Following is an article I ran across that I wrote for a local arts and culture magazine:

If you had told me five years ago that my husband and I would travel around the world with a 3 and a 5 year old in tow, I would have said that was nuts. Well, as circumstances have dictated, the time for doing something adventurous, a ‘trip of a lifetime’, happened. We found ourselves in China, and decided to go ‘around the world’ to get home, instead of merely back over the Pacific Ocean. A trip of this magnitude requires a lot of planning, although worldwide internet connectivity makes this task much easier. While we were staying in China we were fortunate to meet people from many countries.

So our itinerary was somewhat of a connect-the-dot visitation tour.

Our stops ended up as follows: China, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, France, England, and back to Canada. Due to the logistics of pre-organizing our flights to visit with 13 sets of people we decided to buy flights and train tickets as we went instead of round-the-world (RTW) tickets . We tried to be about a month ahead of ourselves in the travel booking to take advantage of cheaper deals. Since our trip necessitated myself booking 26 airplane and 30 train tickets, I was happy to say that only once were we greeted with the phrase, “But, Madame, this ticket is for tomorrow night.” Luckily that situation ended up well.

We did not meet many other families travellling with young children. We did have glimpses into the universality of play; watching our kids play for hours with the local children who did not speak English. These were brief encounters scattered across the globe. I wonder how my children have absorbed and interpreted all that they saw. I would hope that they can learn gratitude for what they have, after seeing children begging on the streets of Kathmandu. Also that they can learn generosity; from the poor street sellers who gave our girls necklaces and asked for nothing in return. I know they have learned about diversity, especially of food. Yes, we had the girls turn down food in 15 different countries. Happily, most countries have some sort of variation of roast chicken so our children did not wholly subsist on bread and fruit. Also, it was invaluable to learn how to say, “Not spicy!” in a few languages.

Our kids seem to like new experiences. Every hotel bed was instantly tested for it’s ‘bounceability’ by the girls and going on trains of all shapes, sizes and colours was always fun for them. Most large cities in the world have large, efficient subway networks. Escalators and more trains equals good times for a pair of little ones. However, travel on said networks at rush hour with kids and suitcases in tow is definitely not recommended but sometimes unavoidable. In this situation it was heartwarming to see that most people gave up a seat for our children, no matter where we were. Also, these days many airports and customs areas are understanding of families with young children, by letting them take a shorter line.

One of our strategies to maintain peace in the family was to alternate parent/child activities if possible, daily. So, a day in the museum was offset with a trip to the playground the next day. We found that almost every major city in the world offers some sort of Aquarium. These can be a good destination, as are science/technology museums, which have kids hands-on areas like Vancouver’s Science World. We also visited quite a few ‘indoor playgrounds’ around the globe. We visited them to avoid opposite heat extremes; -10° C in Berlin and 34° C in Kuala Lumpur, either way it is a good opportunity to let kids run wild. In Berlin the place we visited was gigantic, and adults happily sat in the cafe snacking on sausages and schnitzel while drinking local brews. This is a custom I could get used to.

On a tour of such proportion, with so many cities visited; open-air double-decker tour buses and canal boats were a fun way for the whole family to see some cities. Bangkok, Thailand offers very interesting canal boat buses. One has to be quick as they zoom on and off of each dock at about 30 seconds a stop. There are so many options for transportation everywhere you go. The kids loved the open air feel of Thai tuktuks and rickshaw bikes in Kathmandu. We were not limited to travel on multi-wheeled vehicles. We took a ride on an elephant, an experience not to be missed. The girls and I were fortunate (?) enough to have a teenage elephant, who had a propensity for leaning far into the forest for a bite to eat then running to catch up with the others. Being on a running elephant is a hair raising experience and definitely on my list of weird events in my lifetime.

Back in my regular life I do not encounter elephants or lizards or monkeys; some of the animals I had become accustomed to seeing frequently. Life here is much safer. The cars on the road respect the lane markings and only drive maximum two abreast. Our children have embraced being back at school / daycare and being able to see their friends again. I just found out today that my 4 year old daughter has been retelling stories of our travels to the teachers at her daycare. I wonder what she tells? What are the stories in her mind from this experience?

We can only hope that the memories of this trip remain strong for our children and that they will continue to carry the spirit of adventure with them that they showed throughout our travels. And, yes, it is possible to travel around the world with small children, I wouldn’t have done it any other way.