Travel is our passion and we made travel with kids our lifestyle and our business. We can show you how. We decided to travel the world with our kids to expand their horizons and better their education. 6 + years of non-stop around the world family travel later, we run this world travel blog and resource.
Our kids are teens today, but we continue to travel and share the world through this site. In the last couple of years we’ve been to Japan, Jordan, Bali, the UK and Thailand from our new base in Australia. Our offbeat life has had its ups and downs, but we wouldn’t change a thing. It’s been quite a ride! This page tells the story and explains how we did it.
World Travel Family Travel Blog will help you plan holidays and vacations with your kids, (just search by location or use our places and destinations page in the top menu) and can also help you plan long-term, world travel, or gap year travel.
You just need to find the right section of our site and with over 900 pages – I might need to help you with that. I’ve shared some key links and pages below, or use the contents menu to find the information you need.
Family World Travel, Because Life is an Adventure
Travelling with our children has been the best part of our lives to date, and a key part of the children’s education and development.
My son made the short video below to explain a little more, and introduce ourselves. If you let the videos play, they’ll all play in succession.
Some are about particular destinations, from Tibet to Thailand.
We don’t have videos on every page of this site but some do. We make about 50% of our living through advertising. Ads should play between videos.
Travel With Kids Tips and Information
What can we help you with on our site that relates to travel with kids and travelling the world as a family? Some ideas below as to how to travel more.
- Travel or family travel in Europe, Australia, Asia, South East Asia, The Middle East ( Dubai), some parts of the Americas ( USA, Guatemala, El Salvador, some Canada), and Africa ( Egypt, South Africa ). For a better idea of the destinations we cover, visit our Places and Destinations page.
- Long-term world travel with kids, the how and the problems of travel with kids.
- Travel with teenagers, tips, destinations, and ideas.
- Flying with kids – our tips and ideas.
- Feeding kids abroad – what will they eat?
- Insurance – this is the company we use for open-ended travel insurance
- Vaccinations – our pre-trip jabs and our final decision to get rabies shots.
- Mosquitos – tips for avoiding mosquito bites.
- What’s the best age to travel with kids.
- Are you planning long term travel or a family gap year? If so you want our family gap year section.
- Please tell us in the comments what information you need me to add here.
Is Travelling With Kids Safe?
We think it is. After 6 + years, full-time, on the road in over 50 countries, we’re still alive and nothing too bad happened.
One of my major drives in starting this blog was to show people that the world can be safe, kind, and fascinating. There is too much fear, prejudice, and misunderstanding these days so our site isn’t just about our family travelling the world, it’s to reassure and help other families.
Why Travel With Kids?
There are so many benefits of getting your kids out into the wider world.
We have a video explaining why travel with kids.
We did it for the children’s education. Maybe you just want a holiday, that’s cool too!
What Travel Styles Work With Kids?
Most travel styles work just fine with kids. Our travel style has included backpacking (tips on backpacking with kids here), luxury resorts, camping, glamping, private islands, cruise ships, package holidays, hotels, villas, trekking, tours, and small group adventure holidays . We do it all!
I think parents just have to have reasonable expectations. Once you become a parent life changes. It will also be changed when you travel.
Finding Family Accommodation
Hotels, hostels, guest houses, and B & Bs have family rooms. It’s harder to find family rooms than rooms for 2 and if you have 3 kids or more it gets harder again, but family accommodation does exist.
Maybe join AirBnb – you might want to rent an apartment or house, there are heaps on Airbnb, but they are also on the major platforms, like Booking dot com or Agoda. Watch out for extra cleaning charges on that first booking site.
Something else you may want to look into is home swapping, house sitting, WWOOFing and Couchsurfing, maybe even working or volunteering. See our post on how to travel for free for more information on those options.
How Much Does It Cost To Travel The World With A Family?
I’m going to give you a ballpark figure of $50 – $100 US per day for a family of 4. Obviously, it’s a very rough idea and this is for budget travel or long-term travel.
A lot depends on the age of your kids. Can you still take up 1 child stays free deals? Are you happy to bed share? How much do you eat and of what? What countries are you travelling in? And so on.
In our first year we managed $50 / day in Asia but then by adding the UK, USA and 2 cruises, plus buying a lot of electronics, we came in at roughly $100 per day.
We still find $100 per day comfortable in most parts of Asia (not Singapore obviously) with teenagers. So that’s my guestimate.
You may spend more, I’m not you and you’re not me, but know that we don’t scrimp and we like a few beverages. In Australia, London, Japan, this figure will at least double.
Keeping Kids Happy While Travelling
Maybe you’re worried that your kids won’t enjoy travelling? Well maybe they won’t, but mine did and do.
My elder one pushes for adventure, my younger one still wants to visit theme parks.
They both love hotels with buffets. Cruise ship buffets are a particular favourite.
I think parents just have to make them enjoy it, fit in plenty of playground time, take them to the theme parks (there are great theme parks all over the world, Malaysia, Singapore, the US, Paris, Germany – we’ve been to them all! ) and splurge on cake and ice cream.
Your trip is as much for the kids as it is for you, so do what they enjoy. My kids hate beaches and swimming pools, they love snorkelling and scuba diving, they enjoy zoos and most museums, they like some art galleries.
Mostly they enjoy food, all and every food. Go to the countries with the best food for them!
You’ll find stuff for kids to enjoy, everywhere. I hereby challenge you to find a travel destination that’s not good to visit with kids, let me know! We’ve not found one yet, although Tibet was challenging.
How Do Families Afford To Travel?
How we saved for our first year of travel is in the posts below along with what that first year of family travel cost. The general rule for travelling families is – you make travel your priority, you cut unnecessary spending and focus your financial efforts on the travel.
- How we saved for our first year of round the world travel
- How much did that first year cost
- How do travelling families, generally, there are many of us, afford it.
What Travel Gear Will You Need?
Well, this depends on you, your travel style, your destination and how much you want to carry. Most people pack way too much.
Check out our travel gear page or our travel essentials page. You’ll find posts on specialised activities like trekking gear on our site too. Just remember that, usually, you can buy what you forgot at your destination.
How is Travel With Kids Different to Adult Travel?
A very few hotels and hostels won’t take kids. Most do. If you want to book a group holiday or tour, you may have to find special family tours, but on the whole, there are few restrictions as to where you can take your kids.
Our children have been to Everest Base Camp and to luxury resorts, they scuba dive and ski. Family travel really can take you almost anywhere.
We can give you some ideas and tips on the practicalities of travel with children. It’s not a picnic, you have to adapt and change your travel style to accommodate them, but it is possible with maybe a little more slow travel and a little less rush.
Full-Time Travel With Kids: Our Story So Far, Briefly.
We travelled the world with kids and you can too. We travelled long-term, for over 6 years, we were what’s called a nomadic or digital nomad family. There are more of us out there than you might think!
These days we take shorter trips, vacation style from various home bases. If you’re looking for either style of family travel you found the right people.
My name is Alyson, I’m the creator of our family travel blog or website, my husband is Chef, for he was one, and the kids are D and Boo. This site belongs to us, our family, we make it ourselves.
My husband and I had the idea so we sold the “stuff”, I created a website and we set off with our backpacks. This is a tale of travel and freedom, of education and adventure, of ultra-budget to luxury, leading to a new profession and a location independent lifestyle.
If you don’t want to read our story that’s cool, just hit one of the links above, but here it is. It’s rather long.
We travelled from the UK to Australia in with a toddler and a baby. They were both born in Twickenham but mostly we lived in Richmond London. A few years after moving we started getting inspired to change our lives, we learned that travel is cheaper than staying home and would give our family greater freedom. We started saving.
In spring (northern hemisphere spring) of year 1 we left to travel full-time. In our first year, we lived our lives in Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Sri Lanka, England, and Wales before taking an Atlantic cruise to New York.
We road-tripped our way around the USA and visited Canada. El Salvador followed from Florida and we travelled overland to Guatemala before returning to Florida for our 2nd Atlantic cruise back to Spain.
