These are tried and true ways to rock travel with teens in tow.
IT’S A GREAT AGE TO TRAVEL WITH YOUR KIDS
Oh. My. Gawd. Seriously. Mom. Stop. Stop it.
Eyes roll. Shoulders shrug. Backs turn. Feet shuffle. A few paces away. I do not know you. I am not related to you. Maybe even hoodies pull a little lower over faces. Or beanies down. Heads definitively away. Buried in phones perchance? Anything to disassociate themselves. From YOU.
Traveling? With teens in tow? Ever felt like you are suddenly the most embarrassing person on the planet to your teens? Uh. Every day. Oh! You too? Welcome to the club. It’s fun here. Especially when you put teens in a situation that takes them ever so slightly outside of their fragile comfort zone. Immediately that propensity by parents to perpetuate gross affronts escalates. Like instantaneously. Upon landing. (Sometimes even while you are still in the air getting there.) Anytime you maneuver your offspring outside your bubble, there is potential to exasperate. Both you. And your teen.
BEEN THERE DONE THAT
Stop trying to speak the language mom. Stop pretending that you know where you are. Stop taking pictures of me. I mean it. STOP. NOW. Stop telling everybody everything about us. I just told them we live in Denmark, not our social security numbers. MOM. They don’t care.
Um. But I do. I’m engaging here. Interacting with the locals. They asked anyway. And they can decide if they don’t want to make small talk with me by their own selves. Just like you. My dear teen.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not always like that. But it definitely has been. On occasion. Or two. Or more. Who’s counting? Not me. But here’s my math. (Maths if you’re British.) Currently living under my roof are two full-fledged teenagers and one trying to keep up full blooded tween. I will have a good five to six years in this zone with all three smack in the middle of this age group. And a good five years after that until they’ve all graduated through teendom. Yay me! How ’bout dem apples.
(P.S. I love my teens. And my tween.)
REASONS TO TRAVEL WITH YOUR TEEnAGE CHILDREN
A million and one posts have been written advocating travel with your children. Start them young and I concur. It’s cheaper. They take up less room. They’re somewhat containable. They don’t have opinions yet. Terrible two’s don’t count. It’s a great time to travel with your littles. When they are just that… little. You know, soooo – by the time they are teens turning into young adults, they will be perfectly compliant, capable and confident traveling companions. Right? Wrong. Sorry.
Take your teens traveling and you can accumulate a million more ways to irritate and otherwise aggravate your humans in their already volatile state. Those humans that you brought into your own hearth and home. Hormones are real people. Learning to navigate their effects while outside your comfort zone can be chaos. But for all the potential pouty faces, mood swings, general apathy and outright egregious offenses to their newly emerging independent identities – I’m here to tell you that traveling with teens can be amazing. I promise.
TASTE THE RAINBOW – TAKE YOUR TEENS TRAVELING
Teens are interested. (When you figure out what interests them.) And interesting. Truly. Teens have enough life under their belt to be able to make comparisons and understand contrasts. Teens are smart. They know things. They know A LOT OF THINGS. You don’t need to tell me mom. And when they share those things – when you let them – you both can learn.
Teens notice things. When you encourage them to look up from their screens. And it’s probably not the same things that you notice. It is fun seeing the world through their eyes. Through their filters. You, as the ever protective parent, will still be surveying the area like a ninja anticipating all potential threats, danger zones and subway gaps. They, on the other hand, will be the first to notice the cool guy with the colorful hair and anywhere that sells ice cream. Oh! Yeah. That is cool. I will continue to advocate travel with your potentially temperamental teen. But there are ways to make it easier. For you. And your teen.
10 Tips to Make Traveling With Your Teen Amazing
I can assure that all of the following tips on how to enjoy traveling with your teen have been field tested. Thoroughly. We have experienced lots of trials. And errors. Every moment of every trip has not gone swimmingly. But that’s just life with a teen. And tweens, to be honest. It’s a gentle balance of lowering expectations while raising them at the same time. Let me explain.
1 | Engage them in Travel planning
From the very beginning. Gone are the days that you can pick, plan and push your own agenda and expect perfect happy compliance. Believe me. I learned the hard way. Ask them where they would like to go. Make a list. A family travel wish list. Make sure to include potential activities that might interest them while in each location. Give them an idea of budget. More often teens have grandiose ideas of what travel means – being honest about costs can keep expectations in check. Let them suss out what costs what and then prioritize which activities hold highest interest. To them.
2 | Keep them up to date on travel plans
Once settled in on a setting and some activities to pursue, keep them posted on what is happening when. If your teens are like mine, surprises can be upsetting. And they get a little suspicious. Wait, wait. Woah mom. Where are you taking us? Is this another one of your just one more block to see some old painting? Where are we going? Mom?! I hear that one a lot.
