Taking a career break to travel with family

[SidB]

OK, my wife and I are both really stressed out with work. I'm considering taking our kids out of school and going travelling. I know it sounds drastic, but I really think that the benefits to them will vastly outway the negative points. My wife and I are able to provide them with an education. Can you imagine learning biology on the Barrier Reef and Amazonian rainforests. Or French in France and Canada. How about social science, religion and history in different cultures.

I guess it's probably a pipe dream, but heck it's always great to plan for travelling. That's what we're all doing here.

So my question would be which countries would you visit ? My current list is; France, Morroco, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, India, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica, Cuba, Canada, and the good old US of A.

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Wow Sid - that is some stress you must be feeling.

If the powers that be (that'll be the education system, not having kids I wouldn know) say OK I think this would be such a wonderful opportunity for you all and to do it together would be a wonderful experience.

I really like your list - I think I'd leave out any of the Europena countries because we're so close and you could do them any time. What about South Africa, I see it wasn't on your list ?

 

[cabmom]

Sid, I'll be the first to invite you to come explore Canada from my area! Heck we could even put you up for a day or two!
That sounds awesome. When our kids are older I'd like to to the same thing.
Enjoy!
Marilynn

 

[SidB]

Thanks guys. As part of my "research" I happened across this website http://www.rfleming.net/index.html It's all about parents of 2 daughters, 4 and 8 and their travels. It looks absolutely fantastic. They even took time to visit Disney on the west coast, so it sort of fits in with this site too !

Thanks for the offer cabmom. You never know I just might take you up on that offer one day !

Sam, I think you're right about missing the European countries. I deliberately excluded Africa because I have concerns about the medical facilities, excluding SA, where I worry about the crime. I've spoken with a South African colleague who told me about a friend of his who was shot when somebody tried to steal his watch, which was a cheapy £3 special. I know it was probably an isolated incident.

I'm not worried about the education authorities as we'll be out of the country. If they want to come check out that we're home educating our children they're more than welcome to try and find us.

thanks again.

Tony

 

[Sian]

Sounds like a brilliant idea. I would go for it. I guess the education issue would be faced when you come back. The worst that could happen is that your kids would have to go back a year but that would be well worth it in my opinion.

 

[Olaf]

Surely they allow home schooling over there. You should look into purchasing a curriculum with books and all. I know of several US sites for that sort of thing, but you'd probably want a British program. If you can afford it--do it.

 

[SidB]

Thanks Olaf. To be honest I'm not really concerned about the kids education. Ooh that doesn't sound right. I'm mean that my wife and I can help with the education, and I understand that we can obtain curriculem material from the schools.

If you read my list of countries I think you'll agree that there are too many, and that we'd constantly be moving. So I've taken out South and Central America, Africa, and the Middle East. These can be added later if we wish. Also the plan was to head east, but I've now reviewed this and think going westward would be the best option. I think that heading through the English speaking countries first would allow us all to settle into the journey much quicker.

So now my basic plan is the following;

Canada,
USA,
Fiji ?
Australia,
New Zealand
Singapore,
Malaysia
Thailamd
Cambodia
Laos,
Vietnam
China
Home

As you can see I've fallen in love with SE Asia. We had our honeymoon there nearly 16 years ago, and recently returned to Thailand. It's a wonderful country full of the nicest people you could ever meet.

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Hmmm I too would be put off by SA for those reasons.

I still think this is a great plan - they are your children and as such you are respsonible for them and I believe that everyone has a right to educate their children in the way that they see fit, even if the education system here doesn't quite agree with that LOL. You and I both know that there will be others that judge you but I can read that you really won't be caring what other's think anyway. I think this would be an awesome opportunity.

 

[SidB]

As we're both concerned about how our daughters will cope with bumming round the world we thought we'd take a few weeks travelling around Vietnam and Thailand, before making a firm decision. With any luck the people we work with will realise that they can live without us and make us redundant !

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Well it's good to do the "try before you buy" approach and who knows you may feel better for it when you get back from your trip - the stress factor may have reduced and you'll all be better for the experience anyway.

If everything still feels the same when you return to your jobs then you'll know what to do next.

When are you off ?

 

[SidB]

We haven't set dates yet, but it'll probably be during a school break. We've spent the last few weeks watching all of the travel shows on satellite, and doing research over the net. The girls are coming round to our way of thinking. They've been watching some program where Peter Duncan (ex Blue Peter) takes his 4 kids round the world for 6 months. They all seem very rounded children/young adults and are gaining a great education in life. My eldest daughter loves elephants (she even adopted one at Whipsnade Zoo) and last nights program was 4,000 miles around Zimbabwe (sp ?). They ended up tracking them, and getting very close. The family also spent time in an African village including visiting the local schools where the eldest daughter (15ish) and an African girl of the same age discussed their "O" Levels.