From there we returned to London for a change of pace and family re-unions. All of our first year of travel was paid for with savings.
This could have just been a family gap year, but we didn’t want to stop. We worked and regrouped in London, our home town, determined that our new travel lifestyle must continue. Chef worked, I blogged, we figured it out.
At the start of year 2 we set out for Turkey and Dubai, before boarding a cruise ship to Singapore. From there we headed to Bangkok before spending a month travelling around Cambodia and then a month in southern India creating our India Travel Blog section.
We were desperate to return to Nepal after completing the Annapurna circuit trek years ago, unfortunately, the tragic Nepal earthquake saw us change our plans, instead, we headed to Romania and fell in love with this country. We put a deposit on a house there.
After enjoying a Romanian winter and ski season we headed to one of our favourites, Sri Lanka, via Dubai, in January.
February saw me fulfilling a life-long ambition, to get close to Mount Everest. Trekking the Everest Region of Nepal with kids was spectacular, a couple of years later we went all the way to Everest Base Camp. We hung out in Pokhara and Kathmandu, where we met Prince Harry. A short stay in Dubai and we were back in Romania for spring.
One of the joys of being based in Europe was the freedom to travel easily by land, driving from London to Romania is something we did often in our much-loved TARDIS blue truck, she was called Sexy, stopping wherever we pleased (or where she broke down) along the way.
May took us to Greece, summer to our home in London, autumn to several European countries and November to Thailand. Christmas, meant Romania to us.
The next year we visited Egypt because the kids just love Egyptology.
In years 6 and 7 we headed back to Nepal and Tibet after leaving Romania, maybe for good. By Christmas of year 6 we were back in Australia, but not for long! Within weeks we were back in Asia but also taking the chance to explore more of Australia.
This is where I stopped counting in years. We can’t really claim to be full-time travellers any more after setting foot in our original home.
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About This World Travel Blog
On this blog you will find stories from life on the road as well as in-depth factual destination guides, tips and personal experiences. We can tell you about snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef or about trekking in the Himalayas. We cover money, blogging, health, family life and, of course, travel and education. The blog started as my hobby.
Blogging has opened doors for us and we are now offered amazing opportunities within the travel world. This blog isn’t just a family travel diary, it’s one of the biggest in the world and the exposure we can offer to big companies is valuable to them.
If you’re new to the world of travel blogs you might not know that it’s an industry. If you’re interested we have a blogging section.
We get to share the world with you and with our kids, we promote, plan, educate and publicise. It’s the best job in the world.
Travel With Children is Hugely Beneficial
Travel with children adds a whole new dimension to any trip. Parents can enjoy more by seeing the world through a child’s eyes and witnessing their enjoyment.
Seeing things through children’s eyes is magical and it is so, so good for the kids. Our boys are grown-up teens now, but we’ve been through all of the stages of family travel, babies, toddlers, preschoolers, tweens to now. Kids of any age can be a joy to travel with but, sadly, some adults don’t see it that way.
People can find the idea of setting out into the world with just a backpack or suitcase a little scary. Add children to the picture and it can look impossible, but it’s not. All of the information you need to travel is available here on our blog, for free. I will never sell a course.
What Do Travelling Children Do For School?
The children don’t go to school. We were registered as homeschoolers 2 years before we left Australia and it was working brilliantly despite the paperwork. We then homeschooled under the British system, which was far less troublesome, no registration or forced curriculum required.
The kids followed online university courses and worked on their own, and our, income streams, plus volunteering in various ways. We hold the Google #1 spot for all things homeschooling and travelling and we’re prominent in world schooling too.
- What is Worldschooling?
- Homeschooling and Travelling
- Ultimate Worldschooling Tips, Guides and Resources
- Do the Kids Have Friends : Socialisation
- Online Educational Resources For Kids
We can share with you help and tips on the most educational destinations, the places that will open your children’s eyes and brains and support on your own alternative education journey. There is education everywhere, you just need to see it.
Think about this, computers weren’t around when I was in school. In the last few years, I’ve taught myself to create websites and manage them and how to be an online marketer as well as a writer. I get paid to travel and to write about it. Were there any teachers or classrooms involved? No. So tell me why kids should need them?
This story is not at its end yet, my children are still in full-time education and will be for several years to come. Unless they have another plan or business idea, they will be entering tertiary education. One is in the midst of iGCSEs, the other will sit them soon.
The pandemic grounded us, we were bored, so I put them in an online school.
That turned out to be a great move. Read why we stopped homeschooling here. I never planned for them to sit exams, we never worked towards that goal, but they did and did well. We proved that all those years in a classroom aren’t necessary at all. That pleases me immensely. In my estimation, the “worldschooling” didn’t affect academic outcomes at all, in either direction, but it opened their eyes and shaped their outlooks and relationships. They also had the best childhood you can possibly imagine. Read what the kids disliked about travel here.
How Do We Afford Long-Term Family Travel?
Extreme budget travel was how we started, but those days are largely gone. Minimalism, savings, working hard, finding the best bargains and making money online are part of the story. The big secret is to make travel your priority. This journey isn’t just about travel, it’s about finding full financial and location independence. We were digital nomads, a digital nomad family. I had no skills in working online when I started this site, but we figured out how.
- Budget Travel Tips to Cut Travel Costs
- Finding The Money to Travel
- How To Start a Blog to Make Money
- How Much Our First Year of Travel Cost
- Does Travel Blogging Fund Long Term Travel?
- Make Your First $1000 Through Amazon Affiliates
Will We Stop Travelling?
I don’t think we ever will. We will keep travelling for as long as we’re enjoying it and as long as we can fund it. This started with a one-way ticket to Malaysia and that is how we continue, we’re fairly unplanned travellers.
We have created a lifestyle that works perfectly for us, one of travel at all budget levels, and of physical rest and intensive work (that means studies for the kids) in home bases we love. I adore my new job, the kids are happy, Chef loves his travel and Ironman events. This life is too good to stop.
So what about you? Is this the lifestyle you’re looking for?
Travel With Tweens and Teens, Toddlers and Babies
We’ve done this family travel thing for years and methods constantly change. We can help you travel with kids of any age because we’ve done it.
With older kids you can take on more adventurous destinations. Our kids being older means we travel for work more and let the boys guide our path more often. It’s good to let the kids be involved and very soon they’ll be off travelling without Mum and Dad.
The kids are a part of the World Travel Family Travel Blog team. They help with all aspects of our business and because they are more independent I have more time to work. We focus on a few favourite countries, so sometimes our travel is to get to know every aspect of a country, for the website and to help you. We’re out in the world researching, as well as enjoying and learning.
Travel Resources We Use To Make Travel With Kids Affordable
- We usually browse online accommodation booking sites to find the best deal. However, sometimes we don’t book in advance, we wing it, this is much cheaper in Asia if you are comfortable with this style. Our preferred online booking site for Asia is Agoda.
- This is the only travel insurance we can use, and it’s great.
- We book tours, tickets, transfers and attractions through Get Your Guide
- For car hire we use Holiday Autos to compare prices and find the best deal.
- In the USA we swear by Wyndham Rewards and Priceline.
- Sky Scanner is our number 1, every time, first stop for finding flights. Compare all cheap flights with Skyscanner and find your best day, best destination and best airline at a glance. I’ve written a post about our tips and tricks for using this flight engine like a ninja.
- Very occasionally, for longer-term apartment rentals, Airbnb works out cheaper, mostly we find cheaper hotels give us better value. Airbnb works best for long-term (1 month+) stays. We’ve recently found good deals on there outside Asia, particularly London apartments and also in Egypt. We rented one of our rooms at home through Airbnb to help us save to leave. Airbnb is something you have to sign up for, we’re rare Airbnb users, we prefer Agoda and Booking dot com. The same apartments are often on these platforms
- We’ve tried Housesitting but rarely do it. We don’t couch-surf but we do host couch-surfers at home. We like to pay our way and not be reliant on others.
