First time taking a child on vacation

My daughter is about the same age as yours. She will be two in March. We have traveled a lot with her. The earliest was when she was three months old. My husband is in the Navy and we had to move from Virginia out here to California. I drove all the way by myself with her and our dog and towed all of our stuff and a car. Not fun!! A far as pleasure trips, we have taken a bunch. We actually just got back from flying for California to Memphis, Tennessee. We spent a week there with my parents and then drove to Birmingham for two weeks to see my husband's family. The plane trips were not to bad at all and we had a good bit of distance to fly. I kept her awake and she took a good long nap. I brought coloring books and her magnatized doodle pad. I brought a bunch of books too as she loves to read. When she got bored with all of that, we had a portable DVD player on hand to distract her with. Everything worked and our flights went relatively smoothly. I live in California and have been to quite a few places with my daughter here. I would really, really recommend Monterey, California. The views are just gorgeous. The aquarium there is amazing and my daughter had a blast at a year old running around that place. I think we spent three hours there and had to drag her out at that. There is also a really awesome park called Dennis the Menace Park for the kiddies to play. There is a little place that rents paddle boats too right there at the park. Good luck choosing a place and traveling with your little one!

Two of my children at that time was 2 years old and my 1 1/2 months old girls we moved to Japan and they did well on the plane. Plus they have done long road trips as well. Make sure you take things for them to do so they don't get bored. My 3 child which is now 11 years as also traveled to Japan and to Australia and did well. My youngest daughter now 3 years old has been traveling to Australia since she been 6 months and she does well too...

My son was only 18 months old when he first rode an airplane. He loved it. When we boarded, he stood beside the flight attendants and greeted everyone and shood their hands. We kept his discomfort due to air pressure change during take-off and landing to a minimum by having him eat and drink during those times. (His doc said that chewing any food or sipping any drink would help.) Back then, I was in a sales position that took me all over the state of Florida. My husband and son usually went with me, and my son decided by the time he was 4 that he wanted to live in hotels for ever. Even though we lived in FL, we didn't take him to Disney until he was 4 and he enjoyed it then. Before that, we did take him to Bush Gardens in Tampa. Their kiddy part of the park was good.

We took my son from Louisiana to South Dakota in a moving van when he was almost 2 years old. That was an adventure, let me tell you. We also took him on a round trip car trip from Iowa to Louisiana when he was 3. That wasn't too bad, but only because we had a dvd player in the car for him to watch movies on. He would get cranky about being put back in the car, but he did pretty well. I also took him on an airplane from Iowa to Louisiana this summer when he was 4. That was not fun. He didn't want to behave and stay in his seatbelt and I couldn't really discipline him infront of people. The airport was also a hassle. It's not easy getting a 4-year-old through airport security when you're by yourself, let me tell you. He got so tired on the way there that he cried almost the entire time from Dallas to Baton Rouge. I felt so terrible and was so embarassed about it, but some people on the flight didn't even hear it so I guess maybe it wasn't that bad.

I have taken all my children on road trips since they were knee-high to my ankle. Anyway, I've been very lucky they were all great travellers. Keeping them occupied is important. Playing little car games helps or a favourite toy. My children like to sing so we do that as well. It's great. We just got back from a trip (6 hours from where I live). Hope your little girl doesn't get car-sick. Could make for an interesting time. Anyway, have fun. Happy New Year to you and your little family

I took my son and daughter on bus trip all the way to British Columbia it took us 56 hours there and 64 back. My son was 8 months old and i was nursing at the time. My daughter was 4. It was something i would do again in a heartbeat