Travels with a Nine Year Old began as the chronicle of one single parent family’s one-year journey around the world. One mother, one son, one year, one really big adventure…
Then we fell in love with Asia, realized unschool beats school hands down, slow travel is better than fast, serious adventuring takes more than a few days in between flights, and there’s a whole buncha stuff out there that is really soooo totally amazing…
End result? The nine year old is no longer nine, the year has been and gone, and we’re still living the travel lifestyle.
Which makes this site a masterclass in “How Not To Name Your Blog”. I mean, seriously, what was I thinking?
Anywise. Moving on…
We left London in January 2010, with some vague plan involving having adventures and doing some blogging, and a RTW ticket that still makes me a little bit sick in my mouth when I think about the waste. Hey-ho.
This site is about our journey. And a bunch of other stuff too.
What’s it like to dive an undersea volcano, hang out with hunter-gathering nomads or be surprised by an earthquake while using a squat toilet?
What does burning human flesh smell like? How does it feel to be force-fed endangered species, rice whisky and cigarettes in a national park?
What is the appropriate reaction when a monkey starts having sex with your ear, does vomiting off the edge of a dragon boat make the Perfume River any less perfumed, do Buddhist student monks appreciate drawings of rabbits and just how small were the tunnel-fighting Viet Cong?
These may not be the most pressing questions in life, but I’ll bet you read it here first.
More practically, how do you take a kid out of school, go on the road, and protect their academic future? That’s here, if you’re interested. Along with the odd cultural experience or ten.
And the bizarre reality of the travelling life. Does dividing fractions in a cottage in the rice fields in Bali make homework any less shouty? (Nope, but boy does it surprise the yoga lady next door!)
What about your love life, lady? (It would be easier if I had two heads.)
And, err, how do you plan your travel? (We make it up as we go along.)
The Cast
:
Z:
Intrepid traveller, hardcore gamer and borderline pyromaniac. Likes adventures, knives, drawing, ice-cream and Family Guy, not to mention xorbing, zipwiring, whitewater rafting, diving and South Park.
Oh, and computers. And burning stuff.
Z prefers motorbike to car, loathes squat toilets and wishes his mother had brought more mosquito ointment. He hopes never to eat sago again as long as he lives and is scared of very little, though not a huge fan of the dark.
30-something travelling mama. Part-time journalist, occasional bar reviewer, she studied Latin, Greek and Philosophy, equipping her to cope with, well, absolutely nothing, actually. Theodora is always polite to men with guns and generally pretty hard to scare, except when it comes to heights and, err, ladybirds. She has no sense of direction and Z thinks she shouts a lot. Theodora finds her son’s advice invaluable when it comes to buying shoes that aren’t flip flops.
Theodora:
It would be great for the kids to meet, I think! Current plan is for us to be in Australia in July, however, then heading to LatAm in August, so Z and I can learn Spanish, although we shall see…
Whereabouts in Asia are you planning to base yourself? It’s a wonderful place for children, I think. (Though, compared to the UK and northern Europe, most places in the world strike us as child-friendly!)
YAY for you!! i am looking forward to following your journey.
btw, we’d love to share your site on ours, wanderingeducators.com – email me? jessie at wanderingeducators dot com.
You’re a cool parent! I mean, travelling around the world with your child? That’s very unique. I wish my parents could take me in Europe or somewhere. *sigh.
I’d follow your blog!
Thank you so much…
Well done to both of you! You’re an inspiration to single mums in the world like myself who has recently joined the singles club. It’s been a daunting feeling to travel now with just my 11yr old daughter. I guess the trepidation will wear off once you’re enjoying the holidays!
Will follow your blog and three cheers to you!
Wow! Thank you so much… Have you been away yet? You will enjoy it, I swear…
What you are doing is great! It reminds me of how William Hearst traveled with his mother and how that shaped the rest of his life. Best of luck to you! I look forward to reading your stories!
Thank you, again.. Do pop over and check out his site if you have a minute: http://9yearold.wordpress.com
Good for you for having the spirit of adventure to make this amazing journey! I look forward to reading more and getting to know you.
I’m also traveling with a 9 year old as well as two teens as a single mom. (I’m married but my husband has stayed home so for daily life this year I”m a single mom). It’s a great experience and such an opportunity for bonding on a new level.
if only my parents had taken me travelling… I’m making up for it – and will make up for it with my kids someday…
Totally do it with your kids… I can’t recommend it highly enough. But then you knew that, anyway…
I would LOVE to do something like this. What a great exp for the two for you. We try to take our girls as many places as we can afford. I hope they are bitten by the travel bug and continue with it through their lives.
