Where would you go travelling for 5 weeks in Jan with 2 young DCs? Once in a lifetime trip!

[alwaysalaughtobehad]

DH has been made redundant and wants to splash out on a big trip. Pre-kids both of us (separately) travelled widely, lived and worked abroad and were pretty adventurous.
However now we just feel differently. The kids come first - we really want to go somewhere warm 20-25 degrees, somewhere they will be safe and happy and stimulated. . Otherwise it just feels selfish. DS starts school next Sept though so it just seems like a once in a lifetime opportunity to go abroad for more than 10 days! DS is 3 and lively, DD 14 months. Both pretty healthy eat well etc
We have ruled out NZ camper van trip due to cost of flights and van, but DH is looking at Sri Lanka, Goa, Maldives via Dubai or Oman.
I lived and worked in India but I don't want to take them till they are older. I am nervous about a privately rented house as I want us to be safe at night, ie within a complex/ community. I am a bit nervous about Asia however and cant work out if I'm being over protective or not. Any ideas/ experience of trips with young children??

I love India but would not take small kids, wait til they are a bit older. I would do south east Asia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia. They are all relatively safe, generally have good healthcare, pretty clean, no special vaccinations and kids are absolutely adored in these countries. Have been to all several times, lived in Singapore for many years, let me know if you need any recs.

no special vaccinations beyond the full childhood set, but 24/7 insect repellent because they are tropical areas and all have dengue. Some parts of these countries are malarial.

they also have some no-go areas.

this is not a 'don't go' but (As well travelled people such as yourselves will know) do your homework!!

and finally, depending on where and when 'warm' will not be a problem. Super hot and humid, more like!

We did all of these countries several times with dds under 5, dd1 was born in Singapore and had her first birthday in Indonesia, second in Thailand. Tbh, if you avoid anywhere with bad press, you'd never leave your house. Siem reap in Cambodia is very doable with small kids, Phnom Penh too but there is less interesting stuff there. Thailand has Bangkok, Chang Mai (elephant sanctuary) and Koh Samui (Phuket has monsoon season over Xmas and new year), I would do Melaka, Ipoh and kl in Malaysia, possibly an island too. No need for anti malarials for any of these locations, apply mossie repellant if you're in Singapore where dengue is the highest risk but it's still not something people living there are concerned about on a day to day basis (I don't think I ever applied repellant to my kids when we were there except at the zoo).

Monsoon seasons vary round Asia and some years living there we didn't get one at all.....

Australia and NZ
Thailand/singapore/malaysia

Not saying avoid, just saying do homework. It's not 'bad press', but it's not Tenerife with warm water either. The OP is well-travelled.

some parts of these countries ARE malarial, depends where they go; obviously your list is fine. Singapore has extensive anti-dengue campaigns and is the least risky place for dengue.

and yes, my partner did get it, probably in KL. He was unlucky but that's why I'm always banging on about it. Too risky to return to the tropics.

mind you, the younger child will not remember the holiday and the older one is unlikely to, so I'd suggest the OP doesn't worry too much about that!

Thailand. Other than the fairly hideous jet lag it's perfect with kids

South Africa? Going in Dec for 3 weeks for honeymoon so possibly biased

We did Vietnam for 2 months with x2 under 2 years. Was lovely. A mixture of coastal and inland, sightseeing, swimming, train and boat journeys. And it's a long narrow country so easy to fly into airport in north and gradually zig zag down the country and fly out of the South.
Take less luggage than you think by miles ( dh and I just had a hand luggage size rucksack each for all ours and kids stuff). As makes it far easier to travel with kids easier on public transport.
Vietnam was super child friendly also

Thank you that's really helpful. I had ruled out SE Asia as I'm much more confident in the Indian sub-continent, but DH has been there so I can lean on him a bit. Challenge now is to find more than 5 mins in the day to do any research. Also I'm rubbish at travelling light- any tips??

In Thailand at least you can get everything you need. They adore children and even had the ikea high chairs everywhere. There are an abundance of laundries who will do you a huge pile of washing, ironing and folding for next to nothing and it comes back looking and smelling incredible.

Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, KL. What a fantastic opportunity! Good luck with planning.

Yes to South East Asia! For 5 weeks you could easily do Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. So much fun.

By the way, Phuket doesn't have a monsoon over Christmas and New year. The rain is always over by Christmas.