BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi, I'm new on here and as my searches have not turned up anything I'm starting a new post wondering if there are any other parents out there who are travelling/about to travel or (like I am) looking to work and travel abroad with only their child/children and themself?

My daughter interrupted my travels and since her birth I have been plotting ways to escape and head back overseas. As she has just turned 3 and is now quite capable of carrying her own pack (lol, kidding!), it seems like the time has come for us to hit the road.

After many, many hours online it looks like teaching English is going to be the best way for us to do this, and I have started a blog An Turas - the Journey, although we've not yet left the ground!

Hi,

I'm in the same wee boat. Just PM'd you, hopefully it works!

Hello,

I'm a single parent of a 3-year-old boy. I made the unfortunate mistake of reading, back to back, Eat Pray Love and The 4 Hour Work Week, after being divorced, laid off, and starting my own business. Now I've decided to travel. I've always craved cultural immersion. Now I get to introduce my son to it.

We just returned to our "home base" for a week after trying my first domestic trip with the kidlet. Next up: Brazil, for five weeks, where we are staying with a family friend.

Sometimes I think, "Good lord! What am I DOING?!" and other times I think, "Hey, at least he is potty trained."

I'm in the US and would love to find a way to travel around the world for the coming year. My biggest hang up is affordability - I choke when I add up the cost of the hotels night after night. The reason I originally came to BnA was to learn about family hostels. I don't savor the idea of bunking next to drunk 19-year-olds.

Maybe the three of us could host each other for a few months in our own countries. Look, we've got Scotland, Australia, and the US. No need to learn a new language.

Cheerio,

Solosunday

Love Scotland - lived there for 3 years. It's hopefully going to be the 'end' of my travel journey in a few years time - plan to migrate there permanently!

Hosting is not a bad concept - I know there are a couple of websites for single parent travellers (more focussed on holiday travel rather than the live/work abroad) but I haven't come across anything on hosting.

The cost of travelling alone with a child is pretty scary. For a start you only have one income when you are trying to save/budget. Then you get hit up with the dreaded "single supplement".

I got pregnant whilst I was a 'backpacker' so have never really progressed to hotels. If I were travelling through Europe I would stay in hostels no question. They are cheaper, many are now opening up to the idea of family stays and in the UK (but not all of Europe as I discovered!) many have self-catering kitchens which cuts down on travel costs.

Scotland hostels are great. You can buy a YHA/HI membership card for around 6 quid (the cheapest in Europe, I think) and there is also an independent hostel association with some lovely hostels. IMO the Scottish YHA are going full tilt towards being 'family hostels', with family rooms, package travel deals etc.

I found hostels in the US were not as clean and/or atmospheric/interesting as those in the UK and Europe. Some were pretty scary and in my experience budget travel is better in Europe than the States. I didn't spend a lot of time in the US though so could be wrong.

Fiji is another great place for families, and many people have commented that Asia works well when you are on a budget because the currency rates are fairly favourable for ppl from Western nations.

We should keep in touch anyway - be good to have a wee single parent network and if we end up in the same parts of the world, or even have a hankering to travel to similar places, we can meet up/travel together and beat that single supplement!