I do think you should try and do it. Sometimes life presents an opportunity, sometimes you really have to work to make it happen…
…a funny coincidence that just right today, where freshly pressed flooded your blog in to my view…I got a couchsurfing request from a family with two sons who are on their way home after travelling all around the world for a bit over a year now…
I’ve been thinking about couchsurfing. Haven’t tried it yet, but definitely keen to do so…
MummyT – I subscribed to the new comments and I ABSOLUTELY ADMIRE that you indeed answer everybody! WOW!!
I do my damnedest!…
You are truly inspirational, and i’m looking forward to reading one of the most genuinely interesting blogs i’ve come across.
Happy reading!
http://marketingtomilk.wordpress.com
Thank you, sweet lady…
I thought single mums were all living on a shoesstring and relying on welfare. How are you affording all this? And when does the kid go to school?
I don’t know why you thought that. I know plenty of working single mothers in the UK (where the government helps out with childcare costs for all working households with an income of under £58k): I had worked constantly since Z was born.
The cost of longterm round the world travel is less than the cost of rent or mortgage on a two-bedroom flat in London, where we’re from. We’re living well on $50 a day at the moment. So… sold out my share of the house. Travelling for two years, digital nomad working a little during the second year. Get a far cheaper base in Spain so we can continue to nomad, I can work (but less than I had to in London) and he can go to school and become bilingual, while being in relatively easy reach of UK family and friends.
I wrote a bit about this here: http://travelswithanineyearold.com/2010/06/10/quality-time-family-rtw-travel-single-parent-single-mum-single-mother-round-the-world-quality-tim/
As regards what we’re doing with formal education. I wrote about this here: http://travelswithanineyearold.com/2010/05/23/homeschooling_unschooling_travelling_family_rtw_education_learning/
His attainment level’s actually very high. He’s nine. So just finishing Year 4. He tests out on maths to at least the top of Year 6, can read Dickens, the Guardian and the FT, writes very well, knows a lot of science, loads of history, highly computer literate (administers his own laptop, etc, just learning to touchtype) and is talented at art. He’s learning a huge amount as we travel and the homeschooling coordinator in our borough is happy with what we’re doing.
My mother, who’s a head, will be bringing out papers for the exams kids do at the end of Y6 so we’ll have a better handle on where he’s at in terms of conventional education.
I don’t know any “conventional” mums that have thought things through so thoroughly and made such informed, long term decisions. you are teaching us not to judge based on cultural norms, which is a very difficult thing to do mind you. Would be interested to know what your mums first reactions were.
Http://marketingtomilk.Wordpress.com
Wayull… She was all up for travelling. They’d thought about doing something similar with me and my brother, but hadn’t done it. That said, they do miss him. And me, i guess, too.
Education wasn’t particularly an issue, because he’s a very able child.
She brought out a GCSE maths book last time she came out, having talked to one of her staff. Which Z coped with, but wasn’t inspired by, so we sort of dropped that as being more hassle than it’s worth. She also sent out E.H. Gombrich’s A Little History of the World, which has gone much better.
The real transformation that she appreciates educationally is how happily he will settle down and write. He’s a left-hander. Started writing very young. And because current policy is not to “teach” writing until age six or seven, he’d been making letters in his own “special” way for three-plus years by the time teachers started doing the handwriting thing. So he absolutely loathed putting pen to paper and wouldn’t finish anything. Now he’ll write on his laptop happy as Larry…
my eldest (4) is also left handed and i’ve discussed with his pre school whether i need to watch out for anything, for which i’ve got blank stares as if i’m crazy. but i’m sure it does make a difference…..
It makes a massive difference. I know the blank stare thing all too well, so I rather wussed out on the whole left-handed writing thing until his script was completely shafted. There are great resources at the Left-Handed Shop (http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/). Basics are: sit them on the left of the table with space, not a wall, by them so they don’t bang writing/drawing arms with right-handers (or bang them on the wall). Most left-handers write better with the paper held at an angle, which minimises smudge. However, unless you sit down with the teacher, they’ll get told not to do it… With things like tying shoelaces, you need to demonstrate by facing them, rather than side by side, so they can mirror. There are chunky pencils etc. which help as well.
Hi!
I just found this blog and immediately loved it! I have always been dreaming to travel the world sometime after college and making some money (which will be in seven plus years!). Your entries inspire me to really make it happen.
Happy traveling! I will be looking forward to more posts!
