I’m looking to take a vacation abroad. My preferred destinations are Greece, Turkey and Jordan, or Texas in the US. I’ll be travelling with another adult and a 21-month-old baby between the end of September and early October. Our budget is Rs 3 lakhs. Of the countries we have shortlisted, which do you think would work best, considering the political and climatic conditions, and the obvious limitations of travelling with a child? I’m rather keen on a short ranch vacation in Texas, so please recommend a good child-friendly ranch, if that’s the place you decide to recommend. If you think none of these are worth visiting in that time period, please feel free to suggest any other destination. I am not very keen on Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Mauritius or Dubai though.

You don’t specify so I’m going to assume the Rs 3 lakhs includes the costs for all three of you. I would drop Texas right away then, since getting there and back will eat up nearly two-thirds of your budget. As for Turkey, the recent political uprising doesn’t appear to have affected tourism yet, but you may not want to take any chances given you’re travelling with a baby.Greeceand Jordanboth look good to me so you will have to take the (tough!) call of choosing between them. The weather should hold out well although, if you choose Greece, try to go earlier than later in your time frame—it gets colder and wetter towards the end of October. On the other hand, you can expect Jordan to stay dry with an average of 17–30°C through September–October, which fall under Jordan’s pleasant autumn. A couple of other ‘baby’ facts to keep in mind—the importantAmman to Petra drivewill make for a long day on the road, and usually includes halts atMadaba(the ‘city of mosaics’),Mt NeboandKerak(fortified citadels). Petra itself needs at least two days of significant walking; some sections require the climbing of steps; sightseeing on horseback is suggested as an option when visitors begin to tire. Greece, on the other hand, is more given to leisurely strolls over compact sites, and you might enjoy its laidback islands better with an energetic almost-two-year-old in tow.

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