Do you wish you had travelled earlier with your kids?

I think most people with kids just don't have the money or can take the time off work to go on extended trips around Australia.

Go for it. My biggest regret so far is we were too late (4years) to take the kids on a 6-12 month trip before they got stuck into school years 9,10,11 and 12.
Good luck you wont regret it!

Why would you not go now if you could! Can think of nothing better than experiencing something like this with your kids. (Aside from all the life skills, experiences and learning that they will get as well)

Answer is simple - go now - AND go later too!!

we are half way through our hols and we have kids, these are "official" hols of 5 weeks but we have been working on the road for 10 years now .....
Our kids are 4, 9, 11 and they had had the best lifes, always out in the bush, as we have actually worked we dont have accomodation problems as almost all remote jobs come with a house and mostly a 3 bedroom house, we have been on average at one job for 18 months ..
We started in Tom Price, went to Cygnet Bay pearl farm, to Cooinda in Kakadu Nat Park, Leeton in NSW, Darwin, Maningrida in Arnhem Land, Bickerton Island in the Gulf of Carpentairia, back to Darwin, Yarralin near Timber Creek, Nyirripi out on the Tanimi and at present at Doomadgee in FNQ.............
Dont know what you are expecting out of it but YES MANY freinds and family will question you, why as they dont understand it as they have not done it, the absolute MAJOR focus is on owning land and/or a house and it is simply stupid, why get in debt to a bank and be locked into work for the rest of you life, finally you can enjoy it and the one thing that makes us all happy... our children .... are all grown up and gone probally dont have much to do with you ... great, you then go and hit the road with the rest of the GRUMPY, RETIRED SENILE old f@rts that spend every hour complaining about the cost of everything, whinge about anything they see and wonder why there kids dont keep in contact, they are not happy as they have left it to late to enjoy it, filthy rich, $80,000 dollar van and $90,000 car, houses in every state getting rental returns and old, tired, sad and grumpy ...... they will never admit they should have done it when younger as they got this far by being stubborn so nuthin is ever going to change em now ..... hahahahaha
Yes i am on holidays with the kids, now hit 7000klms and 3 weeks and we have seen them all, the roads are seething with cars and vans, all swapping fuel prices and food prices and it is actually funny ..... god bless them all ..
One thing, DONT take or pick up any PETS along the way, yes kids will pester you for one but it will severly restrict where you can go, it will blow most good plans ..... and another thing, it is the best way to have a good look at what land is out there to buy and retire on after you have had fun with the kids ...
Just do it

Interesting question and whilst we are not retirees we have often thought about this question. And I’ve assumed you are talking about an extended trip. Our son is 11 years old and we have travelled at every opportunity within the bounds of the school holiday timetable.

In principle both my wife and I agree that travelling the country, and experiencing what it has to offer has some benefits in a broader life experience. But the question we have pondered over the most is that if we did take an extended trip and took him out of school, are we truly doing it for his benefit or ours.

A sound well rounded education is a prerequisite, but certainly no guarantee to a job of your choice these days. I’m not sure that distance education fills the gap, and personally I think if you are doing it for a life experience I wouldn’t focus too much on distance education.

The other piece is the impact of taking him away from his friends and peers at his age has, after all they are important in his life presently.

I’m sure there is no precise answer to this question as everyone will see it differently. And for what it is worth we’ve taken a decision not to.

But good luck in your deliberations...

Hi Travel bug
We are now just a tad under 70.
When my first was born I worked 7 days a week in Sydney and had up to three jobs at once. The main job was a milkman. No holidays for about 10 years.
Not a good setup for family life.
By the time she was 4 I had sold the run and had one job that required me re educate but gave me six weeks paid holidays each year.
We bought on old secondhand Jayco and a new 60 series and every year we would be off on the last day of work for the whole six weeks with what is now increased to three kids.
We took them out of school no matter what.
All three of them have occupations that come with high reponsibilites and they are all happy.
Right now we are dog sitting waiting for the eldest to come home from a holiday to Adelaide, lake Eyre, William Creek in their Jayco so we can get away. They have three kids and the youngest can't talk yet.
We travelled all over Australia taking our kids and we all benifeted by it.
But even just weekends away plants the seed.
Thats my story

Gday
We didn't just travel, we were transferred by the company I worked for. The kids were 6 8 10 yrs old at the time. When we came back home they were 11..13..15 yrs old.
They still talk about their time in Qld and Fiji . They still have friends they met while at school . Education wise, just fine. One department manager, one graphic designer , one civil engineer . All happy and reasonably well adjusted. Go for it and enjoy.