- When we’re looking for cruise ship bargains we often check Cruise Direct and the Cruise lines’ own websites, and keep checking, prices fluctuate hugely with demand. We have a post on finding great cruise deals. Our cruises worked out cheaper than flying.
Enjoy Our Website – World Travel Family – Family World Travel
I was born with wanderlust and I met my husband through travel . Having children slowed us down for a while, but once the boys were 6 and 8, they were ready to get a lot out of an adventure. We built this family world travel blog along the way.
Thanks for visiting, I hope I can inspire or encourage you to try long term travel, or any travel, with children, or without, maybe to more challenging destinations. I’m just a Mum with a passion for my family, travel and, education. It’s not such a big scary world out there and anybody can travel with children if they want it badly enough. You can follow our family adventure and plan your own through our infrequent newsletters, alternatively, there is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest. We’re not big on Instagram and we don’t really do YouTube, our website is where you’ll find us but having followers, particularly if they share and like, helps us directly. Thanks for reading, hope you come back soon.
Try our Travel with Kids roundup page or choose from our Travel Destinations page.
Related Posts:
If you'd like to hire a car during your stay, use this car rental comparison tool to find the best deal!
We also suggest you take a look at this company to get a quote for all kinds of the more tricky adventure or extended travel insurance.
Try Stayz / VRBO for an alternative way to find rentals on homes/apartments/condos in any country!
Well done, very well done, fabulous content. I 100% agree that life is an adventure.
Hi! I love your blog – thank you! Slowly working my way through all your helpful information! We have just this week decided to travel south east asia next year and have booked one way tickets to
Thailand as a family of 4! Our kids are 5 and 12! We are so excited! Researching, discovering new places to explore is all part of the fun!
That is so awesome to hear Tarina, and thanks so much for leaving a lovely comment. We get loads of nasty ones so it’s great when we get the good ones. I’m thinking of setting up a newsletter just for travel in Thailand, or Southeast Asia, its in the pipeline. Our Worldschooling one is already up and running. You could subscribe to that on our “What is Worldschooling ” page. Good luck and enjoy the ride!
Hello;
Love the blog
I have a 2 year old. I NEED to start travelling again,
Every time I research, traveling with toddlers, it just pulls up a bunch of parks. We want to do some tours and adventures.
How did you find them with kids, ? What do you do when they get fussy during a walking tour? How do you keep them entertained ?
I wouldn’t expect too much of a 2 year old. At that age they need naps, food, and attention, certainly supervision, around the clock. So putting them in an adult environment wouldn’t be ideal. I’m not sure what sort of tours you mean though. Like a day tour of something like Cu Chi Tunnels for instance? I’m not sure I’d do it. I’d do it independently with our own vehicle, or a taxi, so that we could have the flexibility needed for a toddler. We didn’t take our kids on any serious travel until they were 6 and 8. I did take them both to Australia, to Thailand, and to Belgium from London at 11 months – 3 yrs, but they were very baby/toddler friendly trips , no expectations. And I didn’t get a lot of sleep with a jetlagged 11 month old. He slept in his stroller, he was fine.
Hi there-I absolutely love this website and what you have done! Quick question-we have 4 kids and are looking to travel for only 3-4 months of each year. We want to see the world in those months and go new places each year but on a fairy modest budget. Any tips or advice on how to plan or look for those opportunities? Thanks, Andy
Hi Andy. My only words of wisdom are that that way will cost you a lot more and greatly increase your carbon footprint. You’ll be taking 2 big flights either end of your time away every year. That will cost you. Long term travel is cheaper because you can take public transport. Our initial costs were just a short flight to KL, the big flights are expensive. And thanks. Four months is a decent sort of length. So, for instance, you could do Vietnam, Cambodia and a small amount of Thailand in one trip. Just find your flight, sort your visa for your destination country and book one or two nights in a hotel when you first arrive, you don’t need to book anything else. Stay flexible, but know what length of visa you can have.
Thank you for this post! I am wondering if you could share a little more specifics on the travel. Thanks in advance for your help.
Amazing blog!
i really like this post and thought about holiday with kids, but unfortunately i can not afford holidays with family.
Thank you so much for putting up this website!
I love travel and a few times I’ve even done it intentionally – hahaha!
My girlfriend has 5 children and says she wants to follow me to the ends of the earth.
I became a photographer to facilitate my travels, but she has never travelled outside the U.S.
We are planning to take off toward the end of this coming summer and I am seeking all the guidance I can on how to make this happen.
I think you probably found the right website! Best of luck
what a great article .thank’s for your kind information,
Hey there, congratulations for the website, a lot of useful information. Thank you for that! At what age were the kids when you started traveling? We have a 16months baby girl, and thinking about hitting the road again but this time three of us.
Full time – 6 and 8.
Loving the site, so much great content.. Bingo, ours are currently 6 & 8 and we will be traveling the world with them this year to kick things off. Just filling our heads with content first before we take them out of school. It’s great you cover so much UK info as we are based in England so this is extra helful. We are looking at doing the home exchange thing at first this year to get some more places under our belt then go from there.
Best of luck!
Hi Alyson
I love that I have come across this blog! Myself and husband are based in London but plan to travel for 9 – 12 months at the start of 2022 when we will have a 4.5 yr old and a 3 yr old. Where would you suggest is best / most accommodating for children this young? I’d love to do some of Central America / Carribbean and South East Asia perhaps finishing in Australia.
Thanks in advance!
Danielle
Thailand is always easiest, other than the road death rate.
You truly are an inspiration to many! Thank you for following your dreams and giving your children such a rich experience! Many would like to do what you are doing but due to certain circumstances are unable to. TIming must be just right!
Most of us are able to change those circumstances if we REALLY want to.
hi alyson
so exiting and dreamly that you travel with your family and kids .
my family ( me, my husband and our 8 years old boy) love traveling so much , we live in asia and financial value of my country is so low and traveling for us is so expensive .can you guide us .we love to travel and enjoy life and my son like to visit the world ,he is so smart and belive that God create the world for people so we must visit it.
Where are you in Asia? Is it fun for you to travel to other countries in Asia? Or as you dreaming of the expensive countries? They’re expensive for all of us! Where is it you’d like to take your son Sepide?
This is an interesting subject. I am a nomad for 3 years and I have lived incredible experiences for the places I have already spent. The cool thing about traveling around the world is that we experience many different cultures, as well as being able to try different cuisines and visit beautiful places such as beaches and tourist sites.
We love your website! Thank you for writing about children as an asset to life not extra baggage. My husband and I took the first leap out of normal life a year and a half ago… we sold everything in the USA and moved to Mexico. We love it here! I work teaching English online so I just need good internet. We have been playing with the idea of travelling more and doing a blog.
We read parts of your inspiring blog (need to sleep so I will read more tomorrow 🙂 we love that you travel with children! Most blogs don’t mention children. We came to Mexico with 3 and had one here. My husband and I just promised ourselves and now you that we are buying 6 one way tickets to somewhete (we are thinking Thailand) July 4th , 2019 (July 4th is the USA independebe day) . We are going to start a travel blog and follow you around the world! Not like stock you but foolow your sugestión 😉 We were thinking Thailand might be the best place to start with young kids. I have a few quick questions
1. You mention a facebook mentor group, is that where you help people have their own adventure? .. how can I join!?
2. What is the best first country with 4 kids under 10 (one being only 2 years, one being a beautiful 10 year old girl)?
3. Do you find you can mobile hotspot in most places?
4. What are your thoughts on video blogging compared to blogging?
Thanks for your advice and awesome blog!
Hi Alicia,
I help and coach new bloggers in one group, it’s private and payed, or there is a free group, Living Differently, your invitation will be in your welcome email when you subscribe. For the bloggers’ group email me and read our blogging section.
Thailand is very easy and probably best, or maybe Bali, anywhere with a very well worn tourist trail and plenty of facilities for kids. 2 is very young and I would struggle, but she’s your 2 year old, you know her better than me and they’re all different.
