Denise Wallin writes a blog called aroundtheworldwithahighchair.com, sharing her family travel experiences and tips as she – Mrs ATWWAH – travels with her husband Mr ATWWAH and their two year old son Master ATWWAH.
Mrs ATWWAH lifts the lid on the A-Z of highs and lows of travelling with a toddler in tow.
What’s your favourite family holiday destination?
Ibiza. It’s just a very easy holiday destination especially with toddlers. The island has some fabulous hotels: one of our favourites is the Insotel Fenicia Prestige. There are great beaches and lovely towns: Ibiza Town is always worth a visit.
It’s easy to get around the island by car or taking the regular ferries so you don’t have to spend every day of your holiday in the same place.
There are also some great restaurants, almost all of which are family friendly, and the ones that aren’t are worth getting a babysitter so you can pay a visit.
The climate is lovely – it’s a bit too hot in August but a great place to visit slightly out of season in May, September and October.
Highlights also include the weekly hippy markets held throughout the island, try the Wednesday one in Es Cana, watching the sunset on the beach at Café del Mar and watching the world go by in Ibiza Town whilst tucking into a lunchtime paella while your little one has an afternoon nap in the pram.
What’s your kid’s favourite holiday?
As he’s only two it is hard to give a definitive answer, although recently he announced he wanted to go on holiday and when I asked where he said ‘Italy’ and then ‘on a big boat’.
We recently went on a Mediterranean cruise onboard the Norwegian Jade sailing from Venice and going around the Greek islands before returning to Venice. I think the combination and double excitement of a plane journey and then boarding a big ship made it Master ATWWAH’s favourite holiday so far.
He never seemed to get bored of watching the sea whilst we were onboard and got ridiculously excited every time we reached our destination watching everything from our front balcony, even when we left a destination he loved the little tug boats that accompanied us out of a port.
It probably helped that he, and all the other kids on board, seemed to be treated like VIP’s by the hardworking staff.
Even my threat that he would be walking the plank later that day when playing up at breakfast one morning didn’t faze him due to his love of pirates.
Arriving in different places each day certainly kept the holiday interesting and even ‘at sea’ days were full of adventure as he explored the ship and all its facilities. There was a giant shower on the top deck which he was fascinated by, much to the amusement of fellow passengers.
Since we have returned home any type of boat that he sees on TV he announces we have been on that. And something tells me we’ll be taking him on a cruise again.
What’s on your family holiday wishlist?
A couple of years before we had Master ATWWAH we were lucky enough to get the chance to go to South Africa for our friends wedding in the Kruger National Park. I remember at the time when we were out on safari thinking it would be a brilliant place to take kids and I’m looking forward to taking Master ATWWAH in the future.
I want him to be old enough to really remember it so we may wait a few years yet but I can imagine it will be the right side of adventurous for him. He loves the tigers at Chessington World of Adventures so I’m confident he will love spotting the ‘big five’ on safari in time.