Let them know the plan for the next day and what is set and where there is wiggle room for improvising. I am not a scheduled person per se and travel with much more free flow without kids along. But I have found from first-hand experience that meandering seems meaningless to teens, without some sort of structure.
3 | Balance between cultural and physical activities
My kids’ eyes start to glaze over when I mention the idea of stepping inside one more beautiful church. True story. I was literally told – after four days traipsing all over Rome, upon arriving in Florence – that I was allowed to take them to one church that day. One. OH, THE PRESSURE. (Side note – did I tell you I studied Italian Renaissance art at uni? I did? Then you understand how difficult that ultimatum was.) But I give. They give. It’s a balance. And just as I’m not interested in (or able to afford) ziplining through the jungle or scuba diving reefs every day, one church it is.
4 | KEEP THEM FED
This seems simple. You’re a parent. You have always worried about providing well-balanced meals to help your children grow up healthy and strong. Don’t forget this on vacation. I’m serious. It’s easy to do. You get carried away with what to see, how to get there, what you are doing (having a great time of course because you have engaged your teens and kept them informed) that you forget to eat.
You are ok. You can handle it. Even if you feel a little famished, you don’t let it influence your perception of a place. But they do. Low blood sugar in hormonal teens is a very bad combination. Keep healthy snacks in the day pack to bridge gaps between meals. Everyone will be more receptive to that medieval castle’s display of gilt chalices that you are dying to get to. If they aren’t hungry. Don’t make your teen hangry. It’s not pretty.
5 | Work With Their BiorHythms
Make sure they get enough sleep. My teens are notorious night owls. And they definitely sleep in. I programmed them well. From the beginning. Or maybe it’s genetic. Who me? *Wink, wink. But sleepy teens are about as much fun as hangry teens. Again. This seems straightforward, but if your teens naturally sleep in, don’t plan to take the first tour across town. Resistance. Push back. Humphing. Nobody likes humphing. Let them sleep. Go get a coffee with your partner, pick up some healthy snacks. Come back and then start the day. Less humphing. Usually.
6 | Let them connect
Living in Copenhagen, my children all have phones. In Denmark, and Europe in general, children are afforded a greater independence and autonomy. My children make their way to school and activities on their own. I feel safer that they have a phone with them. With the phone comes social media applications. Kids want to connect. Let them. Not all the time while traveling. But give them some space and time to share their experiences with their friends.
When you are traveling together in close confines with the entire family jammed in a rental car or sharing a hotel room, that private space that teens crave can be lacking. Make sure your accommodations have wifi, or that you have a huge bank for data. Giving our teens some time each day to plug in and tune out or snap with friends seems to recharge everyone’s batteries.
7 | Use technology to enhance travels
For teens who can’t live without the tether of their technology, give them a task. Download site specific apps and put them in charge. Many cities have apps that make public transportation tolerable. Download before you go and let them help with train routes.
Encourage them to search for what interests them and guide you to it when in town. Do you have a sneaker-head in your house? Have him look up where the local shops are and save them in Google Maps. (You can download specific areas to use offline.) Then let him take you on a tour to find them. We saw parts of Paris that I have never seen this way. He felt empowered. We enjoyed the enthusiasm.
8 | Don’t ask for a selfie
But let them Snapchat away. They don’t want to associate with you – remember? This tip applies to photographing your teen anywhere in public in general. Nothing annoys my teens more than – hang on wait – let me get a picture of you guys! Wait, let those people leave, no, move over, stand this way, hang on, right…. THERE! In bodies that are changing and growing and taking up more space, being singled out and made to feel even more conspicuous as you attempt your perfect family Christmas card shot can feel like their seventh layer of hell. If you have a selfie taker and they are willing to take selfies with you – then, lucky you! If you don’t – don’t force it.
9 | Arm them with cultural information
Teens can feel massively conspicuous in their own skin. Bodies growing at exponential rates, voices changing, hormones raging. Taking them to a foreign country, or even to a different city or state, can make that feeling grow by a factor of ten. Helping them blend in by understanding some background about where you’re headed will help. Give them a few phrases in the local language. Yes. No. Please. Thank you. No thank you. Excuse me. Start there. Helping them respect the culture you’re visiting will make them feel more comfortable and open to experiencing.
10 | Respect their perspective
Your teens aren’t you. What? I know. Hard to believe. But get over it. They aren’t. They have opinions and feelings and approaches to life that you may not understand or even agree with always. I have to consider three very different approaches from my three very different kids. What is deemed a parental offense by one, may not bother the other. What one is willing to try, may mortify the other. Trying to be conscious of these differences is important. Challenging. But important.
