Traveling with children: questions and answers about a world trip or long-distance trip

Traveling with children

What are the advantages of a long trip or world trip with children?
What are the challenges and points to consider when taking a long trip or world trip with children?
What are some fun, faraway, or unique destinations for traveling with children?

What are the advantages of a long trip or world trip with children?

Traveling with your family and children for an extended period of time can be a great way to strengthen family bonds, but it can also serve as a beautiful and memorable closing moment when your child(ren) leave home after the trip to study or move in with a partner, for example.
Your children will experience things they would never have experienced at home. They will see “biology” in real life (visit a wildlife reserve), “history” will come to life when walking through a real pyramid, ‘gymnastics’ will suddenly become fun when learning to canoe or surf, and the lessons in “social studies” where you learn about respect for other cultures and traditions can be put into practice. Your children will become global citizens.
Especially with relatively young children, the impact on your child is not huge; as long as mom and dad are around, it's okay (the lasting memories of the trip will also be a little smaller if your children are still really young).
While traveling, children develop skills that they would not have developed at home, or at least not as quickly. Think of language skills, of course, but also (refining) swimming techniques, the ability to empathize with others, independence, or learning to work together.
Safety: as a traveling family, you are vulnerable on the one hand (but realize that there are also potential dangers everywhere at home), and on the other hand, traveling with children opens extra doors; people are more helpful, warn you earlier about possible dangers, etc. When planning your route, take political stability and health risks into account even more than usual.
It is precisely by traveling with children and adapting your travel pace to them that you often experience a trip more intensely; contacts with the local population are made more quickly.

What are the challenges and points to consider when taking a long trip or world trip with children?

Involve your children in the decision to take a long trip or world trip with the family at an early stage; let them contribute ideas and give them tasks.
Depending on the age of your children, they may have difficulty understanding the concept of a “long” trip, with the frame of reference being an average vacation of one to three weeks; keep this in mind.
Spending a long time together while traveling can not only strengthen bonds but also lead to extra confrontations; sometimes you may even start to long for the relatively busy and sometimes hectic family life “at home,” where your children spent a large part of the week at school and you as parents could do other things.
Children's travel pace is often different from that of adults; take this into account when planning your route and build in sufficient rest stops.
Health: take extra precautions regarding vaccinations, malaria, and first aid.
One of the most important considerations (and administrative matters!) when traveling abroad with children for an extended period of time is education; in the case of a long trip, this generally means distance learning, where your child takes digital lessons supplemented by lessons from their own parents.
Pay sufficient attention to those staying at home (and saying goodbye to them); not everyone will be immediately enthusiastic about your plans to travel with 'their grandchildren' for an extended period of time.
Homesickness can also be a serious issue when traveling with children for a long time. Depending on their age, they may miss their friends, grandparents, or favorite uncle or aunt very much. Make sure they have sufficient means of contact with those at home and take a positive approach: for example, let them blog or vlog periodically with those at home and encourage responses from them.