“Seeing the world through the eyes of your children is magical,” says Rachel, a 43-year-old child-minder from Bristol. “I know it’s a cliché, seeing a tiger in the wild in India was incredible but

their reactions will stay with me always.” Rachel and her husband, Chris’s daughters were aged just four and seven when they decided to take them on the trip of a lifetime, “It was the right time for us. The girls were out of nappies, cots and mashed food but not yet into makeup, boys and important SATs. Sadie was three-years-old and due to start reception in September; it made more sense to take the trip then rather than in a couple of years when she could miss something important at school. Fin was more of a problem as she was seven-years-old and would be missing year three. They were growing up fast and we wanted some time away to develop a greater relationship as a family.” Rachel was apprehensive about what the children would miss at school but the teachers were extremely supportive and provided topics and workbooks for the children to follow. As the children were still young Rachel and Chris should be able to cover literacy and numeracy for a year. After much discussion Rachel felt confident the children would learn a lot from the experience alone. The family’s round the world ticket took them through India, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, The Cook Islands ending in the USA before jetting back to the UK exactly 12 months and one day later. “Chris and I took a two year working holiday in 1995 after university so we had seen a lot of the world before and had a pretty good idea of where we wanted to visit. We sat down with an atlas and lots of

guidebooks beforehand to plan where we wanted

to go and what we wanted to see. The girls were keen to see Steve

Irwin’s Australian zoo and the bubbling mud in New Zealand but as they were still young they were happy for us to make the decisions.” Having booked their tickets, re-arranged their finances and prepared for their jabs, Chris and Rachel bravely quit their jobs. Colleague’s reactions varied from, “are you mad?” to “how wonderful, I wish I could do that.” Chris took voluntary redundancy, which helped with the financial aspect and Rachel quit her job as a child-minder. As many of the children she looked after would be starting full-time at school from September she felt she wasn’t letting anyone down by leaving. “To fund our trip we saved a lot before hand and whilst travelling we lived off a small daily budget of around £70, for hostels, food and travelling. We spent around seven months in Asia, staying in some of the cheapest countries in the world. Staying for longer in places gave us more of a taste of living abroad rather than racing through as many countries as possible.” On the day of departure, September 26th 2007 Rachel awoke at 5am thinking

what a crazy idea their trip was, surely they couldn’t take their kids around the world. But the trip went ahead and despite challenging surroundings and at times being miles from civilisation the family loved it. “The wildlife was amazing for the children but the car journeys were long

and dull. We made sure birthdays were once-in-a-lifetime days; they were spent washing elephants in India, deep sea diving in Thailand and riding horses in Australia. We also upgraded accommodation on those extra special days; our 10th wedding anniversary was spent in a plush apartment in Perth.” The family stayed in a lot of underprivileged environments, helping them realise just how lucky they are as well as helping educate the children. “We stayed in deprived locations almost all of the time, in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and parts of Thailand and Malaysia. But the children took it in their stride and spent every night as if in their own bed, we tried not to fret about how we would travel the five hours or more to civilisation should the worst happen. “We had a few minor hiccups but no major problems. Once in Laos one of the girls was persistently vomiting and the nearest hospital was back in Bangkok. When your children are tired, sick and unsure of their surroundings you question your judgement, was bringing them around the world a good idea after all? But those thoughts never lasted long; we did a lot of research regarding places before we left so we were as educated as we could be on the environments we visited.” Taking the children out of school meant educating them on-the-go; Rachel and Chris took workbooks and a laptop to ensure they did not fall behind, but they learnt a lot from the journey alone, without the books. “One great tip we received was to keep a postcard diary, the kids would write the day’s activities on a postcard and put it in a photo album as both literacy practice and a memento. They did maths workbooks that we took with us, read museum guidebooks, did art on the beach and learnt all about diverse religions. They may have missed the lessons on the Tudors but they learnt all about the Khmer Rouge. “It has been fascinating watching

“They may have missed the lessons about The Tudors but they learnt all about

the Khmer Rouge.”

Gap years are typically associated with teenagers

exploring the world before heading off to university, but for Rachel Edmeads it was family adventure that

took her family on a voyage of exploration and self-

discovery.

On

e fam

ily, twelve months, twelve countries

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Visit http://fourgortw.co.uk/ to find out more about the

Edmeads’ adventures.

the girls integrate seamlessly using their networking skills honed by meeting and communicating with people of all age groups and cultures all over the world. One thing that surprised us was how much we enjoyed being with our children, especially Chris. He now feels a lot closer to them having spent so much time together compared to the few hours a week he would see them for before the trip.” Rachel believes it’s tough to say how different the children would be had they not travelled around the world but she says: “Now aged nine and 12 they are certainly accepting of almost any situation. Their wisdom and confidence has increased hugely, they are empathetic and trust our judgement completely. As they have travelled a lot in their short lives they now pick up languages very easily and are enthusiastic to learn about other cultures and talk to children from all over the world.” Rachel admits they would do it again tomorrow if they could, “it’s very empowering and the self-confidence gained from planning and successfully executing such a trip is huge.” Upon returning to the UK the family settled in well, they managed to find jobs and the girls made friends easily at their new school. But they only stayed in the UK for 15 months before packing up to leave again. “We now live in Costa Blanca in Spain. The children are bilingual and attend a Spanish school whilst my husband and I run our own business. We always have exciting plans for the future and have learnt both very much enjoy a challenge. Who knows what will happen next?

Out exploring in New Zealand.On a boa

t trip in

Australia Helping out at an orphanage in Singapore.

Visiting schools in Laos

Riding elephants in T

hailand