Fried crickets and other adventures

The start of this term has been the end of an era for my family.  Like everyone else as school approached, we were  busy getting haircuts, visiting dentists and searching for PE kits.  But unlike everyone else, we’d spent the last year on an amazing adventure that’s taken us up mountains, through jungles, down rivers and around the world.

Last year my children didn’t go to school.  Instead we explored the wonders the world has to offer, travelling from London to Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, South East Asia and Japan.  We’ve slept in a tent on the beach in an Australian national park, on futons in the heart of Tokyo, in a rickety house on stilts in darkest Borneo, and in a French Colonial mansion in Laos.  We’ve ridden elephants, eaten crickets and swum under waterfalls.  To say it’s been incredible is an understatement.  After a month back at home it’s only just starting to sink in.

Travelling can be stressful

It wasn’t all good, of course.  Travelling with children is incredibly tiring and at times, stressful.  Thai trains and their utter lack of adherence to any sort of timetable almost caused my husband and I to irreparably fall out, add a vomiting child into the mix and an inability to find a taxi driver who spoke enough English to understand my awful Thai, and it’s a miracle we made it home in one piece.  But the worst times fade, like childbirth, and now they’re just amusing stories to tell our friends.

There's more to life than times tables

We attempted to school the children ourselves as we travelled.  I say attempted, because it didn’t really go to plan.  Eve, aged nine, understood the benefits of not falling behind on literacy and maths and would sit down to her work without too much fuss.  Her younger brothers however, who are now aged five and six, were incredibly reluctant to do any school work and we gave up trying to persuade them.  Instead they learnt about dyeing silk in Laos, preventing hypothermia in New Zealand, playing the ukulele in Hawaii, fending off a crocodile attack, in theory, in Australia and how to make spring rolls in Vietnam.  Not times tables, but all useful life skills, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Despite the mosquito bites and the endless travel sickness, it was a wonderful year.  It’s a rare privilege to be able to spend so much time with your children.  We’ve had time to talk about anything and everything, we’ve read books aloud, we’ve taught them to swim in warm, tropical seas, we’ve marveled at endangered wildlife and poked things with sticks, we’ve cooked on camp fires and been lulled to sleep by bubbling mud.  I think they enjoyed it.  I know I did.

Photo credit: Victoria Wallop

Read all about Victorias travels on Ready for Ten:

Bouncing our way around the world's playgrounds

Our amazing adventure as we venture around the world

Ditching the 'to do' list as we head off around the world

Would you and yours take a swim on the wild side? 

Picture shows: Searching for ancient Aboriginal rock art in Western Australia's Pilbara region