Teens growing up. Where (if you could) would you absolutely want to travel with them before they fly the nest?

[LaSourciereEfrontee]

My DC are 15 and 13 now. Hopefully, we have a few years left of family holidays and we’ve been to some great places already. But I’m aware that before we know it, they’ll be wanting to travel with friends and boyfriends and might not always join us.

Where would you absolutely want to take your teens while you still have the chance? Either places you’ve already visited and would love to show them if places on your own bucket list?

Mine are:

Botswana (I did VSO there, hope to visit with DC next year.)
California ( went when they were babies but it would be a very different holiday now.)
To visit my best friend in Western Australia (although they’ve both got a spell in her granny annexe planned.)
Cota Rica, Korea and Japan as they are all on my ‘to do’ list. DC both really want to go to Japan and Korea.
The Caribbean. I’ve never been. Would love to hire a car and explore.

DD and I are planning island hopping in Greece next year to celebrate the end of her exams. Can’t wait for that.

Im not sure we have time or money for all of those trips but it’s nice to dream!

@Stowickthevast recently we went early April. Yes it was very hot, even the locals say so. However, I've been twice before, in January and February and felt just as hot. I do know someone who risked going in August as it was way cheaper. This is meant to be monsoon time but she said it only rained about an hour each day, the rest of the time was sunny and the rain was very welcome! I love Thailand because as well as beautiful, it feels so safe. It's one of few long haul places where I feel safe walking around towns at night freely.

When we have taken dc abroad we have always felt safe taking them out at night. That includes South Africa. We always go to well lit streets and stay in tourist areas. We don’t wander off. I don’t think we’ve worried for 1 second. This includes Latin America and Africa.

Where in Thailand did you go?

Would like yo take DC there

Us, and most people we know, still have YP that holiday with us. They go with their friends too, on different holidays. They are both at uni.

You’ve likely got years yet!!!!

We are hoping to have a big holiday next year (Indonesia or Costa Rica) with our 18 & 20 DSs. The holiday they’ve loved most has been sailing… Croatia and Ionian islands. They’re up for that again. We also do a lot of time in the French alps which they love too. Summer and Winter.

some great ideas here.

I really hope so.

A colleague once told me ‘you keep paying, they keep coming’ and I’ll happily stick to that bargain. I love travelling with my kids!

I think somewhere in the US to see it’s not like tv really. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the east of the us so torn between places I love and new places to me like California.
I love South America and Mexico so maybe there and ideally somewhere in Asia. I’ve never been to Thailand so maybe there.

Radiatorvalves We love the French Alps too. It’s my favourite part of France, despite being half Provancale. DH’s father lived there for years and we still go back to ski in his adopted town and often go back for summer too. While we love adventure, the Haute Savoire is our family’s ‘home’ holiday.

Ahh me too. DD1, 17 is already saying she may not be able to do that many holidays with us as want to travel with friends plus may be busy with university. I hope she still does some trips with us as DD2 is 13.5 plus I enjoy with them as well as DH,

Japan.

It's great value when you are there too. Would Nintendo World be of any interest to them. There is so much to do and it's so safe, clean and easy.

@Wildehorses
We stayed here on a friends recommendation. Its far out of Cancun enough for our tastes and not too huge. The beach was a little small but we don't want to spend a lot of time there. If you go don't book excursions with the holiday rep but speak to the people at the tourism desk in the lobby and they will sort you out for much less £ and its a lot more personalised.
Depending on the age of your DC/whether you can leave them for the evening there is an incredible restaurant on site thats not part of the hotel. Its one of the best fine dining restaurants in South America apparently and we really enjoyed it. It was pricey but not as bad as we expected.

Azul Beach Resort Riviera Cancun by Karisma in Riviera Maya | TUI.co.uk

I was going to rave about Vancouver and Vancouver Island but you have been there…absolutely my favourite place.

Columbia!

I hope so @Filingmyshoes! Older one (16) says he's not going to stop coming away with us and I suspect he won't be able to afford the kind of trips we do as a family for a long time yet. We'll see what happens. I stopped going on family holidays when I left school, but my family tended to rent a house in e.g. rural France, which while lovely wasn't particularly exciting at age 18.

How does the sailing work, do you have to know how to sail your own boat or do you book one with crew?

There are different options. My husband is ex Navy and a good sailor, so it’s just the 4 of us on the yacht. We’ve gone with Sunsail (there are many other operators) in a small flotilla (maybe 10 yachts). Unless you have sailing qualifications you will need someone on board.

This is really inspiring despite my much lower budget than some people! I would love to take DD Greek island hopping after GCSEs. How do you even go about that? She also wants to go to Italy and I’d like to take them both to Paris and Berlin. We are planning a Spain/France road trip and I am hoping to sneak in a Belgium/Germany/north Italy one in a few years. Plus, I’d like to do camping in Holland. And just see more of France with them as I have visited it lots and want to show them how amazing it is.

For long haul, I can’t even imagine being able to afford to fares for the four of us but I have set up a separate savings account so you never know… I’d love to do California or New Zealand.

And for a real dream trip somewhere in South America - maybe Brazil.

My DDs are early 20s and still love a holiday with us …. if we’re paying 🤣

This thread has inspired DS and I to plan a 4 day trip to Iceland next summer. And that wasn’t even on my original list.

We picked up a Lonely Planet yesterday and we can’t wait to start making a plan (by gosh, hotels are expensive there though!)

We booked places via booking.com and it worked well in Iceland.

We’ve had this conversation recently as we’re almost out of time for family holidays (DCs are 18 and 16). They are reasonably well travelled but only in Europe plus US and Canada. Although there are of course lots of different languages/cuisines/cultures etc in Europe, I yearn to take them somewhere that will be completely different to anywhere they’ve been before, and to be with them while they have that experience. There are so many places on the list but we have decided on Thailand or Vietnam. We figure that even if eldest DC is early twenties by the time we’ve saved up, they probably wouldn’t turn down a free holiday at that age, so that’s the plan.

Our eldest who is in her 20s comes with us. It's actually very nice to have three adults and she gets to do a lot of things independently as well. She takes my youngest out and about when we just chill in the hotel.

We booked through Air BnB and it worked out well. Iceland is expensive so you could have breakfast and some meals in the apartment to keep the cost down.

We are just back from our first family holiday in five years - Covid and then my 18 year old daughter was seriously ill. Put all the cancelled holidays money in a separate pot and we are just back from the holiday of a lifetime in Vietnam - Hanoi, trekking in Sapa, cruising in Halong Bay, history tour of the imperial palace in Hue, climbing Yen Tu mountain, overnight train, beautiful Hoi An, Cu Chi tunnels and Mékong Delta, Ho Chi Minh, Phu Quoc Island.

Mine are young and we are currently in the AI trap for an easy life but looking at starting exploring more from 2026 (will be 7 and 4).

New Zealand South Island has to be on the list to go back to and with the kids there is just so much to see and do. We went when DS1 was a baby so didn't get chance to do all the adventure activities