Our review of the trip!

WE DID IT: we travelled 91,000 kms (more than twice around the world at 40,000kms !!) over 266 days/9 months, visiting 22 countries, 125 nights in 60 hotels, 110 in rental houses/apartments (plus 21/RV, 16/Boats, 8/Tents) using 54 flights, 72 boats, 25 trains, 15 hire cars and loads of buses, taxis, vans, Tuc-tucs, trams and even an elephant!

In 2009 we visited USA, Canada, Anguilla/St. Maarten, Peru, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, the Amazon, Chile, Easter Island in South America, Tahiti and Cook Islands in the South Pacific & NZ.  

In 2010 we visited Hong Kong (twice), Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Japan, China, Borneo, Malaysia, Singapore and London!

We went travelling around the world as a family for a number of reasons:

* To open our eyes to the world away from a cocooned life in London and the UK.

* To experience different cultures & people from a range of countries and histories; 

* To make new friends and see the sights of the world;

* To spend time as a family group and most importantly, have some fun doing it.

We decided to record it via Ian blogging here at www.westfamilyrtwtrip.blogspot.com; Sam (12) and Toby (10) wrote daily journals; Sheena did a diary; Megan did pictures.

We took 10,000 + photos (those are the ones we kept) and some 3000 video clips! creating eight 100 page albums! with the kids having their own one each!

The kids were home schooled for 20 weeks and had 12 weeks in total - 6 weeks each at very different schools in the South Pacific & China. 

We all made some great world friends and contacts for the future. We all learnt a lot about the different countries. We had some amazing times & saw some awesome sights. It was a really great fun experience all round and one that we would all highly recommend to anyone brave or mad enough to consider it!!

Here is our rough overview itinerary and the blogs of each area are below on this blog - feel free to go to one relevant to you if you are interested.

USA - 8 weeks

Canada - 3 weeks

Anguilla - 1 week

South America - 4 weeks

Tahiti - 1 week

Cook Islands - 6 weeks

NZ - 4 weeks

South Asia - 4 weeks

Japan - 2 weeks

China - 8 weeks

One of the most influential pieces on the internet we read whilst planning our trip was the blog of a young, similarly aged, family from Toronto who travelled for a year round the world. It was incredibly helpful in working out what we did and did not want to do - so hopefully our blog may help someone else decided whether to go for it or not! And if yes, where the appropriate places may be for them.

We had a window of opportunity - We had one year until our eldest sons education gets more serious when he is 13; Our youngest daughter we felt needed to be 3 and a half or more to enjoy it and help us enjoy it (good decision!); We decided to build a basement under our garden so would need to rent for a year anyway; It seemed like not a bad time to leave the UK! We wanted to ensure the children and the adults benefited from seeing the world. The rest we made up - we thought 9 months was about right! We picked the places as a family that we wanted to go - It turns out you cannot see the world in 9 months so you really need to be tough about picking the places and allocate enough time to spend at each place. After 6 months of planning and alot of help from the travel experts at Amex, we were ready to go on a round-the-world ticket. 

We would all highly recommend it - although some of us felt homesick at times we felt 9 months was about right. A year would have been too long for us but 6 months would have been too short as well. Each of our views and advice is below - the rest is in the blogs and pictures attached - if you are off - good luck!

Dad/Ian - Even though we spent 6 months planning most details it was alot harder organisationally to take a family of 5 around the world than I thought it would be! We got really lucky on the places we picked as being perfect places for good experiences! The kids going to other schools and experiencing local life really made the trip real. But overall a truly once in a lifetime experience for a Dad and husband!!

Mum/Sheena - You need to be prepared to live out of a suitcase for weeks on end - pack and repack bags for different airline luggage policies. It has opened my eyes to the world and the children are different people - hopefully for the better !! I can't believe we have actually done it.... 

Son/Sam (12) - It is a great experience but you need to be prepared to give up normal life - your mates etc.... I enjoyed going to school in different countries and meeting people from all over the world. I would recommend it to any 12 year old.

Son/Toby (10) - 9 months is about the right time - 6 is also not a bad length. A good experience to see how different people live, where they live and what they eat. I learnt alot and will miss the friends I made. But pick your places as you can't see the whole world in 9 months!

Daughter/Megan (4) - I have travelled for a quarter of my life - I never wanted to leave anywhere we went - I loved being with my family and meeting lots of friends. I am looking forward to going home.

It was the best thing we could have done - I hope if you do it you will enjoy and get as much out of it as we have.