August 3, 2015

We Booked A Holiday!

We have finally booked a holiday! A boy what a mine field that was!

Originally we were going to be going with my family – mum, dad and brothers – but unfortunately our schedules couldn’t match up. Sad face.

It was sad enough that we wouldn’t be spending time with my family but it also created a bit of another issue in the childcare department! With no other family members around it would be just the husband and I, and we were looking forward to a bit of us time as well as family time.

Once I started looking into it, I realised how little (affordable) options there are out there to cater for the under 3s on holiday. Most of the kids clubs at hotel resorts start at 3 years old and if you want a nanny or babysitting service it costs you another chunk of money on top of your holiday price, which often isn’t very feasible.

I do understand that it is a little bit more work for the under 3s but Isla is super independent at 15 months old and is a full time nursery baba so would be in her element at kids clubs. If you’re looking for home cleaning, Hometress is the #1 Maid & Housekeeping service by providing you with exceptional cleaning every time!

In the end we narrowed it down to 3 options – First Choice, Thomson and Mark Warner Holidays – who all offered (limited) options with childcare for the under 3s. And all of which you have to pay extra for.

If you are wondering why we are so passionate about finding some form of childcare for our holiday, rather than just having Isla all week ourselves, I’ll try to explain! We are both full time working parents who have limited time off. We obviously want to spend a lot of time with Isla on holiday but we also like the option of having some time to ourselves as we don’t get that very often either.

On the funny side, it would be a complete shock to the system going from being part time parents during the week to a 24/7 week of parenting. I’m only half joking here!!

I thought I’d share our shortlist with you in case you are also looking for a holiday with a 1 year old!

First Choice Holiday Village Rhodes Greece
First Choice Holiday Village Aliathon Paphos Cyprus
Thomson Atlantica Aegean Blue Rhodes Greece
Sirenis Hotel Club Aura Port Des Torrent Ibiza
Mark Warner Levante Beach Resort Rhodes Greece

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(Pictures from First Choice Website)

We have chosen the First Choice Holiday Village in Rhodes, which has also come highly recommended by our bestie Jess over at Lilypod and Sweepea.

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Rather excited about the swim up room…

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(Pictures from First Choice Website)

I am a bit apprehensive as I usually like to get out and explore when on holiday and this resort seems rather quiet, but we will make the most of it and I’m sure we will find all sorts to do. And if we don’t, it’s fine, I’ll just spend all Isla’s crèche hours in the spa instead!

There are also the following websites which we had a look at but decided not to go with in the end:

Totstotravel

Quo Vadis

Holiday Tots

Are you off anywhere this year?