Teens with zero desire to travel

[LyricalBoudicca]

Bit concerned that my 2 teens never express a desire to travel ever (NB they go abroad with me frequently but that’s always been down to me). They remind me of my grandparents who hardly ever left the county they grew up in which was probably due to lack of financial means. If I die I can see them perfectly content never to initiate a holiday. Has anyone else got teens like this? Or do mine have an unusual lack of curiosity?

I wonder if being a homebody is genetic and if my 17 and 18 year old have inherited it. .My mum only went along with my dad when I was young but in later years was happy pottering around our village doing nothing much. She says she only went on holidays when I was young so people wouldn’t judge us when the new school year started. My brother shares the ‘cult’ view of earlier post and has never been on holiday since.

I have two children in their twenties. Identical upbringing with beach holidays, city breaks and activities. Despite not living in London I taught them how to read tube maps, they are ok with airports, hotels and public transport.

One travels every opportunity they get, the other doesn’t and prefers to stay within the city they live in although does like to do lots of cultural things within that city and sometimes London too.

I'm curious op. Did your passion for travle come from your parents? As a child in the 80's and 90's we had 2 foreign holidays in total and no money. I am interested in travel because my parents weren't. I don't think it matters at all that they aren't interested in travel, in fact it's a lot more sustainable. Are they happy? Do they have purpose? Goals? Are they achieving things? I would only really be concerned if my teenagers had no goals or purpose in life or were in danger of becoming recluses hiding in their rooms gaming all day long.

It takes all sorts and ironically some of these ardent proponents of travel seem to have a very blinkered outlook on certain matters.

Quite apart from anything else, the planet would be in a very (even sorrier) sorry state if we were all off gallivanting all over the place.

My youngest -17- is a bit of a homebody in that he doesn't go out much, but he does like travelling and wants to see as many places as possible. My eldest is always on holiday!
It may be that at 17 and 18 there are other things they are more interested in at the moment, but in the future they might become more interested in travelling, especially if they meet different people who like it. My eldest likes to meet uni friends for hikes but he didn't express any interest in that when he was younger.
I travelled a lot and got a travel bug in my 20s, but I didn't get that from my parents as my mum doesn't really like travelling anywhere and we only ever went on two holidays!

Plenty of small minded people travel all the time, and plenty of open minded people don't travel.

“Travel gets branded as an achievement: see interesting places, have interesting experiences, become interesting people. Is that what it really is?”

I found this New Yorker article interesting - it challenges the orthodoxy that travel is inherently a good thing.

<https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/the-case-against-travel>

Edited to say non-paywalled version here

https://www.thetedkarchive.com/library/agnes-callard-the-case-against-travel

I don’t really see it as one of life’s big worries. Some people like one thing whilst others don’t. Happens with everything not just travel.
My parents travelled through being in the army, my sister lived travel and holidays. Personally I think the whole concept could easily be consigned to room 101.
It doesn’t make anyone of us better than the other.

They probably mean you make too big a thing of it!

Teens don't see a huge value in what's normal for them. Going abroad is not a rarity now. They are a different generation to you.

If their core attitudes are good, and they're doing productive things that make them happy, let them enjoy exploring their own lives.

Is their world any smaller, really, for not holidaying in exactly the same way you want to?

Aren't they being more open-minded for not thinking exactly what you think?

I was desperate to travel as a teen but I put that down to my parents not being able to afford to take me abroad. They worked hard but just not in well paid jobs. It's what motivated me to work hard at school to improve my opportunity for travel. I wouldn't worry about it. Hopefully your teens have different dreams of their own.

I once shared a house with a pilot who traveled extensively and took many extended, adventurous trips off the beaten track.

When I said I was going to hang bird feeders in the tree in the front garden his reply was, 'Is there a tree in the front garden?'

Some people see more and learn more on a walk to the post box than others do on a three month trek around South America.

Not really - not unless you're actually immersed in another culture and even then, some people's minds are naturally more closed. I'd say that proper fiction books expand the mind and even just taking an interest in various subjects. Everything can be explored in great depth on YouTube. I know quite a lot about Japanese culture from YouTube and I don't feel I'd have as much understanding if I went there on holiday.

Plus who really cares? For most of the time humans have been in existence, we've barely travelled.

I think there's a lot of truth to that. I know people say 'it's not the same' when we mention seeing it on TV and the internet, but from their point of view, they are used to seeing it all in real time, being done by their peers.

Foreign travel was way more exotic to me when all I had seen apart from books was Cliff Mitchelmore sat behind a desk showing pictures of exotic destinations, and later Judith Chalmers and Michael Palin. It was so much more of a mystery.

Young people today get to see the world vicariously far more than I did. When you are bombarded with it, I'm sure there's an element of feeling you don't actually need to go there.

When I was a teen a went abroad with my mum. Always driven by her- I mean I was a teen, no money, no way of booking and paying for anything, so yes, it was all driven by her and I probably wouldn’t have gone anywhere had she not made the decisions.

i can’t ever remember actively saying I wanted to travel, or mum can you book x y or z. She decided, booked, I went. I was never asked my opinion on where or when.

didn’t mean I had no interest in travelling. As an adult I visit as many places as budget allows.

my kids I tend to ask where they’d like to go so it’s something of their decision. We usually do go places they want-they’ll give a country or a particular activity, then I’ll do the research and booking.

I'll go on holiday but I always feel a huge sense of relief seeing England again from the sky. I find airports and organising them quite stressful.

People are different and young people can be very worried about getting a job and saving for a house so they can have a family, and they'd prioritise that over travelling, which is very sensible.

Maybe they think all holidays are like when they go with parents.

That would mean that westerners who travel all have such expanded minds, but the very same people and cultures you’re visiting don’t because many of them can’t afford international travel, or it’s not a cultural norm?

These threads always show that this isn’t the case, otherwise people like OP wouldn’t be so upset about people who don’t share their lifestyle or interests.

This is not true😂

Young people travel all the time, we have cheap flights, and social media and social pressure drives it even more.

But you take them abroad frequently?

Whyvwould they express a desire to go when it's something they already do?

This is so pretentious and snobby it's unbelievable.
I've done loads of 'travel'. Europe, South and North America, Asia etc.
Its really not all that. Yes you see some nice sights etc but these days we love in an extremely globalised world and actually you see a lot of the same everywhere! Go to China and you'll see loads of KFC restaurants everywhere 👌👌

Leave them alone.
(46 yo and already revoked my passport).
Not worth while anymore.

I don't really have the travel bug in that I don't particularly want to go abroad, I do however like to go to various places in the uk, I love a city break and I want to look at castles, cathedrals and gardens.
Even when I was younger I wasn't into travel.
My DS shows no inclination to travel. My DD is similar to me but being braver is including european cities.

lol at expanding the mind. Most holidays are in English speaking hotels or AI. You might visit a few tourist attractions along the way. People need to get their heads out of the of their arses.

Honestly? Whether I would be concerned depends on what their reasons are. I’ve seen threads on here where someone is appalled by the idea of a 11+ aged child (living in London) getting the tube to and from school or by a young adult getting a train to visit another city. Children seem to be coddled more now - if the result is that they are appalled by having to negotiate an unfamiliar situation then that isn’t good.

If, on the other hand, they just can’t see the appeal of going to Ulan Bataar then fair enough (alien though that is to me).

How many UK holiday makers who go abroad are genuinely "curious about other cultures"? The vast majority are concerned only with enjoying the sun and will have very little contact with any of the local culture.