Help me make my daughter’s dreams come true!!

[Dungeonsandwagons]

My 8yr old is desperate to go to some far flung places, top of her list are America, Central America and Japan. I’m a single mum and I would LOVE to take her travelling and have adventures together. Currently we’ve only done European countries and I’m not dissing Spain etc but it’s not culturally massively different. She really wants to see something different.

However, I don’t have a never ending budget. Also as it’s me and her alone I don’t want to rough it too much / need to be aware of safety. Are there any tips on taking some more adventurous trips that satisfy her desire to see something different but that might not cost the earth?

any help appreciated!!!

@Divebar2021 thank you for the suggestions. I’ve been to Thailand and she would LOVE to go. Might look into it again, because as you say it’s cheap when there. And Bangkok is amazing!

I have done quite a bit of travel with my dc and on a shoestring budget when before I had them.

The most expensive bit (usually) is getting there, so keep an eye on Skyscanner for deals to likely locations. Check if there are good prices by travelling from less popular airports. Always look at prices across the year to find to best times to travel.

Eastern Europe or North Africa are good options for feeling different but being less expensive. Romania or Bulgaria are lovely. As are Morocco and Egypt (if you stay away from the most touristy bits).

Also, ignore pp saying it is indulgent to listen to your dd's dreams, it is lovely!

We love France! I think France is actually very different to the UK in so many ways. France is also a vast country with many interesting places to visit. Your daughter is only eight, she will take a lead from you.

Also, ignore pp saying it is indulgent to listen to your dd's dreams, it is lovely!

thank you @Stompythedinosaur we feel like a team so I find it odd to be told I should ignore her!!

Depending where you live, you could have a great travel adventure by getting the night train from London to Fort William in the Scottish Highlands - sleeper compartment for the 2 of you for £200-£220 I think. Leave London at 9pm, get to Fort William at 10am - then you can head to the youth hostel near Ben Nevis, get a private room for the two of you, go for walks, whale watching trips etc etc! You can train directly back or break the journey in Edinburgh and visit the castle etc.

I second Morocco - I was there with a female friend years ago, and while we got lots of invites to visit 'my uncle's carpet shop' a polite no thanks, or a 'sorry can't afford to buy anything, I'm a teacher' was always accepted with no hassle.

And Venice - it is amazing and if you pick your accommodation carefully doesn't have to be crazy expensive- you could stay by the beach in the lido and have a beach and city holiday.

And i'm glad you're dismissing the awful people saying your daughter is spoilt. It's brilliant when they get the travel bug, it shows an interest in the world, developes creativity and empathy, and you get to have more interesting holidays.

How old are you and what is your work situation?

Could you do Australia / NZ on a 'working holiday visa'? and then visit Asia from there or on your way there or back?

Oh if she likes the idea of postcards I have a friend on holiday in Japan at the moment.

South America is cheap once you get there.

My teen dc loved Iceland.

I think Istanbul is a good shout.

Some absolute miseries on here, and some just making up complete shite.

You sound like a great mum, OP. And your DD sounds great too.

Personally, Italy (Venice, Rome, Lake Garda) was somewhere I always wanted visited as a child. Still haven't managed it!

I love this thread. I am a single mum too and can barely afford a day out but there are some good ideas on this thread to do even locally which I can manage. Stupidly I never thought of using the journey as a way of seeing places 😕
Ignore the posters saying you are spoiling your daughter. I want to give my dc a sense of exploring and this thread has given me ideas of what i can do fairly soon (locally) and what I can save to do further afield in maybe a couple of years plus some fab ideas on how to engage my dc in the planning etc.
I like this thread.

Someone suggested Turkey as a place that's close enough to be affordable but still feels very different.
I'd recommend Cappadocia. The rock formations are amazing. They seem very otherworldly.

Love this thread! We are very much budget travellers and I would disagree that an 8 year old can't backpack. Work backwards OP, check out where the budget airlines fly to from your local airport. IME it's the bags now that really bumps up the cost of flights, so we travel with just a small carry on and make sure that our accommodation has a washing machine.
I'd definitely recommend Marrakech and Istanbul, if you can get over the annoying badgering in souks etc they are both very safe for a solo woman and child. Don't discount Spain, the Andalusia region has a real mix of culture and we loved Granada, with the Alhambra and Albaicin which is nicknamed Little Marrakesh. Lots of pueblos to visit.
Istanbul was absolutely incredible and has great public transport, so getting around is really cheap. One of my dc said Istanbul changed their life 🥺. Athens is also fab.
Don't discount the UK and Ireland either (although I find it's usually cheaper to go abroad). Multicultural cities such as Bradford, London, Birmingham have a lot to offer. You can visit temples, mosques, Asian supermarkets etc for a really different feel. Bradford was one of my favourite UK places! Donegal in Ireland has an Irish speaking region and it felt very other worldly to me. Northern Ireland is also really good, with Giants Causeway, rope bridge, Rathlin island and Belfast is good is your dd is into history.

Her list speaks to me of the kind of list a young person would come up with. She’s right that everything on it is different but there are a bunch of other places that are really different but which she hasn’t thought of because she is so young.

Id definitely look into Jordan and sone of the cheaper Asian countries. Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia would all be good options.

Happy travels!