Yes, but we tend to use free wi-fi more in our hotel in cafes and so on.
Vlogging, to me is a. too intrusive, b. too much like hard work, c. harder to make money at. But I have a good friend, Ronnie of Where the Jones who seems to be nailing it. But he’s very organised, prolific and pretty slick. Find him on YouTube. Last time I talked to him he’d not made much money from vlogging whereas I support a family, but he’s new to it. In all honesty, you need to do it all. I should be making more video and putting them on the website ( not YouTube) where they will make me more money.
Cheers!
Hi!! i live on usa i have two kids a 4 and 1 years old i want to take a vacation but my husband cant go with us cause his work but i dont want to stay at home since u had been every where around the world what country do u recommend me to visit? Or do u thing that it is a bad idea to travel just by myself and my to kids?
No problem at all! As you’re in the states probably head down to central / south America. Mexico is really nice, as is Guatemala. Depends how long a flight you want and how much money you want to spend really. Thailand is super easy but a big flight for you.
Hi Alyson,
I can see it says you are an Australian family but from what I read you are not on Aussie passports. Do you know if this would be as easy if you didn’t have UK passports? I can’t seem to find much on this type of world travel on an Australian passport on the internet & thought you may be able to help. For example, can I live in the UK or anywhere in Europe for a year without working. Thanks, Debra
We’re not Australian Debra, we just lived there. You’d need to look into visa regulations but off the top of my head I think Australians can stay 6 months without a visa, as a tourist, in the UK. Rest of Europe , it depends if Schengen or not, Schengen area is always 90 days total.
Thanks for the quick reply Alyson, as Aussies we are so restricted but I guess we have other benefits. I love reading about your adventures. I shall do more research into the visa thing. What a great life you have given your family, cheers.
Best of luck Debra. The Schengen thing is a pain for everyone, but hey, at least you don’t have Brexit!
Totally love your blog. We haven’t done anything as adventurous as yourselves yet but hope to do it one day. Looking forward to reading about your adventures more in the future!
Hi Alyson!
Your blog has been such a breath of fresh air!! I am a single mother with 2 boys 3 and 5 years old… I just don’t believe that going to school till your 20+ years old is the best education! I feel what better education then learning about the world we live in and taking in all the different cultures… I would have been telling my relatives as well as my friends that I feel so pinned down in living the life the society would like us to live… I feel as though I’m losing my freedom and if I let it happen my children will too….i believe the best way to teach my children to think outside the box and be u pique in your own way and live different to the ordinary life we know…
I’ve taken the boys on holiday and they absolutely love engaging with the locals and learning about their cultures… I really need your help and advice how I could kick start this dream.. how do I make it reality… how do I find work that doesn’t involve me sitting on the same desk for 20 years …. how do I find our travels… what do I do to prepare myself and the kids for our full time travelling?? I’ve had a very hard couple of years but now would love to show another side of what life could be to my children…. please help us!!! I know your busy and it may be very difficult to get back sooner rather than later but I would really appreciate and love you forever if you was able to help me get this dream on the road!!!
You’ve inspired me so much and I knew travelling around the world is possible – a lot of people doesn’t seem to think so but I’m still dreaming and would like to be an advocate to show it can be done!!!!
Thank you…
Fairilou Joy
Farilou, I guess money is your problem, lack of it. If you can sort out the funding there is no problem at all, it’s very easy. I can help you with the travel bit but I can’t help you with the cash bit. How do you propose to get the money together? I could just glibbly say start a blog because that’s how I do it, but that would be false advertising, websites take a few years of VERY hard work to get to the level where they will support a family as mine do, and some people, even with the right know how from day 1 just aren’t cut out for it. There has to be DRIVE. My husband always says burn your boats, that gives you all the drive you need, the ones who keep a soft get out option don’t make it. Send me an email, this page isn’t the place.
Alyson Long, Im confused.. I don’t see where she mentioned that money was the issue.
Sorry, I don’t know what or who you mean Kristin.
I fell on this blog because I too am looking into world schooling travel . I was reading Fairlou’s comment, and your reply. You said “I guess money is your problem, or lack of it.” But I didn’t see where she said money was her issue. Is it because she’s a single parent that you said that?
Anyway not meaning to start a debate
Have a nice day.
Ok, gone back and read every comment to see what you mean…because that is the impression she gave from her comment. No other part of travel is hard. It’s the funding that is the tricky part and all of us ( OK, there are a few exceptions, a few remote workers, I know one or two) have to quit our jobs and find an alternative income source to travel full time. Starting up a business like that is HARD. It’s particularly hard if you don’t have a second parent or adult to be with your kids while you work. It’s a lot of hours and mums just don’t have a lot of spare hours. I worked for years at 4am, before the kids woke up. Now mine are big its easier, but its a lot of time and effort to get a successful location independent income stream going, particularly if you are travelling full time, particularly if you are travelling full time with kids and particularly if you are a single parent travelling full time with kids.
this was really an inspiring article. You see, while I am not in the same position yet, the article gave me lots of hope. I am 30 years old and getting married this summer. As much as I desire the family life and want kids etc., a huge part of me is terrified of the thought of losing my freedom. I still want to explore the world, and am scared of being “tied down”.. Lots of people make it look as though you have to choose one or the other- either travel the world and be single, or get married, start a family, and forget about travelling. Knowing that you can actually do both and can still travel with kids really puts my mind at ease!
Ignore those people! LOL
Hi what a moving story fantastic me and my husband have wanted to travel all of our life’s our two boys are 4 and 6. And feel now is the time to get away from the rat run in Birmingham, England.
We have no idea where to start we have £100,000 from the sale of our house and wonder how long we can travel on this money for? Our dream is to not to return to normal English life and offer our children an amazing and preferred way of learning. Feeling like our life rules us, we want to rule it!!
Hubby says travel Europe first I’m not so sure would prefer Thailand Asia would be very greatful for advice and how to make a small income while travelling!
So proud of you guys and hoping we will be you in time to come!!!
Loran, join our Living Differently Group on Facebook,it’s easier to chat in there. And thanks xx
Hi, this is truly Inspiring. I am a gypsy at Heart and would love to travel with my only Child. Actually oh would be a Dream come True. The thing is, i’m scratching my Head trying to figure out how i can afford this. I Live in Philadelphia and am currently looking for decent employment. I live with my Child’s Father and he does help out very much, but in order to travel, i know i’m gonna have to make a lot of Money on my own. Where so i start, what should i do? Thanks so much for any advice!! It would mean a lot to me.
Shoot me an email Juanita. I can’t help you get a job but I can tell you how little travel costs compared to normal life.
Hi Alyson,
My name is Almudena, but you can call me Almu. I´m a 24 year old, Mexican marine biologist. I am recently married and have an 8 month old baby!
My husband and I have been wanting to do what you are doing for about three years now, we couldn´t back then because I wanted to finish college first. Now I´m done and I´m working and the only thing I can think about is how to get out of here, how to travel, how to live a different life!! I´ve always wanted this and today I was looking for some more options (I look for a way out everyday) and stumbled into your blog/ website which I found so inspiring! I cannot even begin to describe how excited and hopeful I felt after reading some of your advice… Everybody in my family thinks it´s impossible to do what you´re doing, but I know its not and I won´t give up till I achieve this!I know you have a million emails to answer but It would mean the world to me and would be so helpful if you could please help me get this dream going! PLEASE! I´ve been doing the math and I know me and my husband need to save some money and this will of course take some time, also I would like to have my second baby before we head off! What do you think about this?
Would you be able to help me through this? Give me advice? Walk me through some basic things about this lifestyle?
I hope you can find the time to help us… Even just reading about this was a breath of fresh air for me, I have wanted this for as long as I can remember.
I hope to hear from you soon! Your family looks lovely and well, I can say that you´re truly living the dream! I hope I can live it as well!
I’ve emailed you Almu. I found your email before your comment. We can figure this thing out!
