To take it even further I'd suggest moving abroad for at least a year. It doesn't have to be far in terms of distance, but ideally it's reasonably far in terms of culture. For me personally this is what really broadened my horizons, much more so than traveling here or there for a few weeks. Moving sucks, and certainly moving abroad can be real hard work, but it's definitely a learning experience like few others I feel.

This. The 'working holiday' program offered by many countries is such a wonderful opportunity. It's a shame more don't take advantage of it.

The British call it a Gap Year, but it's common in many cultures (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) to live abroad and travel for an extended period of time.

Thank you, I had never heard of a working holiday before. Doing research now.

agreed, but it's a hard thing for many to do. I've been fortunate that I've had family in other parts of the world so I've been able to 'live like a local' in some places, even just for a few weeks at a time. By that I mean living with people who are carrying on regular lives - going to work, doing laundry, etc, and living in an average house/apartment (or.. sometimes above average). In essence, just the opposite of a package tour/hotel/sightseeing holiday trip. I know it's still not quite 'living' there - I'm not commuting to a job or going to school or whatnot over there, but it's different than living in a hotel just seeing tourist attractions.

Right, that it's hard is actually my point – it builds character. Even if you might be fortunate enough to not have to deal with the practicalities it's still difficult to acclimatize in a new culture, but it's an incredible learning experience. Even if you end up hating it, you'll have learned so much, and that easily offsets the bad parts I think.

For me, I lived in London for a few years. I hated most all about it. If I never live in London again it'll be too soon. But the experience – warts and all – taught me so much, that I don't think I'd ever learn "at home" so to speak. I grew as a person for it, and for that I'm ever grateful.

What did you hate so much about London?

If you don't have kids you can still do it.

Edit in response to replies: Going on vacation with kids is not the same as traveling the world and doing that with the family only works if you're upper class and have no worries about mortgage payments or job security so it's definitely not an option for most people.

We just came back from a month in India with our lovely 1.5 y/o twins. They honestly made the trip 10x better. Their awe and wonder really opened our eyes. And getting help is easy when you're around backpackers.

AOL.

Arriving in India with a six-week-old child after an overnight flight taught me something about travelling with children: Problems evaporate.

Everyone was queuing for passport control — our whole flight and several others, probably close to a thousand people queuing in a very large room. One of the minders saw me carrying the baby and waved us out of the queue at once. Would we please go over to the VIP&Diplomat queue. So we did, and another minder waved us out of the queue again. No, we should not queue with the VIPs&Diplomats, we should go straight past that queue and be processed immediately. The whole thing took about a minute.

That was how the trip started and that was how the rest was, too. 10/10 would do again.

This is not how it always goes, especially in India. You were incredibly lucky.

Incredibly lucky? Incredible means unbelievable. People consistently bent the odds in my favour, is a positive outcome unbelievable then?

If you want to play semantics then let’s say exceptionally lucky instead.

I wondered whether that's what you were doing... setting up a sneaky strawman comparison using "always" and "incredibly", which are everyday words and unremarkable because of that, but both words strong in literal meaning.

If having no problems in a place like this: http://yris.yira.org/essays/1150 is the exception, then what's the rule?

You can also do it if you do have kids.

Way too often we think about kids as limiting factor. We try to tell them what they should do, while all we need to do is to show them.

This. I'm in my 30s, and have two kids. On my 3rd trip of the year as I write this and my wife and are planning trips 4 and 5 before the year is up. First trip of next year is in the works as well.

Is it easy? Absolutely not. It's difficult and at times frustrating, but absolutely worth it.

The way I think about it is: kids are difficult at home or abroad. You might as well go on an adventure and do something interesting with them regardless.

I’m Australian, married with three young kids. Earlier this year, we flew to the US, bought an old bus, renovated it cheaply in Walmart carparks and drove across the continent twice. 20+ states over three months, including a lunch in Mexico. Slept in the bus, in motels, etc. Kids are 1, 4 and 6. It was brilliant.

Does anyone have a few ideas or pointers how one could move across the world for 6-12 months as a single parent to two children under age 6?

do you need to work or not?

3 people can live like kings in most of the western hemisphere, thailand, etc. on $20K a year, or live decently on $10K a year. you won't be moving locations often since that tends to be more expensive than just "living" but you can definitely do a stint abroad on a few thousand.

if you need to work, get a remote setup either via contract or remote company, understanding you'll probably need to work a lot less given your necessary expenses.

Even if you have kids you can still do it. Tons of people travels with their kids (including demanding travels).

Indeed. Whilst travelling I've met people quite a few people who had no idea how differently other people lived around the world until they saw it themselves. That knowledge of "other" is typically of great benefit to someone.

Don't worry. Traveling will be taboo in a few years when environmental disaster hits us all for real. It's already happening. People who keep flying will be frowned upon.

People were journeying around the world before the Wright brothers were born. Getting from Austin to Bali for a "weekend getaway" might no longer be feasible, but travelling will.

All the protests against carbon taxes and other policies that avoid CO2 make me believe otherwise. For me the weird part is that those who fight against climate change seem to always be on the winning side.