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  1. #11
    smilequeen is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    Our youngest was 4 the first time we went to Europe with all 3. We waited until he could handle the trip, but we didn't want to wait until he would remember everything (he definitely doesn't remember that trip). If we waited that long, we'd have so few years to travel with all 3. We have gone overseas every year since then and they have all always handled it well.
    Mama to my boys (04,07,11)

  2. #12
    gatorsmom is offline Pink Diamond level (15,000+ posts)
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    It totally depends on the kid and the type of trip. When they are younger traveling a long distance isn’t so bad if you can rest and relax for several days once you get to your destination. When my oldest was 18mo, we flew from Minneapolis to Hawaii. The last bit of time on the airplane was tough but we relaxed on the beach all day, every day after that and it was fine. Our next longest flight was to France when the twins were 6yo. We stayed in a very roomy house where they could run around and play and relax at their leisure and recuperate from the long flight. We only took small little day trips to keep them from driving each other crazy in the car. Melatonin took care of the jet lag, for the most part.

    Last summer we took 2 trips that were hard for them. Both of them were with guided tour groups where our days were almost completely planned out. The second trip we moved hotels every 2 days. There wasn’t much down time. But we brought electronics along, including extra battery packs and charger cords, cards and bought extra snacks every chance we got. We sat near the back of the bus and the kids entertained themselves when they were tired of listening to the tour guide commentary. Those were fascinating trips and the kids did well (the rest of the elderly travel companions said so too!) but we all agreed we wouldn’t want to travel that way very often.
    " I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent." Mahatma Gandhi

    "This is the ultimate weakness of violence: It multiplies evil and violence in the universe. It doesn't solve any problems." Martin Luther King, Jr.

  3. #13
    citymama is offline Pink Diamond level (15,000+ posts)
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    We took our kids to Asia at 10 months and 20 months LoL. But that was to visit family. For actual tourism purposes, DD2 was 3 yrs old when we went to London and Paris. All good!

    for Sandy Hook



  4. #14
    Liziz is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
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    We lived in Europe for several years and traveled extensively while there, both around Europe and also on several trips back and forth to the States (since all our siblings decided to get married while we were over there, argh!). I think the age question doesn't have one set answer, and every family is different. A few things to consider....

    ~Jet lag was never really a big deal, my kids always handled it fine. We're not regular melatonin users but we use it for jet lag for a few days and all is well. I would not let this alone be a big consideration for whether to take a small child or not. The hardest thing, like someone mentioned, wasn't jet lag but was that depending on where you are, some places in Europe in the summer stay light VERY late (like to 11pm or later) -- honestly I traveled with a roll of aluminum foil and masking tape so I could block out windows in my kids' room.

    ~Flights were not fun but manageable -- in flight entertainment is seriously the best thing ever. We don't do a lot of electronics, so they were in heaven every time they were allowed to watch all the TV they wanted.

    ~What do you want to get out of the trip? Museums and things with guided tours are often harder with younger kids, as are very long or very late days. But if you're fine with a more relaxed trip and seeing sights that work within your kids' attention spans, there's always plenty to do for all ages. For example -- if there was a guided tour or a slower/calmer activity we wanted to do, we'd still do it -- but we'd pick the short version instead of the detailed version, and make sure that we took the kids to a park to play for awhile afterwards. We only very rarely did evening entertainment (plays, shows, etc.). We did eat at great restaurants, but not usually the fanciest -- and we did lots of cooking in Air BnBs too, which was easier with little kids. We still found that there was so much to do and always had great times, but I know some people that would be bothered with a slower paced trip and/or not seeing it all -- just depends on how you want to travel!

    ~Do you want your kids to remember it? My 8 year old remembers some, but not all, of our European travels. My 4 year old barely remembers anything, and I'm sure more will fade as she gets older. If you want your kids to be able to remember the trip for sure, you definitely need to wait until they're older (like 8+, I'd think?). But if you just want a great family vacation and YOU want to explore a place with your kids, even if they don't remember it all forever, do it!