Other Travel Bloggers with Teens Offer Their Tips
Hilary Gudgel from Hilary Style Me
Hilary is a blogger currently living in Southern California with her two teen boys. She has taken them across Europe and Asia and has learned her own ways to engage them when traveling.
We all know teens can be a fickle bunch, so how do I get my 14-year-old to go with the program when traveling? Of course, every teen is different, and it changes by the hour, but here are a few of the tricks up my sleeve. Empower them! Give them the guidebook and ask them to choose three ideas that specifically interest them, then make sure to actually do one of them. Teens love their phones, ask them to use Yelp or other Internet tools to locate a good restaurant in the area, find out when the train is leaving or look up other information related to the day’s agenda. Visit somewhere related to their current studies! It’s always fun to be able to say, “Hey! I’ve been there!” when they return to school. When all else fails, appeal to their childish nature… Good Luck!

FIND Hilary on Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter
Phoebe Thomas of Lou Messugo Blog
Phoebe has been traveling the world since she was 10 days old. Since then she has lived in 9 countries and traveled to 65. She has been taking her children along traveling since they were young and her 17-year-old has now been to 32 countries and her 11-year-old to 26. They have spent time on four continents and currently live in the Côte D’Azur, France.
Travelling with teenagers can be lots of fun, honestly, you just have to have the right expectations and work around their rhythms whenever possible/practicable, while taking into account the rest of the family too of course.
Here are some of the things we do in our family to ensure a smooth and enjoyable trip. Take a friend! Friends are so important to teens, way above family, that bringing along a friend if at all possible, changes everything (we do this a lot for day trips or weekend breaks).
Accept that the mobile phone will be omni-present and don’t fight it (too much!)
Try not to plan too much in any one day, allowing for down time in cafés with wifi, parks to lie in the sun etc.
Try not to have too many early starts – but when unavoidable accept that the teen will sleep on the tour bus/in the train and will not look out of the window marveling at the view but will therefore be on form for the actual visit/event later.
Allow independence, whether this means leaving the teen at the hotel/apartment for some time alone or letting them go to eat/shop without adults every so often.
Eat a lot! Teens are always hungry and get as grumpy as a toddler if not satiated. Accept that you can go to less “authentic” restaurants every now and then such as a burger chain, don’t get hung up on always having to eat local. After all eating MacDonalds on the Champs Elysée in Paris is an experience in itself even if it’s not one you’d ideally have!
Try and avoid queues – pay the extra for fast passes or research ahead of time the best way to avoid long lines as teens and waiting do not go well! Remember it’s their holiday too and hopefully it’ll be a great success.

FIND PHOEBE ON FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST | TWITTER
Clare Thomson of Suitcases and Sandcastles
Clare is a former travel writer for the Daily and Sunday Telegraph in England. Although her adventures may no longer include backpacking for six months in India, she believes strongly that traveling and culture with kids can be fun. Her two boys are just entering the teen zone, but Clare realizes the importance of engaging them from the beginning when talking travel.
My tip for travelling with teens is to get them as involved as possible with the planning so that they feel included when choosing where to go and what to do. Get them to do their own research about your destination and ask them to suggest places they’d love to visit – whether it’s a tourist attraction, a restaurant or a specific shop. When you’re there, let them take control by guiding you to their chosen sights and explaining what’s so special about it.Downtime is really important to teens so always factor in enough time for them to flop in your hotel or appartment before heading off on another family activity. And finally, try not to get too wound up when they revert to stroppy teen mode when they’re tired or hungry!”

FIND CLARE ON FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST | TWITTER
Have Teens Will Travel

I hope this list helps and encourages you to take your teens traveling. Been there done that? Have other ideas to engage and interest kids in this age group? I’d love to hear. Please share in the comments below!
Know someone who is about to tread in this teenagedom territory? Tell them about these tips.
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Reading this is just like being on holiday in our family, I hear you Erin! It’s good to see we’re pretty much on the same wavelength and hopefully bringing up wonderful young adults. Thanks for including my input.
Haha! Glad to know I’m not the only one – I suspected not. Thanks for your contribution Phoebe! Cheers, Erin
Great article. I agree with all of Phoebe’s tips from Lou Messugo. We’re life long expats and our kids have been “dragged” all over the world! Expect them to sleep during the journey from A to B. Expect them to ask at every opportunity “Will there be wifi there ?” Expect them to roll their eyes constantly and not want to be in all your pics. Avoid selfies, my boys HATE them (en famille!) And yes: feed them constantly ! I always have snacks in my bag. As I type this we’re on an unexpected stop over in Paris CDG, an extra 24 hours in transit, won’t go into details. We always bring travel sized board games and cards. The boys are playing mini monopoly as we speak. The pros do out do the cons. We’re off to South Africa and I know my boys (18 & 12) are thrilled to bits, they just won’t show it!!
