As more former-backpackers age and have kids, the number of families treking the traveler’s 
road has skyrocketed and few places remain unexplored. It will surprise few that many wanderlust families have now set their sights on the grand-daddy of adventure travel: Mount Everest. Here are some brief answers to a few of the most common questions regarding a family trip to the Himalayas.
Q&A on Everest
We’re a family that loves being active. Is climbing Mt Everest with our 2 children a reasonable and attainable goal?
No.
But I heard on Oprah that a family that summits together stays together?
You will die a horrible and painful death.
Can we at least make it to the Khumbu Icefall?
No
How about base camp?
No.
We’re well aware the climb will be difficult with 2 teenagers. Could you discuss the pros and cons of such a mountain climbing trip to Nepal?
Pros:
- Your extended family back home will be interviewed by Katie Couric.
Cons:
- Abject misery.
- Your kids will die hating you.
- Poor flight connections and long layovers from North America.
[Photos by Erik Charlton]
Hotel Tips
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Booking.com – Great for when you already know the hotel you want to stay in. Its very generous cancellation policy is the big perk.
haha, guess that explains that!
Ya, I’m hoping it’s the definitive article on Everest with kids for the foreseeable future.
Hilarious Dave. High FIve..im recommending more oprah bashing
Funnnny! (you are joking right?) I hope you’re joking
you’ve got a great site. we’ve been researching a trip to thailand (and maybe india) with our 2 kids, very excited, and your’s is the best kid travel site we’ve found. actually it’s the only one we’ve found that isn’t crap (pardon the language). thanks for the great perspective and sharing your excitement for travel. It’s really helped, the details we can sort out, but the feeling that “you can do this” has made us get off our arses and get out there.
Steve and Cheryl
Hi Steve and Cheryl. Ya, that’s humor — or something approaching humor. I wrote this a while back and completely forgot about it. Seems sort of lame now, but I’m glad you got a laugh from it.
Great to hear you’re going traveling with your kids. That’s what it’s all about. You’ll love it. There are challenges, certainly, but the rewards, wow, they’re great. And you’ve got them forever. You’ll be 80 years old and you won’t forget this trip. I promise.
As for other travel with kids sites, there are some good ones. Delicious Baby is very good — though she’s more for Europe as opposed to Asia. If you click on Links at the top of my page, you can find her site and some other really great travel blogs. I will say they can be hard to find if you’re not in the travel blogging circle. Searches for blogs on any particular destination don’t work very well and usually turn up some very sub-par sites, not sure why that is.
Good luck and thanks for the great comment.