round the world with kids

We are planning to travel for a year starting in August 2011 leaving from western Canada. We have 5 children ages 2,7,10,12 and 14. We plan on home schooling as we go. We definitely want to visit Australia, Thailand/SE Asia, Turkey, Greece. Other possibilities are Fiji, NZ, and some of western Europe. We want to avoid malarial areas. We will be tent camping as much as possible in Australia, and Greece. We are having trouble deciding which direction to go first. Do we start with Greece/Turkey in late August to November, then SE Asia December to March, then Australia in April and then home? Going this way, we would be heading into fall at the beginning and end of our trip. If we went the other direction, we would be going into spring. Coming from this part of the world, anything above 5-10 degrees C is fine, but we hope to avoid the rain as much as possible. We had originally looked at NZ and England, but are concerned with the Rugby World Cup and the Olympics next year and how these would affect/flights/prices/accomodation. Is there anything obvious that we haven't thought about?

If you want to avoid the rain you should also look into the monsoon season in SE Asia - it varies according to where you go. Dec to March is probably a good time to be in Thailand - it can get hot by April and then the rain starts. Many places in SE Asia do carry a low risk for malaria (such as Thailand) so it may be hard to avoid it completely, but you may not be recommended anti-malarials if you stick to the low risk zones. Generally more risky is dengue, which is now widespread throughout Asia (and parts of Australia). The risk tends to be higher during the monsoon, but is almost always around. If you want a taste of SE Asia with minimal health risks (aside from dengue) (and good medical facilities) then Singapore - Malaysia - Thailand is the best.

If the flights work then stopping somewhere in the tropical Pacific would be nice. Fiji is probably a nice option, but Samoa, Cook Islands are also good easy choices. Tonga is nice too, but the best islands are in the north (which means another flight). New Zealand is nice easy travelling with kids, but is probably best is the summer (that may be my cold-avoidance preference though).

You should definitely visit the UK which is a great tourist destination in the Summer, even if it rains. There are loads of castles, check out 'National Trust' and 'English Heritage'. London will be great as are the close University towns of Cambridge (where we live) and Oxford. There is loads of accomodations from youth hostels to house lets just book in advance and probably wise to avoid the Olympics but youth hostels should still be cheap. they have family rooms.

As a father of 6 (14-1) I can identify with your issues.

Goa, India is another must!

Wow your story sounds familiar! We will be leaving Western Canada in June 2012 for a year around the world with our two boys (they'll be 10 and 14 at the time). Our family goal is to avoid winter for a whole year so the plan is to head to Central & South America, then Africa, then Australia. We plan to stay south of the equator until at least the following March, then head north to China or India, then up to Europe. I'd be really interested in hearing your story and how it all works out for you. Let us know what you finally decide!

HI.

I think you have it perfectly right. Start in Greece in the late Summer and go east. Thailand has its best weather from late December until March. As for malaria it's relatively easy to skirt the malarial zones. In Vietnam, for example, as long as you stay near the coast and the major cities — avoiding the far north near the Chinese and Laotian border — then you're fine.

Final recommendation is don't buy a pre-booked RTW ticket and instead buy tickets as you go. You won't spend any more money but you will get a lot more freedom and flexibility. You'll be able to stay in one spot that's working, change your plans on the go, and visit places you've heard great things about. Flexibility is a must for having a great trip.

David Robert Hogg,
Publisher of My Little Nomads - the travel with kids website

Hi OP

I am in Australia and think April is a pretty good time to be travelling here, especially in the northern parts. For everything you ever wanted to know about weather in various parts of Australia, see here:

http://www.bom.gov.au/

To avoid running into school holidays, check here:

http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country/public-holidays-and-school-terms

(Also for Asia, think about dates for things like Ramadan, Chinese New year etc)

A good book to get your younger children excited about travelling in Australia is "Are we there yet?" by Alison Lester.

http://www.amazon.com/Are-There-Yet-Alison-Lester/dp/1929132735/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296533484&sr=1-1

"Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo" is also good and covers aspects of Aboriginal life in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. It also talks about the different seasons in the Northern Territory as well (ie, very different from down south where I am).

http://www.amazon.com/Ernie-Dances-Didgeridoo-Alison-Lester/dp/0618104429/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296533649&sr=1-1

Feel free to contact me if you require any other specific information about Australia. Have also travelled with kids in Malaysia and Indonesia so can provide some (limited) help on that as well if you need it.

