To pack my family up and go travelling for an extended period.

[plumsarepurple]

And by travelling I mean nice hotels or a round the world cruise.
Dh earns a good salary & we all have an ok life. The problem is we are all very stressed out. Dh hates his job and has been looking for months now for a new one well almost a year. I was a sahm but recently got a really bad job just to take some pressure from dh ie to get school hours I’m now back to being a junior in my career which is hard tbh and I’m on the lowest wage I’ve been on since about 12 years ago!

We’ve been thinking about selling our house and buying something outright to let out and go travelling for a year. The only problem obviously is when we come back we’d have to sort schools and jobs anyway which hasn’t been easy! Dd is 5 so we believe she won’t be held back and I already do a lot with her now. We have no childcare and are all exhausted constantly by everything, we just seem to be putting one foot in front of the other everyday.

Given you’ve just dismissed what everyone has written and have decided what you want to do, what is it you’re actually wanting to ask/know/discuss?

Yes I definitely would! Sell up buy outright rent out house and travel/homeschool. We worked overseas for a while so it was ideal (for those unable to afford it otherwise). Go for it, you only live once!

Sakura7 - that's a massive sweeping generalisation there. I have travelled extensively and for long periods of time as well. And I love travelling. Yes, it absolutely broadens your horizons and is good for the soul. but this is not what the OP is saying. she is saying that they are in a rut and see going away for a year as solving their problems. Sorry but it absolutely wont. they will come back and pretty soon be straight back where they were. In the same rut and actually feeling worse about it. Travelling for a year with a partner and with a child takes a lot of planning to make the most of it. being with someone 24/7 for a year is tough as well. what about family emergencies? will they come back or not? what about health and education? none of these are insurmountable but just thinking that with a 5 year old you can head off and travel and come back to find everything is different is bonkers. it wont be.

IncrediblysadToo - yep the OP wants to do it so will I guess.

mummymeister

I did say "in my experience". So hardly a sweeping generalisation.

Also the main issue seems to be their jobs. So unless they're planning a sabaticcal and coming back to the same jobs, this does solve that problem. Of course they don't have to travel and could just quit their jobs, but clearly they want to go away somewhere. So why not?

This doesn’t sound like a positive move forward
It’s running away

Focus efforts and energy in changing status quo

I've done this. DH & I sold everything we owned, rented out our house and bought a one-way ticket to Asia.

Full-time travel is HARD. You still have to eat well, get about, get clothes washed, work out language/currency/culture differences and you need energy in abundance to enjoy sightseeing too. And deep pockets if you want to have a good sleep in a clean bed every night. You need to make dozens of decisions every day, more so than at home.

I'm glad I did it, but after 12 months travelling Asia & Europe I was DONE. I wanted my own kettle, a bed with my own mattress and a nice local shop. More than that, I missed routine. It messes with your head.

I don't believe all those perfect Instagram accounts, every long-term traveller I met was knackered and repeated the same conversation over and over - 'have you been to X? Don't bother' 'Oh you'll get ripped off at Y if you're not careful' etc etc. Very jaded and wary.

Being away for a year, friends and family of course carried on and I found it really hard when I returned to get back into their lives; done friendships never got back on track and this was totally unexpected.

Now I go for trips no longer than 6 weeks, my absolute limit! But honestly, having holidays of 1-2 weeks to places you really want to see and doing it WELL is much, much preferable. Do a cruise if that's your thing, have a break, recharge.

@HarrysOwl thanks for your post that actually made me see more the reality side of things. I’ve travelled a lot and dh nearly never home for his job but travelling first class everywhere at someone else’s expense is definitely different to travelling with dd. We’ve travelled the world with dd but only for two week stretches st a time. We go abroad about 5 weeks a year & we always feel better afterwards.
I didn’t mean to brush off everyone’s ideas I certainly haven’t made my mind up. We were planning to sell our house and buy a flat to let out in London so as to leave ourselves something to come back to. Our jobs aren’t necessarily in demand but not difficult to find work only highly paid work so my dh is exec level so isn’t so easy to find the top salaries since the brexit malarkey and we think it might be that a lot of people aren’t moving jobs until everything settles down (which at the moment also includes dh as he can’t find anything different).

Lots of food for though on this thread though so I will have a think. Perhaps we are running away I don’t feel like we are but maybe we are and my heads in the sand!

I've read my post back and I think I've been a bit over-negative; it was a fantastic experience, and really drew DH & I closer together. I had so many incredible experiences, and I think you may always be wondering 'what if?' if you don't try it. I know I would have regretted it if I hadn't.

If you have the means, the opportunity and the desire, (and you're ready prepared for the realities) then I don't think it's running away; it's living.

Would you consider working abroad? Perhaps your dh could start looking more internationally? I know several people at exec level recruited to fill positions abroad where visas are usually problematic and the companies seem to have no issues. (I appreciate this might mean some changes in your career but your OP suggested your return to work was more a necessity than a desire).
It would give you a base to explore a new region alongside working ie great weekends away, and in some countries it is normal to have more help so the domestic grind is less of an issue if you both want to work.