There was a special issue of the travel section of our regular newspaper yesterday covering all sorts of kid friendly holiday options – taking your kids on a driving holiday across the U.S. Southwest etc etc.
But where are all the baby friendly vacations? What do I do for the holidays with my one-year old?
Searching on Amazon, I found just one baby friendly hotel or travel related book, by Egon Ronay – published in 1994.
My taste in vacations and holidays has not changed completely since my daughter arrived – I still want to go to nice places, still want to occasionally stay in fabulous luxury boutique hotel and definitely want to eat great food. So how can I do all this with a baby?
The vacation industry seems to be well developed for people with older children who can amuse themselves or be dropped with other kids for child-friendly activities, but up to one year there aren’t much options. This is a huge untapped market that could really be opened up by the clever vacation marketer.
Some of my (realistic) needs would be:
- Hotels which have small adjoining rooms where my daughter can sleep in her cot. This means we get a good night sleep, she doesn’t disturb us and we feel safe in the knowledge that she’s right beside us
- A microwave and kettle in my hotel room. I could of course get this by staying in a roadside motel with an “efficiency” as they are known in the U.S., i.e. a small built-in kitchen, but I want this in my four and five star boutique hotel experience. It wouldn’t cost that much to put a microwave in the room so please do it and welcome us parents back to your hotel!
- Early sittings in the restaurant. 6-8pm is bath and bed-time routine for most parents, so let us sit early and enjoy the same Michelin-starred food as everyone else, just at an earlier time where we can bring baby along and not disturb everyone else
- Well sound-proofed walls. There is nothing worse than being in a hotel room with thin walls with a baby that needs a good ten minutes’ worth of “cry-out” before sleeping
I fully accept that life will not be the same when it comes to holidays once the little one has arrived, but if hotels and vacation companies were a little bit conscientious, perhaps going on a luxury break need not be completely unrecognisable from the holidays of old.
