The date is 20 August 2001 and it is day two of our annual family summer holiday in Devon. Our three boys, Stuart and David (twins aged 10) and Ewan, five, are playing in the cottage. My wife Morag and I are preparing a surprise for them. The kitchen table has a world map on it and we ask them in to play a new 'game'. They are given a bag of sticky labels with names of cities written on them. As they place the labels on the map the game seems too simple, boring even, until two final labels appear which read 'Nelson Family Round-The-World-Trip' and '29 October 2001 to 15 October 2002'. They look surprised, confused and ask: 'Are you serious?' Finally, it is Stuart who comes up with the key question: 'Does this mean we don't have to go to school for a year?' The response is met with cheers: one round-the-world trip sold to three very excited boys.

That day represented the culmination of a year's planning, generally done late at night to keep it a secret. Morag and I had caught the travel bug in 1987, backpacking around South-East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Canada on an extended honeymoon. When the boys came along, we immediately started saving with the idea that we would travel as a family one day. We decided to travel before the twins reached secondary school age and when we felt Ewan was old enough to cope.

Breaking the news to the boys was the final hurdle. We'd already run the gamut of reactions from friends and family - ranging from admiration and envy to complete disbelief. 'Isn't it bad enough taking the kids away for two weeks, let alone 52 weeks?' was one comment. But most importantly, the children's grandparents and their school's headmistress were incredibly supportive. The grandparents agreed they would fly out to visit us and the headmistress said she would hold places open for the boys on their return.

All that remained was to 'park' our normal lives for a year. Morag and I left our jobs, she as a supply teacher and I as an IT consultant. We rented out our house for the year. We got rid of the car, set up internet banking to be able to monitor our expenditure as we travelled and organised friends and family to 'house watch' and keep an eye on any correspondence.

When planning the trip we found Trailfinders' help invaluable and, after shopping around, finally opted for a 39,000-mile, 15-stop Star Alliance ticket plus some extra tickets to do a few legs of our journey. Once the route was mapped, we used a mixture of the internet, Lonely Planet guides and travel agents in the destinations to fine-tune the trip.

For the first three countries we planned our itinerary and paid for it all before we left the UK; after that, we sorted it out as we travelled. Our typical approach was to send a general email to several local agents and see who responded. We then worked with three of them in planning a route. Once the route was fixed, we asked for prices and then had them bid against each other for our business, a process which worked well every time.

Any fears we had about how the boys would cope with travelling were soon dispelled. They took to it like naturals and there were so many fresh experiences that there wasn't time to get homesick. One of the highlights was spending Christmas Day in India on a house boat cruising the backwaters of Kerala. The boat was manned by three men, who looked after our every need. We cruised the waterways, visited a village in a canoe, enjoyed super food, including a lovely cake given to us as a gift, and tried our hand at fishing.

On Christmas morning everyone was up early just as at home but on this occasion it was to enjoy a magical sunrise over the palm-fringed lake on which we were moored. The boys got just a few small gifts but the experience of Christmas in such a different setting more than compensated for this.

In Alleppey in Kerala we visited Hope Village, which is a home for abandoned children. My abiding memory of our visit is of how well our boys mixed with the children - we were very proud of them that day. It was here that Stuart and David first encountered a traditional Indian board game called carroms. At every hotel after that they could be found playing it with each other or the locals. Indeed, so enthralled were they with the game that they eventually bought a board, which we shipped home.

If there is one story that typifies the kind of welcome we experienced on our travels, it has to be our short stay at the remote village of Napuka on the island of Vanua Levu in Fiji. On arrival we stayed at the Tokatoka Hotel near the airport. Here, with the help of a lady called Alesi, we planned our trip around Fiji. She had an uncle at Napuka, called Brother Rass, a Catholic priest, and she asked him if we could come and stay.

When the day came to set off to Napuka she had not been able to contact him to confirm our arrival. However, this did not deter us so we boarded a rickety local bus for the four-hour journey on dirt roads to Napuka. Thirty minutes short of our destination Brother Rass boarded the bus and introduced himself; Alesi had got through to him two hours earlier. During the next 24 hours we met most of Rass's family, had a succession of meals laid on for us, talked and drank with village elders, toured the boarding school in Napuka, and went snorkelling on the coral reefs.

