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

From what you are saying - ie that you have a considerable amount of financial security and, it seems, you DH is in a profession where he could easily find another job in 18m without having to update skills/legal knowledge, plus the skills to take on homeschooling if you need to (I’ve done that too) - then I think if it’s what you both want to do, you should. I would only caveat that in terms of the fact that you need to understand you are doing this for you, not your DCs.

We travelled a lot with our children when they were small (cheap flights for them!) and when we’ve gone through photo albums since - they are 16/19 now - they remember not a single thing before either of them were approx 7. Not Disney, not Italy/Cypress/Spain with the grandparents, not Jamaica or anywhere, really. We don’t regret taking them as it ensured that DH and I didn’t put our wanderlust on hold and they were cheap to travel with, but they got nothing out of it personally. They love travel now and do take it in their stride, but that’s because we have always made sure we do 4 weeks abroad most years and sent them on any school trips that have come up, so it’s recent travel experiences that have shaped them.

Hey, I haven't judged anybody. I have clearly said it's different strokes for different folks.

Ha!

No, I said as much in my first post. We rented our home out when we travelled for a year. We sold it immediately on returning, having decided to emigrate. Having said that, we are now renters by choice. I have no desire to own property. Appreciate that I am in the minority though.

@travellingwithkidds

So you’ll literally make £600K cash in hand when you sell the house (minus stamp duty)? That makes a huge difference, of course you can buy a new house when you return.

I think most of us assumed that you were going to make a fraction of that on the sale. You should’ve told us that earlier, we’d have given less cautious advice!

Hey, I haven't judged anybody. I have clearly said it's different strokes for different folks.

We have NO support system. DH is an only, both parents passed away, I haven't lived in the same country as my parents for 25 years.

My much loved and cherished children are happy and well adjusted. We stopped taking trips longer than 8 weeks when they started school. They are open minded, responsible, kind people. It takes all sorts.

OP has a mortgage at the moment and sounds like she's planning to go back to having one. That's the only part of this that I can't square with the rest of the post.
What you did sounds great for you, but do you think it's realistic for OP to sell her house and then buy another when she gets back?

Do it!
Life is too short.
Its easier with toddlers than with older kids or teenagers.

I did not say I did. Frankly I wouldn't want to to be your mate.

Meh, you clearly can't conceive that other people do things differently. Saying the OP doesn't care for her children is pretty nasty...says more about you than I bet you'd like.

This

Yes@ChiefEverythingOfficer , everyone’s different and you’ve clearly made it work for your family. Did you carry on traveling when your children were older and home school?

I think that we might have been a bit braver travel-wise if we’d had family whom we could rely on if anything went wrong, but we don’t. Once we had children, we felt that we always needed our own home.

But the point is that children of that age do remember things that are repeated/familiar. Small kids thrive on familiarity.

Eg my nearly-4yo can lead the way when we walk to our familiar places. She is surprised and amused if we're in the car and I drive a different route from usual. But if we always went a different route every single day, she wouldn't remember/recognise any of them.

I mean sure, I've taken my dd on a submarine on holiday once, when she was 2.5yo (the glass kind for seeing sea creatures). And she does remember it and talk about it. It was great. We saw a red sea star, and the submarine was yellow. We glowed blue from the light coming in. These bits she remembers.

But if we literally did a new thing like that every month, it'd just be a bewildering blur with no familiar anchor of home. She wouldnt even appreciate the novelty of any of it.

Mate, you know nothing about me.

The OP has two small children to consider. Or not, in this instance.

Lol. Not everybody aspires to a job and mortgage. I definitely don't. I have neither and am very happy with my lot in life.

I work extremely hard (self employed) and live in a rental. You cannot pop all your possessions and money into your coffin when you shuffle off this mortal coil. Your way is fine FOR YOU. Try to respect or at least accept other people have different priorities.

Life without a job, or a mortgage feels longer.

That is just nonsense. Just because it doesn't suit you, doesn't mean that it's self indulgent & foolish. Open your mind a little. Life is very short.

Yes it’s not that easy or affordable to rent your own house out. The government has made sure that being a landlord isn’t worth it anymore, thus fuelling the housing crisis further.

Yes, it is self-indulgent and foolish to throw away your stability and financial future for an ill-thought-out whiim, which will have far more effect on them than some making memories fantasy - more likely embedded traumatic memories of all the longhaul flights they got stuffed on when they were toddlers.

We stayed in a combination of accommodation types. Mostly serviced apartments and in the USA a 30 foot RV. We mixed it up - thatched bures on the beach in Fiji, resort style in Thailand. In the USA we had some hotel / motel breaks from the RV in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

It wasn't all plain sailing - the children got sick in Fiji and were quite poorly. We also really struggled in China - it's not an easy place to travel with children - we eventually escaped to Hong Kong.

We absolutely loved our US & NZ road trip legs and we found Thailand and Cambodia incredible for the children. I found out I was pregnant in the last month of the trip - I had all of my early scans in Kuala Lumpur - good medical options, not my favourite city.

We literally did it all RV, hovercraft, speedboat, sleeper train, bus, hire car, Tuktuks a-plenty. It was exhausting, exhilarating and extremely liberating. Leaving NYC in a RV was terrifying but so much fun.

Our golden rules were healthy meals for the children - home cooked where possible and to give the children the mornings. Full bellies with good food and lots of exercise were key.

Mornings were very child centric - the park, the beach, as much physical activity as possible, then downtime before lunchtime naps then afternoons/evenings for adult activities - museums, attractions reading, swimming etc. We tried to keep to a reasonable routine but didn't sweat the small stuff. Bath/shower/stories most nights.

We did exactly this. Left the country for 12 months with a 3.5 year old and a 6 month old. We rented out our house, sold the car, and a lot of 'stuff.' We left the country with two suitcases, a baby seat and a buggy. Looking back now I think we were crazy 😆 But it was great, we had an amazing time! Came back in time for my oldest to start school.

It does sound amazing, OP.

As PP’s have said, some people are more comfortable with risk-taking than others. I love traveling but am nervous about taking big financial risks-I couldn’t use all my savings to finance a trip, for example, especially if I had a young family. I’d need a good wedge of cash left over!

But you’re not me. You might be more comfortable taking that financial risk.

It sounds amazing, if you have 80-100k you would need to finance it. I'd skip Dubai but the rest sounds great.

Several people have asked but I still don't understand how you would buy a house on your return if you don't work and DH has to find a new job.

I doubt it is going to be particularly beneficial for your dc at their age but I wouldn't think it would be harmful either.

Being back in the UK with broke parents, with no accommodation and no jobs might be harmful.

I don't know if I've missed how you are going to be able to buy a home when you return or find rental accommodation?

It sounds wonderful.
I travelled independently, around Asia mainly and it’s such an exciting thing to do.
We took our kids for 6months and they learnt so much and experienced so many things they could never do on a shorter holiday. It’s made them very adventurous.
We have friends that sailed around the world for a year with their sons (10 and 12) and when they got back they were well ahead of others the same age and breezed into grammar school as extremely well rounded individuals.

I wouldn’t sell my house though, I’d think about renting it out OP, as long as the Govn doesn’t decide you have to keep tenants for two years. If you’re near a University renting to students might be the best option.