Oooh South Africa! Have a fab time! (My boys detest selfies!) Thanks for the comment and enjoy those teens! Cheers from Copenhagen, Erin
Love this Erin. Feel like you described me as a teenager minus the phones! I had a walkman instead. I’ll be sharing this a lot! Great work. x
Haha – yes – I had one of those too! Cheers from Copenhagen!
Fabulous post, Erin, with tips to help us all negotiate tricky teens and travel. Thanks for including me 🙂
Hell hath no fury like a hangry tween, in my experience. She also doesn’t do well with sudden schedule changes. She likes a plan, and order. I have found, however, that she loves sketching buildings, and photographing things, so I make sure she has a notebook and pencil and she uses my phone to take pics and we’re all good, and look, Ma, there’s a cafe with waffles!
Haha! Right? Teens are truly interesting – when you trigger what interests them! I think my biggest struggle as a parent is maintaining that order that they crave. Too much routine and structure and I start to feel claustrophobic. It’s a balance for sure! Thanks for commenting! Cheers from Copenhagen, Erin
We’ve got a while to go before traveling with teens but I will try and remember you tips #farawayfiles
Don’t worry – you’ll have plenty of time to ease into it! Cheers, Erin
Great tips! I always enjoyed traveling with my parents as a teen and hated getting up early, but remember loving all of it. It actually would have been nice if my parents had included me in the planning, but it all turned out well! #FarawayFiles
I kind of still hate getting up early – I’m a night owl by nature!
My oldest niece is about to become a teenager and these will be very helpful! #farawayfiles
Yeah, I definitely see my teen self in this… I’ll have to keep these tips in mind when I have kids of my own! #FarawayFiles
Haha! Glad you can relate!
I totally disliked travelling with my family when I was a teen:))
Number 1 reason you didn’t like traveling with your family as a teen?
Great post (can you tell I have two teens?). What I love about this ‘phase’ is how they will suddenly reveal just how much they know before the clouds close again. Definitely one to Stumble. #FarawayFiles
Yes – those clouds move in and out quickly don’t they!
Wow, really practical advice :). I don’t have kids, but I’m always amazed that what I can do and be (relatively) cool as an Aunt, my sister cannot as a Mum. I wear shorts, its ok. She wears shorts and she’s not allowed out of the car, according to my niece. My nephew is oblivious, as long as he is fed. Great post!
Yes – completely different standards for aunts – enjoy being the kind of cool one! Cheers!
Awesome post, Erin! I don’t have teens and I’ll tell you what. I’m not really looking forward to the day my kids turn into teenagers. My daughter is already so full of attitude at three I can’t even imagine what she’ll be like at 13. I’m going to enjoy them as much as I can while they’re young. I’m pinning this so I can look back at it years later when my kids are teens. #farawayfiles
It’s a completely different attitude, but don’t panic – you’ll have plenty of time to work up to handling it!
Wow! I’m nowhere near there yet, but this is a fantastic set of resources to help arm me for things to come. And there are loads of things I’d never have thought of – like making sure there’s some kind of structure. Great post. #FarawayFiles
Thanks kindly Nell! Cheers, Erin
Some fab tips here love the idea of getting them to use their tech to your advantage. Dime of the other tips, especially the snacks, also refer to toddlers ?
Sometimes the pouting can seem like a toddlers. 😉
Some great ideas here. I have a teen and a tween and can identify with most of the suggestions. That said, I tend to travel plan – my kids have a very different idea of our budget! #Farawayfikes
I definitely the major travel planner, but I have found picking a place no one is interested in backfires in my house!
So many good ideas here! Now, we just need to plan our next adventure, so I can make use of them! I appreciate being included with this awesome bunch of travelers! Thank you!
Yes – where does your teens want to travel next?
My teens number one pick would be Tokyo!
