<p>Well Alita, good for you. You must have earned your parents trust and respect over all these years of keeping within their strict boundaries. NYC is always a great trip. As for Europe...........you must have done something good to deserve all of that.</p>
<p>Momstheword, I love your name. You should get it on a T-shirt! I fully agree with you, that when your kids are hardworking and responsible, they have earned the extra trust. But Runnersmom really brings it home with being able to make "on-the-spot" decisions. And kids don't have much life-experience behind them to always do this well. But I guess if you know your child is capable of doing a trip with a few friends, it can be a most rewarding and enriching experience, that they will remember for a long time.</p>
<p>And, Chocoholic, I love your name. Chocolate is a good thing. You and Runnersmom are right--that is key: kids who show that they can make good on-the-spot decisions because there's no getting around it, things can happen on the road. I did look for assurances that mine showed good judgment with regard to decision-making before letting them head off on their own. The first notable thing was when my S went to Russia at age 13, and he was with a couple of adults and about 5 kids. The adults' rooms got broken into, wallets/purses/passports stolen, and the adults started to flap. My S took over, calmed everyone, got help and for the rest of the trip when there were a few other incidents, including some drunken men starting to accost the kids, the adults tended to lean on him. I wasn't exactly thrilled to hear about all this, less than happy that the adults weren't as equipped to handle incidents as I had thought, but immensely pleased when they told me how my S seemed to naturally step in and exhibit thoughtful, mature responses. It did make me see that he had good instincts and that he was ready to start exploring more, leading to his traveling internationally without adults.
For the parents who can stomach the nerves and the kids who are equipped to travel, it's true that it can be an enriching experience. Young people get an amazing perspective when they travel on their own. My D, for example,, while in Paris-- Montmartre, I think--suddenly decided with her friend to comb through some fabric stores they came across. They ended up spending hours touching the fabrics and talking about texture and color and the things they'd like to design and create. They spent time meandering into random buildings, studying architecture and photographing details. This probably wouldn't have happened if we the hurry-hurry parents had gone along.</p>
<p>My daughter has done both road trips and European trips on her own. Paris in the spring of her senior year of HS; London winter break of freshman year in college; a week driving in Oregon and WA with her best friend from first grade during the summer before college; the whole CA-OR-WA coast by herself last summer. At the beginning of this winter break, she drove to eastern OR (6 hours) and then came back through WA (8 hours) just because a friend asked for a ride home. She routinely drives to Vancouver BC with her friends for the weekend in the spring and summer.</p>
<p>The first trip (Paris) I asked for a detailed plan; the second trip (driving PNW) I asked her to call home every day (when they stopped for the day) to let me know she was safe, and to tell me where they were going the next day. I've found the quick check in every day works best for me: "Where are you? Where are you going tomorrow? Let me know if you change your plans, so I know where to send the State Patrol if you don't call tomorrow night." </p>
<p>This is why I pay her cell phone bill, BTW; it's very important to me that she have it!</p>
<p>Most of the kids I know have done some sort of long driving trip. I think it's a great way to explore outside of home territory. I know my first drive across the country (southern route, at age 19) changed my perspective entirely--I'd had no idea there was so much EMPTY space out there! My second trip (age 37) was even more of a revelation (northern route); there are areas where it is 35 miles to the nearest pharmacist and 150 miles to the nearest doctor. (I asked the nurse who ran the clinic where we ended up when my son developed an ear infection what he did if someone had a heart attack or something like that. "Well, last week when X caught his leg in the thresher, I held pressure on his artery for two hours while we waited for the ambulance.")</p>
<p>I think it's very important to make sure they do such trips in a reliable car; paying for something like AAA towing is a great idea, too.</p>
<p>From the way this thread is headed, it looks like the majority of the posters think letting high school seniors go to Europe without supervision is fine as long as their child is deemed responsible and sensible.</p>
