I want to take a round the world trip with my children, who will be 12
and 14 at the time.  I have sevral years to plan the trip and I'm
looking for web sites, chat rooms, postings, articles, ANYTHING by or
for parents planning a journey of this type.

I think there are parents who have done this and have posted their
experiences.  Perhaps there are also travel agencies that specialize
in work like this.

Any resource specifically aimed at taking your children around the
world for expereintial education would be very helpful.  I plan 9
months for this trip

Hi r2,

This sounds like an amazing plan, one which I'm sure given enough
organization will result in a trip which you and your children will
always remember.  I really wish that my parents had decided to do this
with me 10 years ago!  There is lot of helpful information available
to people planning trips such as yours so I hope that you find the
following resources useful.


Round-the-World Travel Guide - Travelling with children
http://www.travel-library.com/rtw/html/rtwchildren.html

This site suggests links to pages which detail travelling with
children and a number of books on the subject.  It also has a link to
a newsgroup 'misc.kids.vacation' which due to a problem with my ISP I
cannot access but hopefully you will be able to.

A book suggested by the above web site that sounded particularly
relevant was:
"Adventuring with Children: An Inspirational Guide to World Travel &
the Outdoors " by Nan Jeffrey
Having read reviews by Amazon online bookstore customers, this
definitely sounds like a useful resource and would have the advantage
that you could take it with you for reference.  It can be purchased
online for $14.95 from:

Amazon Bookstore
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0962756245/qid=1026590926/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-9538616-3734553

Another book that caught my eye while researching this answer was "One
Year Off: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey with Our
Children" by David Elliot Cohen.  This chronicles their journey and
while it might not be useful from the reference point of view, it may
give extra inspiration when planning the trip.  This is available for
$10.47 from:

Amazon Bookstore
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1885211651/ref=pd_sim_books/102-9538616-3734553


Online diaries of families describing their experiences of
Round-the-World trips can be found at:

Bunnell Family Around The World
http://members.aol.com/BDCZ/index.html

Mason-Slaughter Family "Worldhop.com Journal" 
http://www.worldhop.com/

James / Calson family round the world trip
http://www.canadiancarlsons.com/users/sarahjames/index.html


The independent travel web site Bootsnall.com provides a number of
fora on various travel related topics, luckily enough there is one
dedicated specifically to Round the World trips:

Boots'n'All Round the World Travel Forum
http://boards.bootsnall.com/2/OpenTopic?q=Y&a=frm&s=712096715&f=209091657

Using a search function on this forum to look for articles containing
the word 'children' yielded these past threads:
http://boards.bootsnall.com/2/OpenTopic?q=Y&a=srch&s=712096715&f=209091657&findw=children

A list of links to travel fora is available at TravelNotes.org and
although there is not a specific forum for RTW trips, there are
discussions sorted by location so you may find some useful information
regarding a specific destination.

Travel Notes.org
http://www.travelnotes.org/General/forum.htm


UK newspaper, The Guardian, runs a column called 'Ask A Traveller' in
which readers can pose questions to be answered by an expert in that
specific field.  I managed to find an article which was about a parent
taking her children on a RTW trip at the following address:

Organizing a round the trip world trip with children 
Saturday July 29, 2000
The Guardian - Ask A Traveller
http://travel.guardian.co.uk/askatraveller/story/0,8915,427789,00.html


Additional links:


Round-The-World Travel Guide
http://www.travel-library.com/rtw/html/faq.html

Virtual Tourist
http://www.virtualtourist.com/

All About Travelling Internationally with Your Kids
http://www.travelwithyourkids.com/


As I have been researching this answer I've gradually become more and
more envious of your trip!  It definitely seems that with the
advantage of advice from others who have had similar experiences, you
are on the road to a fantastic nine months.  If you would like any
extra information or clarification please do not hesitate to ask.

Good luck in your planning,

mcfly-ga :)

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Search terms:

round world trip "with children"
"round the world" "with children"
round "world trip" children
round "world trip" forum

At thirteen (my sister was 9) my family travelled abroad for a year
and a half.  We visited 12 countries and had millions of adventures
(climbed the pyramids, went on safari with an Israeli company near the
red sea, travelled the desert on camels, watched dancing bears in
Greece, fell in love with tzatzeki, etc...)

It was a great trip, but there were definate limitations and
enhancements on it because of the four of us.  If you have any
questions or want some suggestions for places to visit, I'd be happy
to tell you about my experiences.  (I'm in college now, so I have a
little perspective on what a pain in the rear it was for my mom to
have to find potty stops roughly every half-hour for kids with tiny
bladders)
smithrc@whitman.edu
Rachel