itchy feet were fine in my 20s but how to satisify the travel bug with 3 kids...

[pillowcase]

I yearn for a bit of adventure, but don't want to move properly, just rent my house out short term and take the kids around the world, home-educate for that time, see some interesting places. We could probably manage it financially (would pick up English teaching, bar work etc) but DH's job is too precious to give up and he'd never get a career break.

Is there any way to do it?
Where would I go? It's all hypothetical but where would you go?

Am dreaming of 3 months in Philippines or Thailand or Vietnam
3 months in Japan
Trans-siberian express to Moscow
Flight to Madagascar
Volunteer work in S America

Oh something fairly tame but great for the kids (aged 8, 6 and 4 currently)

Imagine you could just do it. What would you do?

Nobody want to play holiday planning?

Imagine living in a hut in some island in Thailand, eating fruit for breakfast and doing a bit of 'learning' on the beach.

I once met a German couple with a 2 year old and a baby in a sling climbing from a big boat to a smaller one to access the beach in an island in the Philippines. I found it hard with just myself and my rucksack.

Later that week I saw the kids just playing in the sand with some local kids. I so want my kids to experience something like this just the once, and not in a 5* hotel!!

anyone?

I am sooo with you on this!

Im thinking off opening a savings account for a trip so if im still as poor as i am now at least when ds is like 6 or something we can go do a travel trip in his school hols or maybe a lil longer...vietnam cambodia

south america is amaaaazing

kids r so more appreciative of what they have once they meet kids from other cultures!!

If ive met some rich guy or got some super job by then we will go for ages but still do it backpacker style!

when i was travelling langkawi i stayed next to a couple and their 10 yr old he had travelled the world he was so mature and worldy....

we found phosphurence in the sea one night and i called on the parents to come in the sea and look ...but where was 10 yr old jake??

he was off wild pighunting with the locals til 1am

amazing experiences to be had!!!

backpacker style, yes, that's the whole point!

I wonder about renting out our house for a year, and planning a 'job' in one place for about 3 months, and get DH to do similar in a different place. So we could live for 3 months in 2 places and then live in a tent/hut/hostel and budged well for the rest. The travel would obviously be a big hit but I do have a 'one big trip in a lifetime' fund and I really want to use it rather than let it disappear into the house or into life in general.

I asked DH if he like to really do it and he said 'yes, but...' So I think if we could figure out a way, we could do it. I can see myself next summer heading off...

So where will you stop first then?

MrTumbleDoes
missed your post there while typing.

It's something we never had as kids, I never went abroad until I was 15 for an exchange, but that exchange changed my life. so I hate the thoughts of my kids going on big trips (to hotels, campsites, disney etc) and just taking it for granted.

We took the kids to Paris last summer (Dh is from there) and the kids can't stop talking about it. But the experience of the metro and living in an apartment (borrowed!) and the wind up at montmartre are what they remember. I hate the thoughts of them remembering 'the Princess parade in eurodisney' only (we did that too, not just slagging it off)

wow im so leaous you should so do this!

Vietnam cambodia laos area appeals to me because i havent done that yet

but also i love south america and would love to do more of that and learn some spanish along the way

or india

but its hard to plan that far in advance depends whats going on in the world!

I just defo want to go somewhere very different and to some poor places so ds will see the different ways of the world!

You should try do some cool work with animals like you can work in a ornagutang sanctuary etc would be great for the kids..if they are allowed?

Your plans of living/working in betweeen are good cus im sure the kids may find it hard travelling about for too long in a row

I need to start playing the lottery i think!

I like to believe it could happen, but I'm afraid dh wouldn't agree and we would be able without him.

Have never been to S america so it scares me a bit. Asia I love and would attempt any country. i did live for a while in japan and never saw it properly so would lvoe to go back there.

Another dream of mine (like on the visa ad): relive one of our great trips - esp if I could get the people together. How I'd love to do the interrail europe with my 6 friends from uni and all our kids in tow. THat will NEVEr happen

www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forum.jspa?forumID=37&start=0

This has some ideas/experiences from people going on cool trips with the kids!

South america is so so good i went about 5 years ago , its probably getting more and more travelled now which will ruin it a bit! Its not as dodgy as it is made out to be if your sensible

Seems everyones bad experiences i heard of where due to them being drunken idiots....myself included!

