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How's the pre-MBA externship opportunity?
Got an offer from fb. Should I move to Seattle?
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Just a little Thursday Pick-Me Up.
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We do this all the time. We tend to keep travel time at less than 5 hours until they are a little older (learned the hard way), but you will have memories and pics to share even if they don’t remember. I highly recommend travel with kids, but reset your expectations from vacation to “family trip.” Then you will build memories and not be disappointed at the relative lack of a relaxation. They’re only little for a little while. Don’t miss it and take tons of pics.
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Well Covid ruined everything but we took our first around a lot prepandemic! California and Miami as a baby, some shorter road trips and camping around one year and Japan at 15 months. It’s fun! You just need to slow wayyy down and schedule around naps which is a blessing in and of itself.
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Mine are 6 and 8 now, but I love all the memories of taking them on little adventures even as babies and toddlers. You’re right they don’t remember, but putting little baby toes in the sand and ocean for the first time was fun for us parents and even fun for the babies (based on their smiles and giggles at the time, not based on their current memories of the trip, haha). And they LOVE looking at the pictures and videos now. You’ll find people who say they took their infants all over the world, and that definitely wasn’t me, because that simply wouldn’t have been fun for me. My kids swear they remember trips they took as toddlers, and who knows how much is from looking at pictures and hearing stories, but I do think there are parts of the experiences that stuck in their brains! That said, the same is true of local trips to the zoo, aquarium, parks, playgrounds, farms, etc etc. But I think go on the trips that YOU think are fun and don’t worry that they may not remember! Make the family memories. Enjoy!
My kids don’t remember a single trip we took with them when they were under 3. We did it anyway. Both are now great travelers ✈️
Do it now. You'll ALL learn to travel as a family. And even if they don't remember you will. And they'll love to hear your memories about it, and know they were there.
I once heard that traveling encourages kids to make developmental leaps, but it may be an old wives' tale. We traveled domestically and internationally before my kid turned 2. I got more efficient with packing each time, and I swear that my kid "suddenly" mastered whatever he was working on (sitting up alone, self soothing with no pacifier, etc.) once we returned home. Even if these were just coincidences, the exposure to new scenery, smells, food, and people is so good for them.
We plan to do some very local trips this year and next year when my youngest is 1.5, we plan on Chicago for a longer weekend and then go from there. We live in WI so we are going to stay around there for a few years until they are a bit older
The main thing is figuring out what you’ll be doing while they’re napping/sleeping as that can be a large chunk of your time. Staying somewhere that you can at least enjoy some sun while they’re napping, etc. We had some very nice friends we could stay with a couple times. That worked well because you can hang out after kids in bed. Or we would go with grandparents so there was someone to trade off on nap duty and so we could get a dinner out.
Family trips with babies are great. It requires some logistical planning, but much easier than traveling with older kids who have opinions 😅. We traveled a bunch when my first born was a baby.
My partner and I both work remotely and have found that taking a few hours off on a Friday afternoon and going out of town with our children two to three hours away for a long weekend is a really nice way to prepare for longer car trips. We are in the Midwest and travel to the coast several times a year to visit family. We're actually doing a short trip tomorrow, and our children (3 & 7) are delighted at the prospect of staying in a hotel and getting to watch screens in the car. We upgraded to a minivan this year and it has changed our travel game dramatically. The ability to put the back seats down and have a larger area for luggage and a potty station has been phenomenal. I also have an exceptionally detailed spreadsheet of everything everyone needs for each type of trip: short weekends, weeks at the beach, overnight in the winter, etc. It takes a lot more planning, but it's a lovely way to build memories.