Travelling abroad under 18

[gratefulcustomer]

Fellow mumsnetters

My daughter recently turned 18 and wants to travel next year when she finishes college. In preparation for this as we have never taken her abroad she is planning a short European trip around Easter time with 2 friends. One friend will also be 18 but the other will still be a month off 18, essentially travelling at age 17.

Her parents who are more well travelled are concerned that she will have difficulty in travelling due to her age and may encounter issues at the airport or on arrival. Unfortunately I know very little about travelling abroad so I am appealing to you all for advice. Will it be a problem? Can they counteract it? What do they need to do?

My daughter went to Magaluf with her friends last year aged 17 (as were a few of them). No issues at all

My daughter went abroad in the summer with friends whilst she was 17 and they were all 18.

No issues at all whilst abroad. Travel insurance slightly trickier to arrange but she got a joint policy with her friend who was 18. Make sure she has a bank card that can be used abroad (not bloody Metro Bank).

Not a problem. My 2 dcs flew by themselves this summer, aged 16 &14 without issues. 17 is absolutely fine

My niece and some friends went to France recently, all aged 17. There was space at a family member’s house for some of them to stay but the idea was that others would stay at a nearby campsite. The campsite refused them as they were under 18. I would make sure any accommodation is booked with one of the 18yos as the “leading guest” to save any hassles.

DD had a friend who wasn’t 18 until the end of summer she went inter railing with DD but they could only book hotels or air b & b’s because she was under 18. She could not stay in many hostels.

"Will it be a problem? Can they counteract it? What do they need to do?"
@gratefulcustomer

Define which countries they like to visit (including those only visited as stop-over/transit), check their embassy's website for any necessary information first.
You can also contact the tourist offices of the countries/cities/region (often there are some for each level) for practical information and links to further resources.

Lots of information may be in travel guides (from the library, often as e-books, too) and in travel blogs. Specific questions that concern the airport or other institutions, check their website or write to them with the questions.
It would be best if they do that themselves, as they will have to figure stuff out during their trip, too, so they have already an overview where they can turn to for information during the travel.

One main aspect for safety, amongst others, is to not post live updates of the trip on insta/tiktok or other social media, so that their location stays private, For example if one of them has an open instagram profile and announces which tourist attraction they'll be visiting the next day, it'll be very easy to track them in real life. It is safer to post the pictures and location with a few days delay.
They can still inform their friends and family by private messages.

I realize this wasn't your question but keeping safe on the travel is often dependent on preparation.

Only just back to this thread as things got busy.

Sadly they have decided to stay U.K. based as it was getting too much but DD is pretty sad about the whole thing.

Some great advice here which I will pass along. Am now considering stepping in to be her 'plus 1' for a short abroad break somewhere so she can get the experience anyway so all the advice is great.