Anjie
Thank you very much… Don’t let career etc. get in the way of your dream…
Amazing blog! Z is absolutely witty, what an awesome experience and lucky kid.
Going to link you on our travel blog, hope you don’t mind.
Best of luck and safe travels!
The Khalerias
Heyo can I just say I praise you for living life to the max! I am off to Brazil/Argentina in Jan as part of a 6 month trip (later heading to NZ/OZ/Thailand) and I see you were in south america when Z was smaller.
My son is nearly 2 and I would just love a lil insight into how you found that part of the world…x
I admire how you and your son travel the world! What a wonderful way to learn the world for kids! We are in Taiwan so if you ever plan to visit, u know we are here!
Thank you! It’s not on our list right now, but I’ll definitely contact you if we’re passing through.
cool! Happy travels!
i’ve just read your all your journals and it reminds me with my parents, they like to travelling too. They always taking me wherever they going. That’s my best moment with my family.
But since my dad got sick, we don’t travel alot anymore. Luckily now we lived in paradise, so there’s a lot of place we still can discover together.
Cheers,
CILE
Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Cile. And I do hope your dad gets better so you can discover more.
You are both such an inspiration! I’m 24 right now. I don’t have kids yet, but I am traveling the world. I’ve been traveling for 8 months so far, and it’s been great. I am currently in the north of India. When I have kids, I definitely want to travel with them. I think this is really great what you are doing for your son. What a life he has had and will continue to have.
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Thank you! We’ve not had the best week, so it’s great to hear from you. He does love his life, which is great. And I do too… Travel with children is fantastic, honestly.
I love your blog…..you are such an inspiration and an awesome writer. We’re a Canadian family who lived in Vietnam for two years 2003-05 (I taught english) and fell in love with Asia…..6 years later, we are getting ready for a 10 month travel adventure….starting in Borneo, visiting Vietnam and then we’re open to whatever comes our way. We’ll be looking for some volunteer experiences. Your blog will be so helpful. We leave in September…..there’s 4 of us – mom, dad, 13 year old girl and an 18 year old boy who just graduated from high school…..I’ll send you our blog link when we start one….it won’t be as detailed as yours…….
Take care
Thanks, Kevi! You’re so lucky that your 18 year old and 13 year old still want to spend time as a family. You must feel very blessed. Sounds like a great adventure to be on.
Hello – fantastic to read about your travels. Trying to persuade my reluctant husband that we should do something similar but he is scared of doing this with the kids (he has backpacked before kids). My concern is financial and how much we will need to travel for 6 months – we intend to finish (and stay) in Australia and travel through Asia on the way. How much do you need on a daily basis (we have two kids)? I know its a hard one but even a guesstimate would give us some idea as we have no clue! Thank you x
OK. Australia is hideously expensive at the moment because of a strong currency, so Australia’s going to be the most expensive of your places. We have lived well in Asia, excluding Singapore, on +/- $50 a day for the two of us, though we travel overland rather than flying a lot. I’d allow $75 a day for a family of four, or $100 if you want to do a lot of fun activities (splurges like tourist flights, eg), in planning for Asia: you’ll spend less in Cambodia, Laos, most of Thailand, more in Malaysia and parts of Vietnam. Singapore is v. expensive. I can’t give you a full ballpark as we haven’t been there yet — we’re going because I have work there, more than from any compelling desire to see it — but it’s worse than Australia, which is, in turn, more expensive than Europe. I’m assuming you’re a Brit, for some reason… The $100 per day excludes the cost of getting out there. I’d check AirAsia for flights into KL — depending on the lead time, you can pick them up for a couple of hundred quid coming out of London. Please feel free to ask more questions, this is pretty brief…
Hi thanks so much for that it gives me some idea! Despite scouring the Internet I am not finding much regarding actual costs. I am actually Australian but not been back for 38 years! We plan to move out there permanently but unsure how much travelling around we will do before we put down roots. When you say £75 does that include accommodation? I am so keen to explore but husband reluctant with the kids – he has safety concerns. Our actual budget is £10,000 and he says its nowhere near enough to do very much. I think we can do something but 6 months possibly unaffordable and overly ambitious. Not intending to work our way round and unsure what call there is for a tourism lecturer and an avionics engineer to do! Kids are pretty young as well 2 and a half and 7 years (when we intend to travel next May). He has been to Malaysia, Singapore and not bothered about revisiting. Both keen to do the south east including Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. My feeling is if we are going all the way to Oz we may as well do extended stopping offs on the way. Good luck with your travels – I think its wonderful and am very envious. When I was a single Mum with my older kids (now grown and off on their own adventures) I had tickets and a job in Japan but bottled it! Take care x
That’s $75, not £75. And, yes, it does. You can get decent rooms in Laos with two big beds and Western bathrooms for under $10, as an example. £10k would do a family of four in Asia for six months, easily, especially if you go in and out of KL on AirAsia to keep your flight costs down. Your problem is going to be the Australian end of things, and I think it’s that which you need to look at, though if you’ve got family you can do it. I don’t think there’s a real safety issue in Asia for children. If they’re vaccinated, and you use anti-malarials in malarial areas (Laos, Cambodia, and the border regions in Vietnam and Thailand), I think health should be fine. If you’re on Facebook, come and join the group Families on the Move. It has a bunch of nomadic / longterm travelling families, including an Aussie family of four doing Asia on $75 per day and living like kings. I think you should do the big trip on the way — it would be a loss not to.