How about some more unusual places in Europe. Somewhere like the Tatra mountains in Poland/Slovakia/the Baltic states/Black Forest/Romania. If car hire is in the budget a road trip using b&bs can be an adventure we did Krakow to Vienna which had a good variety. Or a rail trip.

Why are people having a go at you for wanting to go outside Europe? Europe has many incredible places but why not go an experience something more culturally different.

I would also suggest Morocco as a shorter haul destination.

Also further away where flights may be more but it's much cheaper when you get there. Particularly if it's a place a lot of people from the UK travel so flights aren't too much - India? Goa or Rajasthan?

You could look a budget package holidays to places like Tunisia, Gambia and then leave the hotel and get out and about.

Going to Scandinavia etc - everything is very expensive and the same in true for a lot of Europe now given the £/€ situation.

I was lucky to travel a lot as a child because of my mum's work and it was brilliant.

I would also strongly suggest a National Geographic subscription as a present. I used to love it and the photos and stories are such a window into other places.

Many posters seem utter misers. Look on skyscanner for cheap flights. I've seen flights to Italy for £9 and £18. And cheekytrip for cheap holidays reduced if you can go anytime.

Dubai is another great option - outside of the city there is lots to do and it feels properly Middle Eastern while incredibly safe and child friendly. In the city there also also places that feel properly local, where you can eat local food. It’s not all bling hotels. You can also drive to Oman. I like a pp’s idea that grandparents contribute a night’s hotel stay as her birthday present and that she handles the budget.

@Dungeonsandwagons, I love your dd's sense of adventure. I'm currently on a ferry coming back from the Netherlands with an 11 year old who has thrown herself into the language, local foods, euro money etc and a 14 year whose comfort zone is about 2 villages in each direction of home!

An idea - a lad I used to work with would book a week off work every three months, then on the Thursday or so of the week before he'd go to the travel agent and see what they had. He got some utter bargains this way - often paying only 20-30% of the full cost. Now this was 25 years ago, single bloke and not restricted to school holidays... (then he married a teacher!).

Have you thought about interailing? My daughter has been desperate to travel since very small but we are not well off at all, she went interailing with her friend after A level, I paid for the ticket (18th birthday present)and she worked to pay for the rest. She absolutely loved it, she went to Amsterdam, Berlin, Krakow, Prague, Bled, Pula, Budapest and Paris. It was intense but she budgeted very well and had a lot of money left, she booked youth hostel very early (you can request a bedroom for just the 2 of you or just female) and already planning next year.
You pay one ticket interailing and you can travel has much as you want for a limited amount of time (in her case a month). I think it is Avery good way to travel on a tiny budget.

Japan is really safe and utterly wonderful. If you have the money that should be top of your list

What is your budget?

As a single parent that has to travel in school holidays with a Primary aged child I would stick to exploring the UK and going on adventures here. It sounds like your DD doesn't really like sitting by the beach holidays but wants to 'do' instead. Financially and logistically things will likely get easier as she gets older.

Depending on where you live I would train up to Edinburgh, when you exit the station the architecture is unlike any I'd ever seen in my patch of England and felt very different, climb Arthur's seat, visit the castle and zoo and then I would train or get a tour through the Highlands and the lochs. Perhaps the GP steam train from Fort William etc or up to Aberdeen and a ferry across to the Shetlands.

Another trip head to Wales, go to Zip World and go on a activity holiday try to include gorge walking its the best. She might enjoy Outward bound trips as she gets older, they will feel very adventurous.

Once she starts Secondary and is bigger and can help more with carrying bags then I'd start looking at Europe and doing on adventures over there.

My DD is 13 and is desperate to go to Iceland so I've told her that will be her reward for completing her GCSEs it gives me a few years to really save financially and to save up holiday at work so we can go for longer and she is researching and learning about the country and the things she'd like to do.

I've been jealous a few times on mn but never of an 8 year old. Could she fit me in her suitcase

I'd talk about being more observant. You say Spain isn't that different culture wise, but it is. We've just been to Norway and yes on the face of it, it all looks like England (but cleaner) but there are differences in the way people interact, with how much freedom they allow their children, about etiquette etc. You could even travel up and down the UK and notice cultural differences. I'd start there and plan some trips further afield when she's in her teens.

I'd definitely agree on suggesting train journeys through Europe as a great way to see more of it.

We went to see the massive temples in the south of Sicily near Agrigento and they're so enormous, might be worth considering.

Another history bit, there's so much well preserved Roman stuff around Avignon (easy to do by train as well). Nîmes and Orange.

I guess the above is all history rather than current culture, but it is fascinating.

When we went to Sicily we came (quite accidentally) across a massive religious festival celebrating the saints of the town we were in. There were people in costume and a massive parade and the most amazing bands and it was really quite extraordinary and definitely very culturally different from the UK. I think I would consider seeing if I could locate something like that as part of my travels if I wanted to illustrate some of the cultural differences that still exist across Europe?

How about signing up to the website trustedhousesitters.com?

It’s a growing service where you pay a registration fee (I think about 120 quid for a year) and it gives you access to people all over the world who want someone to come housesit and take care of their pets.

No money is exchanged, you get free accommodation across the world in return for looking after a house and pet, they get a free house sitter and peace of mind.

Everyone is reviewed and verified, I’ve been using it for a year and it is great! You can view all the adverts everywhere in world and see what takes your fancy - and you can get really off the tourist trails and get a sense of the country.