Anybody been backpacking with children...

[poppyboo]

ultra light tent,sleeping stuff, one change of clothes etc etc? I was speaking to someone recently who had a friend who was going abroad with little ones with their stuff on there back so to speak!

been backpacking around far east with a toddler - no tent, but me and DH with backpack each. Easy enough, stayed on spec wherever we fancied, mainly little beach huts. Only a couple of changes of clothes, just handwashed when needed and every so often got stuff laundered (v cheap over there).

People very accomodating because of DS, would give him food/fruit ALL the time for nothing. He ate lots of interesting asian things, like packets of dried cuttlefish, etc. I am sure he only ate them because somone gave him them as a treat!

If you stress about stuff, then it is probably not for you. If you are very easy going, then it would be a doddle. Also depends what country you were thinking of going to as well, I suppose.

I'm sure it is possible but think carefully about where you will go. I would not, for example, recommend West Africa.

where in the world would be the safest place to go do you think for first time?
also wickedfairy how old was your DS?

Yes - see my two brief posts from October on my blog Looking for Dragons. It was hard work, but worth it, lots more contact with other people. Take more socks than you think you need. And invest in ultra-fast drying clothes and towels. Anything else will soon get smelly.

thank you Tamsin, I shall go and have a look!

tamsin, could you post me a link, i couldn't find it by puting it into google.

Hi poppyboo,

my DS was just over 2yo when we travelled. One other thing we took into consideration was malarial areas - we stayed away from them, as didn't want to give him medication. Would have travelled into Cambodia, etc but didn't due to the above. Stayed away from the Thai/Laos border as well for the same reason.

We spent most time in central/southern Thailand - I would recommend. No malaria, although you still need to be careful of mossies due to dengue fever, mossie bites. Just made sure we covered him up totally at night in light clothes and used one of the UV50 sunsuits in the daytime. They were great, as you don't need to faff around with suntan lotion, other than face/back of neck/hands.

The Thai people were so welcoming (more so because of DS, they LOVE children, especially little white, blonde haired ones!). Everyone went out of their way to help and we used only public transport, stayed in little huts, only cheap (but clean) accommodation. He ate pretty much lots of fruit and steamed rice the whole time, unless locals gave him treats. He actually grew 6 cm the month we were away - not sure if he would have anyway or if it was a mixture of sun and fruit!