I have always admired parents who travel with their children. Growing up we did not travel much and now I can’t stop. My sisters however, do not travel. Such a great blog that is truly inspiring for those who wonder if it is possible to travel internationally with children. Will revisit often.
Thanks for sharing Alyson, very inspiring. I came across to your website very by chance when the idea of travelling around the world with my family popped up in my a few days ago, when I read stories of single travellers around the globe, and plus after coming back from our trip in Myanmar, I talked to my husband about the idea of three of us quit our ordinary jobs, step out of our comfort zone and start to travel more. He’s with me. And so I started googling and interesting found many interesting websites of -family-travel-bloggers, like yours, and the more I read on, the more I got inspired.
My 2 concerns right now is my finance (which I have to save more and find more ways to fund my trips in the future) and my baby girl who is 18months now. We have brought her travelled to 4 countries in SEA since she was 11 months. So I am quite concerned if I should continue doing travelling while she is very little, or should I wait a few more years, maybe when she is 3,4, old enough to see the world and understand things. We are in our 30s, and when we are still young and energetic, we want to make it happen.
And another thing we have to work out is visa. We are from Vietnam and it’s not very easy for us to get visas to other countries, not like you or others from Western countries, you even don’t need visa or visa on arrival. But anyway, I think this could be worked out.
What would you advise us on this case. My husband is good at photography, so we may think of doing something around this to earn extra money.
Thanks
I can’t really advise you Anna, you must figure it out for your family. What is it you want your child to get out of this trip? What do you and your partner want from it? Are you confident that she won’t suffer in any way being so young? Do you worry about her a lot or are you confident and relxed? I think for them to learn much they need to be at least 8 years old, just based on what I’ve seen with my two, but no law says education has to be your main focus. We do, of course, need visas, everyone does and they cost us a fortune. We haven’t been to Vietnam recently because the cost for that country is so high. Yes, Visas are tricky, but just a little research and planning will sort it all out. We have to spend tomorrow extending our Thai visas, not a highlight, but a necessity. We wish you well, good luck!
Hi this is very inspiring. I would love to do this with my family. Before my family I traveled a lot. Lived in Australia and New Zealand. Traveled to Thailand. How do you deal with visas and time lines of being able to stay on one place. This is my dream one day I just don’t know where to start.
It’s really very easy Laura. Many countries give you a visa on arrival. In Thailand it’s 1 month and is easy to extend or you simply leave the country for a day or an hour and re-enter to get a new one. No sweat at all. We offer paid help at $60/hour (Skype or email) if you really want to go crazy!
Hi, we have 4 children ages 4-10 and would love to travel with the kids. Could you please tell me where some of the cheaper places you travelled ?
Absolute cheapest for accommodation, Laos $12/night and Kanchanaburi, Thailand, also $12. Laos is cheap overall, but bus fares are disproportionately hefty and for 6 that would add up. In Bangkok or more commercial parts of Thailand the best we can usually do is around $50. Food is very cheap in Thailand, you’d all eat well if you stayed away from the tourist eateries. Cheapest part of Europe is “our” end, Romania, Bulgaria and all those countries to the south. We normally pay between $30 and $50/night in Romania, for really nice places. Sri Lanka, we think, is cheaper than India. Buss and trains are ridiculously cheap but admissions to the big attractions are steep. For accommodation you’ll be paying upward of $25/ night. But a lot of places in Sri Lanka are going up-market, it’s harder and harder to find backpacker places as more and more package tourists roll in. Food is very cheap, but not in tourist restaurants. Accommodation in Nepal can be as low as $1/person per night, but food isn’t such good value and trekking passes and permits add up. Central America isn’t as cheap as Asia. USA we paid $40 to $50 per night in motels. It’s actually not bad value over there but it depends what currency you’re packing. But for 6 people…ouch! You’ll be looking at 2 rooms fairly often and there you just doubled your costs.
This is great !
We thought we were the only family here doing homeschool overseas.
Thank you,
Lucy
There’s hundreds of us Lucy! Welcome to the family
where is your “overseas”? 🙂
Well , we started in Australia. In Australia “overseas” is a very commonly used term, meaning, nywhere that’s not Australia. These days, if we went back to Australia I’d probably consider that travel, as it’s over 3 years since we’ve been “home”.
3 years???
you are so lucky!!!
safe travels.
No luck Michaella, hard graft and endless planning. I probably make it look a lot easier than it is LOL. But Hi! 🙂
Hi Alyson,
Thanks for sharing. I’ve found a lot of useful info here. We are a family of four and thinking of doing long term travel starting off SE Asia next year. We’ll have 5 year and 1 year girls. I’m a bit worried about public health for young kids in SE Asia. Any suggestions on this? Any good travel insurance?
Thanks heaps.
Thanks
I’m not sure what you mean by public heath Sarah, your travel insurance will ut you straight into the private sector, standards are excellent. Hopefully you won’t need it, but my husband had surgery in Thailand, way better than at home!
Hi Alyson,
What do you use for standard health insurance, like non-emergency pediatric check-ups for the kids and other services that don’t fall under travel insurance?
Thanks!
Nothing because check ups like that are totally unneccessary. Outside North America it’s not a thing. Likewise adult check ups for normal healthy people. We’ve seen doctors maybe 6 times in 6 years and in each case they’ve been unnecessary visits, a knee jerk reaction, parental guilt. The doctors actually did nothing or did and prescribed unneccessary things. It’s very cheap to see a doctor if you feel you want to do that stuff.
Thanks! Clearly I’m an American haha.
I think Canada is the same too. Not sure. But we don’t do this in the UK or Australia, so don’t stress! Unless it’s a condition of your health insurance that you do maybe? Sorry, I know nothing of the US system really.
Hi alyson
We are a family of 6 with four (2/4/6/8)kids
We have the opportunity to travel for 6 months next year based out of portugal
Am a bit overwhelmed to think where i would even start planning the trip and renting our house etc. Can you recommend a starting point?
HI
Like any of the others, I stumbled on your blog. Wow! how wonderful. Would love some advice; we are planning a trip in July with our 8 and 4 yr olds – Turkey or Malaysia/Thailand?
Well, I don’t know where you’re from Sadiyya, what sort of experiences you enjoy or where you have been previously. All big factors in planning a trip. Maybe use our travel planning service? Links in side bar or bottom of the page. Cheers!
I’m still single but this is what I want for my future family when I met my husband and have kids. I love what you guys are doing and your children are getting an amazing education that no traditional school could provide. I hope to do this one day too.
I am looking for inspiration to take the plunge! I have a parter who also wants to do the same. We have two children and looking at also extending the family. I am ready to see everything we own and use the funds to start the adventure of traveling the world. Can anyone advise how much funds is a good starting point to make this decision. At the moment i own a property in Safety Bay Western Australia but feeling life is not giving me much satisfaction. I am a student at Murdoch University doing a BA in Sociology and i want to use this experience to help others in need or to gain a better understanding of what the world is really like! I would like to know the basics for a starting point please? how much money is needed or regarded as a good starting point and from there what steps i can make to make this more of a reality for me and my family? 🙂
Have a look in our money section Francesca, there are lots of posts on that topic. e spent 30K Au$ in a year. Back when Au$ to US$ was 1:1. It totally depends where you go of course and what your limits are. Can you go as cheap as we do on accommodation, will you move countries much, how much do you eat and drink, do you share beds with the kids or need 2 rooms. I can help but not in the comments section, the question is very involved.
Found your blog through your Kanchanaburi post and I plan to follow you in my feed now. We are traveling full time with a 4 (oh, wait, he’s nearly 5) year old boy. We started in August of 2016 and we are loving the adventure. I’m looking forward to reading about how you home/world school.
Thank you Teresa, happy travels.
Can’t wait to sift through your posts… We loved to travel “before children,” and it has taken a wonderful turn with their addition. Two more pairs of eyes to see the world thru has been better than sunrise at Machu Picchu! Our kiddos are not yet school-age, but I am interested in exploring the possibility of home-schooling on the road. (Though we’ll give Romania a miss over Christmas again… Being kicked out of hostels for holiday closure was unexpected!)
