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Do you have kids?
Hi guys,
just out of curiosity: Have you guys got kids? How do you work your overland trips in with (or around) the little ones? It seems to me that people doing trips like these are either "older" with adult kids or childless people/couples. I am curious! |
None that i know of. :D
Mezo. |
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I have kids...they are still young...actually the youngest is just over two years old...that didn't stop me from going through west Africa on a motorbike for two months. Cheers |
Do you have kids?
Why do people have kids anyway? Honest question!
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got a 4 year old and inherited and now 14 year old, then 8 year old when I got married. Has curbed my travelling quite a bit.
Partly for financial reasons but also I didn't want to take the little un on trips until she was older and a bit more robust. Took the time to get my truck rebuilt! reckon she's ready now. All I have to do now is find some money!! |
My long trips were curtailed once I had children, however, I gave my wife 10 years notice that once our youngest entered Uni (at age 17 in 2008), and there were no more private school fees to pay, that I wanted to take 6 months off to ride through China and Russia. Since then, my wife and I have taken two fortnightly trips overseas each year, renting a bike in each location (our ageing cat is now the reason that my wife won't leave home for longer).
During the twenty years prior to that my travel was limited to periods of 2 weeks to a month away, with the occasional family road trip of a month at a time. I was also fortunate in that I had lots of business travel during this period, which sated my desires for further travel somewhat. |
I want to take my daughter with me....... she is 7.
Does make the prep more challenging, and limit when I can go though! But she will get to see a bit of the world I hope! |
I don't have kids and I don't have a life. I work and I save my vacations and make arrangements to go on long motorcycle trips. To me, it's the only thing worth doing. There is culture, reading, movies, but that's not "doing".
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I want some, eventually, when I've done a few round the world, like at 40 years old. It just seems more healthy to be living in a family of love then to live by myself or with just a girlfriend, but that's just me. |
Do you have kids?
I feel the same really, have quite a long list if stuff to do before I'd think about settling down and having kids, I guess finding a rewarding and fairly well paid job would be one of them (could be some time!). There's just no way I could live the way I live now with kids, but that's not to say I want to live like this my whole life. But I kinda imagined (maybe too cynically) having kids for many is because once they have a comfortable job and a house they just get bored or if not, pressured into it by their wives (judging from my friends).
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Mine are all grown now & the grandkids have started sprouting in numbers :clap: whilst mine were young, the kids came with me when we just did weekends away & trailering. They are all riders themselves now :scooter: |
I have one daughter. She could pitch her own tent by the time she was 5 years old.
We went on several long trips together - I just pulled her out of school and hit the road (you can do that in Australia). In '06 when she was 16, we spent 5 months two-up on a scooter thru the Swiss Alps, Germany, Italy etc Got her bike licence as soon as we got back to Oz. She is now obsessed with travelling - currently scuba diving in Iceland, backpacking thru Mexico then sky-diving in US. No idea where she gets it from. |
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But i must admit that not having kids makes a lot of things more easy, especialy traveling. But having kids is also a lot of fun and joy for me, you laugh a lot and you make eachother happy!!:funmeteryes: |
Yes, as I get older in definitely more open to the idea - I met an amazing and super generous family from Poland who were going to Patagonia in an RV they bought in Peru. They had 3 kids! We did the south-west circuit of Bolivia together. It was funny to open my tent in the morning at 4600m and see three blonde haired blue eyed kids spill out of an RV on to the altiplano! They were obviously having an amazing time. It was a real inspiration to have met them and it definitely changed my perspective on things.
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Our time again!
Lida and I have a 19 year old son. Before his birth, we both rode bicycles, for four years at one stretch, and attempted to continue with a child. Whilst I did end up taking up BMX riding with him, (and being the oldest rider in the state for a while), the long term tours by bicycle came to a close. I did do a Brisbane to Sydney ride over a few weeks with him, when he was about 10, but that was the end of our bicycling days. When he turned 15, Lida purchased him a second hand Motor Cross motorcycle. This in turn saw myself commence to ride again after 33 years, and Lida went on to learn to ride, get her license and has now completed some 45,000 kms. Three weeks ago we both ordered new BMW motorcycles, fully equipped to suit our future touring needs, and we await their delivery while we plan our future trips. Occasionally, we get our son away overnight on his DR650, but at his stage in life, the motor car holds more appeal for him. We have discovered airbnb and have even gone back into a tent again. The advances in camping equipment are wonderful and truth be told, I haven't minded the camping experiences again. Something I said I would never do again. The last three years has seen us cover large areas of NSW, QLD, Victoria and South Australia. So, the years with small child did really come to an end and we are enjoying motorcycling to the max! Rodhttp://rod1.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/...8966&k=kcmk9vB
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The tent again
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Convent accom.
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3 kids, 2 dogs, 1 horse, 1 rabbit (the pet type), a goldfish oh and 1 wife as well :thumbup1:
For me its all about the balance act of keeping the family happy whilst still being able to travel a bit as well. No I cant do the long trips some of you do for months at a time but I manage to get away on the bike many times a year so cant grumble really. My kids are 21, 16 and 6 and have always been involved in my hobbies and interests (this helps to persuade the wife as well) :mchappy: It also helps to have a reasonably paid job as Kids do keep your pockets empty! Ref: why do we have kids... Dont knock it until youve tried it. I wouldnt change a thing about having kids even if they are a pain in the rear at times :clap: Bones |
We find ourselves travelling more because of the kids - I've just had to drive my son down to Gatwick airport to catch a flight and my wife is currently driving from Oxford to Canterbury to collect our daughter and take her to Bournemouth - and back - today. :(
You do cross a line when they come along and whatever travelling we did before has had to be modified to take their needs in account. I have done a number of long solo trips over the years since they were born but mostly it's been stuff that we thought they could cope with or would enjoy. It is possible, especially pre school, to treat them as an add on to your lifestyle but very quickly it becomes their needs first. I have changed my plans or cancelled trips at short notice many times when childrearing issues took precedence - once with the bike packed and parked outside the front door a couple of hours before departure. That's the nature of parental responsibility - you have to do your best for them until they can fly solo. On the up side it gives me great pleasure to see that both of them have taken to travel with the same enthusiasm I had / have. A not that unusual weekend for my son would be flight from Stockholm to London, train to Oxford to play in a band for the evening, get driven (by me) to the airport next morning, fly to Copenhagen for lunch, train to Lund for an afternoon class and another train home afterwards. We are fortunate now that they're old enough (19 and 24) that we can consider ourselves again and the plans are already in hand. My wife's parents are in their 80's and still travel extensively - this summer they're heading for North Cape, so I'm hoping we have a few decades to go. |
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