I'm not going to lie. Travelling with toddlers is HARD. For one thing there is the amount of Stuff you need, it's an outrageous quantity of Stuff and Things that you can't even fathom yourself. (We honestly look at the pile in wonderment... - is this seriously all our Stuff? Do we really need all these Things?).
And then there's the busyness. Two active toddlers give you a pretty full on day even if you stay in one place. Early mornings, messy breakfasts, a somewhat sluggish getting-dressed process, clearing of toys, packing of picnic lunches, park visits, resistant nap taking, nappy changes, preparation of acceptable (non suspicious looking!) meals and snacks. Then add long drives, new abode childproofing, unfamiliar supermarkets, and things are wonderfully hectic!
One thing that makes our U.S. adventure much easier is staying in apartments and holiday homes rather than hotels. I don't know if you've ever stayed in a hotel with small people, but the major downfall of this plan is when the kids go to bed, at say, 7.30pm or something and you get to sit there in the dark (oh the joys!) until you give in and go to bed early yourself. I'm afraid that I speak from experience on this and even if you are in a lovely French coastal village, sitting in silence in the dark all evening makes for one of your least favourite holiday memories. (And if, for example, you get the option of putting your child's cot in the bathroom, so that you can at least watch a bit of telly, chat to your husband, and feel like a grown up person for the evening you might just do it. Or so I've heard....).
We have been using 'AirBnB' to book accommodation, which despite a slightly unhelpful name is a pretty cool site for searching for properties - partly because it's self-regulating, and partly because you get a whole house/apartment for a fraction of the price of a suite at the Days Inn. (And we all know what the Days Inn is like!). We started staying in short let apartments whenever we went to Europe a few years ago and there's something really cool about having locals as your neighbours, as opposed to other tourists. Plus you get to buy yummy stuff from all the fabulous farmers markets and come home and cook up a storm over a relaxing wine or two.
We are in our third AirBnB apartment tonight, and so far everything has been easy as pie. We turn up, get access straight away, the places are clean, everything works, and they have been advertised with surprising honesty. However the place we are in for the next few nights has a bit of a strange vibe. The walls are bright orange, and if you can believe it we are talking several shades BRIGHTER than tangerine. But that is not all, oh no, that is not all! (Ahem, we been reading a fair bit of Dr. Suess lately, just starts rolling of the tongue doesn't it..!?). No, we also have an enormous bowl of life-sized plastic fruit on the kitchen table. We have bananas, we have peaches, we have tangerines (perhaps where the wall colour inspiration came from... uugh!), we have three apple varietals, we have lemons and a lime. There are well over a dozen plastic fruits taking up an entire table and I just don't understand why? Surely the table would be better empty than having this homage to plastic tack?
Of course, the boys think the plastic fruit is the coolest thing EVER. It's fruit! But it's plastic! Hilarious! You can roll it! It's like a ball! etc etc.
This highlights one of the most wonderful things about travelling with toddlers. They have masses of appreciation for the little things we see along the way. - I found the smallest grape in the world! The stones are warm from the sun! Look, shiny sand! A tiny spider! A giant teapot! For giant tea!
Yesterday we did the very beautiful Cliff Walk past Newport's gilded mansions. We reached the Breakers, the grandest of the mansions with 70+ rooms, where my conversation with Mr Almost 3 went something like this....
Me: "Look at that massive house!"
Toddler: "Yea". (as if it's a dried up old vegetable).
Toddler: Wow - look at the lawnmower! That's really cool. Daddy, did you see it..!??!
A red ride-on with eight attachments, the lawnmower WAS pretty cool, actually. Almost as good as the plastic tangerine.
And then there's the busyness. Two active toddlers give you a pretty full on day even if you stay in one place. Early mornings, messy breakfasts, a somewhat sluggish getting-dressed process, clearing of toys, packing of picnic lunches, park visits, resistant nap taking, nappy changes, preparation of acceptable (non suspicious looking!) meals and snacks. Then add long drives, new abode childproofing, unfamiliar supermarkets, and things are wonderfully hectic!
One thing that makes our U.S. adventure much easier is staying in apartments and holiday homes rather than hotels. I don't know if you've ever stayed in a hotel with small people, but the major downfall of this plan is when the kids go to bed, at say, 7.30pm or something and you get to sit there in the dark (oh the joys!) until you give in and go to bed early yourself. I'm afraid that I speak from experience on this and even if you are in a lovely French coastal village, sitting in silence in the dark all evening makes for one of your least favourite holiday memories. (And if, for example, you get the option of putting your child's cot in the bathroom, so that you can at least watch a bit of telly, chat to your husband, and feel like a grown up person for the evening you might just do it. Or so I've heard....).
We have been using 'AirBnB' to book accommodation, which despite a slightly unhelpful name is a pretty cool site for searching for properties - partly because it's self-regulating, and partly because you get a whole house/apartment for a fraction of the price of a suite at the Days Inn. (And we all know what the Days Inn is like!). We started staying in short let apartments whenever we went to Europe a few years ago and there's something really cool about having locals as your neighbours, as opposed to other tourists. Plus you get to buy yummy stuff from all the fabulous farmers markets and come home and cook up a storm over a relaxing wine or two.
We are in our third AirBnB apartment tonight, and so far everything has been easy as pie. We turn up, get access straight away, the places are clean, everything works, and they have been advertised with surprising honesty. However the place we are in for the next few nights has a bit of a strange vibe. The walls are bright orange, and if you can believe it we are talking several shades BRIGHTER than tangerine. But that is not all, oh no, that is not all! (Ahem, we been reading a fair bit of Dr. Suess lately, just starts rolling of the tongue doesn't it..!?). No, we also have an enormous bowl of life-sized plastic fruit on the kitchen table. We have bananas, we have peaches, we have tangerines (perhaps where the wall colour inspiration came from... uugh!), we have three apple varietals, we have lemons and a lime. There are well over a dozen plastic fruits taking up an entire table and I just don't understand why? Surely the table would be better empty than having this homage to plastic tack?
Of course, the boys think the plastic fruit is the coolest thing EVER. It's fruit! But it's plastic! Hilarious! You can roll it! It's like a ball! etc etc.
This highlights one of the most wonderful things about travelling with toddlers. They have masses of appreciation for the little things we see along the way. - I found the smallest grape in the world! The stones are warm from the sun! Look, shiny sand! A tiny spider! A giant teapot! For giant tea!
Yesterday we did the very beautiful Cliff Walk past Newport's gilded mansions. We reached the Breakers, the grandest of the mansions with 70+ rooms, where my conversation with Mr Almost 3 went something like this....
Me: "Look at that massive house!"
Toddler: "Yea". (as if it's a dried up old vegetable).
Toddler: Wow - look at the lawnmower! That's really cool. Daddy, did you see it..!??!
A red ride-on with eight attachments, the lawnmower WAS pretty cool, actually. Almost as good as the plastic tangerine.
