With 2020 fast approaching you may be already thinking about your next big trip with the kids. Do you normally play it safe though with a fully inclusive package for fear that travel and children can be a bit of minefield? Well two.point.four’s Richard Liddle proved that you can still adventure with the little ones in tow.

After setting up and managing a successful outdoor adventure company in Oman, Richard Liddle took a round-the-world adventure to 18 countries, across five continents with his wife and then two-year-old son, subsequently going on to create the family travel company two.point.four. Richard was inspired after watching his son developing and learning every day from the new experiences a different country or culture presented him. From there, Richard knew he wanted to set about creating two point four in order to show families that adventure does not stop when you have a child and hence his brainchild two.point.four was born. Here he documents his experience of that life changing trip and also provides advice on tips for any other budding family adventurers. 

By definition, embarking on an adventure dictates that you have to do something unusual, exciting or daring and when it comes to travel, there is no shortage of experiences and destinations that fit this bill. But what do you and your family deem to be an adventure?

This is obviously a very personal matter and no two families are the same; indeed no two people in one family will be the same. My wife has jumped the world’s highest bungee jump, jumped out of planes and off the side of buildings whilst I watched from afar. Put her in the Bugs Café in Cambodia though and she struggled to go beyond a green salad while my toddler and I savoured a 5-course tasting menu of crickets, scorpions and other delicacies. 

Travel in any form can be adventurous and quite often the adventure lies in the process rather than the end result. When I was a university student, I backpacked through mainland China with wife and long-term travel partner. This summer long adventure did not contain any adrenalin inducing activities yet it still remains one of my biggest challenges. Why? Because I was completely out of my comfort zone. I had limited funds and hadn’t researched the destination. I had very little ability to communicate with locals and couldn’t read a single road sign never mind sticking out like a sore thumb due to my height and complexion.

Fast forward a few (ahem!) years and I was reflecting on my latest adventure…a year around the world with the same travel partner as before and one other addition…our 2-year-old son. With 18 countries ticked off the list, this made my summer in China feel like a walk in the park.

Travel should not be about the destination but the feeling it gives you when you are there. 

But why tell you this? Well the point is that one person’s adventure can be another person’s relaxation and just because a destination or experience markets itself as adventurous, it doesn’t mean that everyone will agree. When I travel with my family, we ensure that each person gets to do the activities and the experiences that they will find adventurous and challenging, toddler and all. When we decided to leave our jobs and the adventure travel company I have founded, to set off on a round the world adventure of our own, we made sure that it would be an all-inclusive adventure. Our son, even though he was only 2, would experience the excitement and thrill of adventure that we would but obviously we need we would have to tailor this to him. Our trip was a mix of adrenalin inducing experiences like zip lining, kayaking and scuba diving as well as nature walks, bike rides and cultural experiences. We dressed up in local costumes, we danced to local music and we ate local food. We made sure that everywhere we went, our son interacted with local people and even at such a young age he was encouraged to speak words in the local language and respect the local customs and behaviours. But before you think I am claiming otherwise, this was far from the ‘instagram’ life. We had tantrums, mum and dad included, meals that weren’t touched, days where we did nothing but sit on the beach and allow ourselves to be buried in the sand and nights of Spanish cartoons on repeat. Each and every one of these was an adventure on its own and whilst they tested our patience and made us question while we were putting ourselves through this, it was short lived and the positive experiences far outweighed the more challenging of times. 

Our ideas of routine and structure were tested and we learnt to read the signs of when the line was being pushed too far so that we could introduce an element of familiarity that would bring us back from the edge of an emotional breakdown. But will our son remember this adventure? Who knows and to be honest, who cares? We are able to see how even a year after the trip ended, he handles lapses in routine and unfamiliar situations much better than most. He still talks about some of the things from the trip that we have long since forgotten and we have a weekly get together where we go through photos and videos and talk about all the different countries we visited. He tells us where he would like to go back and we look at his map to see where else we can go. This mostly depends on what book he has been reading and so trying to explain that space travel is possible but not yet feasible can be challenging. 

Throughout this whole experience we learnt that every destination can have its own adventure and series of challenges. There were some that worked better for us through a more family friendly attitude or an infrastructure in place to help us cope. But there is nowhere that I have been that could be classified as family unfriendly. Here are my choice of destinations, which feature heavily in our family friendly travel itineraries at two point four. There are many more that we will be launching in the coming months. 

1. South Africa

With the popularity of The Lion King, Lion King 2 and The Jungle Book on repeat, seeing wild animals in their own habitat is something any child would relish. Bringing story books to life with the smell and the sounds whilst an elephant drinks from the local watering hole is going to fuel imaginations for years to come. Our South African itinerary include 2 nights at the Marks Camp, Lalibela Reserve does exactly this. Children as young as 2 get to take part in their very own ranger program and explore the reserve in specially adapted vehicles for little ones. 

2. Costa Rica

Costa Rica ranks highly for us. Their peace-loving passivism and efforts in sustainability as well as their focus on family and community makes it a firm favourite. This destination has it all, from towering volcanoes & bubbling hot springs to cliff jumping and river rafting whilst the youngest travellers enjoy tortilla making classes, local dance sessions and river tubing. After all this you need somewhere to rest and with the Poas Volcano lodge you get to do exactly that. Family friendly accommodation located on a farm with views of the volcano will delight parents and children alike. 

3. Bali

This was the first stop on our adventure and nearly the last as I would have been happy to stay there for much much longer. Get ready to swing from the treetops, roll in the mud pits, O.D on chocolate and dive for deep-sea treasure. For somewhere to stay with the family, Blue Moon Villas in Amed is the ideal choice. Their charming local staff, unbelievable beach side location and well-equipped family rooms make it easy to see why this is the quintessential choice of accommodation.

About two point four: 

two.point.four is a new family travel operator catering to families with kids of all ages. It is the only family travel operator to specifically focus on catering to parents with children from two to five years old. The team at two point four believes that classrooms go beyond four walls and adventure and experiential travel does not have to stop when you have young children. The company curates inspirational itineraries for small groups worldwide, with local knowledgeable guides taking families off the typical tourist trail.