Trip-of-a-lifetime with 9-year-old (1st holiday abroad) - big birthday celebration

[Moominmammaatsea]

I've a milestone birthday in the summer and I'd love to take my nine-year-old on a dream holiday as her first trip abroad. I'm a totally lone parent and a low earner, but I've saved a substantial sum for this holiday, so our budget is healthy (not quite no expense spared, but more generous than a wet weekend in Blackpool).

We normally spend our holidays in the wilds of Scotland or Northumberland, and also enjoy city breaks to historic locations like London, Edinburgh, York and Bristol.

I know the world is our oyster but I'm tying myself up in knots trying to work out where to go! I hope the collective wisdom and experiences of MNers might help us pinpoint a holiday destination.

Things we like: history, walking, nature and wildlife, exotic food, being on the go, weather of all descriptions, camping, stargazing and learning about different cultures.

We're not really sunseekers (hence the Scotland and Northumberland holidays!) and I'm not really keen on the idea of a beach holiday (we like hunting for fossils on beaches rather than lying on them).

Disparate ideas that appeal to me are New Zealand, remote Scandinavian islands, chasing the Northern Lights in Iceland, Cambodia & Vietnam, or touring Japan by train.

Help! Where should we start?

What did you decide to do in the end Moomin?

How long will the trip be?

Don't forget that places like New Zealand and Japan are in very different time zones and jet lag will likely be an issue for the first few days. Not everyone is badly effected but it may be better to stay a little closer to home for your first trip abroad.

The planning is half the fun so enjoy. Your daughter is a lucky little girl. I had to wait until I was an adult with a job for my first trip. My parents have still never been abroad. Not because of the money. My mother just has no interest.

I never drive overseas either.

I'd recommend Iceland - stay in Reykjavik and there are coach/buggy tours to everywhere you could possibly imagine.

Or Switzerland - trains are fantastic; mountain railways and cable cars and boats - Lucerne is very easy to do on foot.

Downside to them and to Norway too is that food is obscenely expensive, so whilst you can pay for all the travel and accommodation beforehand, you need to budget more than you'd think for daily spends.

I'd recommend trailfinderss too

You can get a cruise on a working ship which delivers mail etc going up the Norwegian coast into all the wee towns and villages all the way up to Russia.

Another vote for Trailfinders

My 9 year olds loved new York