Hi travel bug, this is a topic close to my heart as we had lots of people tell us we were crazy selling our house and quiting our jobs when we travelled. Our girls were 3 and 5 when we left and we spent 3 yrs on the road. It was the best thing we could have done and our family is so much better for it. My daughter (now aged 10) said to me the other day after I gave her a pair of earing for her B'day, I said Diamonds are a girls best friend, her reply, camping is my best friend. She has her priorities right lol. Both our girls love life and value the small things, like going for a walk, or watching the sun set. They see life differently to most kids.
While on the road we never met a young person who said"I wish I'd waited till I was older, but we met plenty of older people say "I wish we'd done when we were younger.
The life expirience they will get on the road can never be taught anywhere else. They see stuff on tv that they have done or places they have been to. Being on the road will cement your families bond for a long time.
There are to many gunna's out there, one I'm gunna, when I retire I'm gunna, when the kids leave I'm gunna.
About a year ago I had a scare with my heart (I'm only 38) that if it turned out to be what they thought (thankfully it wasn't) I would not be here now. But lying in the hospital bed I was content and if it was my time then fine. I had lived a pretty good life and had done a lot of what I wanted to do. Imagine lying there thinking, bugger I can't die yet I haven't done my trip, I haven't enjoyed life, sure I have a good job, earn lots of money, have a big mortgage, but there is so much more I wanted to do when I retired.
Enjoy your travels and have fun. Most of the people who bagged us for doing our trip are now doing trips or now see the relationship we have with our kids and realise the value of travelling.
When your sitting on the beach somewhere or just finished walking to the tip of Australia and your friends are just getting home from work or your up north in the sunshine and it's raining back home, you'll realise how good being on the road is. Will it always be good, NO, but the bad days are far and few and they make the good days even better. Have fun

Josh

This is definitely something that some of our friends don't understand as well. Why spend all this money on a trip around Australia when we could put the same money towards our mortgage? The answer? Because travelling and spending time with our children now, rather than later, is more important to us.

We're in our late 30's / early 40's with girls 6 and 4. We have a mortgage, very well paid jobs etc, and have been saving since this time last year to take 7 months off next June to travel around Australia. The girls will miss half a year of Grade 1 and Prep respectively, which we feel (in the scheme of things) is a blip in their total education life.

Sure, we could use the money instead to pay off a substantial part of the mortgage, but then we'd have to wait until the girls were older until we went on the trip of a lifetime -- on our own and without them. What is the point of that? Sure we'd have a house but we won't have the family experience or the time spent with them.

I work to live, not live to work, so when I'm old an gray, I'd prefer to have my memories (and the knowledge that the kids have the same memories) than a paid off house.

Sass.

Hi Travel bug,
We too are a family who have been travelling for 16months and will finish our trip at Christmas. We have two sons, 13 and 10 and they have absolutely loved the trip as have we. We had lots of people tell us we were crazy but we talked to the kids and decided to go before my eldest starts highschool. We are home schooling and it's not as daunting as it seems. Distance Ed is way too much work and we didn't see it as a flexible alternative. We were pretty close already but the trip has certainly cemented us as a family. The things they have experienced and learnt from the places we have visited and varying people we have met is absolutely priceless. We don't regret it for a minute. Admittedly the boys miss the social side of school and especially their sport but they wouldn't trade the last year and a half for quids! We talk about places that my husband and I might re-visit in years to come and we get, "Can we come too" all the time. Enjoy it and go for it - you'll be amazed at how adaptable kids are and how much they will love it.
Good luck and safe travels
Michelle

We traveled for six months when the kids were 5 and 10. As it was only six months we weren't required to do a formal distance ed program. As it turns out my wife and I decided very quickly that neither of us could ever home school our kids. Too many arguments.

We still did plenty with them in terms of 'school work' but made it all part of the daily travel and fun routine as opposed to sitting down each for more formal lessons. Once we worked that out, we were all much happier campers. Like you we were concerned about the impact on school progress, but neither of them skipped a beat when they got back.

