Teens travelling

[MulberryP1e]

My daughter is almost 15 and wants to go travelling (by bike) with a couple of friends and stay in youth hostels around the country. I think shes a bit young, not to mention the worry of traffic issues.
Anyone else with similar experiences?/emo/te/9.gif

We did it at 16. My mother said in later years she'd have never allowed it if we went back in time and asked again, mostly because of the cycling and the roads. But we were fine, mended punctures, dealt with a broken pedal which needed a bike shop and all sorts. We were mostly doing stuff like DofE and first aid, so all very sensible. We had to submit our route and book the beds ahead of going before some of the parents would allow it, and some were expected to phone home every night.

I wouldn't want U16s to go, though, and I wouldn't want all 16yos to go, either - depends how sensible and practical they are.

Nope, not a chance.

Maybe fairly locally, with an adult staying overnight at the YH, but not cross countr.

Youth hostel is now 16 I think but no I wouldnt allow it tell her to wait a year or 2

Why are people so definitely against this? Obviously they can't go because of the YHA rules- but why shouldn't sensible 15 year olds do something like this?

If there was an adult in the YH each night, I would say yes.

It sounds like they would enjoy DofE. As an additional suggestion, they may enjoy Senior Section in Girlguiding (age 14-25) where they can plan their own programme, camp on their own etc. where an adult leader will monitor them until 18.

PGL is more for 11/12 year olds.

Well personally mynown dd lives with her head in the clouds most of the time and if anything happened to a child under 16 it isparents responsibility most parents wouldn't leave 14 yr olds at home while they went on holiday so letting themngo on holidays is no different

Too dangerous on bikes. If they join scouts they can camp with adults on call but not with them. My son did that on Dartmoor.

A good idea to do it at 16 yrs (without bikes) -good preparation because within 24 months they can go anywhere without your permission. I would feel much happier with them in Greece/Thailand etc at 18 yrs if they had Youth Hosteled in UK first.

Bucking the trend here, but my 15 year old did it bad it was the making of him. He did it with a friend, and chucked round scotland for a week. They took tents and wild camped, but also stayed in youth hostels (no one ashes their age) and private hostels.

They are both sensible boys, who had been in scours for years, and they'd been away camping on their own - without bikes - before.

A lot depends on how sensible and confident your DC are, and where they're planning to go. I know that someone I knew could have got to them within 90 mins at any part of their route.

The worst that happened was they ran out of money on the second last day, so I had to top him up. Oh, and midge bites.

Stupid phone!! They cycled round scotland, they were in scouts, no one asked their ages etc. You get my drift.

AP- was that recently? How did they get away with the age thing on their YHA membership details?

I'd recommend DofE and Scouts as well if this is what they are interested in. I went on a 10 day trip to Scotland with a friend at 16, but I don't think I would have been mature enough to do it sooner. Even then we were tired with each other by the end of those 10 days! I did DofE expeditions at 14 too, I wasn't keen on the girl in my group and we bickered like mad on the expedition she couldn't read maps Trips like this make even the best of friends get annoyed at each other, and at that age I wouldn't feel confident that they'd be able to reconcile without ruining the friendship.

DD has been staying away from home over night since she was 15 (so about 8 month now) our biggest problem is finding somewhere who would take her - it's as hard at 16 as it was at 15

She does quite complicated tube/train/bus journeys and would be happy cycling (except she normally travels in central London & she is scared of cycling there which I think is fair enough ).

She would find eating in a cafe/restaurant hard by herself but I think she'd be fine in a group -& no way would she look old enough to pass for any older

Goodness, isn't it a shame how little freedom kids have nowadays. I have a 13 yr old DD and wouldn't see myself letting her do this for a good few years, yet at 16 I was catching trains half way across the country and staying in youth hostels, great fun, and we didn't have e-mails or mobile phones then. My parents also left me at home alone (with a friend) while they went on holiday to Europe for 2 weeks while I was studying for my O levels. I guess everyone's kids are different in terms of how sensible etc they are, but I think maybe 14 is a bit young as other posters have said. I have already talked to my DD about DofE as I think that could be great, there is girl guides here but all they seem to do is pyjama parties and pamper nights, no first aid or anything useful! How about just camping overnight in friends gardens or a local farmers field?

I don't see what the big hatred of bikes is. Most drivers aren't out to kill bikes and there are lots of resources online for planning low traffic routes.

Would you be happy if they treated this aad a DofE expedition as others have suggested? Submitted a route and booked hostels in advance and had a parent staying at the hostels? Obviously that would require quite a lot of buy in from all the parents and wouldn't be such an adventure. I think I'd probably rather they were biking some sort of recognised route eg coast to Coast (either MTB or road routes) or South Downs way (MTB) because they would be on a well defined and busy route so in theory plenty of help around should they need it.

There are loads of adventure type holidays they could go on for older teenagers. I went on one for gold d of e residential - week of adventure activities in the north York moors. Enough adventure to be fun and enough supervision for parents to be happy. PGL also run more adventurous holidays for ages 13-17 so I don't exactly think they are too old. Something like this seems quite exciting www.pgl.co.uk/PGLWeb/individuals/holidays/TwoCentreAdventureA_moreinfo

Yes at 16 not 14 unsupervised my own dds get a lot of freedom I just think q holiday without an adult supervising is asking for trouble

I first cycled round the Lake District/ N Yorkshire at 12, with my 13 yr old cousin. We met my parents every night at a different youth hostel/camp site. It was good fun and we felt quite intrepid, but had the security of parents at the end. We had no mobile phones though, just 2ps for phone boxes and the number of our destination.

I'd let my 14yr old DS do the same, but I'd make sure his route was well planned and we had a copy. I'd also want to know the other teens he was with were as sensible on bikes as he is.

My dd1 is 14.3 and though she'd love to do this, she's really too much of an airhead to do it (as was I until I was about 30!!).

She does travel on a daily basis - it's 2 buses to school and a bus and a train to The Boyfriend's house. But I just know she wouldn't cope well with being unsupervised in this way.

At 16 I'd consider it!

"Enough adventure to be fun and enough supervision for parents to be happy." I remember chasing the teenagers through the woods on a weekly basis through summer because newly coupled up pairs decided to go for some 'privacy' in the dead of night when I worked at PGL The woods were fucking terrifying at night, god knows why they thought it'd be romantic!

Saying that though, most teens who went had a great time there. I remember having one 16/17yo who came during the first week of indies for a week, she'd saved up her wages for months to be able to come, and ended up staying the entire summer. I believe that she went on to work for them the next summer too. I liked her, she was brilliant, really rallied together the few peers who just couldn't be arsed with the activities.

"I just think q holiday without an adult supervising is asking for trouble"

What sort of trouble?

No. Not at 14. End of.

Why not?

No way not at that age.

I don't have a hatred of bikes - I just don't trust drivers and I don't go on the road on mine. You know your child and whether it is 'asking for trouble' . Mine went away camping at 15yrs because he had done his GCSEs, he just happens to have the August birthday. All his friends were 16 yrs- no one asked his age. He had a great time.

your daughter may well be very sensible and considerate. But she is too young for the youth hostel.

this age limit is to reduce the unsupervised kids running about and shrieking at all hours. Pity it can't be stopped when they are 18, but there you go.