Meandering Around the World

It is unbelievable how many blogs there are out there. There are probably thousands of people writing or have written about their own personal trips around the world. Even narrowing it down to families traveling around the world it still even feels like hundreds- big families (blogs.bootsnall.com/kiwifamily), small families (travelswithanineyearold.com), families on bikes (familyonbikes.org), families with travels never ending (soultravelers3.com).

Some go 3 months, some 30 months but the majority go 11-12 months. They all have different reason, different itineraries and different tactics. I tend to focus on those going the same general areas I am with kids the same general ages.

I probably lose more time reading their stories than doing anything else in preparation for this trip, Sometimes I’m horrified to find I am still clicking over to yet another entry at 2 am knowing I have to get my own kids off to school in a scant 5 hours. I have learned valuable things – who knew Malaysia was so cool for kids? When I was there 20 years ago all I heard about was how badly they treated women and political opposition and how it’s version of Islam was so much more repressive than in any other SEA country. It rep was so bleak I just trained straight thru from Bangkok to Singapore. This time we will be spending at least a month there between Sabah, Sarawak and KL. Other things I knew but have been re-emphasized. The need to go slow, to not plan more than one activity a day, to take days off and do “nothing” even when there are six great places to go see. To just relax and enjoy the journey rather than check off “must sees”. Priorities have shifted and only other parents with kids can understand what I am looking for – finding that water park in Vietnam or knowing if the killing fields are too much for a ten year old are now waaaay more important than finding the cheapest losman or secrete beer joint.

The most important thing about other peoples’ blogs however is how they have helped rope my kids into this adventure. I can say to my son “look this 9 yr old boy just loved this country/ride/mountain” and presto, he has something to look forward to (so far, zorbing tops the list). When we talk about the various countries we plan to visit, my girls now ask to see photos from other family’s who have already been there. So, for that I am grateful. And that really is the only reason I am even interested in if other people see this blog. I am of the (last) generation to think private thoughts should be left private, that a diary is actually only for oneself. I don’t even pretend to know how one makes money from blogs. At this point I haven’t even mentioned to friends and family that I am already writing something they can follow although I assume I will once we leave. If someone somewhere is researching (yet another) RTW trip with kids, this might help. But otherwise, it’s just for me :).

OK, we’ve dropped Russia. Our friends who were going to take the trans Siberian Express with us couldn’t make the trip and we quickly figured out that skipping that section would give us four more weeks in South East Asia. Ironically, one of the reasons it was so easy to pass on that train idea was how perfect it was – July/August is the ideal time to make the trip and one or two months is plenty of time to get on and off the train at various stops so it fits neatly into any future summer vacation.

We initially wanted to drop China as well but my brother will be in Chengdu then so we decided to keep it in. So now, our first stop is Beijing, train to Xian, train to Tibet, fly to Chengdu then maybe overland to Hong Kong or fly, haven’t decided yet. It also turns out this means we will be in TIbet during some of its most important festivals. I think the kids will way prefer seeing Tibetan horse races and archery competitions then just monastery after monastery!

Actually the kids have suddenly gotten a bit more excited about the trip. I think adding Borneo was the turning point – for some reason they believe me when I say we won’t be traipsing thru cathedrals or museums there, that it will in fact be mostly meeting orangutans and proboscis monkeys and maybe some swimming on beaches. Up till now they have been assuming this was all some perfidious ruse to get them to see more (!) historical houses and learn more (!) ancient history. They have done a bit more research (ok, had a few websites pointed out to them) and found out about water parks in Vietnam, zoos in Singapore, zorbing in Thailand, white water rafting in Nepal and are starting to even get a bit eager about some of those activities. We have agreed to find (at least) one completely child friendly and “un-educational” activity in each country. Miriam and Leontine even suggested we take cooking classes in each different country and learn at least one local recipe that we can do at home so that by the end of the trip we have our very own cookbook (and heaven knows we wouldn’t be learning anything by that). So I think they are beginning to see we are open and eager to their ideas. David Evan has been fabulous with his suggestions of exactly what Santa can bring us all for Xmas next year (lots of itouch apps) and asked for his own “sardine can survival” kit for his birthday. They seem to have absorbed the idea that this is really going to happen although their commitment to it wanes as they age. Miriam and Leontine are the most gungho. Tonight while they were taking a bath we started talking about how they could be learning their multiplication tables next year while in a volcanic hot spring somewhere and we decided to call it “bath math”. They got so excited they insisted I buy a little gizmo they use at school to practice their math skills so we will be able to use it on the road (http://flashmaster.com/).

David Evan still has regrets about leaving his friends and moving to PA but since even if we stayed in NY he would be changing schools (assuming he got into Hunter) he has become more resigned. The blog http://travelswithanineyearold.com/ has been a huge help. He sees photos of this boy about his own age climbing the ruins at Angor Wat or getting sunburned in Australia and it all seems a bit more doable to him. so thanks Theodora!

Ming, my oldest, is the one most removed from the planning since she has been spending most of her time getting college applications written. She will also be dipping in and out so she has to concentrate on figuring out where and what she will do on her own as well as finding some way of funding some of her own travels. I have a feeling she will decide to join us based on how much she likes the food in whatever country we happen to be in!

January first, a new year, only 7 months till we have to leave. Yikes! OK, maybe we should try something different, set out a list of all the things that need to be done in the order they need to ... [Continue reading this entry]