Hi guys, just wanted to say hi and I’m so glad I’ve found you! We are due to leave the house we built here in the UK in 3 weeks’ time and are starting our new adventure to the mountains of Europe with our two children (7 and 4). Exciting times ahead, but we are currently ‘bricking it’!! We take each day as it comes and are working through our to-do list steadily. You’ve provided loads of inspiration and tips already, but I need to stop reading now as that insurance isn’t going to sort itself out! Ha! Thanks Alyson and a Happy New Year!
I haven’t heard anyone say bricking it in years, thanks! I miss Britain. Happy New Year to your travelling family too.
It all sounds so amazing, and I’m a little envious! With my four small children, I don’t think I’d be able to world travel… but I can wish and day dream!
Hello,
My 10-year-old daughter and I will be taking off for South East Asia in January for a 3-4 month trip. I’ll be ‘world-schooling’ or ‘homeschooling’ while we travel. I appreciate your ideas! Thank you. We’ll be starting in Singapore, then Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam,Cambodia, and maybe Bali.
Looking forward with anticipation! Advice is welcome!
Lori-Beth
Have a great time Lori.My advice? For 3-4 months do absolutely nothing that looks vaguely like school, just enjoy, observe, explore and understand.
Hi Alyson, can you give any advice about travel insurance? It’s really costly taking a year’s insurance for 4 people and just wondering if you have any?
Many thanks, Bernie
Hi Bernie, we always have insurance, it’s vital. To cut costs, we buy it bit by bit. A full year of global travel insurance costs a fortune, but because certain countries are 20% more expensive than others (like the USA) we don’t take out global. We only get insurance for those countries when we’re actually there. It helps a bit to take it country by country. Have a play around with the figures and see what you come up with. I don’t think we have insurance for the content of our bags, because really our clothes are worth nothing and the electrical goods are always with us on planes, so it doesn’t seem worth it.
Hi. Thank you for this fabulous blog….you have completely inspired me. Myself, partner and our two kids (3 and 5) are currently saving for our trip which we aim to start in 2016. Having a love for travel and a passion for educating my kiddies (although this does scare me!) we have been toying with the idea for a couple of years. Now the decision has been made, we are going to do it, start in Asia and take it from there!!. I can not tell you quite how much your blog is helping. It is going to be a year of saving hard, selling our stuff, (panicing) and reading your blog! We have a way to go and lots to learn but this is a wonderful start for me. I do have a question and that is that i really want my children to be able to meet other children as often as possible. I know the world is full of little people but do you have any helpful tips on helping our children make friends as we go, with locals or other people visiting, or does it really just happen? Thank you. Wishing you lots of luck and look forward to more blogs from Romania. Much love, Marion
I find it’s best to just leave them to play, if they want they’ll make friends, if they don’t want, they won’t. It’s really up to them Marion. Hang around where kids are, same as you would anywhere else, playgrounds etc. Good luck, have a brilliant time and stay strong. You’ve taken the decision and told some people about it (me for 1 !) Now just stick to it! Take care A x
hi, I’m so happy I came across this. I’m currently in culinary school going for my associates. I have kids and want to travel with them to gain cultural,culinary experience. I just wanted to get some suggestions or tips.
Well it should all be here! Chef can give you pointers on being a travelling Chef too. Good luck!
Hi! I stumbed upon your blog while searching for baby friendly itineraries for Sri Lanka. What an interesting and liberating life you are leading! Just wanted to drop you a hello and ‘well done’. I am still struggling with itinerary ideas and may drop you a separate note for advice! Thanks for sharing the very useful info you have posted on the blog.
Thanks Deep and safe travels with your baby.
Hi I loved reading your blog! We are a family of 4 with 2boys (6&8) and I so badly want to just sell my things and just go but hubby says we have to save for a year first so hopefully by next summer we are ready!
nice blog 😉 I agree travelling with kids its amazing! 🙂
Hi Alyson, I just nominated you for the Premio Dardos Award, your blog was the first family travel blogs I started following 6 months ago and I find it very inspiring and useful, packed with a wealth of knowledge for all things travel and world schooling 🙂
Thank You!
Great site! We are are travelling family too. We take at least three months a year to get away from Canada’s winter. We began in 04 when our boys were 4 and 8. We have done Mexico and Central America very extensively ,crossing the Sierra Madre in 17 places. In 09 we drove from Canada to the Panama Canal. In 2010 we adopted our 8 month old daughter in Acapulco that forced us to live in Mexico for 22 months,a movie story nightmare, but the best time of our lives.Last year we did a 5 month round the world farewell trip family of five as our oldest is now in university and can’t get away from school. We are currently doing three months around the world, SE Asia again,Philippines,Egypt and Turkey. Next few years will be S America.
Our interests are caves,pyramids, rivers,history ,markets,snorkeling and just about everything that can make you wonder.
Our home is on an island in BC,Canada,a major destination itself. I am not the family blogger as you can tell by my writing but if you ever want to do N America, Mexico,C America we are more experienced than any.We think C America is more unspoiled than anything in this hemisphere. If you like being the only tourists in town we can tell you where
We are now in our 50s. i have an internet based business and my wife was a teacher of the deaf. Stumbled on your site searching caves canoe trips in Laos,something we have done in Belize several times. Belize is in our top 3, don’t miss it!
Have never encountered anyone hardcore like us. Would love to meet you guys sometime.
Nice to meet you guys!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, we hope you’ve had a good one here in the UK. Such an inspirational blog, Alyson.
We are planning a budget ‘world tour’ lasting 12-14 months in 2016, with our kids who will then be 8 and 10. The rough idea so far is somewhere in Africa, SE Asia, Australia and then Japan.
We are not particularly experienced travellers so the whole thing feels a bit daunting (but exciting too!) and we would like to plan an outline in advance. Would you recommend booking flights in advance or doing it as we go along? And do you think it is better to spend longer in fewer places, say a month in each, or to travel around more? TBH, I have so many questions I could ask you that I don;t know where to start!
Thank you so much for all the ideas and making me feel anything is possible! Can’t wait to hear about your next trip,
Carol
Send me an email Carol. contact@worldtravelfamily.com I’ll do my best to help if I can. Tell me your travel plans, what are your “must-do”s.
Interesting blog post. I learned so much about budget and how to plan long term traveling with kids. Thanks so much for sharing
Just stumbled across your blog while looking for tips travelling to Sri Lanka with kids. Your most blog regarding your most recent trip to Sri Lanka is refreshing and has made us very excited for our trip. I live in Saudi Arabia with my husband and two children 4 and almost 2. We travel the world with our children as well and love it. This will be our first time in Sri Lanka and we are stoked
Very nice…..and keep going. We set off on a 2 year journey around the world and just celebrated our 6 year travel anniversary last week.
Cheers from our Unstoppable Family to yours…
Brian, Rhonda & Hanalei Swan
Fabulous blog! We have four young children and planning a v short six week stint from Dublin to new Zealand in 2015. Know its a hard question but where wld be top places you’d recommend? Thank you so much
Now that would depend on your flights and where they stop Anna. Our London-Sri Lanka-KL flight was a bargain and gave us a month in Sri Lanka. I’d highly recommend Bangkok. If you end up in KL you can go anywhere, cheaply with Air Asia, that’s their main hub. Shoot me an email if you want more help, I can’t do it here, good luck!
Hi Alyson and family;
What a great blog. Kudos to you for living your dreams! We too are a family that loves travel. We don’t know any travelling families in our lives except for those like you guys on the internet. Great to know you are all out there.
Wishing you every success for your 2015 project – sounds amazing!!
Hi, just reading your blog….we have just returned from 20 months travel with our two kids to start school…but I’m wondering whether we needed to!! We are finding it hard to settle in, after so much family time together…and. Work, school etc taking so much of the precious family time! W hope we can get ourselves financially independent agin to start the travels again!
