Where to Take a Toddler Abroad (and how we decided on Mallorca)
Deciding on our first international trip
[08/30/23]: While I have much more to write about previous travels with my daughter, I am excited to take this week’s newsletter into the present moment with the planning process for our international vacation next month.
In today’s edition -
My parameters for planning a vacation abroad with a 16 month old.
Potential destinations & why I ultimately declined them.
The logic behind the winning location.
Links to my European baby travel inspo.
Moving from New York to California two years ago, I was prepared to miss the bagels from my spot around the corner, the friends I’d spent eleven years running around the city with and my own feet as a primary mode of transportation.
I thought I’d miss the proximity to Europe, but until faced with our first family vacation abroad post-baby, I couldn’t have imagined quite how much. Coming from the west coast, we add five hours of flight time just to land on European soil.
In my daughter’s first year of life, our travels centered around visiting people. While this was a critically important and exciting part of introducing her to the world and the people we love in it, I’ve since felt a strong desire for a proper getaway.
With two canceled honeymoons under our belt (the first to South Africa & Mozambique due to covid in 2020, the second to Uruguay due to covid + pregnancy in 2021), it’s been a while since my husband and I have had a pure vacation informed by exploration, adventure and relaxation.
And, as we think about the possibility of having another child in the coming years, we are seizing the opportunity now for a bigger trip with our daughter; the type of travel that will inevitably become more logistically challenging (I will never say impossible) as our family grows.
The Basics
Who’s Going: Mom, dad, toddler
Timing: late September - early October 2023
Child’s Age: 16 months
Trip Location: Outside of the US
Reason for Trip: Vacation
Trip Length: 11 nights, including travel time
Food Status: Solids
Bathroom Status: Diapers
Sleep Status: 1 nap per day. 11 hours of overnight sleep. Let’s see what a significant time change does to this!
A Toddler Abroad: Planning Parameters
In the new reality of traveling as a parent, I find merit in putting parameters around the trip planning process. Otherwise, my mind goes wild thinking of the most out-there options to take advantage of with our limited vacation time and less frequent travel opportunities.
Here are the guidelines I came up with to plan this first trip abroad as a family.
Parameter #1: One destination only.
The set up and breakdown of baby gear is the bane of my existence as a traveling parent. While the gear decreases as the child gets older, my ideal vacation includes as little of this as possible so eliminating changes in lodging is a vital consideration.
Also, taking a toddler anywhere is a slow process as they discover the world around them. To honor this stage for my daughter and make our lives easier, we will choose one place that we can use as a home base to explore from.
Parameter #2: Flights must have 1 layover max and be less than 18 hours of total travel time.
We have eleven days total for this trip so I put guide rails around how far we are willing to fly for a trip of this length, hence the 18 hour total travel time (you can filter by duration in Google Flights).
Layovers with a toddler are not my idea of fun so we capped it at one.
Parameter #3: Avoid the ‘layover fallacy.’
“Just stop and spend a day in New York on your way to Europe to break it up!”
While in theory this seems like a no-brainer since we have family and friends to crash with, see above regarding the setup and breakdown of the baby gear. Not to mention the logistics of leaving from and returning to the airport.
The fallacy here is that it is “easy” to add overnight layovers onto trips with a child, even if the layover is on the way to the final destination. It can be more stress than a quick stopover is worth so I always consider the tradeoffs.
In this trip’s case, I am prioritizing getting where we want to go as efficiently as possible.
Parameter #4: Toddler gets a seat on the flights.
While technically still lap infant eligible, I’d like to set all three of us up to get some sleep on the flights.
The flight prices, then, need to be reasonable enough that we can justify buying my daughter her own seat on the plane.
Parameter #5: Toddler friendly destination.
Paris is notoriously devoid of high chairs in restaurants. Cinque Terre is basically one big flight of stairs.
While I believe to my core that every destination is visitable with a child, I place a high value on finding a destination that aligns with my daughter’s age at the time of travel since our opportunities for trips like this are limited.
Parameter #6: Identify the vibe.
It’s a huge effort of time, energy and resources to take a trip of this nature, so my husband and I spoke at length to get clear on what we desired.
Meals outdoors, exploring old towns, leisurely beach days, delicious local food, cultural immersion, and walkability all came to mind.
Parameter #7: Proximity to friends.
We have dear friends living in Italy who were willing to meet up with us for a portion of this trip, so while the world was technically our oyster, Europe became a favored domain right off the bat.
Parameter #8: Somewhere new, if possible.
When I was younger I used to have an aversion to traveling back to the same places I’d already been. However, over time, I have come to feel strongly that just because I’ve visited a city or a place does not mean I’ve “done” it.
That being said, I miss the excitement of traveling somewhere entirely new - a feeling I have replaced as a mom with the excitement of new words, new steps and new milestones.
