We recently took a vacation to Myrtle Beach.  Traveling as a single mother with a 4 year old is hard enough without having to lug a car seat through the airport.  I decided I was going to take our vacation without bringing a car seat.  Would it be difficult to have a great vacation and do all that we wanted without a car seat?  We would see…

Upon arrival at the Myrtle Beach International Airport, we had no trouble finding our checked luggage.  The airport is very small and easy to get around, so we didn’t even need the stroller that we brought.  We asked for directions to the bus stop at the information desk and the bus stop was easy to find.  The bus came hourly (but not on the hour).  Just make sure that you grab the bus going in the correct direction. The route 15 bus comes every 30 minutes but every other time it is going in the opposite direction.  We saw other travelers taking taxis to get to their destination, but my daughter had her heart set on the bus, so we waited almost 50 minutes for the bus.

The bus ride to the Sandy Beach Resort took about 15 minutes.  The bus stop was a block from our hotel, so I put my daughter in the stroller and pushed her while dragging my luggage behind.  It was an easy and quick walk. Upon arrival we were checked into our room and quickly unpacked before heading to an early dinner since we had not eaten lunch.  I had researched restaurant options before choosing a hotel.  There were almost 30 restaurants on North Ocean Blvd and North Kings Highway within a mile walk so we knew that we would have plenty of options.  On our 4 day vacation we ate at 6 different restaurants and enjoyed our meals.  There were many more restaurants that we could have tried but we did not have enough time.  We especially enjoyed Captain Benjamin’s Calabash Seafood and Wicked Tuna. The atmosphere at the Dinoland Cafe was quiet interesting as we ate surrounded by dinosuars.

Dinoland Cafe, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Dinoland Cafe, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

We had chosen the Sandy Beach Resort for many reasons. Mostly because it was on the beach, had plenty of water activities, has suites and was budget friendly.  The room is great because there is a bedroom, a kitchen, a living room, and a balcony.  This gives us plenty of space to spread out and when I put my daughter to sleep, I could relax in the living room or even better on the balcony overlooking the ocean.  The kitchen was great even though I did not plan to cook during my vacation.  We ordered water, seltzer, milk, fruit, bread, peanut butter, cheese, and some other food to use for snacks and meals that we could grab and go from Walmart and they delivered.  This enabled us to not eat every meal at a restaurant.  While the space was great, the room is definitely old and we had maintenance come to fix a few things including the air conditioner that was leaking.

 

Ocean view from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Ocean view from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

We spent most of our vacation at the resort.  The beach was great for walking, relaxing, and building sandcastles. Even in May the ocean was even warm enough to go in.  Each day we spent a while jumping in the waves as they knocked us over.  But we spent even more time in the pools.  With 3 pools (1 indoor), a lazy river, 3 hot tubs (1 indoor), and a splash pad there was so much to do at the resort.  The splash pad did not seem to be heated so we did not use it (nor did anyone else it seemed). My daughter loved the lazy river most of all, so we spent time swimming around the loop over and over again.  We probably spent close to 5 hours each day using the pools, hot tubs (kids allowed) and lazy river.

When we did want to leave the resort, we had plenty of things to do nearby.  The boardwalk was about ¼ mile from the hotel.  There is a scenic section surrounded by grass and bushes and a touristy section with restaurants, volleyball, and stores and we enjoyed walking on both and seeing the ocean the whole time.  There are also many mini golf courses within a mile walk and we checked out 2 of them during our 4-day vacation.  The courses are nice and offered some interesting features.  The Family Kingdom Amusement park was also across the street and my daughter enjoyed it very much and wanted to go back the next day. There is a good assortment of rides from kiddie rides to thrill rides.

Sunset on Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Sunset on Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Our Myrtle Beach Vacation was great, and no car seat was necessary. We had plenty to do at the resort and there were plenty of restaurants and activities to do within an easy walking distance. We actually never used the stroller that we brought (so will not be bringing that next time!)  Between the beach, pools, mini golf, amusement park there was so much to do, and we never had any issue finding someplace great to eat.