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

Don't even think about renting your house out. The way things are going you probably wouldn't be able to get it back within a year or more on your return. Read about s21, s24 and rental reform bill before renting anything.

As a counterpoint to the boring miserable no spirit moaners on the thread so far - if you’re in a position to do it without undue risk, which sounds like the case - go for it and make memories that’ll last a lifetime. Imagine the photos to look back and tell the kids about in years to come.

Do you know what area you want to move to when you come back? Can you buy there and rent that out while you’re gone?

I would concentrate on Australia, buy a camper van, travel round in that for a year. Beautiful country with so much to see and do. Sell it at the end. Kids always have access to their things and facilities, familiar food, western standard health care (free for emergencies for British people) English speaking etc. You can get 12 month tourist visas.

You could do a few weeks either end in SE Asia if you wanted.

Unless you're very relaxed with using babysitters you've never met, etc (I'm not that relaxed myself), your kids will basically not interact meaningfully with any adults except their two parents. For over a year!

I think you're imagining that this odyssey will open their minds and build their confidence but in reality I think it'd do the opposite. Their world will shrink to just the nuclear family. That would likely hold back their vocabulary acquisition and other learning.

One option might be to start off in an Airbnb then buy a second hand camper van to travel round in, then finish off in an Airbnb and sell the camper van. Move on to next country and repeat. A work colleague did that in America. Did a six month road trip, brought a van on the east coast, sold it on the west coast.

This. Do it before school’s an issue. What a wonderful adventure.

Sounds like an amazing idea! I have travelled alot and occasionally see families travelling with toddlers. They backpack and take their kids around and it works well for them.

Whats your financial situation? Do you have an income? Renting your home out while you're away seems to be a great source of income and a missed opportunity not to.

Have you been away with your babies before?
I certainly did not feel like it was a break or a holiday when I went with my DC at 10months.. it was just parenting in a different location with all my usual conveniences not with me.

Anyway, there is a travel influencer on Instagram called wanderlustchloe who has documented her trip to vietnam for a month with her under one year old baby.

Don’t sell the house. Rent it. Then absolutely do it. Amazing thing to do.

Unless you have other income you won't be able to buy quickly on your return. You'll have no employment and just as importantly no employment history which you'd need to qualify for a mortgage. You'd need to rent while you found jobs, got through any probationary period and work long enough to show you have secure employment. You wouldn't be able to get UC because the house deposit would be past the exemption stage post sale and you might need to use a chunk upfront for rent as you'll have no recent history or secure job to show you can pay. Then you'd need to live off it till you had an income. If you can live with family in the location you want to be in that will cut down on the money you'll need to use from savings aka your deposit but it won't remove the issues with securing a mortgage. You'd also lose a chunk of savings/deposit to pay stamp duty.

Not something I'd do, and definitely don't sell up,'rent out your home.

Keep your house rather than selling it.

Are you out of your mind?????

With kids that young I would recommend visiting fewer places for a longer period of time. So don’t go mad visiting every Buddhist tempt in Thailand but rent an airbnb somewhere interesting for a month and get to know it properly, moving on every few days/ a week with toddlers soon becomes tedious. And they pick up a lot of viruses so don’t push them too hard

I would rent your house out not sell and rather than travel continuously I’d find yourself a really nice place, perhaps an ashram which would feel like travelling due to all the people you’d meet, but staying still.

Me too, but each to their own!
Either do your travelling before you have DC or wait until they're old enough to leave behind 😁

If you do, it might be better to rent your house out than sell it. But bear in mind if you decide to come back early there'll be tenants in there.

If you do sell the house and travel for 1-2 years, and return with only a deposit for a new home, not buying outright, are you absolutely certain that your husband will have a job to come back to? As you'll need to obtain and service a new mortgage?
Also, are you closely monitoring global politics/threats of war? Middle East appears to be very volatile at present. I don't mean to rain on your parade - I'm a natural pessimist who always looks for the catch before deciding on anything! Good luck to you and your family whatever you decide.

Also throw in things like illness and drs appointments for the little ones. Yes I know not all kids get ill, but travelling around will increase chances of this.

Im pretty carefree but don’t think I would enjoy this with those ages.

"A delayed or displaced problem is still a problem, and it will be waiting for you upon your return."

Yep. OP, maybe do 6 months while your DH works out what to do about his job. Keep your house. Anything else is burning money for no reason. Understand that you'll have to manage your expectations with regards to travelling with little kids.

If it was the two of you, I would say go for it. Life is short, sometimes it's shorter than expected, so live it to the full.

My reservations with the kids are around practical issues. Are they both toilet trained is the first thing that comes to mind.

Can you plan it a bit more now, with a view to going in 18 months or so, once the youngest is a bit older?

My kids are a similar age and they would absolutely hate it. If my kids are unhappy, no one with working ears is happy

Reasons why:

You can't build a support network of adults. It's just you, entertaining your kids, everyday, without end. Your kids won't be able to build educational relationships with other adults (nursery teachers, extended family).

It takes trial and error to find a place/activity your kids like. Soft play, play cafe, pub with play area... as soon as you discover a good place, it's time to move on.

They'll spend a disproportionate amount of time being transported. Kids hate that. Or just mine?

Stating the obvious but you won't have convenient facilities, at least not everywhere you go. Not just toilets but laundry etc etc. Potty training your youngest while travelling? Lol! No thanks.

I don’t think it’s the worst idea, but when would your 3.5yr old be starting school? September ‘25? Will you be back at ‘home’ to establish their school place and a solid footing for them? In scenarios where this sort of thing is on the cards, I strongly recommend you both examine what you may be running away from and whether travelling will ‘fix’ it. A delayed or displaced problem is still a problem, and it will be waiting for you upon your return.

If you sell your house you won't have any jobs or recent history of paying a mortgage and bills on time for the lender. Absolute madness to sell.

You won't be in a position to move quicker because moving takes as long as whatever chain is involved and how fast the solicitors go. Rent your house out

Christ. Why would you sell your house? You’ll have to pay stamp duty all over again, plus all the moving costs. And have nowhere to return if it all goes tits up. Rent it out, pay off more of the mortgage. It’s financial madness to sell and rebuy a year later if you have no other reason.

Also, have you ever done any significant backpacking pre-kids? We did loads, and the idea of doing it with two toddlers would be absolute hell. The logistics, lack of routine, dirt, unsafe transport, difficulty accessing good medical care in a far flung place when you don’t speak the language, stopping them touching/eating the literal filth you will encounter anywhere remotely outside tourist areas. Not to mention dealing with sickness bugs, travel delays, etc. etc. And they are too young to even remember it.

It’s one thing taking off just the two of you. With toddlers, seriously think again.