This will be our first opportunity for a larger, out-of-the box trip with our daughter so if the destination we lean towards ends up being somewhere new to me, I’ll consider it a bonus.
Potential Options, Ultimately Declined
Tokyo
Japan is a destination that has been tagged on our list for when we moved to the west coast. Now that we have relocated, I considered it as a possible location for this trip.
Tokyo is a 12 hour direct flight from LA and factors like the cleanliness of the city, chance for exposure to Japanese culture, food and history make it an appealing destination.
In researching traveling to Tokyo with kids, much of the feedback was about the tiny size of hotel rooms (challenging when you need to fit a travel crib), congestion on public transportation and the difficulty of using a stroller to get around the city due to stairs and crowds.
I’ll keep this one flagged for when our daughter is a bit older, can walk on her own for longer periods and can sleep in a bed.
French Polynesia
I’ve been obsessed with the idea of visiting French Polynesia (Bora Bora or Mo’orea specifically) ever since I realized it is only an 8 hour direct flight from LAX to Tahiti - significantly closer than Europe!
Flights to Tahiti are reasonably priced but to get to the other islands it can be quite expensive, requires a small plane or boat, and you are mostly relegated to resorts once you get there.
I see value in this type of island resort stay once my daughter is old enough to partake in activities like snorkeling and hiking, but for this particular trip we aren’t there yet.
Northern Portugal
Our far-future plans involve living abroad for half the year (we’re talking about when the kids are out of the house) and we often envision Portugal as a place to do so.
I love the country, having spent two weeks in Alentejo, Lagos & Lisbon for a yoga retreat in 2019 and having visited Lisbon, Cascais & Sintra with friends just before I became pregnant in 2021.
Portugal is famously baby friendly, with the well-known expectation that families skip lines at the airport and a population who welcome little ones in public spaces.
For this trip, I considered Porto & the Douro Valley as I haven’t yet been to the north of the country. But, we are going for a more relaxed vibe versus a proper city and the Douro Valley is wine country, which would be favorable for a trip sans-kid.
The winner: Mallorca
According to Google Flights, the least expensive place to fly in Europe during our dates is Mallorca, the largest Balearic Island in the Mediterranean and a part of Spain.
Commonly thought of as a party island and located adjacent to Ibiza, I remembered seeing some traveling parents I follow who took their kids to Mallorca and I decided to look into it.
Upon deeper investigation, I decided this stunning island might actually be the optimal destination for our trip.
How Mallorca stacks up against the planning parameters:
#1: One destination only. The island is large enough to have plenty of small towns and beaches to explore, but all are accessible within about one hour and we will rent a car for ease of moving at our own pace.
#2: Flights must be 1 layover max, 18 hours of travel time or less. It’s 11 hours from LAX to London, a 2 hour layover and another 2.5 hour flight to Mallorca. Just under 18 hours total with only one stop.
#3: Avoid the ‘layover fallacy.’ Check.
#4: Toddler gets a seat on the flights. Oof, this one hurt. While it was the ‘cheapest’ destination on the map, prices went up day over day as we decided where to go - plus, we paid to book our seats in advance as I am not chill enough to leave sitting together up to chance. On top of that, flight prices at large are exorbitantly high this summer. The total flight cost ended up being $5,259 for three seats on all four flights. Did this feel ‘reasonable’? Honestly, no. But I was willing to shell out knowing this type of trip is not a frequent occurrence for us.
#5: Toddler friendly destination. For research on this I turned to the “travel with kids” Facebook groups - not a place I recommend spending your time but useful for targeted searches. Spain is known as toddler friendly, Mallorca’s many beaches provide built-in activities and I found an Airbnb with great reviews from families that comes equipped with a pack & play.
#6: Identify the vibe. Mallorca is full of architecturally interesting towns and beaches nestled into coves. Our Airbnb has a view of the ocean, is situated on a long beachfront promenade and is walkable to shops. I envision slow mornings walking into town for a coffee, exploring a new beach in the first wake window, my daughter taking her nap on the car ride back and spending the afternoon leisurely around the beachfront town of Pollença, where we will be staying.
#7: Proximity to friends. Our friends have never been to Mallorca and they are excited to meet us there - a win for everyone.
#8: Somewhere new, if possible. I have traveled to Spain on several occasions but never to the Balearic Islands!
I can’t wait to spend a day at a spot like Cala Llombards
Toddler outfit inspo for island life
Generally channeling this mom and her son
Maybe we’ll decide to just stay?
I’ll report back how it all goes and what I learn from traveling with our 16 month old from California to Mallorca. I’ll share all of the lodging details like you’ve seen here and, of course, post a link to my exact packing list.
Have any recs to share for Mallorca? Questions about traveling abroad with a toddler?
Thanks for reading!
p.s. - you can always see all posts on the website