As we returned from our morning snorkelling trip, the boys met a woman in the village chasing a chicken. When David asked what she was doing he was informed that if he wanted lunch he had better help out as the chicken was the main item on the menu. With three large but agile Fijian ladies and the twins in hot pursuit, the poor bird did not stand a chance. One hour later, there it was on our plates, scrawny but tasty, alongside sweet potatoes and bread and butter.

Travelling as a family is an entirely different experience from travelling alone or as a couple. The children's presence accounted for the warmth of the welcome we got in so many places and yet it also brought different hassles. The boys could have a made a fortune if they had charged for each time locals in Asia asked to be photographed with them - a family with three blond-haired boys was clearly a rare sight. The education in life this trip gave the boys cannot be underestimated yet we also managed more formal education as we travelled. This was only really practical when we were living in motorhomes in Australia and the US where we could establish a routine. We took study books with us and approximately every other day did one to two hours' schooling focusing mostly on maths but also covering other subjects. The boys also read a lot, courtesy of many visits to second-hand bookshops. Daily diary writing, postcards and emails to schoolfriends and family back home ensured they were writing continually.

Perhaps the hardest bit for the children was coming back. The twins found it a bit of a challenge because they had to go back a year at school and most of their friends had gone up to secondary school, while Ewan was able to join his old class.

Hopefully what they have gained will far outweigh any minor problems settling back in. This trip has given them experiences and memories that are likely to influence their lives forever. They have been able to see the world through their own eyes rather than a TV screen and see that it is almost entirely filled with warm and friendly people who, regardless of colour or religion, will provide a great welcome.

It was fascinating for Morag and me to watch the children react to each new culture and set of circumstances and it was a real eye-opener for me to be able to spend so much time with my children and play such an active role in their education. It has definitely brought us closer. To anyone who's still wondering whether a family gap year is a possibility, I would say: 'What are you waiting for?' The hardest bit is deciding to go. Once you've made that decision, you'll find a way.

How to make travel child's play

· Make sure the trip includes something for everyone, such as wildlife encounters and water parks for the kids.

· The internet is a great tool for finding information and doing deals. Do not be afraid to ask for the 'best price' more than once.

· Pack light. For our family, three rucksacks plus a small daypack each sufficed.

· Consider taking a laptop computer - it was the only luxury item we took and we used it for emails, educational software and computer games.

· Take a few small favourite toys for the children.

· Motorhomes are a great way to travel. They work out cheaper than rental cars and hotels, and offer more freedom and flexibility. They are more expensive than camping but allow you to have a 'home' on wheels, which is important when you travel for a long period.

· Don't worry about doing lots of formal schooling - the education children get from travel more than makes up for it. Making children keep a diary ensures they write each day and creates a great record of their adventure.

· Make sure life back home is being looked after and consider renting out your home if you are going for more than a few months.

Around the world for £60,000

Basic costs

Air Tickets: £10,000
Worldwide travel insurance: £1,000

Egypt (9 days)
4-star hotels, trains and minibuses
Cost: £4,350

South Africa/ Zimbabwe (28 days)
Small hotels, cabins and Umlani bush camp, car hire and internal flights
Cost: £4,100

Singapore (2 days)
2-star hotel

Kerala (21 days)
2/3-star hotels, car with a driver, houseboat cruise.
Cost: £2,400

Sri Lanka (17 days)
2-star hotels half board, minibus with driver.
Cost: £900

Bangkok (3 days)
3-star hotel

Vietnam (15 days)
2-star hotels B&B, trains and minibuses
Cost: £1,100

Hong Kong (4 days)
Youth hostel

Australia (5 months)
Hired a motorhome for 5 months
Cost: £11,000 for all motorhome costs

Fiji (18 days)
Hotels and guest houses, self-drive, internal flights and boats to 'island hop'
Cost: £1,300 plus £1,400 for four-day Captain Cook Cruise

Cook Islands/ Rarotonga (7 days)
Rented house, buses. Cost £260

California/ National Parks (5 weeks)
Hired a motorhome for five weeks
Cost: £3,500 for all motorhome costs (rental, insurance, fuel for 25,000km, repairs, campground fees)

Florida/ Disney (2 weeks)
Rented house in Kissimmee
Cost: £920 for the house, £900 for theme park tickets, £450 for car hire and fuel

Washington (3 days)
3-star hotel/public transport

Day to day expenses including food, clothing and sightseeing trips: £15,000

Grand total: £60,000.