Actually just had a great holiday with teens

[Luckything50]

Posting not to be smug, honestly, as I’ve had some shockers, but just to say this worked for us.
Tips for success include:

1. i have a ds18 who I left at home because he’s going on holiday with his friends soon and doesn’t need 2
2. i took dd16 and her bestie, and my dp because I didn’t want to be lonely 😬
3. we only went for 5 nights all inc. this meant that there was a bit more £ for activities for the girls and spending money for all the pointless stuff they want in the bazaars.
4. a daily water sport like jet skis or boat trip, and a hotel in a town but by a beach so they can choose between pool and beach and have some independence whilst being near us
5. seperate rooms
6. not nagging about them getting up as there’s crap available all day if they miss breakfast (and lunch?!?)
7. giving in to the odd cocktail (which are free and watered down) so they don’t feel like kids.

Now waiting for a taxi to take us to the airport and we can all honestly say it’s been great. Dd has the necessary insta kudos and dp and I have had a few days away with no arguments with her. Win win.

good luck everyone. 🤞🏼

This makes a refreshing change from the usual teens on holiday threads. Thank you. We don't holiday abroad much with ours so I was worried that the best years were behind us

How much did that cost? Did you pay for your DD friend to come or did they pay? It sounds great but expensive

@MamaNell we paid for her but tbh the difference between 3 and 4 wasn’t significant. She brought about £200 and spent it on extra water sports for her and dd.

The whole thing was around £2k but only because we wanted 4+ star, from a local airport and Turkey. Could have done it for around £1500 in Spain from Gatwick.

I suppose as you are a family of four you are used to paying for 4 for a holiday anyway

I'm going away on a cruise with my 17 year old and 19 year old next month. We've been on a cruise before so I know to keep it short (four nights),
I've been to Wales with them for a week which also worked out well. In fact going away is the best times - kids are forced to interact with each other!
We are discussing next years trip - back to Spain for first time since covid. No tv or internet at the house, but they know that so are prepared (will download a few films at the Internet cafe). Ideally my son wants to go away with friends but they are all too scattered and they missed the post A level trips due to covid restrictions.

Just done similar in Wales - took both my DC plus one friend they both get on with. Booked a cottage in a small town with a beach. Some activities eg kayaking, some trips and some dossing around time when they could go into town or on the beach. Ate out each evening so we didn't have to cater for the fussiness and left it up to them when they got up. We were self catering so I just did one shop at the beginning of the week for everyone's preferred breakast items and filled the fridge with salad, sandwich fillings and snacks and told them to sort themselves out as and when they wanted it. Most relaxing holiday I've had in ages and they had fun too.

Ive borrowed my best mates two teens while I holiday in her Italian lake weekend pad with my two. Everyone far less grumpy than they would be with just their sibling (so far on Day Two).

It's the way forward I think!