To consider selling our house and travelling the world with two toddlers?

Go on holiday with your kids first for two weeks or so, that will give you an idea of how the dynamics work.

I.e. you, your husband, incredibly young children.

I feel like running away too sometimes, doesn't solve anything, and can land you in a bigger mess upon returning.

go for it . Perfect time to explore ! Good luck and keep us posted

I think people are underestimating the positives here and the value to both you and the kids. Take the road less travelled. Have an adventure. Think about how life will be if you don’t do it and how it will be if you do in terms of positives and negatives

If you really want to do it, do it but with your eyes open. Do the research, work out what it's actually going to cost. Cost everything, the flights including internal ones you expect to take, work out food costs, accommodation, other transport, storage and so on. I think you'll fins it will add up surprisingly quickly. Plan on having no income for 6 months after you return. Work out what minimum deposit you'll need including stamp duty and moving fees. Do not count on having a 40% deposit unless you've already put aside a chunk for contingencies. It might be less expensive to sell everything and just keep the important possessions with your family if you can. Cost buying whitegoods, furniture and cars.

You're highly unlikely to easily walk into new jobs, qualify for a mortgage quickly and even finding a rental could be hard depending on where you want to move. Make a realistic budget, than add a contingency amount to it, its highly likely it'll cost more then you expect. Work out at what point you might need to cut things short if costs blow out. If you're happy to end up with a much smaller deposit in return for this experience then go for it. Its a valid choice to make. If you only want to do this if you can still have a lot of that money left after your travels then maybe this isn't the right thing for your family and something shorter might be better.

To be honest, it may sound like an amazing plan, but at that age your children will really not enjoy it, will get nothing out of it and may find it very stressful. Small children thrive on routine and what is familiar, punctuated with just a bit of excitement.

In general I dislike the idea that once you have children then your whole life must revolve around them, their naps and meals and things that they will enjoy. But I think there’s a balance and for me this is too far the other way. Little children value familiarity and routine. Uprooting them from that for a prolonged period isn’t something I’d do. They won’t understand and I’m not sure they’ll rise to the adventure as you might hope.

I ‘d be inclined to use the savings to allow DH to change his direction and improve your day to day family life in a more lasting way, But I was out of the room when they gave out the wanderlust so maybe I’m not the right person to comment.

This sounds like a mid life crisis talking.

What’s the longest you’ve been away with them? I’d want to have done a 2-3 week trip - just the 4 of you and not in a hotel - as a test run.

Of course they will interact twitch other adults!!! How bizarre to suggest they wouldn't. Kids interact with all sorts of people out and about.. I. Know of a family who spend their lives traveling the world and their kids are learning and thriving because they have been exposed to so manly different cultures and ways of life.
They make a point of finding cooking classes wherever they go and include the children.

It really won’t be. They are with their parents! Safe and loved and seeing all the wondrous things.

Yes you are right, it's definitely not for everybody. The benefit of travelling with very young children is that they don't really care if they play with somebody today and never see them again.

Totally appreciate this may be different with older children though.

We have since travelled extensively with our three (we had another baby). We have done other shorter trips - 8 weeks in duration and visited about 20 countries. Our three love travelling.

We must be part nomad 😁

I would rent out your house but I would ABSOLUTELY 100% go on this adventure. In terms of where it is hard to narrow it down but SE Asia is always a delight, cheap and good with kids for a safe adventure.
The kids may not even remember it but it will be a most wonderful experience for them and change their world view in a way you can’t imagine. Reset you and DH life and give you breathing space to plan the next step.
get all the vaccinations and decent travel insurance, don’t plan to go tomorrow fast or over plan it and just go. What an opportunity

Sounds amazing but I think you need to plan as much for what returning looks like as going. I have lived overseas extensively and repatriation needs planning. Where will you live on your return , have either of you got desirable skills so getting another job is easy what is the school situation like. Make sure you have a big financial buffer for this as unless you have relatives with a big house and lots of room it is expensive. Also renting your house is no guarantee you can walk back into your house unless you have a break clause and notice and know when you are coming back Last time we came back from overseas we couldn’t get into our rented house for 6 months because of the rental contract notice

Having travelled extensively and had 2 children (after travelling) you are crazy to do this. It won't be the holiday you think. You never know what's ahead and you're taking away you're financial security just when you need it most.

Sounds amazing, although I would probably rather do it with slightly older kids , just because they won’t remember it, especially the youngest.

No - they turned 2 halfway through the trip so no memories at all.

Our older child turned 5 just after we set off - they remember heaps.

That's lovely that it worked for your kids. All children are different and with different personalities, and yours must be uniquely suited to this setup.

But my eldest, and the other kids I know, would find it jarring to build a friendship with a family and then not see them again, or not know for sure if she'll see them again. And then, were this to happen repeatedly, she'd start to withdraw and not bother to build a friendship next time.

I think that is more common.

This sounds like my dream trip! But I worry about the long term financial effects. Does your littlest remember the trip?

This.

I would buy the house in the area you want to move to first, then rent that out and go

Our children didn't just experience a nuclear family and we didn't use a single babysitter.

Every day they were surrounded by new and interesting people (adults & children). We would often stay in places where other families were staying. Shared mealtimes, shared tours. In the USA we hired an RV and travelled for 2 months from East to West. There were a few families doing the same and wed regularly intersect.

Travelling did not limit or distress our children in anyway.

Ha! In my experience nothing could be further from the truth.

Children are much much more flexible than we give them credit for. My children grew and changed irrevocably on our trip. Vocabulary and learning was just part of day to day life. I totally attribute this trip to the fact that our oldest now speaks five languages, fluently. They learned to communicate in different ways - playing with local children on the beach where nobody shared the same language was a great learning experience.

I live in Asia and have travelled SE asia. I definitely wouldn't reccomend it with toddlers due to humidity, crowdedness etc

Your children are people with their own lives too. Not just extensions of you.

I think the point about your children missing the chance to build secure relationships with other adults is a very important one. It will potentially be bewildering and stressful for them.

We did it. Ours were 4 & 2. We travelled for a year. USA, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia.

We kept our house and rented it out. After returning we sold it and moved to Australia.

Financial suicide - absolutely. The loss of a years earnings, cost of the trip, cost of moving to the other side of the world and then the financial deficit (superannuation gap here in Australia). We are probably still not financially recovered 15 years later. Do I care - not one actual jot!! Would I do it again - 1 million times over and over.

It was the best thing we have ever done. A life changing family experience. Travelling with small children was far less difficult than I ever expected.

Editing to add: our children absolutely loved every minute of the trip.