Enjoy the beauty even if your kids don’t!
My husband was on sabbatical last summer, so to take advantage of his extra time, he acquiesced to my calling I’ve had for the past couple of years to go to Ireland. My son wanted to go to London as he says “All the good writers and tv shows come from there.” (ie JK Rowling, Dr. Who, Sherlock,etc).
I didn’t realize how hard it was going to be traveling with teens. My daughter was going to be 13 soon and my son was 15.
My advice for traveling with teens?
Don’t do it.
Just kidding. But here’s a couple of mental shifts to make before you embark on this trip of a lifetime that I learned, that may be helpful to you.
My daughter loved the beautiful scenery of Ireland, the green countrysides, the beautiful cliffs and coastlines. My son said “Are we just going to drive around and look at stuff?’
My son loved the interesting museums in London with the different artifacts from war and the armory.
2) Try to balance everyone’s interests.
You are not going to please everyone at the same time on every activity, and that is okay. Sometimes you may want to split up and do your own thing. My daughter really wanted to go on the London Eye, but my son would rather go to the British Museum, so we each took a kiddo and did that.
Adults are included! In Ireland, my husband and I went out every night to the pubs to hear amazing musicians, while the kids were perfectly happy to stay ‘home’ and ‘chill.’ They were tired from the days activities and from what we saw, there weren’t any kids hanging out in the pubs.
3) Count on your teens wanting to sleep a lot!
We had several times when the kids were just exhausted. We all lost a full night’s sleep enroute to Europe so we were all running a deficit to start out with. Build in some down time into your itinerary.
4) Be prepared, bowel”s will probably get off schedule and there may be some back ups. Bring something to help ‘ease the transition.’
5) Watch the thoughts that are causing you stress.
If you notice the belief, “I’m paying all this money and they aren’t appreciating it!” Think of the long term gain. Travel provides experiences/challenges/ new perspectives that can make an impact on your child’s development. If you can let go of this belief, YOU are going to enjoy your time more.
6) Anxiety may increase.
If you have a family member that tends towards anxiety in new situations and tends to be a homebody, then be aware that he/she could get triggered and find traveling challenging. It’s okay, it’s good to stretch those comfort zones to increase confidence but can be challenging in the moment!
What have YOU learned on traveling with your teens?
Zen Y’all,
Kim