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!

DC really want to go on Safari and to Japan.

Now we just have to find the time and money!

We had our last holiday as a family this year as DS's now 16 and 18 and won't want to come with us again.
This year we went to Japan and New Zealand and I would Japan definitely needs to be on your list.

Others we have done other years include
Safari in South Africa
Victoria falls
Berlin
Rome
Madrid
Seville
Vienna
Prague
Venice

Some great ideas on here. DS1 doesn't support air travel (he likes to blame his parents and grandparents for screwing up the planet and I can't really blame him) - does this limit us to Europe? We can still get quite a distance by train; I'm not sure that ferries have as good as carbon footprints.

Or do you just offset by a tree planting (or similar) scheme that most large companies now commit to ?

Jammedchakra We will use Booking.com too. I don’t suppose you have a recommendation for a hotel in Rekyavik?

I wanted to take mine to Nepal so he could appreciate everything he has materially here in the U.K whilst experiencing some fantastic mountain walking.

He loved a road trip we did and South Africa.I'd love to do America with him and it's the one holiday he'd said he'd do with me now he's older.

I think the glitzy places he's looking forward to doing with friends and girlfriend .

This is a great thread, we are just back from South East Asia for the same reasons. Eldest is 18 and not sure how much longer he’ll come away with us. We did Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore. It was amazing and the kids loved it so much. Expensive to get there but so cheap when there with the exception of Singapore. Would highly recommend

My 21 and 16 year olds still very much want to travel with us whenever we go away. We book holidays for just DH & I as a couple want to do and they always get annoyed if they can’t come!
We now take them on the more exciting holidays such as island hoping in Greece & we traveled around Costa Rica a few years ago. But beach holidays are kid free now!

i find as they are older they enjoy discovering more so we are planning our next family trip around Japan. But not sure if they will want to keep coming when they have to start paying their own way !!!

Columbia!

Pedant here. Sorry. If we're travelling, let's get the names right before you book the wrong airport

I think you mean the country of Colombia in South America. I bet it's amazing. I'd love to go to Cartagena. My adult son was there with his then girlfriend. They took a Catamaran from an island off Panama.

Took him loads of places as a kid and he's got the travelling bug. Not least because we are an international family. Moved around countries as a kid so it's natural for me.

Coming back to Columbia, Washington DC I think, I would love to go just to see it (seat of the US government) and especially the new Afro American Museum there.

Took him loads of places as a kid, The Gambia, Mali - family - Ireland, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, UK, Ireland. It makes them so more open to the world, and different cultures.
(flora and fauna too!).

I went a few years ago with my son and loved it. We stayed at The Grand which had an amazing buffet breakfast which set us up for the day and kept us going all day (which saved on food). If your teenage boy is like mine, it will be worth it!

I do this too but budgets mean I have to alternate the years. Recently done Cambridge and Valencia with DS, paris with DD and we have Florence planned this coming year. I know in 2 years she wants to do Spain

My children don’t seem too worried about the climate emergency (which I’m glad of in some ways as it’s a source of huge anxiety for me). We fly probably once a year which I still sometimes feel is too much. I wouldn’t be comfortable making multiple flights per year.

Does your DS use the internet? This BBC article explains how internet use produces equivalent emissions to the global aviation industry.

‘The carbon footprint of our gadgets, the internet and the systems supporting them account for about 3.7% of global greenhouse emissions, according to some estimates. It is similar to the amount produced by the airline industry globally, explains Mike Hazas, a researcher at Lancaster University’

And the article is four years old, so it’s likely that figure has almost doubled by now. I’m guessing your DS probably uses internet/phone etc (depending on his age), so although you probably don’t want to give him extra things to worry about, he might be surprised to learn that his internet use is contributing equivalent (or greater) damage than flying.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think#:~:text=The%20carbon%20footprint%20of%20our,a%20researcher%20at%20Lancaster%20University.

@Waitingfordoggo yup mumsnet has a lot to answer for..but googling places I can go will always be less carbon heavy than getting on a cruise and going there. We are certainly ruining places for locals because we fancy a week in the sun....

www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/1ceipkw/the_carbon_footprint_of_major_travel_methods/#lightbox

Ooof yikes, cruising is bad- but short haul flights too! (I wasn’t having a dig at you btw for using the internet as clearly I do too 😂- just wondered if it might make your DS think twice about flying!)

@LaSourciereEfrontee Booking.com is not always cheaper! Booking direct can be better. We used Discover the World for Iceland. It didn’t seem too bad! Hotels and car worked fine for us. We are going next summer on an expedition cruise - now that is expensive!