u/Street-Bird9534

Im totally out of ideas as to where to go mid October with a 5 year old. It was supposed to be with my husband but now he has to travel for work so will just be us two, and struggling to come up with ideas this last minute! I’d prefer if I didn’t have to rent a car and we could move with trains / public transport but I realize this may not be feasible. We are in Texas, so USA / Canada / Mexico all would work. It would be 1 week total. I have considered cruises but no routes appeal on those dates, all inclusives (would prefer not), and Disney (not super excited either). Ideas welcome!! Easy travel from Texas please.

Hi everyone! We’re planning a big trip next summer to visit friends in Melbourne and want to break up the long journey with stops in Honolulu, Nadi (Fiji), and Sydney. It’ll be our first time in all of these places, and we’ll be traveling with our 5‑year‑old. Itinerary is: Houston - Honolulu - Fiji - Sydney - Melbourne - back to Houston.

Our kid handles flights well and usually sleeps on planes. He loves beaches, the outdoors, parks, and easy nature walks. We prefer a medium travel pace, a couple of activities per day remaining somewhat flexible to add things in as we go.

For accommodation, we’re flexible: mid‑range hotels, Airbnbs, or kid‑friendly resorts. We’re happy with basic, safe, family‑friendly areas. Doesn’t need to be fancy. Our main concern is costs adding up across multiple stops - we are not on a budget but I’m aware these aren’t the most cost effective destinations so any tips on keeping costs reasonable appreciated!

We’re very flexible with the itinerary except for the two weeks in Melbourne. Usually we stay in one area per destination, but we’re open to splitting time if it makes sense.

What we’d love advice on:

• How many days to spend in Honolulu, Nadi, and Sydney for first‑timers
• Family‑friendly neighborhoods or areas to stay
• Good‑value accommodation options
• Kid‑friendly activities you loved in these places

Thanks so much for any help!

I moved from Europe to USA and gained 20 pounds. I am also now pre diabetic. I came back to visit family and friends for our summer holiday. I’ve been blatantly told by a close family member to go on ozempic as she knows I’ll struggle with weight loss otherwise and she told me about how much the obesity puts me at higher risk of other illnesses such as diabetes and cardiac issues. I’ve also been asked by my lovely 7 year old niece if I’m pregnant. I’m considering Tirzepatide or ozempic but I worry about their side effects, but my family member tells me that in fact it has good side effects such as an anti inflammatory and cardiac side. Having said that my other efforts at losing weight haven’t been successful. Happy to also consider ozempic - im not very knowledgeable on the differences really. What would you do? Thx.

I’m hoping for recommendations on toys that a 5‑year‑old boy will happily pick up over and over again. What has kept your kids entertained? We'd like to avoid toys we buy and only get played with once or twice and then gather dust (insert here our huge collection of remote controlled cars or figurines of various sorts). Thanks!

Hey everyone, We’re looking for new board games that a 5‑year‑old and their parents can enjoy together. We love games like Ticket to Ride, I Saw It First and Eye Found It for example and are trying to find new favourites we can all enjoy playing together, and that are still easy enough for a 5 year old to join the fun. We are a bit past the very young games like Hi Ho Cherry Ho or Don't break the ice, so something a bit more involved ideally. Would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

I thought this group would know. Is there a service / app I can use that would provide a local eSIM when abroad? I’m travelling to uk and Spain. I’m with Visible in USA and they offer global pass for $10/day which I thought was extortionate as for a 3 week trip it would end up costing $210. Surely there’s a better way to do this. (I don’t plan to use it much for calling / texting or even data as I can connect to WiFi for lots of data but I’d like to have it in case of emergency so this wouldn’t be something I’d use a lot of. Just mostly the odd texts to coordinate meet ups, and some data to check directions etc.

