when she was about 9 months and we had a blast. Great area for families and very relaxing. This year my family decided to rent a house with a pool down there on the water. So it will be my 4 siblings with their spouses and my step sister will have a four month old, i will have a two month old and a twenty month old. I'm not sure how flying with a two month old and twenty month old will be but I'm looking forward to the vacation.

Anyone else planning anything??

Edvent · September 2014

We're planning to fly home for a visit towards the end of my leave. My parents live on the coast in SC (between Charleston and Savannah), so it's vacation-like. I'm a little nervous about flying with a less than 3 month old and an almost 2 year old... it will be special I'm sure. If we don't go during leave I don't have any time off until our fiscal year restarts in October, and we want to fly home before we have to pay for DD's ticket.

britb618 · September 2014

I can't wait to take my kids to Disney @exitedmama2!

rainbows · September 2014

We have an annual trip to Disney World late January for DH & I anniversary (we got married there also!). My 2 sisters, nephew and mom have also come the last 3 times (separate room, thankfully). We are still planning to go this year, if everything goes well with the baby. Will push it back a couple of months if necessary. Planning in a lot more resort time this trip and focusing on dining!

southernyankeegirl · September 2014

We have a family wedding in May, which will probably be our first big trip. We just decided to drive rather than fly, as it would be 2 hours to the airport, 2 hours waiting, 1.5 hour flight, and 1 hour waiting for luggage and getting a rental car (6.5 hours total) and only 7.5 hours to drive. Plus cheaper with two of us and baby than even 2 airplane seats.

I am hoping we can stay for a week at least. We've got a ton of friends and family in the area so it would be a real treat.

We're tentatively planning (if I can squirrel away airfare money from my part time job) to take a trip to Europe next fall.

AlfiesMOM · September 2014

When E was 7 weeks old last time we went to the beach... it was a disaster we had no idea what we were doing. We got so overwhelmed we left a day early! hahaha This time since it will be winter I plan on going to my parents house for two weeks at some point. The nice part about that is they will help with E plus we will have everything we need there. My hubby will fly down with us stay a day or two go back, then come down for a week at the end!

GromMom · September 2014

We went to visit my parents when lo was 11 weeks old. They are no longer able to travel so I did it when I could spend 3 weeks there since they live across the country. Other than changing a diaper I'm the airplane bathroom it was pretty easy.

MoJo2015 · September 2014

I plan to go visit family towards the end of my maternity leave for a couple weeks. I wouldn't really call it a vacation but it will be nice to have family around to help with him and give me some breaks.

MichaelSC28 · September 2014

Game plan is like the other ladies to try and get our lil girl around to see family that is not here. So we will be making some road trips to NC and NY. We will be going closer to her being 2-3 months old.

mc0113 · September 2014

We'll probably head up to DH's parents to visit for a long weekend, but that's about it. It's about a 5 hour drive, so nothing too terrible. Then we will have normal family vacation over the summer and a trip to Florida/Disney in October for a cousin's wedding.

MarxieVonTrapp · September 2014

I have a measly maternity leave, but we'll probably see my parents in Phoenix for spring break, when Baby is 2 months old.

donehue · September 2014

We spent a week in the Adirondacks in July after DD was born and agree that I can't get time off work for a while after going back so we will go on at least one trip this winter. We hope to do a few days in the Adirondack house a couple times, but I'm looking for a tropical trip that isn't too far of a flight from Boston and has spacious accommodations for a toddler and an infant.

We want to try a different island (thinking Bermuda, Bahamas, USVIs or PR), but two years ago we stayed at the Grand Case in St. Martin and would highly recommend it to other families. It was pretty much a full two-bedroom condo unit on a private beach with a restaurant, security etc for $350/night (was late May, which is off-peak). We really want to find similar accommodations on another island

csjsmom · September 2014

I get a longer mat leave (in canada) but I'm planning on going to Germany in July. This baby will be 5 months and my boys will be 8 and 12. I had a German student who lived with me when my oldest was 1 who is getting married. She's come back to visit us almost every year so this year it's my turn. I've taken my boys on plane trips before but nothing this long!

britb618 · September 2014

@donehue, sounds like we live similar lives, we live in Rhode Island and vacation in adirondacks at our family lake house in Lake George. and I LOVE the carribean, we were planning on doing an all inclusive but at the last minute decided to do Captiva instead. Hopefully next year!

storm08 · September 2014

We're planning on going to Florida for a beach vacation (taking DS and my parents) in early-mid March, so baby would be 6-8 weeks old? I figure that way I don't have to use any of my vacation time and besides the frequent diaper changes and feedings, baby is pretty easy to travel with at that point. My H is only taking off the first week, and DS will still be in daycare (we still have to pay, otherwise we lose his spot), so I figure this will be a nice break/wrap up to my leave to have some more family time.

donehue · September 2014

@britb618‌, it does sound like that! My in-laws have a house by Gore Mountain, so just 30 mins north of Lake George. I love how peaceful it is up there, but the 5.5+ hour drives with a two year old and two old dogs test my nerves. I will have to look into Captiva. I don't get to travel often so I'm kind of addicted to getting the passport stamped when I can...

britb618 · September 2014

totally agree @donehue, its like four hours for us and I thought it was bad with one baby and the dog...no idea how we will do it next year with a grown chocolate lab and two kids in the back seat...fun times! lol

SebsMum · September 2014

Last mat leave we went to Greece (Crete) when DS was 7 months and it was awesome! It's a pretty ideal age for travel, though, as he was very aware and interested in doing everything, but ultimately just not very mobile.

This time around we're going to do a few short road trips to see family and then we're hoping a trip to Turkey or Spain before I return to work. Basically, wherever we can find a cheap-ish package deal that we can do a bit of exploring from!

Cbeanz · September 2014

Two trips to visit family during my first mat leave. Once was an 11 hour drive (just me and 12 wk old baby) and another was a flight which included my first time ever NIP and pumping in an airport bathroom.

Neither trip felt like a "vacation."

GromMom · September 2014

saiven said:
I'd love to take a vacation while on maternity leave (especially when baby is 3 months or so) but since I don't know what my maternity leave will look like yet and money is super, super tight, we'll probably have to wait.

In a perfect world, we'd go on a cruise (we're big cruisers) but you can't take babies under 6 months.

Disney cruise is only 12 weeks or older. I took ds when he was 20 weeks :-)

SamanthaLaura16 · September 2014

We are planning on traveling to Florida for 3 weeks to a month to visit my parents in March.

joujouwish · September 2014

We are toying with the idea of headed out West for a week with baby when he is 4 weeks old or so. Probably not the most brilliant idea but hopefully we'll be able to manage and figure it out for first timers... *fingers crossed*

Pips09 · September 2014

Our first trip will be Thanksgiving 2015. I have no desire to travel during the first few months.

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