... to ask what age you first went abroad on holidays without parents (trigger warning)

[anyhue]

This question is prompted by the incident on Cyprus with Israeli youths. Google and you'll find it.

I could not afford to go on holidays with friends without parents until I was working in my early 20s. Now it seems people can afford to go at younger and younger ages.

I was sexually assaulted as a teenager at a campsite in France, on vacation with parents. I only told them 9 months later when it looked like we would return to the same place.

I think they need much better policing in these resorts, with CCTV, active policing, etc. Things have changed for the worse, and authorities need to keep up!

17, the summer between lower & upper sixth - boyfriend and I, he had a car and we drove around the West Country and camped (mostly slept in the car).

I also went to Africa the same summer, but stayed with 2 lots of family so not the same thing.

Opps, missed abroad in the title, think that would be 18, with the same boyfriend.

i was 18, ibiza in 1995 with 2 others

17. A few of us went on a package holiday to the Costa Dorada and we all shagged Spanish waiters 😳

I can’t remember but DS(17) is just back from a tall ship sail to Norway followed by a couple of nights in Oslo on his own and then a couple of nights in Stockholm.

I am not sure I agree with the premise of this AIBU.

I’m sad to say that I was sexually assaulted age 11/12 on holiday with parents at a very upmarket resort.

When I finally did go on holiday without them I was much more on my guard.

I get what you’re saying OP - that the conditions at these resorts (enormous amounts of booze, quite young people on their own for the first time, etc) might arguably create an environment for horrific assault.

But you and I have had experiences that say scumbags are everywhere and parents being present doesn’t necessarily make a difference.

Apart from school trips, I went to Dublin with friends when I was 23. I had been on UK holidays without parents. I never went to any Ibiza type places.

14 with a sports club to france. Luckily i had my head screwed on as a coach from other there did try something. Luckily (!) He picked me and i knew enough to keep myself safe and inform the right people for help.
Then 17 to tenerife with a boyfriend (20) and another couple (early 20s). Stayed at the works timeshare apt. I was the.most responsible one.in the group!
In my 30s now and still never been abroad with my parents!

Went away to ayia napa at 17 with the girls

19 to Ibiza.
I was sexually assaulted and went to hospital. The Spanish police didn't believe me and asked me to sign a piece of paper I didn't really understand otherwise stay in Ibiza to press charges. I was terrified and wanted to be home with my parents. The boys who were friends with the guy who did it spread it all around the resort that I had made it up, I was a slag etc. and I tried to stick it out but managed to get myself on an early flight home. I have never really recovered mentally and still feel like a liar and fraud.
I dread my daughter going abroad alone.

Just turned 18, and in the upper 6th with my then boyfriend who was also 18- Spain.

I was 18, turned 19 whilst we were there. We went to Playa del Ingles in Gran Canaria & there was 6 of us, so a nice group (and 2 other girls from the hotel hung out with us as well)
From what I can remember as it was 21 years ago! we all stuck together, maybe sometimes in 2's rather than all 8 of us, but we seemed to "know" a lot of other holiday makers so everyone seemed to stick together it that makes sense.

That news is just horrific, I really do dread my kids wanting to go away by themselves

I went on a girl guide trip when i was 16. Did a gap year when i was 18/19 which included various countries (i saved up all my Saturday job wages, EMA payments, birthday money etc and worked while i was travelling). Then did a few holidays with friends throughout uni, again using money from bar jobs, leftover student loans/bursary!

I hope the young woman that was involved is ok and well supported.

Like you OP i was early 20's and working

it was before teenage/end of year end of school holidays was a thing

Despite not having your experiences it is concerning - even v young teenagers going to say cornwall and dying as a result of falling off cliffs or drowning - of you add in being abroad as well as a parent i find the prospect of my kids having these types of holiday a bit worrying. But if they really insisted i would let them go but try and advise them

I am so sorry for your experience - I once read of a young teenager who had been seriously sexually assaulted in a public leisure centre toilets - sadly these things can happen anywhere

I was 16 when I went 'interrailing' with a friend, just round Germany though, for about a week, and staying in youth hostels (not pre-booked). The year after I came to the UK (also abroad for me), a working holiday volunteering for 4 weeks on an archaeological excavation (plenty of drinking going on there). I went to London and Cardiff on my weekends, by myself, again staying in Youth hostels.

But this was in the mid-late 80s, a different time, and my parents paid for (train& coach) transport.

What's happening now with package holidays to Magaluf or similar is a different proposition all together and I can't imagine letting my (very young) 15 year old go in a year or two, not that she would be interested.

I went on various summer camps when I was between 12&15. The first time abroad without any supervision was

I think I was 17 with my DP (still with him)

I was sexually assaulted by a family member on a family holiday so as you have said and others have said, going with parents doesn’t make it safer than going without them in some cases

...when I was 16 (sorry pressed send too soon on my earlier message).

17 on a club 18-30 to Kavos. Grim.

20, just me and DH(then boyfriend) it was his first time abroad ever, my first time without the parents

22 and working, dd is going at 18 but she's paying with her summer job wages

16 went with friends parents but they were so laid back we were left to our own devices

Just turned 19. Gran Canaria. September 1991. Twenty’s holiday (like 18-30).

I left school at 15 (summer birthday) and started work so I paid for it.

Just 18

@WickedGoodDoge I lost track of your thread about DS but I’ve been wondering if he got to the correct bus on time?

OP I was 16/17 when I wangled some (adult) friends to lie to my parents about a trip we were going on) and went with my boyfriend not them.

I was 16 when I flew from nz to the uk to visit family on my own (well not quite in my own, looking after my 11 yo sister)

I moved out at 17 and travelled a lot after that withbfruends/boyfriend. Much more ‘travelling’ than Ibiza type holidays though.