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

[travellingwithtoddlers]

DH have been discussing the possibility of doing this for a while. DH is incredibly unhappy with his job at the moment and is considering quitting and having a break to de-stress. I am a SAHM and we have two toddlers aged 1 and 3.5.

We don’t need to sell our house to use the money to travel (we have savings we could use). We are considering selling our house, lots of our possessions and our cars in order to reduce our responsibilities here at home and putting things that we want to keep into storage.

Ideally we would spend some time in SE Asia, Australia, the Middle East and perhaps return home after 12-18 months. We would then look to buy a house again upon our return.

Is this idea great or am I just swept up with the excitement of planning the trip? We can afford to support ourselves for the trip, but it would use all of our savings. We would be returning purely to a deposit for a house (from the sale of our current house) which would be approx 40% of the value of the sort of house we would like to buy (if this makes any difference!).

Also - does anyone have any tips on places to visit?!

I wouldn’t sell the house or buy again in 12-18months out. I’d keep it and rent it out for that length of time, to not make sure prices don’t rise whilst your gone or you slowly fritter the money away

Keep your house and rent it out. Use your savings plus money from selling stuff to travel. It will be amazing!

Have you been on holiday with them yet? It sounds like my idea of hell.

I agree, selling your house for the sake of a year is daft. Can you rent your house out? I no it’s some responsibility but it gives some balance to your plan.

But seriously, go for it and have the best time

I would love to do this and often wonder how I could make it work with my older kids and get DP on board with the plan! I would rent out house though as moving costs such a lot (you will have stamp duty to pay again etc) and presumably prices likely to go up and if neither of you have a job when you get back getting a mortgage won't be easy

Sorry, I should have added… we are looking to move location once we are back in the UK and having already sold will be a good help with this. It means that we are in a position to buy quickly once we return.

I wouldn’t sell the house. I’d rent it out

Frankly it sounds like absolute madness to me at your point in life.

I've travelled all over Asia and the Middle East through my work, though, so if you are rally going I'd recommend Muscat, Shanghai, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. But definitely not with 2 young children.

Ah ok. In that case I’d go for it!

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Are you out of your mind?????

Just to clarify.. I definitely don’t have a proper backpacking idea of travelling in mind!
I was thinking along the lines of:

• A few months in Australia (perhaps a month at a time in a few different areas - eg. A month in an air b&b, and then fly to a different area for a month, staying in another air b&b).
• A couple of months in Dubai/Abu Dhabi in an air b&b
• Travelling around some of the ‘main’ tourist areas in Thailand and other countries in SE Asia. We would stay in hotels here primarily but stay for at least a week in each area.

Keep your house rather than selling it.

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