You are amazing. I’m a bit of a wandering traveler as well and I always have been told that having kids means staying in one place.
I want to be like you.
Aw, thank you! there are a lot of families, of all sorts of shapes and sizes, who travel with their kids — I think, partly because location independent working is increasingly a possibility, it’s less of a leftfield choice than it used to be.
I have just come across your wonderful, inspiring blog via Lonely Planet.
I am a single Mum also and have just brought tickets for our journey to South East Asia with my 5 children, oldest 17 and youngest 6. We leave Australia 31st October, first stop Bali, then Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, china and Tibet…and then who knows
I am loving your blog it has given me some great “heads up” on alot of things I need to prepare in the nexr coming months before we leave.
much love to you and your son on your journey.
Ratty
Thanks, Ratty! I love the open-ended travel plan. 5 kids? Wow! That’s brave. Though, of course, a 17 year old is basically an adult. So excited for you. Have fun!
Hi Guys,
It seemed cool when we started 
LOL
Excellent blog … Stopped by to say hi.
I know about the blog name …
mine is http://10yearitch.com
It started off as a personal blog of our 10th Anniversary trip … and now we are almost going to hit the 12th year … What do you do? Can’t change the name
Anyways … lemme get back to reading your blog.
Cheers!
Madhu
Madhu Nair recently posted..Hornbill Festival 2011 – 10 Day Trip!
Thanks for your comment — and so glad someone else feels my pain. At least, however, you’re marriage isn’t visibly becoming much older than ten, if that makes sense. There’ll be a new logo and site design coming soon which is going to make this into a positive, I swear. Ahem!
You have one of the more interesting travel blogs that I’ve seen!
Hi, I stumbled upon a photo that originally appears to have come from this site. It was a photo of the Sapa Hills in Vietnam. I would like to use part of that image in a digital artwork I have created and would like permission to use a cropped portion of that image. But I wasn’t sure whom to contact to get permission. The original blog was on LonelyPlanet and was titled “Global Time = Quality Time”. Can you advise by replying with an email?
I hope one day when I got a kid to be as good parent as you and give him an unique and enriching experience like this. You are awesome !!!
hello, i just read your blog, i’m traveling alone with my 4 year old daughter.how do you make kids try local food??? i’m finding it hard as she is missing home whenever she is not having fun.we are in cambodia at the moment heading to thailand in two days.any places to suggest on the north of thailand??i love cambodia. reluctant to leave
Chiang Mai is the obvious base in northern Thailand — it’s a lovely city, and there’s also a lot of longterm travellers there. Z’s always been quite open-minded about food, so I’m probably not the best person to ask here, but I’d start with basics like grilled chicken and rice, or sweet things, or fruit, trade-ups from things she likes already, as it were. I also belong to a Facebook group with a lot of travelling families — it’s called Families on the Move. Apply to join and I’ll recognise you and approve you. Some folk there will almost certainly have more advice than I do.
I’ve been following you for about a year now and find you so inspirational to single mothers like us. I have been contemplating doing this as well with my 10 year old daughter, but still trying to figure out if I can make it work money-wise. I guess it’s a leap of faith, but like I said…you inspire me.
Thanks for sharing your story. I truly believe this is the greatest education your son will ever have.
I’m really glad you’re thinking of making the leap. The key thing to focus on is that you need much, much less money to travel in most parts of the world than you do to maintain rent or mortgage in a typical Western city.
I would take the leap, and plan on doing a year. Then you may find opportunities present themselves.