Doesn't have to be a question of whether you do it for them or yourself; the answer is you do it for both. As someone else said, the little ones view the world through entirely different eyes and this only adds to your enjoyment of the experience. Five years after we got back both our kids will still bring up things that happened on the trip and we still have lots of laughs and fun memories. Our kids might have missed six months of school, but they have seen such wonderful things and been to such amazing places that I wouldn't even question the value they got from it. As a family, it was such a treat to step away from the daily routine and TRULY spend some quality time together; warts and all. Took me about 2-3 weeks to relax and stop being Mr Weekend Camper (rush, rush, rush) and to be honest (as a working Father) spending 24/ 7 with my children was a challenge at first, then pure joy once I chilled out a bit (me, not the kids).

The latter years of High School start to be come a challenge and that time rushes up real quick. Better to have done it and accepted the risk, than to spend your life wondering what it would have been like. Money isn't easy and I was lucky that it fit with my long service leave from the Navy. But again, you can have all the money in your later years, but when the kids have skipped home and established their own lives, money wont get time with them like that again.

No regrets whatsoever.

Cheers,

Matt.

Hi Travel Bug,

I'm gonna ensure I travel with my kids. i believe you cant take it with you so why not enjoy the time you got.

Cheers Wilko

G'Day Travel bug,
Just do it!

We lived on the road for 2 years with 2 girls aged 6 & 9 & we all had a ball. We did distance education on the road & it worked out just fine.

15 years later my girls still talk about it. In fact one of them has the travel bug & she went to Africa for 1 year & returned 6 months ago. She went to some real out of the way places on her own & did not have a problem due to all the remote camping she has done with us for all her life. You will give them some great life lessons so don't let people make excuses as to why you should not go.

The only down side is that it will be in your blood always & you will keep planning for the next trip.

Our next one will be without the kids as they have left home but we reckon next time we wont come home until we are ready for a retirement home! We are preparing for it as we speak.

Cheers
Stu

Hi travel bug - Only you know your children and how you will all cope, and having made your decision, I'm sure you know they will do OK. As a child it would have been the life for me. But for some, bored unhappy children asking "are we there yet?" when there is going be home in two or three years time, it would be better to defer. It also depends on whether they feel some ownership of the travelling - involving them in planning what they want to see and do as well as what the parents want, getting them in looking outwards rather than sticking a DVD in front of their seats to keep them quiet. Education on the road while primary school age is feasible, but harder for the high school years.

Travelling with my tribe - just for a weekend visit to the Grandparents - was enough to know that they would not adapt to the life on the road, although it was never a choice we had to make.

Have a wonderful time - the experiences for them will be immeasurable.

Motherhen

I have always believed in the idea of get away as often as possible and for as long you can afford both financially and time wise,and to enjoy your time with your kids.We have travelled with our kids since they where bubs.

I always like to remind people that i still can remember my childhood family holidays but i have no idea what colour our family home or my bedroom was as a kid

Infact we/my brothers/sisters still now like to have a holiday together with our own kids annually.
Yes work and commitments can get in the way these days,but as we are now finding out your kids quickly grow up so enjoy them whilst they are young.

I am amazed at the volume of response this has generated. We are now in our mid 60s and in 1990 we travelled much of WA for 8 weeks in a Pajero & Jayco Finch -our 2 boys were aged around 15 & 13 at the time. We took 8 weeks off & did it around the September school hols, adding a few weeks to that. We all had a fab time with as much free camping as possible & we treated it as a lesson in geography, biology, environmental studies & anything esle we could think of. It didn't reduce their normal education & it added considerably to their character development & team committment. One of the most exciting aspects for them around this trip was swimming alone for nearly 30 mins with the dophins at Monkey Mia after the crowd had left & some of the dophins came back in. The next year we did 2 weeks on Fraser Is for a similar bush experience. Now over 20 years later they still talk fondly of those experiences & look forward to the time when they can take their kids on similar excursions. Yes, it is important do it while the kids are young and before boy/girl relationships get too strong for them to not want to go. Make it fun &experience that they plan with you & share in & they will thank you forever.
Camperman2.

G'day travelbug,

We didn't do much travelling with our kids and I probably wished I did. But I just want to provide another perpective, there is a general negative sentiment here about paying off a mortgage and maybe I'm from the old school but there is some upside to doing this! My main concern is when travelling can no longer be undertaken (for any number of reasons) it is nice to have a home to settle back in (or sell for that matter) for the next stage of your life.

