3 months traveling... please help me decide

[merle1990]

I'm in two minds on whether I should go for three months with my husband, daughter(5) and son(3) across Asia, New Zealand and South Africa for three months starting around December this year to late March 2020.

I'm pregnant at the moment and the baby will be around six months old when we depart from the UK. My daughter is homeschooled so I won't have a problem with her being away for three months.

I know I'll have to sort out a whole host of vaccinations for the whole family before we leave as well as medical insurance but my biggest concern is that one of the children (especially the baby) falls ill and we end up in the hospital with no extended family support. Also when traveling we won't be moving around with suitcases instead we'll be traveling extremely light with nothing but backpacks for my husband and myself and a baby carrier for the little one. I've never traveled like that before and it'll be an adjustment to say the least.

Am I worrying too much about this instead of looking at this as a good opportunity for our family to travel and experience different cultures and explore new places?

Has anyone done something similar to what we're planning?

Have a look at @thebucketlistfamily on Instagram

If I were you I would choose one of those three places, I've never travelled with kids but I've done a lot of backpacking type travelling on my own and trying to cram too much in and moving to a new place every few days gets a bit stressful, I imagine that would be doubly so when young kids are involved.

You could see a lot of Australia at a relaxed pace in three months, or maybe two months in New Zealand then some beach time in Asia.

I love watching the bucket list family, they take their kids to some amazing places but they don't travel on a budget - lots of five star hotels, and their kids seem to be exceptionally good, experienced travellers, putting up with endless flights and airports.

Ive travelled like this..ive done big long haul(Oz,NZ&S.Pacific)with DC as well as lots of shorter trips to SE Asian countries when DC under5.i also spent most of my 20's travelling&working around the world mainly shoestringing it so had a bit of an idea but personally there id be concerned that 3kids that age on the route you're doing at the hottest time of the year,let alone with carry-on only would be more like an endurance test than a good time.itd be the baby issue thatd be the biggest worry-the older 2would be fine enough but your days/nites are so compromised with a 6mth old,let alone the other stuff like hygiene&healthcare-so ur carry on would be taken up with medical kit,feeding stuff(thats the age of myDC first big trip we did).We've recently done a2mth trip to SE Asia&another to N.Asia as my DC are also homeschooled😊-its a lot less hassle/more fun now theyre older,can get involved with planning&into the culture/food,do mini projects on what they fancy&even just carrying their own gear&having more robust immune systems.. OZ&SAfrica/Asia are truly hotter than hell that timevof yr.NZ would be lovely tho,even parts of SPacific.We have currently lived in one of these places for 5years now&summers are still hell-hot&spent indoors hiding from the heat!

I love the idea of taking the kids on a trip like this, I spent a year backpacking through Asia/Australia when I was 20 and me and DH were both avid travellers pre kids. I think it’s great to immerse children in seeing all the world has to offer and definitely don’t think travelling to far flung places needs to stop when you become a parent. That being said, I think in your shoes I would be concerned about the (unlikely, but possible) scenario of the 6 month old falling ill. For that reason I would probably hold off until all immunisations had been complete so after age 1? I’m not overly health paranoid but if my 6 month old baby was to contract something abroad that could have been avoided, I think I would beat myself up.

Plus, like the poster above has mentioned once kids are slightly older the trip becomes easier and more fun with (generally speaking) less things to cart about. And they will remember more of it which is a plus.

Maybe hold off the Asia trip until they are all slightly older and look into New Zealand for this trip? Or how about something like a Europe interrail?

Check your house insurance. Our'service didn't cover an absence longer than 2 months. But no, I would wait until my children were older and could remember the holiday. Also, I caught dysentery in India and would hate to put young children at risk of that.

We did all sorts of holidays with our DC after the age of 5. Now in their 20s, they remember very little! Be honest - travel is for the parents, not the children! Especially a baby!

Agree with previous posters I would wait until the baby is older and has had all his/her vaccinations. My dd has travelled all around SE Asia since the age of two, but we live in China and she has been vaccinated against everything and is used to travelling to areas where you can't drink tap water etc.