Asia! Vibrant, exotic, eternally welcoming, and offering some of the best value family holidays on the planet, this vast region stretches from the rainforest home of the orangutan and ancient-meets-modern far-east countries of Japan and China, to the tropical jungle and idyllic beaches of Southeast Asia. On its fringes, there are the sub-continental jewels of Sri Lanka and India and the Himalayan gem that is Nepal. Not to forget the ancient Silk Road cities in Uzbekistan.
Whether you’re travelling to this fascinating and hugely diverse region for the first time or returning after youthful back-packer days, to explore with your own children, here’s an at-a-glance guide to show you the very best that family travel in Asia has to offer.
Asia ticks a lot of boxes for gap year teens
Why are more families meeting up mid-gap year?
“There are a number of factors driving this emerging trend,” says Liddy Pleasants, Stubborn Mule founder and self-confessed gap year crasher.Perhaps key is the generational shift that has occurred between the relationship we had with our parents and that which we have with our own teens. “I think most of my friends would have been horrified by the thought of our parents joining us on our backpacking trips if we’re honest,” laughs Liddy. “This was our chance to finally escape from the clutches of adult supervision and the last thing I would have wanted is my parents turning up and crashing the party!” But a generation on, attitudes seem to have shifted. Whether our children are a little more puritanical than we were, or perhaps just more honest about what they get up to, there doesn’t seem to be the same ‘need’ to escape.”
A joyful reunion for the Pleasants family (plus travel buddy)
“Besides, it’s also a whole lot easier now to arrange a mid-travel meet-up. Back in the 90s, you would have had to rely on a dusty letter mouldering away in poste restante to arrange a meeting…chances are your parents would have turned up at the agreed meeting point only to discover you’d headed off in the opposite direction. Now, all it takes is a quick WhatsApp call and a location check on Snap Maps, and you are all up to speed.
Finally, though, perhaps the most overwhelming factor driving the gap year crash holiday is simply because we now can.”
“There was no such thing as a family adventure holiday thirty or forty years ago,” continues Liddy. “Now, it’s easy, both in terms of flights and destination infrastructure. It doesn’t matter if you’re a solo parent or if the entire family is reuniting with their travelling teen, it’s so much easier now to arrange this.”
Parents’ arrival on the gap year holiday can bring some welcome indulgence!
Win Win
The gap year holiday meet-up seems to be a win-win for both the travelling teen as well as the rest of the family.
Liddy explains, “From the travelling teen’s point of view, a family visit works as they get to enjoy far better accommodation, food and transport than they’ve been used to, and in most cases, have their parents foot the bill.”
“Also, given it’s the first time that most of our grown-up children will have travelled independently for any length of time, they welcome a bit of familial company and support to buoy their flagging spirits as much as their bank balance. That and a fresh injection of dad jokes.
From a parent’s perspective, you get to see how your kids are actually doing, without the filter of social media and snatched FaceTime calls whilst enjoying a holiday yourselves. If that also gives an opportunity to relive your own backpacking days, all the better!! It’s a win-win all round!”
If you’re inspired to do the same thing, read on to find out more from both sides of the gap year family fence.
The Parent
Liddy with her two sons
Ahead of emerging travel trends as ever, Mule-in-Chief, Liddy, joined her 19-year-old son, Sam (and friend!), partway through his seven-month adventure. Here’s her story:
Was a gap year always on the cards for your son?
When your parents run a travel company, you’ve been conducting hotel inspections since getting out of nappies and your earliest memory is being on the back of a bike somewhere in rural Burma, it stands to reason that you’re probably going to have a bit of a thirst for adventure. So it came as no surprise when our eldest announced that he was going to take off on a gap year.
What did your son get up to on his gap year?
Sam and his best friend wanted to travel together, making the most of their antipodean roots by heading first to New Zealand to earn some much-needed holiday funds. This all seemed a great idea in theory, but bidding them farewell at Heathrow in early November, it began to dawn on us that eight months was an awfully long time. When you’ve lived in each other’s pockets for 18 years, the absence is notable and we were all rather subdued returning to an emptier house, albeit a calmer and cleaner one.
By the time Christmas had come and gone, we all realised that for our family, eight months was a bit too long. My maternal instinct decided to join forces with my travel instinct, and I started to work out how perhaps we could intersect somewhere along the way. Like Goldilocks and her porridge, it needed to be not too soon, not too late, but just right.
How was the meetup?
We hit on Indonesia as the perfect place to meet up, and the date and place were agreed. We allowed for the teenage laissez-faire attitude to time by telling Sam to get a flight that arrived 24 hours before ours did. Old habits die hard. But all went swimmingly, and the reunion was just as emotional as anticipated.