Nope, don’t need to at all. The older the kids get, the more they get out of it too (educationally). Hope you can find a way Rosemary.
We’ll be flying to RSA at the same period … though only for 16 days (our shortest holiday EVER)! We’ll follow you from down there on your travels to Sri Lanka.
Looking forward to following along on your adventures! 🙂
Wow! your family is such an inspiration. My family always wanted to explore the world, and I was encouraged to start planning as I peruse your blog. Thanks!
Hi Alyson, I am soo pleased to have ‘stumbled’ onto your blog! Just wanted to say ‘hi’ and now I am going to go exploring on your site! 🙂 Travelling with children is such a desire I/we have – we are also homeschoolers – (currently living on the Scottish Borders), but the budgeting is always an issue (how on earth do you stay within budget!! LOL) and also lack of guts to just DO it! There is more to life, right?!
Take care and thank you for sharing your adventures with us!
Lieschen, HI, Thanks! Get those guts sorted and if you need any more help or support don’t hesitate to email me. I’ll do what I can to help keep you focused. Good luck! Ax
Hi guys, reading your blog with fascination. My husband and I have always travelled and have enjoyed our trips with each child as they have come along – we now have three but have travelled with children since our oldest was 12 months old. Usually we stick mostly to Asia to get more bang for your buck and we find the culture completely welcoming and accommodating to children and families. We are off in 3 weeks for a 6 week journey from Vancouver to Los Angeles and so excited. If you have any tips of not to miss places or budget savers for this it would be great. Keep blogging love it!
Hi Tanya, good luck with your trip, sounds great and thanks for commenting. We haven’t done the w coast since before the kids were born, but some of our posts from our E coast road trip, we did Canada to the Keys, would apply. Try our USA section.
Hi there
I’ve just had a thorough look at your blog and it’s been really helpful. Thank you!
We are currently travelling (left the UK 2 months ago) in the USA, about to head into Canada. We have 3 children with us aged 10,8 and 4 and are away for 17 months. We are heading to Mexico, Guatemala, NZ, Oz, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Ethiopia. Not too dissimilar from yourselves. Weirdly enough my husband also hopes to complete an ironman, we also were engaged at Macchu Pichu, and did the Trans Siberian rail route for our honeymoon travels in winter. We are ‘homeschooling’ in an ‘unschooling’ way as well … It seems to have happened fairly naturally! The girls have learnt so much in the states from the national parks alone- the junior ranger program has been fantastic.
I do have a question for you. I’m a worrier and need some reassurance before going into Guatemala. The reports of violent crime have me scared. I have found a fantastic language school there where we are keen to stay in San Pedro. Really I’d love for us all to be there for 6 weeks. I feel gutted at the idea of not going there, but don’t want to out the girls at risk either. Do you have any words of reassurance, having been there?? I’d love to hear more about your time on Lake Atitlan, and how you got there.
Many many thanks for any help … I hope life in London goes well. I guess the learning ops for home schooling there are many!
Honor
Hi Honor, I’ve emailed you.
Hi Alyson, We are a French family who has decided to come live in Australia to show a different life style to our children. We now think it is time to go further and go on the road. We live in Brisbane at the moment and I’m finishing my studies next year so during this time we are going to think and prepare. We are not attached to material stuff and our kids have done home schooling before so no worries on that side. The only thing I’m worried about is dangerous animals encounters. The other thing is our kids have autism, asthma ans anaphylaxis, so need some thinking around that. Thank you for your blog, I have been on it for ours and can;t get enough….
You mean the snakes, crocs and stingers in Australia? Don’t worry, we survived for 7 years and spent plenty of days in tents with all that wildlife, she’ll be right as they say.
I have been following your blog the past 6 months (feel like a stalker sometimes given how often I log on!) and can I say how useful and inspiring I have found it all! Through your site, I managed to find other like minded families as well, which has been inspiring as well…but I tend to find your site super useful in terms of finding out all the practical(And cheap!) ways to travel, places to stay, homeschooling children etc. My husband and I and our two kids(aged 6 and 9) are setting off on a 6 month road trip, driving from England(live here 10 years) to Bangladesh(where we are from). In my ‘real world’ I don’t know anyone who has done it with children, so reading your blogs and updates really helps to ground our own beliefs that it is possible! We were due to set off in 3 weeks but due to circumstances(our daughter has some health issues) we are now setting off October 25th. I have started a website but am the most unsaavy tech person ever, probably can take lessons from your sons! If you want to visit up north while you are in England, would love to host you, we live in Sheffield. Thank you for all that you share with the world about your travels and experiences!
OMGosh that sounds AMAZING! I’ve always wanted to drive, or walk, or bike to India, just something overland, but it’s a tricky route, I’d love to know which way you’re going. We’ve been to Bangladesh, briefly, but we’ve been! Good luck and well done for being awesome!
Thank you 🙂 We have the route on the website if you want more details (still working out how to put map on this page, rather than the link!), but as we grow more confident about doing it for much longer, we are changing it a bit, taking ferry from England to Spain(£259 for all of us, you gave me that idea!) and going down from Spain to Morocco by ferry, then Algiers/Morocco to Italy by ferry as well. Then all land until Iran. From there there is ferry from Bandar Abbas to Dubai. Still stuck on how we will get from Dubai to India (car can be shipped there) we might have to fly that bit, unless can afford a cruise(unlikely). And then onwards from India to Bangladesh! We have a rookie trip this summer 3 weeks that will be useful in seeing how we do with budget/camping/packing/what works and doesn’t. Will be going through your helpful ‘what to take’ info a lot more as the trip gets closer!
Great blog! Thanks a lot for connecting with us on Google+, Alyson! Keep up the great work and travel safe!
I love the idea of traveling with my kids. I work in the travel industry yet somehow as I have kids I dont go anywhere. I need to work on the hubby to do this!! I love it, thank you for sharing and being an inspiration to those too scared to do what you have done (aka me).
WOW!!! I am sitting here in tears, this is so wonderful, never would have thought of it till I read your blog, thank, thank, so hope that we can be brave enough to do this someday, safe and wonderful travels to you and your kin.
wow a great inspiration.. I have had the bug since a child thanks to an Uncle… Am planning RTW trip with my daughter in a couple of years…maybe sooner… we do stints of a couple of wks within Ausland , Japan, SE Asia (where I lived for a good part of 3yrs). Great to see others like minded thanks for the inspiration and look forward to your next blog …ps we are in Cairns and have had plenty of rain x
We are a like minded family! We have been traveling with our children since the first one turned 7 months old. So far, we’ve only gone for 3-4 week stints, but we are saving up and plan to sell everything two years from now to start our own adventure around the world with no definite plans to return to the U.S. Will definitely be looking to your blog for further information and suggestions. I finally started working on our own travel blog. Slowly piecing together our tips and suggestions as well. I’m excited to read more about your travels and tips. It’s so hard to find information about traveling to some of the far reaches of the world with children!
Good on you Melissa! You know what, having kids with you makes very little difference. Maybe we’re more cautious and it’s certainly hitting us harder in the pocket, but otherwise, same same.
I have been driving my husband crazy reading him your blog! I wish we would have traveled out of the country more when the kids were young and I was homeschooling. I did drag them all over the USA. Now that they are older they have personal goals that keep us homebound (1 in University and three extremely competitive athletes).
I feel I have found a kindred spirit in your writings. I have used vacationstogo for 3 cruises now. And skyscanner is my favorite app of all time! Please send me an email if you ever need any help with travels in the US. I am excited to hear all about your adventures!
Hi there! So pleased to have found your site. I am from Malaysia, a total believer of travel in education and we intend to start traveling further and further starting with Europe this year. We won’t be doing all our traveling all at one go though but breaking it up into bits and bobs every year. We will get there eventually! I hope!
Hi Alyson,
I’m not sure if you do awards n’ stuff but I nevertheless, just wanted to give you a head’s up that I’ve nominated you for the Dragon’s Loyalty Award. I’ve also written a few words about you and your blog.
