17-year-old ds wants to book lads' holiday to Malia next summer.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

He will be 18, and will be going with three school friends. I am not happy about this at all - from what I have read tonight, it is full of teenage Brits, getting off their skulls on cheap alcohol (buy 1 drink for 3€, get two, or even 5 free), having lots of sex, and racing round on cheaply hired quad bikes.

But I know there is not a lot I can do about this - he's worked, labouring for a friend of mine and has saved enough for the deposit, and earns £25 a week from a paper round, so he could afford the holiday (they've found a deal costing £300-ish for a week) and save up spends - so he's not going to be relying on us to finance the holiday - which means we won't really have much say.

Has anyone been to Malia? Or have your teens been - and how was it?

I am going to show ds3 the news stories I've found, and see what he says.

He does go out and party with friends, but has only been drunk enough to need us to go and get him twice. He and his friends seem to look out for each other when they are drinking, and none of them have ever got into serious trouble - throwing up seems to be the worst they have got up to - we haven't had to go and bail him out or collect him from A&E. I think he is reasonably trustworthy, but would that hold, when he's in a party town, surrounded by loads of other drunken teens, behaving recklessly? He did go to T in the Park this summer, and came home none the worse - should that reassure me? I don't know.

I want to trust him. I know that he will be 18 and would be able to go with or without our permission - and that in a few years, he'll be living independently, and won't even have to discuss his holiday plans with us - but I am worried about this holiday.

Dh is away until Wednesday night, and I have said ds3 can't book the holiday without first talking it over with him, but ds3 and his friends want to book on because they have found a good deal.

Arghhhh - why can't they stay little.

[Mrsjayy]

Oh your poor boy do it

[AnyFucker]

hahahahaaaaaaaa

[ContentedSidewinder]

DH is addicted to watching Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents! He then tells me all the juicy bits

A lot of the lads talk the talk but usually just end up with one of them getting completely wasted and pissing the other mates off. There seems to be very little sex.

I think it makes or breaks friendships and also exposes weak friendships.

I tend to watch the medical programs that feature A&E in towns where British teens flock, so I've seen the very drunk and the I've fallen over in the street people. It's the alcohol consumption that worries me the most, not the I'm drunk but the alcoholic poisoning stuff. And how teens are when they drink from the merry to the I want to fight someone.

What is your Ds like when he drinks? Can he stop or does he keep going with his mates? DH was always ribbed because he just didn't drink as much as his mates at Uni but he was strong enough to just shrug it off.

Ds1 is 11 so I have it all to come.

[chocoluvva]

I was amazed by the number of DD's friends who went to Kavos this year. (DD didn't go) Some of them are more than averagely 'clean living' although one girl has form for drinking until she throws up every time she goes to a party and the others were worried about her going - but they all had a great time. They went in three groups, one was mixed gender, another a group of girls and another all boys. One of them got a silly tattoo but there were no casualties.

(I predict my younger one will want to do this in a couple of years).

[chocoluvva]

Pressed send too soon - sorry.

I've also heard that the drinks are watered down. No idea of the truth of that though.

[Theas18]

DS did this in July. Most if the 6th form went to xante. I was terrified. He came back in one piece after an " enjoyable ordeal" that he doesn't feel he is too keen to repeat lol

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Because I am an evil parent, I am slightly hoping that ds3 gets his first hangover on this holiday. He tells me he never gets them - which I am attributing to him being young and healthy, and maybe it also means that he isn't drinking as much as I fear he might be.

But if he goes away and drinks solidly for a week, even his healthy constitution will give out eventually, won't it? And maybe suffering a hangover will be a learning experience for him?

[secretsquirrels]

Hi Theas .

DS is a light weight when it comes to drinking. He and his friends are not very streetwise country lads and in spite of being 18.5 he only went clubbing for the first time last week.
On our family holiday in July he had 3 pints of beer one night and was horribly sick and hung over . He is now very aware of his limits. I just keep reminding him that his guard will be down if he is with a group of lads all downing shots.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I think ds can stop when he's had enough, and doesn't get pressured into drinking more than he wants.

[secretsquirrels]

It's easy to resist peer pressure when you are sober, but resistance is lowered once you have had a couple of drinks as I keep banging on to both DC.

Oh and this may not be in the forefront of their 17 year old minds when they book a holiday but make sure they won't be away a year today when results come out.
Just in case.
Two of DS's group are not 18 until next week and that is why they are travelling so late in the summer. I insisted he left a couple of weeks between results day and the holiday in case we needed to sort clearing or accommodation stuff out.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I hadn't thought about results day, secretsquirrels - I will mention that to ds3.

[Theas18]

Absolutely agree with secret squirrel re results day. Got to be back and sober for that.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

The frightening thing is that next year's results day will mark the end of me having school-age children! And we will be getting ds1's degree results next summer too - so I will have one out of full-time education and into the world of work. Bloody hell I must be old!

