DadTalk

Why?

Just to recap we (Stephen, Victoria, Eve (8), Edward (5) and Dickon (4)) are heading off on a round the world trip in November. The question “why are you going on a nine month amazing holiday?” is, to most people, a no brainer. However there have been family and friends who meet the announcement with deeply worried looks. “What about the kids’ education?” “Why for so long?” I have even been asked “is this legal?” and “Do social services know?”

Pre-Children we were always enthusiastic travellers. Never of the Cairo to Cape Town on a pogo-stick type adventure. But we have ended up in Latin America jungles, Indian deserts and Japanese snowfields (to name a few). The last eight years we have had delightful holidays at the English seaside – but now it is time to broaden our horizons again.

We have been planning this trip for years – we have a narrow window – post-nappies and pre-angst of choosing a secondary school (a common English sport). Nine months feels like a good, just about affordable length – and we come back in the summer holidays to, hopefully, get the kids back into their wonderful, old school – which we all love. Having to re-apply for their school places was almost the deal breaker – but we’ve worked out the odds and decided it’s a gamble worth taking.

We have spoken to the children’s teachers and they have been amazingly supportive. Like us they think this will be a fantastic education (more on this in later blogs). Yes Dickon is young and may not get it all – but Eve and Ned will have some amazing memories. All of them are increasingly excited about the trip.

There will undoubtedly be issues to deal with, and it may not be an everyday type of thing to do as a family, but I really do think social services have bigger issues to worry about than us!