Thank you all for your replies and great advice. We will keep you updated as to what we decide.

best of luck with your travels

Hi,
We are a well travelled family. Our boys are now 8 and 10 and we are currently travelling in a camper through the US and possibly all the way to Argentinia. Previously, we had spent 2 1/2 years running a hotel in Southern China and before that we travelled many years with backpacks through Asia and Africa.
May I make a suggestion? I know this is not everybody's cup of tea, but it's how we travel and it has always worked for us.
Don't plan too much. Just get a one way ticket to the first destination that you would like to visit and go from there. You might like it somewhere and be happy to stay longer and you will meet other travellers and locals who will talk of other nice places. We have been in many places during off season or during high peak season or during festivals etc. and all has been great. If it is really busy somewhere you might end up being invited into someones home and this will mean the start of a new friendship of if it is cold somewhere or rainy you might end up going somewhere where you meet other great people or make other great experiences and off season is also usually really good for us. Places are more empty and you meet more locals rather than tourists.
We usually plan lots and lots and lots and we love planning, but at the end of the day we just go and decide on the route and what to do once we are in one place. It's usually just one little thing that sparks the decision to take another direction and we have never regretted it.
In the hotel we were running in China we often met families who had planned their trip before hand (and bought flight tickets) and they ended up regretting it as they wanted to stay longer or take a train instead (public transport is so much nicer and closer to people than flying and it gives us much more time to really leave or arrive somewhere) or or or....
Especially with children and schooling on the road there are so many surprises out there for you and it will be very nice (in my opinion) to be able to keep your total flexibility.
We have some tips on schooling on the road on our website and also lots of tips on places to go and what to do there with children (in Asia), please feel free to download some of our stuff on http://www.hudsonfamily.ch/en
Enjoy your travels!

This has been exactly our dilemma. We're leaving California in July, 2011 with our 11 year old girl and 14 year old boy. Most of our thoughts have been to follow the weather as best as possible. We finally decided we'll go east. We'll probably start in Turkey before it gets too blessed hot as we have friends there. By September we may go to Lamu, then on to SE Asia in January-April/May. We'll probably end at the Great Barrier Reef (hopefully, we'll all be certified to dive by then) well past the box jelly fish season. We've given up planning too much as it's taking all our efforts just to get ready to go. It would be great to keep in touch during our mutual adventures.

Thank you again for your replies. Thank you Hudson Family for your excellent advice about overplanning. (The mom in our home is definitely guilty of it:) When we think back though, some of our most memorable travel experiences before children happened because we had the flexibility to change plans when an opportunity presented itself. Moseler you are certainly right about there being plenty of things to occupy us just in the getting ready at home. Another good reason to plan a little less.

Well, can't resist adding to this...we are also a family from western Canada beginning to plan a RTW leaving late spring/summer 2013; 3 sons will be 11, 14, 14 at that time. We'd like to get to places a) my husband and I haven't been to before b) inexpensive as possible c) as exotic as possible (all of which means probably giving most of Europe a pass). Thinking maybe rail east across northern Europe to Moscow then TransSiberian, spurring off if feasible; add SEA; some part of Africa; central/south America. Pretty vague, but we still have a couple of years.

We plan to distance-ed the kids; though apparently elementary doesn't require much at all to move on to the next grade; and there seems to be universal agreement amongst teachers and parents we've talked to that missing gr 9 is a darn good idea.
Looking forward to hearing from those of you heading out ahead of us....

just a thought; the Olympics only lasts two weeks in summer 2012 and won't make that much difference to most of the UK.

you do want to avoid the rugby in NZ; but that will be over by October this year I believe.

I'm going to be travelling with my 7 year old son - middle east in autumn 2011, India around christmas, southeast asia in the early spring and then on to australia. We would love to talk with or meet up with other families who we might be able to see along the way - my son is worried about not being able to make any friends for any period of time!

Couple of pointers. To assess malarial risk zones, use the NHS Fit For Travel malaria map by country: http://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/advice/malaria.aspx

Australia is EXTREMELY expensive for anyone not earning Australian dollars, even if you are camping. More here: http://travelswithanineyearold.com/2010/12/02/oof-australia-budget-travel-costs-prices-exchange-rate-pound-londoners-bargains/

I'd second the advice about not over planning. It's one of the most common mistakes people make when planning a RTW trip, along with not factoring in travel time and recovery time:

http://travelswithanineyearold.com/2011/01/07/tuesdaytravel-tips-longterm-rtw-rtwsoon-planning-itinerary-mistakes-advice-tickets-tt-2/

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. And, Julie, travelling children learn to make friends very easily... Playgrounds are a good place to meet other kids, or just hanging out on the beach with locals...

Theodora

Thanks for your advice theodora. Advice about not over planning has been followed. We are in russia and will be going across russia on the transsiberian railway. Then in october to mongolia and china. Would love to talk to others doing the same! Especially families - my son is now 8.

Great to hear that you followed your dream! I hope I can do the same sometime.