Why do we do this crazy thing, why travel with kids? More importantly, why we think you should travel with your kids, or at least give it some serious thought. By travel I don’t mean a 2 week vacation, that’s fine and absolutely better than nothing but what we’re talking about here is a complete lifestyle shift for months or more.
From normal, to weird.
From settled to nomadic.
From average to out of the ordinary.
It is possible, it is affordable and it is good.
I’ve been working with a new piece of video making kit (OK, playing-with would be a better description) so I thought I’d put my point across through pictures as well as words. I hope you like it.
If you’re not a video-watching kinda guy, just carry on reading and skip the pretty pictures.
Why Travel With Kids?
Remember please, that we’ve been travelling with the kids since they were tiny and travelling with them full time for the last 5+ years.
We’re what people sometimes call a nomadic family. These aren’t speculative reasons, anybody can knock off a “Why travel with kids?” post before they even pick up their backpacks. We have another post on why people travel and why travel is never a waste of time but, with kids, there’s a new set of reasons. Many writers post “Why travel with kids?” posts relating to family holidays.
This is different, this is the real travel-as-lifestyle deal. We live it, we love it.
Reasons to Travel With Kids
- To spend time with them
- To benefit their education
- Travelling is affordable and often cheaper than staying at home.
- Travel is good for kids socialisation and social skills.
- Learning from the whole world beats classroom confinement.
- Travel helps kids understand the people of the world.
- Travel is fun for kids and families.
- Experiencing new and healthier foods is good for kids.
- Travel helps kids learn to overcome obstacles and that anything is possible.
- The challenges of travel build self confidence.
- Kids who travel have broader life experiences, better opportunities.
- Travel makes more possible.
- Travel with kids makes childhood and family memories.
- Kids who have travelled extensively are different.
They grow way too quickly, soon they will be gone. Don’t miss a second of precious childhood. We care deeply, we wanted more for them than the schools were offering.
It is cheaper than staying home. You probably need this post on how we afford to travel. They meet all and every sort of person. Not just a classroom-full of same-age kids.
When you learn at source you don’t need text books. All the world’s peoples, they’re all equally important. An understanding of people, custom and religion is vital to world understanding and empathy.
So much fun, so many adventures.
Instead of packed lunches they eat and cook Thai, Indian, Cambodian, Guatemalan, you name it!
They face challenges and usually triumph. It makes them stronger and more confident people.
So much more! 50+ countries now, from mountains, to deserts, to rainforests, to oceans to cities to villages. They’ve tried it all.
They’ll be different. We see that as a bonus. Who wants to be the same as everyone else?
They won’t feel the need to stay put in a home town and they won’t automatically conform to conventional consumer society. They live differently and meet many people also living differently. The’ll have options.
They spend more time with us and more time with each other. They have strong bonds and shared memories to carry into their futures.
So that, in a nutshell, is why we do it. It’s worked out better than I ever expected and the variety of experiences they’ve encountered is quite incredible. I never thought they’d get to see Mount Everest, I never thought they’d get to live in a peasant village, I never thought we’d still be mixing it up and finding new ways 6 years later.
Thanks for following.
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Great and informative post! I love the idea mentioned in this blog regarding why we travel with kids. By the way, guys! If you’re flying with a baby but don’t want to go through all the hassle of lugging a car seat. Please check out KIDMOTO! You can ditch the car seats when flying with a baby!
Hi, you mentioned that you are still ‘tourists’ in Romania, but you also deregistered from Oz? So are you now officially living nowhere?
How does that work with health insurance? I know that in the largest part of the world paying health costs in cash is cheaper than insurance in western countries, but what about larger expenses, surgeries, expensive medication etc? Thanks!
We’re British Harry.So we’ve never had to have health insurance at home ( same in Australia, mostly, a certain level is free, extra things you pay for) We have travel insurance through World Nomads, most travel insurance policies cover medical expenses. Very straightforward.
I love your work! we are in Qld and planning to take off at the beginning of next year with 3 kids..
I’m wondering if your children schooled by meeting the Australian curriculum Or had absolute freedom to learn from what is presented before them?
Such a solid reminder and inspiration to what is important in this very short life..Thankyou
Back in Australia we had no choice, we had to do what we were told by the Australian govt, Fill in the forms, submit the learning plans and annual reports. Once we left they were no longer interested in us and could not remain registered, so we can do what we like! In some ways we’re still slightly Australian in that I know that curriculum and we use the Au version of Study Ladder sometimes.( online learning program). It’s also a great visual check list for me up to the end of junior school for maths and English, but I’ve always pulled in elements of the UK and US curriculum. I’m British, and felt the Au curriculum was way too narrow for kids to learn about the whole world. So I’ve got the standard curriculums in my head AND we follow their interests, so, for instance, my elder one adores Greek Mythology and computer coding, he knows to former inside out and can code in Java (I can’t!). Basically we’re totally free. But I’m very “common sense” about it and I’m big on accademics. When we’re actively skipping around countries like India, we do nothing formal. But when we’re in London, Romania, anywhere, for a few weeks/ months,I pull out the books. I buy work books here and we use multiple online resources. I usually have a couple of work books in my backpack plus of course all the online stuff is easy to access. There is a full post here Jodi , https://worldtravelfamily.com/homeschool-and-travel/
I agree with everything in this post! I wish so much that my family was on the road full-time. I hope one day we can be. but for now, our small trips we can take are great learning experiences for the kids. And for me!
You’re preaching to the converted here but this is an excellent post about travel with kids and I’m with you!!
Thanks so much Natasha.
nodding my head so much! 😀
I know you are Kirsty! You get it <3
Dear Alyson,
Ive been following you now since the beginning of the year as we’ve been researching + planning our 1-2 yr travel with our 4 kids. I’m a nomad at heart but have married someone who isn’t. So this is very exciting! We’re planning to be in Asia in the fall of this yr + Eastern Europe in the summer of 2017. I wonder if there is a chance to meet up? We need to get our website started! Thanks, you’re awesome.
Thanks Clara. There’s always a possibility, but I have zero idea what we’re doing that far ahead just now.
You guys are amazeballs! 🙂