We were a bit shocked at how thin he’d become (a diet of beer and a daily portion of fried noodles, unsurprisingly providing insufficient sustenance for his 6 ft 9 frame), and rapidly became a family of feeders (win-win for us all!). His brother and sister filled him in on all their gossip, and as a family, we reconnected in that natural way that you do on holiday.
Siblings reunited!
We travelled together for two weeks, taking along his friend who has almost been part of the family for years already, a dynamic that worked really well. First, some culture, taking in Borobudur, the largest Buddhist temple in the world, and the Hindu temple of Prambanan. After all, these were boys who had managed to visit Siem Reap without visiting Angkor Wat, “because it would have blown our daily budget, Mum”. From there, we headed to Bali, then took a boat ride around Komodo Island and hung out on the beach.
Was it worth it?
It was amazing how well we all got on, and how much we enjoyed each other’s company during the holiday. Sam had really matured during his travels but admitted that he had started to get quite homesick – he’s only 19 after all. After meeting up, he had more energy to continue on his travels (having gained half a stone!) and a renewed enthusiasm for the journey, knowing it was just another month before returning home.
From our side, it was so rewarding seeing him thrive, and although his little brother was bereft at having to say goodbye (again) so soon, it was the mid-gap meet up that we needed. We’d missed him. Not enough to allow him to charge a room service steak to his hotel room, but close!
The Travelling Teen
Amber and her parents
Still on her gap year travels but having recently waved goodbye to her family, who joined her in Cambodia, we caught up with Amber Cavanagh, 19 years old, to ask for her side of the Gap Year Crash. Here’s her feedback.
What did you get up to on your gap year?
I’ve been away for 5 months, first in Australia and then through Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Malaysia). I travelled mainly on my own, although I met up with family friends along the way. Mum and Dad came to visit me in Cambodia, halfway through my trip.
Where did your parents meet you?
We met in Siem Reap and explored the temples at Angkor Wat and visited the Tonle Sap Lake. We then travelled to Battambang and experienced the bamboo train and saw around a million bats flying out of the caves. We then had a couple of nights in Tatai, where we did a trek and got to have a bit of chill time by the river. Next, we went to Koh Rong and enjoyed being by the beach before we parted ways in Phnom Penh.
Why did you want to have your parents join you on part of your gap year?
This was my first solo travelling experience, and I knew that to be away for 5 months would be a really long time to not see my family. I decided that it would be really nice to have my parents meet me halfway and give me the boost to continue.
Exploring Siem Reap together
What was the best part of meeting up together?
It was so nice to have my parents share in a part of my travels, and it was really lovely being with them.
I had known that I would miss them as I had never been away this long before. And sure enough, I had really missed them in the weeks leading up to our reunion in Siem Reap, probably because I was getting a bit of travel burnout. I missed the casual chit chat most, I think, because phoning up or messaging is always about bigger things and actual decisions, but in person, you just say whatever is on your mind at that exact moment.
Parents get to enjoy the adventure too
Would you recommend having parents gatecrash their kids’ gap year holiday?
Yes definitely. I could understand that some teens would prefer to be on their own more, as you do meet so many people. But when you’re away long term (like 2+ months), especially for the first time, you really get to a point where you miss the comfort of home and family, so to catch up is really fun.
Also, it’s better for your parents to come and join you rather than going back home for a week or so and then popping out to a different place. This way, it’s like they’re joining you and it’s still your experience; you’re not taking a break, just sharing the adventure!
Is your teenager travelling abroad on a gap year holiday?
If you have a teen who is planning a gap year holiday abroad, and our family ‘meet-up’ stories have inspired you, get in touch.
In many cases, the destination of choice ends up being Southeast Asia, with Thailand and Vietnam leading the way. This is because the region is such a great choice for novice backpackers; there’s a relatively well-trodden route but also scope to get a bit off the beaten track if you need to.
And it’s cheap! Not back-in-the-day-flea-ridden-palm-thatch-beach-shack cheap. But still a whole lot cheaper than most parts of the world, and correspondingly enticing to gap year students. But Latin America is also popular (particularly with those who have just completed a Spanish A-level), and India remains a perennial favourite.
We’d be delighted to discuss the best options for a shared gap year holiday and have some fabulous suggestions to tempt you. Ring us during office hours at 01728 752751, or use our website contact form.
Liddy Pleasants, MD Stubborn Mule Travel
I’d love to hear what you think about our family Gap Year holiday feature. Please send us your thoughts and feedback if you and your family have done exactly this.