[DisgraceToTheYChromosome]

chocoluvva: wonder if your DD's friends ran into my DD? Tall young woman with a laugh like potatoes rolling down a tin roof. "It was really good, we only saw one fight and no alcohol poisoning".

HOWEVER: the mosquitoes were bastards. Her friend caught a nasty infection from a bite and DD went off food for nearly two days.

[StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes]

late to the party but be warned... DS1 went for a weeks hol last year, loved it so much he came back for a week then went again, the next year (this year) went in june and stayed all summer working back this weekend. He has had a fab time but I am sure his liver will disagree .

[hoboken]

DD went to Malia with friends just before her 18th birthday. She had a whale of a time and came home unscathed but broke... Agree that he should have comprehensive insurance as well as the card. Money Saving Expert has info on best deals for local sim cards and roaming.

[Sausageroll99]

DD 17 planning girls holiday after A levels group of 10. At least 3 -5 of them have always said they didn't want a drunken Brits abroad holiday. They considered inter railing but too expensive; considered easyjet flight somewhere and I'd help them get a large apartment. Barcelona discussed which we were happy with and a few girls happy with, bit of culture, beach, nightlife but where the focus isn't on just the nightlife. Another option was Turkey. DD founD a wonderful apartment in Barcelona but then the dominants decided they are going to Zante with a travel agent. My daughter is not happy at all (I've brought her up to be quite scathing of package holidays, sorry, I find them poor value!) but her protests have fallen on deaf ears. A couple of others don't particularly want to go but the dominants are leading the way. I spoke to mum of one of the dominants and as I suspected it was her idea that they MUST go through a travel agent (at least they'll be a rep in the resort. Does she not know that it's the reps who are the wildest?!).
I've suggested to DD that those who don't want to go go somewhere else but she said that will make the dominants angry and anyway DD has always said to the girls it doesn't matter where they go as long as they're together they'll have a great time - now she's eating her words!
I doubt the dominants will listen but is there any resort in Europe DD can recommend that's not as chavtastic as Zante, Malia, kavos, magalluf. Something a little bit classier, not as hedonistic?
DD will only be 17 when they go so I hope the travel agent needs my permission!

[iwantgin]

Oh OP - I can see this is around the corner for me too.

my DS is 16 almost 17.

However - I was pretty wild from the age of 14 - and at 18 had my first holiday 'with friends abroad' . (We had gone away in the UK for a week aged 17 too).

We went to San Antonio in Ibiza. in the Mid 80s this was party central. We had a great time. I don't believe i had any travel insurance. I rode mopeds. I got bad sunstroke and bad sun burn. But that was as bad as it got. Two weeks in a nice enough hotel, with breakfast and dinner - otherwise we would probably not have eaten.

I didn't phone home once. And of course, there were no mobile phones either.

It's a rite of passage. As long as your DS knows the score - and is moderately sensible he'll have a blast.

[iwantgin]

sausage roll how about you suggest that your DD and friends go to - say Zante - but don't stay in the liveliest resort? They can go into the lively resort (Laganas?) for nights out - but if they want to be quieter some evenings stay in a more family orientated place and not be so inclined to knock back the shots!

[Medusa99]

Sausageroll99 my daughter aged 17 is in an almost identical position to yours! Group of 7 of them want to go to Malia or Magaluf post A levels. We are used to independently booked 5* holidays and my daughter is baulking at the idea of a raucous partying holiday! She wants to go away with her girlies but doesn't want the risk of trouble. I will be interested to know what happens with your daughter! I like iwantgin's suggestion of a neighbouring resort - might suggest that as an option.

[CiderwithBuda]

I went to the Algarve this summer with a friend, her dd and four of the Dds friends.

They wanted t go to Malia but as a couple of them were only 16 the parents weren't happy. So a compromise was a villa in Vale De Lobo in Portugal with a parent in tow! My friend was th parent and she asked me to go to keep her company.

It worked well. Nice villa. A nightclub. The girls met others they knew.

They had a great time.

We would all go out to dinner every evening and then my friend and I would stay out while the girls went back to the villa for a few drinks as it was cheaper to do that - they then just had to buy one or two drinks (or get someone to buy them for them!) when out. We would see them come back to go the club and then we knew it was safe to go back to the villa. They stuck together and even one night when one wanted to come home they walked her back and then headed back out themselves. They brought a boy back one night! He had gotten separated from his friends and having only just arrived didn't know how to get to his villa. So they offered him a sofa. He was a boy that my friends DD had been in Reception with at school. It was quite cute.

[MymumisaG]

Ds1 went to Zante aged 17 and Ds2 went to Malia - seems to a rite of passage at the end of year 12? Both came back in one piece but we're glad they'd only gone for a week, don't think they could have kept it up for two weeks. Have to say though that out of ds2s group of 12 boys 5 of them came back with tattoos or piercings and a couple were quite infected, ugh! One boy also got into a fight and ended up in hospital too. Ds was ok but had a hacking cough for about a month after his return and a horrible eye infection too. Dd almost 16 will probably want to go when she's old enough too and I'm not looking forward to it at all!