Anyone done a round-the-world trip with 2 dc aged 9 and 3????...

[Becaroooo]

...saw Dh's cousin and fiancee last night who live in Sinagapore (his fiancee is from there)

They are planning to get married next June in Bali and want us all to go for the wedding (we are their only family, he is is my ds2's godfather and her famly have disowned her for marrying a westerner)

dh loves to travel and he feels that as Bali is so far away he is suggesting - gulp - a round-the-world ticket as it would be the same a tickets to Bali.

He is suggesting 3 weeks starting in Singapore-(Bali for the wedding)-Darwin-Sydney-Hawaii-Vancouver-New York.

Its going to cost a FORTUNE but we dont want to take ds1 out of school when he is in KS3 and ds2 wont have started school yet. We were planning a big holiday anyway next year as dh and I both turn the big 40, but this seems a bit....huge IYSWIM?

Wondered if anyone had done it, how they went about it and how they managed the dc???

TIA!

That's a lot of destinations for three weeks and there's an awful lot of packing up and moving on again.

I would cut out both Darwin (can get as cold as 55 degrees in the summer) and Vancouver as you will not be able to get a direct flight from the island of Oahu to that city. Direct flights from Oahu only go to the West Coast mainland US like San Francisco, Seattle or Los Angeles (that flight time is around 6 -6.5 hours arriving into the mainland around 9.00-9.30pm).

If you do a round the world trip like this I would use the services of Trailfinders, they are specialists in this whole area and can also advise on accommodation.

Thanks atila

Dont fancy San Francisco, seatle or LA!!!

Oh well.

It's probably much cheaper to do a return trip to Singapore and get a budget airline to Bali - why not use Singapore as a base and do some short budget flights to Cambodia (Angkor Wat )/ Bangkok / China (Xian, Shanghai, great wall etc)? 3 weeks seems a long time but it's really short to do so much including your flights.

I agree bob but dh seems to have the bit between his teeth!

Dh has also already done china/thailand/shanghai/great wall before we met so not really an option.

Sigh. Its all so complicated.

I think a big trip sounds amazing, but agree that it is too many destinations - and flights, and tome zones - for the little'uns. It would be knackering even for grown-up, seasoned travellers!

Are you planning to stop in Sing, or would you just transit to Bali? Singapore nice, bit not that amazing, IMHO. Plus, assumingly your friends would be at work so you'd not be playing that much with them?

If he's dead-set on Sydney, what about LON-BALI-SYDNEY-SING-LON , seeing your friends again on the way back?

The US leg just feels way, way too much in 3 weeks.

Or stay in SE Asia, but visit places he's not seen before? Vietnam? More of Indonesia and Malaysia?

Hi hazel I am not bothered going to the US at all tbh...I like the idea of seeing more of australia though...would love to go to see the Great Barrier Reef, for example.

I see Singapore as being a stop off really...on the way to Bali for the wedding.

I would like to stop somewhere else on the way back though...maybe Dubai???

Dont know much about it - which I am sure is becoming pretty obvious! - but it would be such a fab experience for the dc!

Wow maryz that sounds amazing!

Dh could only get 3 weeks - at most - off work so it would be a case of fewer stops I guess. I am thinking the wedding will only be 2 days at most...

Have heard/read terrible things re: BA flights since researching this trip

I am thinking LON-SING (stop off)-BALI (wedding)-CAIRNS (for a week)-SYDNEY (for a week)-DUBAI(stop off)-LON

Dh is sooo blase about taking 2 young dc around the world!!! I am here researching vaccinations and terrorist threat levels!!!!!

With children that young you would really be dragging them round the world, why not base yourselves around Bali, you can do Lombok and the Gilli islands, boats to there would be an adventure to them, rather than jetlag -which is bad enough as an adult!

And the island cultures so much more interesting than just another western city at the other end of the world.....you would give them something for the rest of their life. (they will just play on the beach with the local kids etc).

Yes, vaccinations are very important! Just go to your nearest tropical institute, my gp was useless on that front (not his fault, never had to deal with it!).

(I've dragged my son to the back of beyond in Brazil, Africa and the Caribbean - where he learnt to scuba dive )

Have a great time wherever you go!

Hmm. I think it would be great for your 9yo and less great for your 3yo, especially as the 3yo is less likely to remember much if any of it. Bit rough!

Also, I wouldn't knock BA necessarily - they have always been fine for me and video-on-demand is excellent for small people (having just done a return trip from Aus to UK) - DS sits really quietly in front of it (he's 3.6).

Cairns isn't "all that" itself - it doesn't even have a beach, you have to go outside of Cairns for beaches (Cairns itself has only a mudflat from where they had the bay dredged so the banana/sugar boats could get into shore) and I believe the Reef is a couple of hours out in the boat to even get to it. Higher up, off Cape Tribulation, the Reef is only about 45 mins out from shore - but still your 3yo isn't going to get much out of it.

Snorkelling off the beach is better for the little one, if at all.

But that's all very negative - I think I agree though that you're trying to pack an awful lot into 3 weeks and your DH is not thinking clearly - it's a very different prospect doing that sort of travelling by yourself and doing it with 2 children, especially when one is only 3.

Hope you manage to sort something out - it sounds like wherever you go you're going to have a lovely time!

We fly from Singapore to London twice a year - don't take BA!!!! Every time I give them another chance, we are still disappointed (stewardesses with bad attitude, old planes, lost luggage etc). Try Quantas or Singapore Airlines or Emirates via Dubai, Malaysian via KL or even business class with Air Asia (budget airline).

maryz thanks...your posts are really useful...will show dh later!

acat Dh is thinking Emirates (he has flown with them before) or Singapore Airlines.

thumbwitch I agree with you! Think dh is just excited!!! He loves travelling and has done quite a lot pre marriage and pre dc and travels with work too (which he enjoys). I think the dc will want beach and sea tbh...and we need to keep them happy. As you can tell I dont know anything much about longhaul travelling and asia or antipodes

Thanks for the advice!

Think long and hard before you do Dubai in June with kids. What are you planning on doing with them? It will be approx 40 degrees. That's too hot to spend any significant time outside.

I'm not being doom and gloom. I live an hour's flight away and I wouldn't waste my time going at the moment!

Echo what everyone else said - for me, three weeks means one country (or two if you don't want to spend three weeks in Bali). The 'travelling' bit if travelling isn't fun and it's worse with kids!