Traveling the World (Blog)

[yasi_joy]

i@steve

if you dont take the kids ,you n specially erin will worry about them all the time so you will not enjoy your trip truely

if you take them its obviously going to be hard because you wouldnt like them to take to them to yourworkshops and everywhere you go

what about travelling with a nanny?!!,,,its kind of funny but it is the best way to relax

[stigma]

Hello steve, I'm Lebanese currently living in France and an avid reader of your blog. If you're interested in visiting Lebanon (not the one you see in the news) I'll be more than glad to receive you and show you around. Although we'd have to agree on the schedule since I'm working abroad now
You'll perhaps be interested to see a tiny country with a population of very different disparate religions... and where the food is great! (with lots of it is vegetarian compatible). Keep that in mind :P

[wilsonng]

This is commendable! although we value education, we also make it a point to bring the kids around.

As the old chinese saying goes ( though a thousand miles is not that much nowadays) -- to travel a thousand miles is as good as reading a hundred books.

[danas]

Please see the world! it is so important, so enriching. You will discover so much. Take the children. they will change. make it at least 1 month. America is not the center of the world, I grew up there and I thought it was. Now this idea makes me laugh. I dont have kids yet but many of my friends do, and they travel alot. their kids have gained so much. 4, 5 ,6 year olds too.

[Khristine]

Bring a Nanny with you on the trip.
What a wonderful way to allow the children to experience different cultures. This would give you both time to be alone and spend time with the kids. The best of 2 worlds. You would also be showing the kids that they can do anything they put their minds to - anywhere they want to.

[Acting Like Godot]

I have travelled many times, with and without my kids.

And I would say this - travelling with young kids can be a very difficult experience.

Especially if the parents themselves (like Steve) are inexperienced travellers and the country being visited just happens to be challenging for any variety of reasons - eg

hygienic food isn't easily available;
the water isn't potable;
all maps & street signs are in a foreign language;
the weather is not what you are used to (eg 50 degrees celsius);
public transport isn't easy;
streets aren't safe at night.

There are some kinds of countries that I would not bring my kids to, until they are much older.

I brought my three-year-old (when he was three years old) to Tokyo. Someone warned me, "If you take the train at rush hour, get the kid out of the pram, hug him tight and don't let go." I didn't really understand why, until I got there ... but I am glad I remembered then, and did as advised. The movement of the rush hour crowd around the public train is such that if you get separated from your kid for three seconds, you've pretty much lost him for good. Either that, or he'd be stampeded to death.

I exaggerate of course, but only slightly.

Some countries and some places are more child-friendly than others. For first-time travellers with young kids, I really recommend that you stick to those kinds of places.

Personally I have travelled to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, China, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Japan ... next year, it will be probably be South Korea and Taiwan as well.

[ElizaBetha]

Dear Steve,

You've had many posts on this, but I can't resist adding my few perspectives.

I am Canadian, live in Kenya, and had two kids here. They are now 5 and 3. Both my daughters lived for one year in Kabul (2004 / 2005). They are both on their second passports (first were filled). I have had to travel alone with my first daughter and then both - full on across the globe trips. They have travelling in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Pakistan, Thailand, Afghanistan, Canada, the US and Europe. And I mean travelled.

A few things you should know about the rest of the world and travelling:

You will want your kids with you in developing countries. They make us all equal, and often, are the only way to open doors to real life in poor countries. People will LOVE them.

But it is hard sometimes. You will have to be prepared.

In Kenya, when we stay at a lodge, you just ask the staff to sit outside your room while you go out for dinner (nearby) and it will cost you all of $3. Same for day babysitting. But I think you will find everyone else in the world takes their kids everywhere, at every time of day and night. So you may end up doing the same. We just keep the kids with us, and all go to bed at the same time.

My eldest daughter sounds very like your son - very sensitive, and headstrong. But if anything, travelling for us wasn't always a holiday, it was sometimes for work or to move around a new country. So we just didn't make a fuss. But I won't pretend to understand your son - he may make travelling more difficult for a couple of years.

My suggestion is that you rethink what travelling is for your family. Keep the adult nightlife to the US (it is really only in the western world that night life is just for adults anyway) and take your family to see real life, which is often during the daytime anyway.

I echo others who encourage you to get out of the US for a while. I love your site, and get a lot of inspiration from your postings. But that million dollar intention - it is hard to stomach when you live in a city (Nairobi) where over 1 million people are living in slums, barely able to buy food, selling sex for 50 cents, dying of AIDs, etc. I would love to see a few global positive intentions that could really change things - beyond people's bank accounts. I think if anyone could do that, it could be you and your site.

Think twice before bringing a nanny. It is like bringing a friend along with you, but one who works for you. They eat meals with you, sometimes share rooms, etc, unless you really plan ahead. So it is less a family trip that way. By the way I have also travelled before with a nanny - great with a baby, but I will no longer do it with older kids.

If you come to Kenya, let me know! GOOD LUCK and enjoy the travels!

Eliza Betha

[joanmhe]

I echo others who encourage you to get out of the US for a while. I love your site, and get a lot of inspiration from your postings. But that million dollar intention - it is hard to stomach when you live in a city (Nairobi) where over 1 million people are living in slums, barely able to buy food, selling sex for 50 cents, dying of AIDs, etc. I would love to see a few global positive intentions that could really change things - beyond people's bank accounts. I think if anyone could do that, it could be you and your site.
Eliza Betha[/QUOTE]

Right on Eliza, I have thought the same thing - Let's have an intention for world peace, and for food, and medicine for all. Also stop Global warming. I am serious. Probably should start a new thread.
Joan