Hi, I am looking into taking my kids overseas to provide them more opportunity in the global markets and to know there is something other than San Antonio Texas to live! I have been finding no way to get a secure job without a BA and I am just now finishing my Associates at the end of the year. I have lots of job experience and am very able to learn much quickly and looked teaching English abroad with the TEFL but looks like with kids it is slim pickings. I requested to join your group on facebook a few moments ago as well. I already home school my two boys 7 and 15 and they are up for the adventure to be sure! Any advice for my scenario from your experiences?
Sincerely,
Paige in Texas
Hi Paige,
Thanks for your message, and I’m really glad you’re considering travel. First off, I think you should definitely try to make a go of it if you have any spare cash whatsoever — push comes to shove, you can always return to Port Antonio, and you may well find the world is a bigger place than you think and there are other places you can live.
Secondly, I think you are right about TEFL. It works well for two adults with no kids — you can have a good standard of living. In your situation, it won’t cover your costs, let alone the costs of childcare while you work, which isn’t to say that you couldn’t supplement your income by informal English conversation classes if you settled somewhere for a period. As a qualified teacher, you might get a job that kept you, but then you’d still be working and you wouldn’t be homeschooling.
Things I’d look into? WWOOFing — working on organic farms, etc. Virtual assistant roles that you can do online. Other online jobs. I know someone, for example, who’s funding travel by doing medical transcription work. Your challenge is going to be, with two to homeschool, finding the time to work as well as travel.
What areas of expertise do you have? Let me know and I can see how I can help you. But I really think the important thing is to take the leap, even if it’s a one-way ticket with only $3000 in your pocket.
Theodora
I love love LOVE these kinda blogs… I’m a single mum of 2 (son 4yrs and daughter 6yrs) also from the UK, originally from Manchester.
My dream has always been to travel but it wasn’t since having my kids that that desire has gotten a million times stronger… I’ve not had much luck money/work/education front as had my kids young and was totally on my own so had to get help from benefits for a.few years… I never felt right about going to uni and leaving my kids either and im new to homeschooling… I have now started out as self employed and finally some independence from benefits! I now believe our travel goal is achievable…
I’m currently 26 and my goal is to be ready (financially) by my 30th birthday Feb 2016 (seems so far away lol) but I should be able to have raised £15k-£20k by then which I’m hoping will be enough to last us a while… I know you said to the above lady she could do it with $3k in her pocket and see how long it would last but what has been your experience cash flow? Do you think people over estimate the cost or underestimate cost of travel?
We would be trying to keep costs as low as possible, and staying is each country as long as a visa permits us to, slow travel is what we aspire for.
In your opinion do you think someone like myself with 2 children (who will be 8 and 10 if we leave in 2016) with no degree could find away to earn somewhere cash along the way? My talents are mostly artistic… I’m not a confident writer (terrible speller lol) but I can paint, make things, and do photography (but I’ve read that photography is the most competitive choice among travelers and the hardest to come by)…
All advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated as this is something I’m serious about and wanted for a long time… I had planned to he gone this year but cash was a huge problem… (only just paid my debts off)
Thank you for sharing your lovely stories, they inspire me so much… Look forward to reading more!
Peace and love Aroura x
Thanks for your comment, Aroura. Let’s see what advice I can give…
1) £15-20k will get you a LONG way if you travel slowly (we wasted a lot of cash on a RTW ticket which we barely used, including internal South America flights), in cheaper destinations, and if you’re not extravagant (I tend to splurge on food, diving, etc, etc).
I know single parent families who are travelling on c. $1000 per month (that’s a bit over £600). So once you’ve paid your initial flights to where you’re starting, you could certainly reckon on £1000 (unless something odd happens to the pound exchange rate), and look at doing 18 months on that initial capital.
2) If you’re self-employed anyway and making money at that, then you should be able to bring skills and clients with you as you travel — what exactly is it that you do?
The key thing, though — and I know how evil this sounds and how unfair it is on a global scale — is to be earning UK levels for your hour’s time while based in a cheaper country.
So: if you make something or paint something and sell on Etsy or whatever to people in the UK for UK prices, you have more money in your pocket than if you make things and sell them on a Thai beach for Thai beach prices.
You’re right that photography is a terribly difficult way to make a living. There are many, many more people trying to do it than will ever make it, there’s a high upfront expenditure on lenses and software, and it’s not compatible with looking after kids.
Landscape photographers will spend days prowling the location to get the light right and the angle right and the shot right, most blog-type photographers also spend aeons processing and post-processing shots, and I don’t think your kids will thank you for dragging them up hill after hill in search of the great shot. You also
It sounds like you’ve come a long way already, though, so I’m sure you’ll get it together to make your dream become a reality.