Yeah that would be cool!

My friend who adventured india with me has just had a little boy on crimbo day.....im hoping she will be up for an obscure trip in 6 years!!

Right i best go to bed as have work in the morning!

We can continue the dream soon!

Oh, gonna check out that forum tonight (rubs hands in glee)
well, tis nice to dream of exotic cities and beaches in the middle of this coooolldddd weather!

We went travelling with our 4 a couple of years ago (ages 4,5,9 and 10) - fantastic time had by all. Could only afford it due to inheritance money after mother in law sadly died - but good way to remember her by. We weren't too ambitious with our destinations - USA, Canada, Cook Islands, New Zealand, Oz and Thailand but still had great time exploring the world with the kids and have lots of happy memories. Happy to help if I can as I found very little advice out there when I was planning. (perhaps not many that mad!)Good luck anyway.

spudz
sounds so interesting, i bet the kids will remember it all their lives, i think they were good ages. Ideally I'd go when mine are 6, 8 and 11 (so in 2 years time), time to plan it properly!!

they have family in madagascar we've never met, would love to go there.

So how did you travel, and what kind of accommodation did you stay in? Was every day planned in advance of the whole trip? How long were you away? Sorry I have 2 million questions ...

oh it's nice to dream

Hi Pillowcase - think it did take us about 2 years from deciding to actually leaving the UK. It'll be good to have family to visit en route - we planned the trip around where friends and family lived - we so enjoyed seeing them and to enjoy the comforts of being in a home with meals cooked and a washing machine..... Ahhh small things!
We went for 6 months and timed it just before our dd started secondary school. Might be worth broaching idea to primary school head - ours was really supportive and the school tracked our progress. We did a bit of home schooling but tbh they learnt so much more than they ever would have done in class. The only one who struggled was ds2 who missed a big chunk of year 1 and got a bit behind with reading and writing. He's caught up fine now though. Our youngest even missed half of Reception but coped fine coming back.

We did a blog which might give you some idea of how it was for us - let me know if you want the email address for it.

The kids do remember so much and we have so many photos to keep the memories fresh. I still have flashbacks to certain countries and adventures - magic. It was so special just being together as a family for all that time day in day out and I feel we're a much closer family as a result. We had very few material things, the kids had not much space for toys and were happy with a ds and the laptop. Having email contact with friends and family was really useful.

We managed to let our house out to some friends of friends, lent the car to some other friends and some very kind friends sorted our post and adopted our rabbit while we were away.

I must admit I did book most accommodation as we are 6 and that can prove to be tricky with hostels and usually means double the cost in hotels. It also meant we didn't have the hassle of finding somewhere after a long flight arriving in the middle of the night. I tended to rent houses out and we also used campervans - excellent way to see the states. We also knew exactly how much money we had left for food and activities - I was paranoid we'd run out!

There, thats enough of my waffle for now. Hopefully you'll hear back from some other families who have travelled - but still happy to help more if needed. Hope the dreams turn to reality!

spudz,
that's exactly how I imagine it.
Realisticly it won't be impromptu island hopping but fairly well planned moves, not too many countries (ha ha I'm talking about it as if it's really going to happen!). I once met a French family in a campervan in Australia and thought it looked so cool. My family travelled a bit but have now all returned home (darn) although we do have a few friends we might visit. The only difficult part is DH's job who will hardly give him 6 months leave so we'd have to risk something more drastic..... gulp!

I'd love a link to your blog, please

The link is hopefully www.spurdell-family-adventure.blogspot.com . (my true identity is revealed!). Hope its of some use! As with blogs its all back to front so you'll start with us returning home but am sure you can work out how to get to the start. The kids have done some entries and we didn't post daily by any means but it's a nice reminder for us (probably a tad boring for others!). I really hope you get to do it. I had moments of thinkng we were completely mad but always thought I'd always regret not grabbing the opportunity if we didn't do it. My dh actually handed his notice in (he's a teacher) but had a very kind head who took pity on us and offered him a job to come back to - so we were very fortunate.

Must get to bed - just seen the time. Am a bit erratic checking mumsnet but will keep an eye out for you if there's anything I can help with. Happy planning!

oh thank you, will really enjoy that, now gotta get dh interested.

Well done to your dh for going ahead with handing in his notice and glad it worked out. I do believe you can make some luck sometimes in life.