Great thread!

Kind regards

A couple of points:

If you can’t bond as a family at home you won’t do it anywhere else either.

If you wish to travel in order to educate the children rather than as a bit of fun then go overseas and travel.

There is little difference in culture or environment between Broome and Melbourne or Perth and Cairns but there is a huge difference between (say) Paris and Bangkok or Beirut and Trondheim or Madras and Kuala Lumpur – that is where your children will learn not from seeing the same supermarket chain after 3000km of driving.

Australia is a wonderful country in which to live but… it lacks diversity.

We took our kids on the trip for 6 months and it's simply the best thing we could have done. We have a website about it linked below.

Mark.

Our website

We started travelling when our kids were 8, 7, 4 and 1. Now they are 10, 9, 6 and 3. They love it, and they learn more on the road than they ever could have in a house.

Consider that with schooling, you need to be rigorous with English and maths. Other than that, they are learning science, history and geography from all the places they see and visit. Yesterday, for example, the kids were learning how to convert knots per hour to kilometers per hour, and the definitions of different storms - gales, hurricane, tornado, cyclone etc. Why? Because the winds were so strong and they wanted to know more. They learn about the history, ecosystems, animals, environment and morphology of the area they are in - just the same as us adults do. We all naturally want to find out more about the place we are visiting as we travel. Kids are the same. They learn this without the formal education and worksheets that are required in a classroom.

The kids absolutely love this lifestyle. When we've had to stop to work (so easy to find work, and as we have qualifications we get paid better in rural areas than cities) they get really upset about staying put.

We travelled most years with the kids for up to 2 months.
Now that they have grown up & no longer trave with us the fun has gone out of it.
On our last trip we went to places we had been with the kids & it was no where near as good.
We tried to take the kids to the Lambert Centre a couple of times overe the years & each time we were stopped by floods. On our last trip we got there & it was sad to not have the kids there with us.
Travelling with the kids turns out to be a selfish experience for the wife & I.
We got so much pleasure & learnt so much because of their company.

Nope! Now they have their own cars and don't sit in the back saying "Are we there yet" and have to play "I Spy" all the way!!!!



But then again maybe it would have been nice to have the 4WD and take them with us. Unfortunately we couldn't afford it. Not even a beer in the fridge.

But NOW. As often as we can.

Phil

Hi All,

Speaking as someone without kids yet, we haved moved to WA from QLD with the inital plan to move towns whilst being transferred jobs etc. so we could see it all. Plans change and experience is a valuble thing and realising owing a company your removalist cost for a 3 yr contact in a job you hate is about to cost me $13k for breaking contract. But happiness is all that counts and we are still ahead (and we certainly didnt have the money at the time to move ourselves accross the country).

We moved accross the country just so we can afford to take 2 yrs off and do a working holiday. We were lucky enough i supose to be able to afford to buy our house in QLD when we were 21yrs old, which we still own (we are both now 25), and struggled to have any money left over for holidays or even home improvements. 3yrs later, we made the decision to move to WA to earm some good coin and pay off our house and to save for our working holiday. 18months living in Kalgoorlie we are half way to having enough to travel and we have paid half of our mortage off. So to those who say a mortage is more important - you can do both - you just have to sacrifice if you really want it. We have had to sacrifice all our family and friends and our lifestyle back in QLD, but in another 18 months-2ys time - we will (fingers crossed) be able to afford to do both, and still have a home to come back to if we so choose. If we find a better place to stay in - we can sell our house for at least 100k profit (gotta love the industrial boom in CQ at the moment!) and be able to buy again.

We plan to have kids, and our kids WILL be bush educated. Be it permanent working holiday or simply moving towns every 18 months or so with jobs, or even just every school holidays and weekend we can get.

Good on you to those who are doing it now, i envy you (as we are not quite there yet ") but will be soon).

Just ask the Leylands how they got on?im sure their kids benifeted from what their parent did and only recently seen a doco where one of the daughters and son in law travelled while daughter was preggers so to me i think the Leyland family have lots or memories to look back on.
Only with i had done the same all those years ago.

cheers

We travelled with our kids, there are many, many interesting things between destinations, yet parents these days seem to encourage their kids to watch DVDs & play video games in the car, rather than see this wonderful & variedcountry pass by.