I’m sure you’ve heard of a babymoon, a one last hurrah vacation before baby arrives. Well, a coworker of mine recently suggested a variation of the concept that I’m calling a “toddlermoon” and that is today’s hint.
His advice: Before your toddler turns 2 and you have to begin paying a full fare for him or her when you travel by air, take one last exotic vacation where your little one can be a lap baby, or at least get a cheaper infant fare seat.
He recommends doing a beach vacation at a destination to where a regular plane fare would be too astronomical after a 2nd birthday (for instance, he, his wife and their toddler daughter took a toddlermoon to Tahiti).
With a beach vacation, my coworker says, you can relax while your tot sleeps the afternoon away. Plus, by going somewhere exotic, you’re able to experience a locale you’re not likely to return to – or shell out to visit – for many years after your little one turns 2.
Other parents are fans of this strategy, though they’re not necessarily tied to a beach vacation and say certain city destinations work great too (think Copenhagen, Istanbul, and Tel Aviv) . “Looking ahead, we are trying to take one last big trip before Vera turns two” and gets older and more mobile, wrote blogger Knocked Up Abroad Travels in March. “Not that we won’t travel after she turns two, but as we will start to have to pay full fare.”
Her criteria for the trip: an international destination to make the most of the “free” ticket, short or overnight flights and a baby-friendly destination (i.e. one where kids are welcomed at restaurants and there’s an easy-to-navigate transportation system). One of my friends, meanwhile, is thinking about taking her son to New Zealand before his second birthday.
What if your first born is long past age 2? Well, if you still have another little one under age 2, you can plan a variation of the toddlermoon concept I read about over at Baby Rabies and that I’m calling a “ onebabymoon.”
Back in November, Jill Krause, the blogger at Baby Rabies, noted that she “strongly recommended doing the parents-of-one-small-baby thing when you have more than one child.” In other words, she suggested taking a trip with just your significant other and your youngest baby, since you’ll be a lot more relaxed than you would have been on a similar trip with a first born and you’ll be able to do more grown-up activities than you’d be able to do with the whole crew. I’ve filed away this great travel tip for down the road.
To be sure, having your close to 2-year-old ride on your lap may not be the safest travel strategy. Safety experts (including the FAA) recommend having your baby or tot fly in his or her own seat, whether you buy the seat (infant fares are typically cheaper than adult fares) or get a seat for free on a not-full plane.
And of course, whether your little one has his or her own seat or not, a flight with a toddler is likely to be a hard one, so have great toddler toys like stickers ready. Like the idea of a toddlermoon? For more tips to make travel with a toddler successful, check out these helpful posts from Delicious Baby, Megan B. at Daily Mom, the site Jaunted and blogger MODG.
What do you think of the toddlermoon concept? Yay or nay, and why? What are your tips for traveling with babies and toddlers?
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My first-born was a total squirmy worm so we had to buy airplane seats for her right away for flights of any real length of time — never got to save money with the lap baby trick! She would have been a true lap toddler nightmare if we had tried to keep her in our lap just shy of her second birthday.
But we have been taking full advantage with our much calmer second child. He’ll be a lap baby one more time next month at 9 months old, then I think we’ll start buying him a seat after that as he becomes more mobile.
Thanks for sharing Leslie:) Good point that whether the “lap baby” trick works depends on how your little one acts on a plane. Since you buy seats for your first born and soon for your second born, have you figured out any tricks for getting special infant/kid fares? We haven’t been able to find them…..
We used to do this when our kids were little. I loved those days….well, in some ways.