    ~Strollers are hard. If you're still in stroller stages, you'd definitely still want to travel with one (to survive the airports!), but daily sightseeing with a stroller ranges from a big pain to flat out impossible. I would only recommend traveling with a stroller-age kid if you're comfortable baby wearing for most of the day. (For toddler ages, a toddler size carrier is 100% worth it). If either you or your small child doesn't particularly care for baby wearing (or doesn't like it for long periods), it could get very frustrating very quickly.

    ~How do your kids do on longer duration trips? My kids are great travelers for about 4-5 days, and then they are absolutely miserable and just want to be home. But I have friends who have young children that easily handle several weeks of travel, so it just depends. Personally, since my kids don't handle long trips well, now that we live in the States again we'll probably wait until they're middle school age or so before we do anymore international travel -- it's expensive enough and time consuming enough to fly from the States that we want to wait until we can take a reasonably long trip and not be miserable!
    Lizi

  5. #15
    Liziz is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
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    Sorry, double post!
    Last edited by Liziz; 02-26-2020 at 06:10 PM. Reason: double post
    Lizi

  6. #16
    Neatfreak is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
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    My youngest was eight months when she took her first flight of over 7 hours. Lucky kid saw our relatives in Australia! But we live overseas, so it's always a 7 - 28 hour flight for us, even when my kids were tiny.
    ~ Laura



    One in 2004 and the other one in 2008

  7. #17
    marinkitty is offline Sapphire level (2000+ posts)
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    My kids were all babies/toddlers their first trip to Europe. I wouldn't get jet lag and age be the determining factor. But I would weigh that in how much you can do with a young child in tow and what your expectations are for the trip and whether it's something you can do often or it's more of a once in a lifetime thing that you might want them to be old enough to process differently than young kids would. Our trips when the kids were little were super low key without a lot of moving around/day trips or sightseeing. Now that they are teens we can do a lot more. All that said, if you can do it often, why not start now and get them used to world travel? My kids are amazing travelers now and I'm sure a large part of that is being used to adjusting to time zones/climates/cultures as they have done it so frequently their whole lives.

  8. #18
    fauve01 is offline Sapphire level (2000+ posts)
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    i think you just have to go. Kids are adaptable. Is it a huge PITA? YES. is it worth it? I mean only you can answer that. There are so many great things kids (and everyone) learn from travelling. I just listened to this podcast with the guest speaker the lady from the flying with four web site. the https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/fam...-up/e/60352010 That said, there are TONS of podcasts about travelling with family.

    ETA: my dd was just turned 4 when we went. DH wanted to go much much sooner, but we had other big expenses come up so that's when it worked out.

  9. #19
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    Well, we're the family that didn't even take our kids on a flight until they were 4 and 7. So take my answer with a grain of salt. All our extended family live within 30 minutes' drive so we never "had" to take them on a plane while they were infants/toddlers. For me, I'm willing to spend a little money for a beach vacation for young kids but I don't want to spend thousands of dollars on int'l flights for a kid who won't remember. We took our first int'l trip when SIL got married. My kids were 7 and 10 but they remember that trip. I probably would have waited longer given how expensive flights are but we've now taken 4 int'l flights since then (Bologna, Tokyo, Paris, and Singapore) and my kids love it now. We still suffer from jet lag, but it's really expanding their perspectives and makes for wonderful family memories.

  10. #20
    meggie t is offline Platinum level (1000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by SASM View Post
    We wanted to wait until our youngest would remember, appreciate, and keep up with us on an expensive European trip.
    This. We are going to Europe this summer for the first time with our children. They will be 7 and 10 years old. If I had the funds, I would go whenever! I wouldn't let ages stop me. But, alas, we don't so we decided this year was the year. We plan on doing a big trip every two years.

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