 

[vernon]

If you have safety concerns I would agree with your idea to drop Libya, Egypt and Morrocco. Be very careful on where in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brazil and Cambodia you visit. All of the above have terrorist, bandit or high crime rate issues.

I took 3 months off at the end of last year to travel and watch the rugby world cup. My tour was a week in Cape Town, 10 days in Perth, a week in Melbourne, a week in Brisbane, a weeks scuba dive course (3 days of which on a boat on the great barrier reef) 10 days in Sydney ( almost all rugby and drinking LOL) yeah we won . A week in Hawaii, week in San Diego and 3 weeks in Florida. If I was to plan again ( not around rugby) I would change a few things about .

If you're planning a tester trip to Asia, I would take in Asia in one trip and the other things in another. IMHO Safaris in the future are going to become more difficult to do properly. I feel we will lose the ability to see Africa as it was before it become developed. I don't think it's something that can be put off for a later date JMHO.

Considering the individual cost of flights to South Africa being quite high you can add it into a "round the world" itinerary quite cheaply so I would add it into a plan. I would visit/base myself in Cape Town as this is probably the safest place to visit in Southern Africa and there is a lot to see and do here. I would say spend a week to 10 days in Cape town itself and look to book a separate trip for a safari from Cape Town. They will do flights direct into the game reserve areas futher north. I believe Botswana is the best area for seeing game these days. IMHO the safari aspect of this trip is the one area I wouldn't look to do cut price. For safety and quality of experience it's worth paying top $$. You don't really need a car in Cape town and there are a lot of trips that are better done through a tour guide. I can give you some local TA websites if you're interested.

You can then fly direct from South Africa to Perth in Western Australia. I really liked Perth/Freemantle and Western Australia is a fantastic place to explore. Perth itself has an excellent public transport system and there's no need for a car here, if you wanted to Explore WA more it's a huge area and a car is definately needed.

On the East coast of Aussie I wasn't much impressed with Melbourne, but the penguin parade at Philip Island ( 2 hours south of Melbourne) was one of the highlights of the trip. Sydney was mostly rugby and passed by in a blur, but I really liked the bits I remember and it's a must on a tour. I then rented a car and drove up to Brisbane (about 600 miles). I stopped at Coff's harbour on the way up and there are some beautiful spots in this area (Port Macquarie and Boambee). Brisbane is a great city and close to a number of themeparks and Steve Irwin's (Croc hunter) Zoo Australia that I thought was an excellent day trip. I did my dive course at Bundeberg http://www.saltys.com.au/welcome.htm and I thought it was excellent value and a great trip. For people not wanting to scuba then you could easily continue the drive up to Cairns and the Gt Barrier Reef.

I wanted to include NZ, but the flights on to Hawaii made that difficult. On a trip for less than 3 months I would say you're better concentrating on less places and spending more time at each location. Otherwise you end up wasting so much time travelling.

I'd spend at least a couple of weeks in Hawaii, one week in Honolulu and exploring that Island and 1-2 weeks exploring some of the smaller islands.

West Coast I would probably book flights into and out of either LA or San Fran on the main "round the world" ticket and organise flights to other places I wanted to visit ( Canada, Mexico etc) separately. It's likely to be cheaper and offer you better flexibility to do so.

East Coast I'm sure you know reasonably well.

Even on that simplified tour plan I'd say one needs 3 weeks in Africa, 6 weeks in Australia and 5-6 weeks in the USA. If you have more time to fit in other destinations then that's fine, but having done a round the world in 7 weeks, even with limited number of stops it was too much travelling and not enough time at each place. I wouldn't consider spending less than a week in any destination, you lose a day on the way in, a day on the way out and it takes at least 2 days to orientate yourself, leaving only 3 days to get the benefit of a destination.

 

[SidB]

Originally posted by vernon
Be very careful on where in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brazil and Cambodia you visit. All of the above have terrorist, bandit or high crime rate issues.

I'd be interested in why you have included Vietnam and Thailand. Both times I've been to Thailand I've felt very comfortable and safe. Doing my research I get the impression that it's a general view of most travellers. I do know that there are issues in the very south with Muslim extremists. In my view crime is minimal, as is the threat of terrorism, especially when compared to the UK or USA. Crime-wise I feel more threatened in France or Spain.