I had a good laugh reading this post. Largely because I’m still many years away from having to deal with this. But I can imagine if I come back to read this 6 years down the road, I would be half-laughing-half-crying. And feeling emo over the days in 2017 when my kids were so little and contained. #FarawayFiles
Great article – lots of great tip! My daughter is 21 next month and has travelled extensively with me since she was a baby (near 30 countries i think) Learning to adapt as she grew older was important – teenagers are a bit more demanding i find than a 5 year old (she was always able to make new friends in the park where ever we were in the world!). On our last trip (she now travels with her mates) we booked the Coast Starlight train from Seattle to San Francisco – she was not happy! However she now says that is one of her favourite trips – I think realising there was a cinema on the train and she had a roomette to herself helped lol! It was all great fun and I look back on it fondly! I am helping her plan her own trip to Japan, Korea, HK and onto SE Asia for the summer. They grow up so fast! #farawayfiles
So awesome that you have instilled in her a desire to wander more and on her own! Yes – it remains to be seen what will settle in with mine as to their favorites over the years! Cheers from Copenhagen, Erin
Just reading those first five or six pars had me laughing so much. The “stop telling everyone everything about us” totally took me back to my teen years. Strangers would come up to me at our farm shop and talk to me about my grades at school or my new job and I’d be thinking “Dammit Mum, stop telling strangers all about me!” And now I think it’s hilarious. #FarawayFiles
Mine don’t think it’s hilarious yet. Maybe one day? Cheers Kat!
I only have tweens at the moment but I can see these days coming down the track. I have bookmarked for the teen years! Thank you for your good humour, your helpful tips and sharing the advice and tips from others. Thanks too for hosting #farawayfiles
Oh boy, you’ve just painted a picture of the future for when my son grows up and starts wanting to avoid me. But I like your perserverence about continuing to travel with teens, despite the moods and protests. I will take note of your tips too about involving teens in travel planning, putting them in charge of apps and maps, and also listening to their point of view about a place, or what they have learned. Brilliant inclusion of other teen parent travellers tips too! #FarawayFiles
Such a fun post! I do not have kids but my friends have survived with their teenagers by planning a lot of outdoor activities. They camp, swim, hike and similar thinks. Also, they try to plan trips according to their kids preferences. They have been to places were dinosaurs used to roam or a place famous by its rock formations and minerals. And, by the way, I noticed teens in Europe less connected to their phones than here in the States (plus, they seem to know more about history and culture). I actually liked that. #FarawayFiles
I actually enjoyed reading this post! Although I don’t have kids, I have friends who have kids and some of the kid are reaching teenage years. I like the advice about getting them involved in planning and using technology for maps and places of interests, etc – that’s cool – and who knows, you may find a lovely ice-cream place 😉 #farawayfiles
Haha! Right?! Cheers Kat!
Oh boy. I’m in for it – can barely get a selfie now, lord knows what it will be like in 4 years! And girls are the worst! I had a walkman too – the yellow water-proof one :).
Yep – had the exact same one! Definitely going to date myself, but it most likely had The Police, U2 or Jesus and Mary Chain on loop!
Revisiting from #farawayfiles, good to see so many lovely comments!
Brilliant tips that I will store in my pocket for the not too distant future.
Great article Erin! My four are not in their teens yet, but a lot of your tips will already be helpful. Totally agree with keeping them fed and watered at all times – hangry is definitely not pretty!
#FarawayFiles
No one likes hangry kids. No one. Cheers from Copenhagen!
Erin I have this bookmarked to read every week so I am fully prepared for when my kids reach that age! No one wants to be dictated to so I think involving kids in the planning is my top takeaway #FarawayFiles
Bahahahaha! Ok. Maybe that’s excessive. You’ll figure out what works for you by the time you get there – you’ll just have it times TWO. No pressure! 😉
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I must share this with my best friend, who has a tween, and with both of whom I plan short trips. I enjoyed reading your tips, Erin.
I truly admire your patience! But these are some really great tips. I traveled a lot with my mom as a teen, and I am so grateful for those formative experiences!
I remember traveling with my family as a teenager, and being such a brat about doing anything. I had the hood up, and shuffle away down pat, but those trips are still some of my favorites I’ve ever taken, and I’m glad my parents pushed through those teen years and took us traveling.
#farawayfiles
Thanks for the perspective Natalie – I’m hoping that will be the same for mine – at least one or two of mine! Cheers, Erin
Awesome post. Great reading it again for #FarawayFiles
Brilliant post! Here I am, relaxed, detached from the world you describe so vividly and amusingly, smirking with the schadenfreude of other people’s problems, and just enjoying the read. Then it hit me: I’m going to be in this situation very, VERY soon. Perhaps I’m already there and I just haven’t realised it yet. He has been acting a bit funny recently. Yes – I think I need to read this again, and take notes this time. Thanks! #FarawayFiles
Haha! It creeps up fast! I still love them though! Cheers, Erin
What a cool post! I personally loved travelling with my family as a teenager. (I guess the constant fighting with my brother was more stressful/annoying for my parents that it was us though)