Does anyone else have a kid who expects us to constantly entertain him? I have a 5 year old. He’s an only child. Weekends it’s constant entertaining of him and it’s getting exhausting. I don’t know what wrong turn we have taken, but it’s either us trying to entertain him at home, taking him somewhere to entertain him, arranging a play date or TV at home - he will not do anything on his own. He’s highly demanding and has always been. Advice so we don’t go insane? 😂🙃

I signed up for Walmart+ recently, but after trying it I’m starting to feel it isn’t worth it. Delivery orders are picked by gig workers, which requires tipping, while curbside is picked by Walmart employees for free and without any membership. Why are benefits taken away in a paid membership? Why can’t Walmart+ work like curbside- Walmart staff pick the order, and a driver simply picks it up so the tip is only for delivery instead of both picking and delivery? Right now it feels like Walmart+ subtracts value rather than adds it, since curbside gives picking for free while Walmart+ relies on gig workers I’m then expected to tip. It feels odd that the paid option ends up worse than the free one, and I’m curious how others see the value of Walmart+. I’d love others thoughts in case I’m not looking at it correctly.

I was browsing through my old documents and I am discovering many files in my iCloud are gone. I have the structured folders, but there is nothing inside them. I have no idea what has gone wrong but I am incredibly disappointed. I may be able to recover some from old USBs with the information. I need to understand what has gone wrong so that it doesn’t happen again. It seems that files may not have synced or something? I am at a loss but so upset at what a terrible product iCloud is. Did this happen to anyone else?

any recommendations on places for a 6 year old boy birthday? The places we used before which were play and tumble type of places are sadly overgrown I fear for 6 year olds. Thx!!

We booked a cruise in March for a December sailing. We bought directly with princess. May I ask if it’s worth transferring the booking to a travel agent / to Costco travel? We may be outside the window to transfer too but not sure. I can’t seem to find the official details on this online.

Hi moms. I was going through my kid’s baby clothes to take out what I want to keep as mementos for him before I donate everything else. I ended up with a huge pile! I sadly cannot seem to make a decision. Any tips for doing this? I find it hard, because the things we used a lot are quite battered (the reason I remember them is because we used them so much!). We also have a lot of nice items we were gifted and that are in good shape but we didn’t use a lot. Any tips to sort through what we have? Thank you!

Hi moms. Would you put sealants in your kids teeth? I see mixed advice when searching and can’t decide. Thanks.

I’m flying overnight and solo with a tall 5 year old on a transatlantic flight this summer. I typically fly with my husband so our son could sleep and take up space on either side. But this time it’s just me and I doubt our neighbour would appreciate us intruding into their space lol 🤣 how did your kiddos sleep on red eye flights? Is there anything I can buy to make it easier? Flying united Houston to London. Thanks!

I have a 5 year old. He complains about going to school, about staying at school for after school activities, about going to summer camp. On the few times I left him at kids club so I could go to the gym he complained and we removed him from the membership as he would not go back. We live abroad and have no family around who could watch him and our support network is extremely limited. Every day he will ask if next day is school / summer camp / after school… and complain. It’s exhausting. How can I reply to this or react so that hopefully we can turn the page?

I curated a list of safe channels in Youtube kids for my son and have the Youtube app for this purpose in my smart TV. He is now 5 and more savvy and now gets himself into the regular Youtube, non curated, and watch whatever. Is there a way to only have an app that can access Youtube kids with just the kids profile? Thanks!

Considering visiting WDW in October! I thought I’d wait in case an offer pops up, but then I thought this may be futile as they may not run promotions for October given the weather is cooler. Am I right? Is it worth waiting, or do I just book?

My other question is whether this group could recommend a hotel that’s more reasonably priced than the Disney ones but still has good access to the parks (a good shuttle service for example). We don’t care about amenities such as pools etc as we likely won’t use them. Key things for us is transportation to the parks (uber isn’t an option as I’d have to take a car seat), and ideally somewhere to grab breakfast in the mornings like a small cafe or even a Starbucks or the like nearby. Thx!!

We were approached by a man selling banana bread. He told us he was selling it for a women’s shelter and he was with a church. He gave us a leaflet for the church (Victory life ministries in timpson tx). Each banana bread was $10, we bought 1. I googled it and there is no Victory life church in timpson tx but it would appear that victory life as a church exists and that they sell banana bread as part of their fundraising. The bread has a QR code but it just takes you to a page to pay for the bread. Was this a scam? How do you approach such sellers?