Traveling in a group, whether on an international flight or a domestic road trip, can come with its pros and cons. One of the pros is that a larger group size means more people to split the costs with! The perk of traveling in a group of six to Croatia was that many of the costs split evenly by each individual, ended up being the same as much joining a group would have been. Here are the ‘private experiences’ we arranged that we appreciated for our kids (and ourselves).
Arrange for a private driver and request age-appropriate carseats: We had a driver in Dubrovnik who completed all of our airport to Air BNB transfers, day trip to Korcula Island, and day trip to Bosnia. He arranged for two carseats, age appropriate for my toddler and baby, before our arrival, and set them up in his car. If you end up with a private driver who has a good personality and communication skills, it can truly enhance the experience. That is how we felt about our driver, Simone. He was warm and friendly. He served as a private tour guide, and accommodated us with time changes, our carsick toddler, and stopping for diaper changes. I could not recommend him enough! If you are interested in booking him in Dubrovnik, visit his Facebook page here.
**This being said, we also had a different private driver for our Split to Krka National Park trip, and he was not as warm and friendly. He had arranged for the two carseats that I needed, so it was worth it for us.
Arrange for a private boat ride and request the driver to keep the drive and destinations child-friendly: I always get a little antsy taking my young babies on boats, but I loved the personalised experience of a private tour (and that it cost the same if we had joined a larger group). It felt it had been cleaned more effectively. Because it was only our group aboard, so that I could very easily request the driver to drive carefully. The kids were strapped in our laps, and the driver took us to a few islands that we spent time alone at. This was such a unique and special experience.
Arrange lodging spacious enough for everyone to enjoy, with amenities like a private pool: In addition to the transportation, we were able to split the lodging six ways as well. When you have a bigger group, you have the option to splurge on a larger place. Just make sure there are amenities to comfortably accommodate everyone! If staying with just my husband and kids, we prefer to stay in hotel room; however when traveling in a group, we stayed at this villa. The villa had beautiful views and a great pool that we loved taking our kids in. Our con was that there were 180 steps going up there. Thankfully, our parents were all there to help us with carrying our gear and children up with us, so keep logistics like this in mind as well when booking. Overall, our villa was STUNNING, but if it was not for traveling with our parents, would have been way out of our price range. Take a look on sites like airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com to explore options for group lodging!
If my husband and I had traveled alone with our babies, many of these luxuries would have been out of our budget, but traveling in a group size of six allowed to take advantage of perks! This can be applied to various trips!