The idea of going on safari in Africa doesn't really appeal. It seems to be the "in thing", which is exactly what I try to avoid in my travels. I want to integrate more into the local community, and not sit in a jeep full of Brits, surrounded by other jeeps full of Brits, surrounding a solitary animal. No thank you. That said, Peter Duncan hired a vehicle and travelled around for about 4,000 miles avoiding other tourists, which appeals far more. If I were to go on safari a jungle trek appeals more, particularly in Borneo.

In my view the up and coming destinations are Vietnam, Peru and the former Soviet republics, so visit them before they're spoiled.

From what I've seen about Vietnam, even Americans are mostly welcome now. This applies more in the south around Saigon than in Hanoi, but that's understandable.

Australia is an absolute must, particularly the Barrier Reef. The aisian fussion type of cuisine really appeals too. I think that to really do Oz justice you need to spend at least 3 months travelling.

I completely agree with your sentiments regarding taking your time.

 

[vernon]

My DD is going to Thailand in a couple of weeks so I have been paying attention to the various agencies warnings and bulletins.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/thailand_announce.html

I can't get the Brit FO site to work at the moment.

As well as Southern Thailand, the Golden Triangle area which covers Laos, Northern Thailand and Burma can be quite dangerous and away from the regular areas full of bandits and drug smugglers.

Tourists should also exercise caution in remote areas along the border with Burma. The Thai/Burma border is the site of on-going conflicts between the Burmese Army and armed opposition groups as well as of clashes between Thai security forces and armed drug traffickers. In addition, pirates, bandits and drug traffickers operate in these border areas

The idea of going on safari in Africa doesn't really appeal. It seems to be the "in thing", which is exactly what I try to avoid in my travels. I want to integrate more into the local community, and not sit in a jeep full of Brits, surrounded by other jeeps full of Brits, surrounding a solitary animal. No thank you. That said, Peter Duncan hired a vehicle and travelled around for about 4,000 miles avoiding other tourists, which appeals far more. If I were to go on safari a jungle trek appeals more, particularly in Borneo.

I took it from your post that your daughter was into the idea. While I agree on the lack of attraction on a safari in the manner you describe, there are a lot of top of the range experiences that are truly spectacular and would give you some of what you're looking for. It's why I said don't look to keep costs down on this aspect if you chose to go for it. If you don't fancy it, then such is life. In a last attempt at the value of South Africa, if the idea is as an educational trip for the children. The Cape area of South Africa and it's historical significance in the shaping of South Africa, it's role in Apartheid, the origins of the Cape Coloured people and what South Africa today can teach us about racial issues is a lesson that is very hard to duplicate.

I understand the desire to integrate into local society, but IMHO you'll find the poor of Thailand, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Philipines and Malaysia all tend to face similar problems and have found similar solutions. South Africa offers a contrast with which the children (and you) can compare the different societies.

 

[SidB]

Vernon,

To be honest I hadn't considered educating the kids about the history of apartheid, and it's probably a very worthwhile exercise. As this is fairly recent in historical terms they haven't been exposed to this at school. We grew up seeing the campaigns and the release of Nelson Mandela, so I guess it's a blind spot for me. Thinking about it my kids don't appreciate other recent historical events such as the peace process in Ireland, the fall of the iron curtain, the war against Argentina for the Falklands, the war in the Balkans, the genocide in Rwanda etc etc.

Again you're right to suggest that you get what you pay for with a safari, but I'm not sure our budget will stretch that far. It may be worth trying to visit some of the townships to get a better perspective on real life in South Africa.

I'm still not convinced about the dangers in South East Asia. The Thais in particular are very aware of the value of tourism and go to great lengths to protect foreigners. The fighting between the Burmese and Thais has been going on for many years and violence has not been ained at tourists. The rise of Muslim fundamentalism (sp.) in Southern Thailand and the Philippines, and the potential for the targeting of foreigners does concern me, and I would avoid those areas completely.

I take the warning from the US State Department with a large pinch of salt. Their government has always been quite conservative, and therefore I have more faith in our FCO. The American view seems to be that everybody is out to get them, when most people are more interested in their own problems. As an example I read on a different forum a message from an American student touring Indo-China. He was in one country (Cambodia I think) and needed to get a visa to enter Laos. He couldn't find their embassy so went to his own to get directions. Before he could get to talk to anybody he spent over an hour being searched, questioned, having his documents checked, all at gunpoint. Finally he was given directions. Why he didn't ask the security team is beyond me, but hey what do I know. When he arrived at the Laos embassy he was taken straight in, had a cup of tea with a senior member of staff and sent on his way with his visa.

I still want to spend a lot of time in South East Asia, but getyour point about the societies having similarities, although I'm sure they don't see that themselves. Visiting South Africa is something I need to research, particularly the financial aspect, but can see the educational advantages.

Thanks for the advise.