Where would you go for a trip of a lifetime?

[Japril]

We have a maximum budget of £16,000 to blow on a holiday that the kids (they will be 14 and 11 next summer) will love and gives them some kudos - they have only been abroad once before!
Any suggestions of where to go? I wondered about the Caribbean or the Seychelles. Or should we do something more active? I would love to go to Japan but they are fussy eaters!
My husband is quite a nervous traveller so anywhere that might be considered potentially dangerous is out!
We are not having a holiday this year so daydreaming about something awesome for next summer is keeping me going!!

West Coast USA has lots of options - a San Diego to San Fran road trip, or a big loop around Seattle / Portland taking in Mount St Helens.

Or Route 66 Chicago to Santa Monica.

South Africa Garden Route - Cape Town to Port Elizabeth is spectacular. You can tick off a lot of unusual things to eat on the way.

Japan, Costa Rica and Peru / Chile / Argentina are on my to do list.

South Africa - Cape Town/Garden route/safari
California Pacific highway from San Fran to LA
Are my 2 dream trips. Hopefully one day....
Have done Australia and Canada pre kids and Florida with them. All amazing!

What would they enjoy? Any special interests?

My first immediate thought was Canada too, first class train through the incredible scenery is my idea of heaven. And lots of outdoorsy/nature activities obviously.

Agree that SE Asia would be fab - Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand all so interesting. And yes can be done quite economically so you could stretch your time/budget a lot.
Check your time of year though - avoid monsoon season

If they've not been abroad much would you like to do a tour of Europe? Maybe less stress than a super long flight and culture shock.

California (or anywhere on the west coast) road trip. The scenery is incredible. There is so much to see.

Japan is wonderful (or was 10 years ago when I was there). The people make is so special.

Whoever suggested Dubai, must be having a laugh.

Costa Rica for sure with young teens - you’ll all love it!

Monteverde for cloudforests, ziplining and beautiful lodges

Manuel Antonio for hiking a beautiful national park with fabulous beach

Tortuguero for rustic Caribbean village, adventurous to get to and depending on time of year, you might see turtles nesting on the beach

Vincon de la vieja for Volcanoes. Waterfalls and empty dry forest

Arenal for active volcano, hot thermal pools in nature

Lots of resort type hotels on pacific coast… more rustic accommodation on Caribbean coast (both can be bit rough- good for surfing !)

You will see diverse range of animals and plants everywhere, food is fresh and healthy, it’s fairly safe (petty crime like anywhere else but not dangerous like other countries in Central America)

If you’re feeling more confident head over to Nicaragua (also pretty safe) - better roads than Costa Rica

BUT if you like history and architecture then Costa Rica is not for you!

With teenagers it needs to be interesting and different. Personally I don't think the US or Canada, great as they are, there needs to be a 'wow' for teenagers that isn't scenery.

Too choices would be:
South Africa - safari etc
South America - Machu Picchu, Amazon rain forest

I agree with a PP who said backpacking around Europe too. Using different methods of transport, staying in quirky/different places eg staying in a canal boat in Amsterdam, a gites in France, a geodome in Italy etc. eating local off the beaten track etc. The history is amazing but then are your children into that or are you more sporty as a family?

Yellowstone, Costa Rica or Mexico

I think Japan too. Or a trip through the Stans. Really if I had time, I'd love to travel, meander, across Europe, from Portugal across to Italy/Greece, following my nose through highways and byways.

Costa Rica is on my bucket list so many people I know have had amazing holidays there. Also Hawaii.

For our kids, their best holiday was staying in the Bahamas - one week at an air bnb with a private pool, the second at Atlantis on Paradise Island - it is super fun for parents and kids and we all loved the water park, lots of things for teens to do. A lot of pools and experiences and beautiful beaches. It is very pricey though for eating out so bear that in mind.

I’ve also travelled all around SE Asia and wouldn’t recommend it based on what you’ve said about your husband. Ditto India. Although I guess if you’re going on a luxury organised tour you might be more shielded.

I also think travelling Europe by train and boat (river, sea) would be amazing but would require a lot of research and confidence to plan. Italy might be a good compromise though- it’s so varied there is something for everyone and train travel is super easy (perhaps also hire a car in the south 😋

With teens and that budget I'd go China via Singapore... in China definitely the Wall & terracotta army and maybe the 5 gorges river cruise and panda sanctuary plus peking or shanghai.

Safari. Seeing lions, elephants etc in the wild is one of my life's great experiences.

Japan is amazing - safe, completely different culture, ancient and modern mix, etc. Dc can manage on rice, noodles, fast food if needed (though it might tempted them!). Also has such a variety in terms of scenery, culture, shopping etc.

Best place we went was NZ, in a campervan, but summers not the best time so that may restrict you. Are your family outdoorsy? Active? Into anything in particular? I also loved california - could do san Francisco (some sights, shopping etc) then drive up to yosemite and sequoia national parks, maybe around to death valley/ Vegas if you have the time.

Amazing trip to look forward to :)

Thank you for all the amazing suggestions. The one other place they have been is NZ (last time we had an inheritance).
I haven’t actually told them yet that we are hopefully going on holiday. I am loathe to ask them for suggestions as they are bound to be contrary and suggest different places and then be pissed off if we go to one of their suggestions and not the other! They are both autistic and so too much travelling round might be a step too far. In NZ we definitely needed down days and the long journeys between places could be pretty fraught. The younger one is not good with busy places.
My brother and his family might join us for all/some of what we do. There kids are 4 and 9 so places like Costa Rica might not work. In many ways I wish I hadn’t mentioned it to them now!

I would do route 66 in the USA or visit the Caribbean.

I'd do a safari. We did one with our teen dc and it was the most memorable trip we've ever been on.

Africa. Seeing the animals in the wild is something they will never forget. There are plenty of malaria free areas.

Zanzibar is awful! Don't go there OP, go to Mauritius after safari instead. I've done all three.

India.

I loved Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean

Depends on travel season:

Outside Summer - Asia. I want to go back to Thailand, then Cambodia and Vietnam - will need to wait for a time DD is in college

Hawaii - but came up too expensive for 3 of us in Summer

Safari and a week beach, Mauritius maybe but it doesn't work with DD.

We are doing a "surviving GCSE and 50th birthday" holiday this year, similar budget and do 4 days Boston, 4 days Newport/Rhodes Island and 5 days NY. We treated us to business class, nicer hotels and a larger budget for shopping.

Japan. Fantastic country and people. Or Canada.

Kenia or Galapagos.

For that range of kids ages what about Florida? Universal studios, Kennedy space centre and you can go to quieter places to watch mannatees, do bike rides etc Disney parks are amazing and you can split up and do different things if one of the kids doesn’t like busy places. We went midweek and it was quiet in the mornings.