To let my 15yo son inter-rail around Europe for 3 weeks with his 16yo pal?

Its difficult .My son aged 24 spent a night in a hostel in Dublin and said the others sharing the room with him were so off their heads on drugs and so loud that he got up in the middle of the night and left .He has travelled all over the world alone and with friends but that night he said he felt quite unsafe.

@F1reLine umm I wouldn't recommend a 15 year old travels from Europe to London to stay in a youth hostel without an adult either

I’m sorry but anyone who uses summer as a verb gets an immediate YABU from me. Even if I’m very happy for teens to inter rail to their hearts’ content

And London and other UK cities are so safe.🙄

I'm wondering if it will come out that she booked accommodation for them and it wasn't quite the independent travel first said. It was interesting that later she started to say that they didn't visit a country that one of the boys didn't have a point of contact in.

Like a pp, it was the norm to go away when you finished school. I was a March birthday, so didn't have to go to school once I'd done my last exam in 1984. We'd been playing out all day from the age of 6 and going camping etc from around 13. My middle DD could easily travel around with a group of friends at that age. KA has friends and family all over Europe and the money to go straight out to were he was or fly him home etc. It's actually more dangerous for lads like Jay Slater, who have limited resources going away at 18/19. A group of teen lads wouldn't be the easiest target for pick pockets etc. There'd be much more easy pickings. As for hostels, there was enough of them, to be just them to a room. I've found it interesting the language used towards him, across the news, in contrast to language used towards children/teen asylum seekers.

RU OK hun?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c75n1y7gqz5o

Someone referred her to social services! I don’t agree with her decision but that’s a bit much.

It's these August babies! Not 16 until nearly the start of the next term.

Always wanting to keep up with their peers, how dare they.

@StrongandNorthern But nobody surely would raise an eyebrow about a 15 year old simply going away with friends at this age without an adult. It's the travelling across Europe to multiple cities.

I wouldn't want my 15 year old sleeping unaccompanied in a hostel with random adults. Train stations across Europe attract huge levels of crime and I would worry that at 15/16 they're not equipped to deal with a frightening situation.

What a fuss!!
I suspect he's probably post GCSE, Y 11, with August birthday.
So - almost 16 anyway.
I went - post O level (so, yes, aeons ago) - aged 15, almost 16 - on holiday with 16 year old friends.
We hired a canal boat! For a week. (I assume our parents had to "sign for it's insurance wise etc).

@Butwhybecause actually that’s the intention but not the practice and the UK is frequently criticised for it by UN committees on child soldiers: 16 years olds can and do end up in conflict (especially in the navy when ships get redeployed into hostilities but don’t have chance to disembark the child soldiers first).

See this excerpt from an official UN report, with recommendations to the UK to stop actively recruiting children (16 and 17 year olds) to our military (were the only country in Europe to do so) and to stop sending them to wars.

Although active service in Afghanistan does make EU inter-railing sound a breeze by comparison!

https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/lib-docs/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session13/GB/CSI_UPR_GBR_S13_2012_ChildSoldiersInternational_E.pdf

Yes, I know.

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@Notcontent 100% agree with you. Staying in hostels at 15 without an accompanying adult and sharing a room with random adult men is utterly and completely different to staying with and travelling between relatives and friends.

In any case I have absolutely no sympathy for her as I have no idea why she felt the need to share the details of her 15 year old son's holiday plans on social media.

He was probably safer thsn my 15 year old was at reading festival 10 years ago Let's get serious his parents are rich and have lots of contacts in Europe.

But he did. 🤷‍♀️

And if he hadn’t? All hell would have been let loose!

I did very similar as a solo female traveller only a couple of years older in the days before smart phones so no access to Google maps/translate, online banking etc. and limited contact with parents back home. I was absolutely fine. Overprotective/over involved parenting and a lack of risk taking is a huge contributing factor to the epidemic of child/youth anxiety we are experiencing at the moment.

This is what I find slightly confusing - I had assumed that most hotels and hostels have a minimum age for staying unaccompanied???

If, on the other hand, he was travelling between different family friends or relatives then that’s a completely different story. That’s not quite the same as travelling alone.

@Tiredalwaystired I think it's fine for a 15 yo who's just finished GCSEs to go to a festival or something but travelling round loads of countries alone seems too much!
I lived away from home at 16 so same age, but I would never have had the confidence to go travelling alone with one friend of the same age.
I guess he's probably travelled loads already as his family have the means. They probably have homes abroad etc. so I guess it would make sense a kid like that would be ready.
I know I wouldn't have been, nor would most kids I know now.

I imagine they also have a minder discreetly following the kids. If DS wanted to do this I would probably let him but pay someone to follow at a distance.

Most of the comments I’ve seen seem to be on team Kirsty for this one though.

I don’t get the issue at all, KA is rich enough to get on a flight to anywhere fast at short notice if there’s an issue, and I’m sure her kids have the best tech for following location etc.

BobbyBiscuits · Today 12:45
The thing I found funny was she decided to boast about this, and then acted all shocked that most people thought it was batshit”

Did they? Most commentators I’ve heard have been supportive and feel young people aren’t given enough independence now.