I LOVE London museums, and they’re free which is AWESOME! Have a brilliant time, I love the theatres too, I’m just a big sucker for London!
wow alyson this is great!
Hello Alyson,
I am supposed to finish a paper on canonical law (yes …) but I just don’t feel like it – so thanks for this post of the Ella Gap Temple and you telling us there’s an icy drizzle dripping on your head. The weather is cold here in the Alsace (east of france) but we have a clear blue sky and lots of light today. I just decided to hang the Advent’s calendar on the wall and the Advent Wreath on the door … and I just may go out and buy some candles, so as to fit the upcoming “Christmas atmosphere”. Gives you something to look forward too while you’re on your trip to Kandy!
Talitha
Alyson I think you guys are great. I can’t wait to meet up with you one of these days. I follow your blog posts, but thought I would finally check out your “About” page. I know, I know I should be slapped for not having done that several months ago. Keep up the great stories!
The About page is the hardest one to do Heidi, it’s a real headache!. Thanks for stopping by. Our paths will cross one day, looking forward to catching up with you, too.
Love the blog. We haven’t done anything as adventurous as yourselves yet but hope to one day. Look forward to reading about your adventures.
Nice to learn about you and your family Alyson. I have three, two the same age as yours so I get it. At present we are living on less than AUS$40/day for the five of us. Super budget in Laos.
Good journey.
Hello there! Have been following your blog for the past little while and really enjoying it, thank you for sharing your adventures. We are also homeschooling expats/ adventure travel family, I am English, husband Scottish and we live in Kuala Lumpur with our 4 kids. Planning on being here for the next little while and traveling round se Asia having just done a year in Perth,wa. We have done similar things to you in the past, and I love hearing about kindred spirits! Keep it up and maybe our paths will cross …:)))
We’ll be in KL in a few weeks Sue. Thanks for your kind words.
Lets hook up! send me an email when you get here if you fancy it. happy travels 🙂
Sue, I just found this, we’re in KL now, leaving tomorrow( and everyone has flu, which hasn’t helped!). Ships that pass in the night! Sorry, next time 🙂
Stumbled across your blog Alyson and loving it. What an adventure your family is having. We started travelling with our two kids a few years ago but only a few weeks at a time. So far Vietnam, Bali, Java, Borneo, Kuala Lumpa and just recently Laos and Cambodia. Our kids are now 12 & 9 and becoming quite the seasoned travellers. Neither hubby or I had a chance to travel overseas BC (Before kids) but being able to do it now with our kids in tow is fantastic. I love being able to share the whole travel thing with my family! Shared memories are the best. With our oldest heading into high school next year extended travel isn’t an option for us but there’s always the 8 week Christmas school holiday period to make the most of. For something completely different to our Asia travels, we’re planning to do Dubai, Abu Dhabi and a self drive camping trip through Oman. In the meantime I’m looking forward to travelling vicariously through your blog. Happy and safe travels.
My partner and I just finished our RTW trip back in August. We are having serious withdrawal! Oddly enough, we were just talking about how amazing it will be to take our (future) kids with us on a trip one day! Glad there are others out there who feel the same!
PS- LOVED Port Douglas. We were there to dive back in April!
Have fun!
love this page. you are amazing! so proud of you dear. gabi
Thanks Alyson, very useful! Laos sounds wonderful. I stayed on the Thai-Laos border for a month, working on a book. Such a beautiful area! I appreciate your brilliant help! Enjoy Laos!
Thanks Alyson! So helpful. It sounds like PD is almost big city prices, which is a lot for a small town! I did look at real estate for renting earlier this year and thought there were quite a few good places for fair prices – but now that it’s the main season there isn’t nearly as much available. So I guess it’s good to get a yearly rental in January or the like – when few people are interested in PD.
My girlfriend is a yoga teacher… so either she will do retreats (with people flying in)… or work locally (which I would guess would be hard?). My business is completely online – is fast internet a problem up there? Is it only slow internet… and does it take a long time to get installed? I’ve heard Telstra can be very lazy outside the big cities!
Thanks so much for your help, very generous of you!
I hope you’re enjoying your travels, wherever you currently are!
PS – My sister and Dad recently came back from London and said that for the first time they can remember (we are there every year or two) Australia is much more expensive! So maybe it’s not just PD. The changing AUD has had a big impact on prices I think
We had good internet in Port Douglas Mike, we had 120GB/month $90 with Telstra. My husband thinks they connected it the next day.It cuts out occasionally in bad weather, but on the whole, good. There are a lot of yoga teachers in Port Douglas already, including on the beach, in the park etc. It may be tough to find enough clients, but obviously, I’m no expert. And yes, you’d probably do better searching for a place in the wet season availability wise, husband thinks prices remain fairly constant year round but there is always a slight under supply of rental properties. ( there are a lot of sharks in Port Douglas, most of them in real estate). It’s an upmarket sort of place, you pay upmarket prices. On the bonus side,living in Port Douglas gives you local discounts for attractions, some shops and restaurants.
We’re in Laos, and yes, we’re having a lovely time travelling with the kids, thanks!
Wonderful blog Alison, and inspiring to see you follow your love of traveling with your family. My gf and I are considering moving to PD, but I’ve read here that you say it’s very expensive to live as a local. Besides rent – I know the prices and our budget for that – just how expensive is it? I am a fellow traveller like you, having travelled full time for several years, and it is scary to give that all up! Big decisions, so I’m really grateful I found your blog! Thank you. Congratulations on traveling with your children, really inspiring!
Hello Mike, I’m so glad you found us. I can give you a few ideas,unleaded petrol was $1.55/L, diesel was about the same, when we left in June. Our 4 bed house with pool is rented at $460/ week, to buy it, you’d be looking at around $450,000. That’s less than we payed, house prices have dropped. Food is expensive to me, supermarket food is more expensive than the UK (excluding meat but we’re non meat eaters). Fresh fruit and veg is very seasonal. you can’t buy bananas every week, prices fluctuate hugely. In the wet season it can be difficult to buy anything fresh as flooding further south closes supply routes. A trip to the reef to snorkel for a family of four will be around $500, you won’t be doing that every week! A coffee in a cafe $4.50ish, Fish and chips, 1 fish $8.50-$9.50 per portion, chips $3 for a small portion. Dinner for two at a fancy restaurant over $100 depending on wine, main course about $35, starters around $16 ( my husband, the exec chef, is giving me these figures).Bottle of wine from a bottle shop $10 upward. If you have any more specific questions, shoot them at me, I’ll help as much as I can. It’s a beautiful place to live, we found managing on one salary pretty limiting, we do like to eat out and have lots of fun, we’re no good at simple living!
Hi Alyson,,,,, In what currency are you quoting prices? Thank you
Hi Leila, When we started the blog the Au$ and US$ were 1:1 so it made no difference. Now…I’m not sure! On new posts I say if it’s Au or US but you can’t really go back and say which now because those 2 currencies aren’t worth the same.
We’re looking forward to following along. I’d be interested in posts about how you budget as you go along. When I was growing up (many eons ago), my parents somehow found a way to fund world travel for a family of 5 on my father’s teacher’s salary which was a pittance in those days (before teachers in the US were unionized). As empty nesters, my husband and I can now afford to spend more on travel, but old habits die hard, so I feel strange spending more for a meal than we used to spend on several nights accommodation. (But, seriously, I need to get over that. There’s no sense fretting rather than enjoying an experience).
Wow have just stumbled across you guys – what an adventure! Hubby and I and our two four year olds are heading off for our first backpacking adventure to Malaysia on Thursday, so I was interested to read about your travels. Just three weeks for us, though! Enjoy! I will be following with interest.
Wow, so exciting for you Lisa! We’re leaving Malaysia today.Have a great time and good luck travelling with your family.
Wow! Your blog is such an inspiration!! I hope to travel with our kiddos someday too, so I am so glad to have found your blog! Thanks for sharing. 🙂