Travel Books

I would gladly buy a good "travel around the world with kids" book! We have been talking about making a trip since I was pregnant, and now that a recent 3 week trip to Thailand with our 2+1/2 year old was such a rousing success, it looks like we are going to go ahead and do a six month trip next year.

As I am a total geek and research maniac, I have been looking at books on the subject for a while. Like you, I found the LP one which honestly wasn't immensely helpful (impossible to covers such a big subject - the whole world - in one little book).

Another book that I found, called "One year off", which though quite well written and amusing, wasn't really helpful in a practical sense. My particular objections were that: 1) This couple had an IMMENSE budget, 2) They took their nanny with them, and 3) I had the impression that the writer's wife did almost all of the childcare/schooling while they were moving about. I have to say again though, it was a really well written book and the things they did were quite interesting.

Of course it all depends on what you are looking for in a book. Myself, I wanted more of a practical guide on places to go/stay/eat, things to do, and helpful hints for backpacking on a low-medium budget with a rugrat.

Sorry I couldn't offer more positive advice on the existing books but good for you for thinking about putting one forward yourself.

Cheers and happy writing!

Thanks for your reply - I've half written a practcial guide to lugging littles ones round the globe - on a small to tiny budget. I think I'd better go and finish it......

I have read "One Year Off" as well. Their budget was insane and half of their trip they were in one spot in Australia. Plus the nanny thing. It was an OK book but definitely not helpful.

As I've said on the 'older travellers branch' - I smell a rat

Same question posed for Older Travellers

The book will only sell if you have real experience.

Kira

Well if you mean by "real experience" - travelling on every continent ( except the arctics) with my son from the age of 6months ( he is now 10 ) including a 6 1/2 month RTW trip ( which we have just returned from) I think I can safetly say I have it. Oh, and I'm a single Mum without a Nanny or a trust fund. We did however take my Mum on the last trip - hence the travelling for older people on the oldies branch.
If you smell a rat it is probably your own.
Why does everyone on here have to be so aggressive - I thought travelling was suppossed to make people more tolerant.

You might want to check out the book "Adventuring With Children" by Nan Jeffrey. It's a bit of a classic, very down-to-earth and practical, and very inspirational.

I'd hate to think what would have happened to our travelling life if we hadn't stumbled across that book by chance when my wife was pregnant. Actually, we found it on our "goodbye travelling - welcome parenthood" trip - read it - and have travelled happily on with kids ever since :-)

Bo Brunsgaard
Denmark

Bo.....(jeg er enig med deg!).

This book, Adventuring with Children by Nan Jeffrey is a great book. I reread it all the time and it really helps make me feel that our travelling ways are a positive influence on my children (otherwise, I get guilty every now and then.....)

A GREAT READ!!!!

We read "One Year Off" and really enjoyed it... yes, they had a Nanny and a big budget, but they also had a sense of humor and three kids, one of them still in diapers! I will look for the Nan Jeffrey book, and more books on the subject would definitely be a plus. We leave in June for a one-year RTW trip with our 8-year-old daughter, and after two years of planning, it's hard to believe it's almost here!

since this is a lp website, we should petition them to include more "kid friendly" info in their books. i love the books but just a tad bit more kid info would go a long ways as far as answering some simple questions such as:

1. does a hostel or hotel even allow children. as hard as it seems for me to believe, some dont. weve found out the hard way.

2. is the hostel or hotel noisy? will children be able to sleep there. or even if the hotel or hostel is really just a big flop house for partying college kids having sex.

3. stores to buy diapers and such.

there are a ton of others that could be included here but i just dont have the time. i can say that my wife and i have traveled to central america and mexico when he was 2. now he is 3 and we have a 9 month old that weve carted all over france, switzerland and germany and are still traveling as i write this. people with kids need something more than what is offered at the moment. weve also talked about writing a book of this sort. i guess if the big travel guides dont want our business, then we will just have to do it ourselves!