<p>I think this is understandable. If you have a current hs senior, they seem so mature and ready to do something like this. They can also be very persuasive saying THIS is the summer to go. But, there really are more summers in a lifetime and I do think a 20 or 21 year old is better suited to traveling overseas then an 18 year old. Most people under 30 are also okay with living on a shoestring. My husband and I had camping vacations until I was 37 and I liked them! Heck, after 3 months in college my daughter had mastered a dozen money saving tricks. She's always been a spendthrift but not having my wallet around for back-up made her look at every dollar differently. A great lesson learned in a campus enviornment.</p>
<p>After a year or two in college they will also have had a little experience with drinking and all kinds of things. Another thing to think about are the other kids that would go with your child. While I might trust my kids implicitly, I would not want them responsible for a good friends bad behavior or judgement that far away from home.</p>
<p>Our family loves to travel. We've been to Europe, Hawaii, the Carribbean, etc. My kids have traveled through US airports by themselves and with each other since they were young. I want my kids to see all the places we visited as a family and more without us, but as real adults, not recent HS grads with minimal life and driving experience. Of course, this is just how I feel and not meant to say anyone else is a bad parent because they feel differently.</p>
<p>My D mentioned in passing that she would like to go on some sort of vacation with her boyfriend when she graduates. She will still be 17 so we do have a say in the matter. Her Dad already has his answer to that request. I would actually feel more comfortable with her going with him then her girlfriends.<br>
Last summer she traveled to India with a group and they had plenty of independence and respondibility for themselves. I am more comfortable about her traveling now that she has had that experience.
I find it interesting that kids today are doing things much earlier then we ever did. I would never have thought to even think about a trip to Europe or Mexico with friends till I was in College.</p>
<p>The summer after HS (1972, and I was barely 17), I traveled around Mexico by 2nd class bus for two and a half months. Spent my entire savings on the trip: $263 for the airfare and another $250 for meals, "hotel" (some had hot water--most didn't), buses. I traveled with a friend. I didn't speak Spanish (except for a small amount I had to learn); we bought most of our meals in the street markets... I'm astonished now that my parents allowed it, and even more astonished that I did it without any fear at all.</p>
<p>D and I have been looking online, and Europe is horribly expensive in the summer, even just getting there. Eurorail Youthpass gives you 5 non-consecutive days of travel through 4 adjoining countries for $275, which is pretty good, especially if you use them as 5 nights replacing hotel rooms.
Anyhow, it is all sounding like too much money.
And Mexico sounds like a fabulous option. Does anyone think travel through Mexico by 2nd class bus is safe? And is street market food going to make you sick?
My D has already gotten 3 other friends v.interested, and they are all beeging of me to talk to their parents (as I am the forward thinking one, ha-ha).</p>
<p>I look back on my wandering life; living in Asia, Europe and three major US cities before I was 27, travelling to dozens and dozens of countries.</p>
<p>Then I had kids. Sure, we travelled with them, Europe, South America, Asia--but it isn't the same as exploring by oneself. You don't learn at the same rate. You're worried the child is going to fall off of Machu Picchu. Forget sketchbooks.</p>
<p>The 'travelling' time from 22 to 27 was too short for me--complicated by the fact that I carved out a significant career at the same time.</p>
<p>My boys will have the same constrictions. Hopefully. Challenging work, major loves, children while they are still young themselves.</p>
<p>For all those reasons, we urge them to get out on their own as soon as possible. Take advantage of those long stretches of free time. Learn something you'll take with you through your whole life. See the world.</p>
<p>After all, most of the Hobos of the depression were teenagers. We probably keep them wrapped in cotton wool for far too long. That's how I felt as a teenager, anyway.</p>
<p>Chocoholic--Yikes, I'd probably draw the line at Mexico, but only because I had some personal experiences kicking around the place studying at a university when I was 18. I got robbed by a policeman at gunpoint in broad daylight at a nice outdoor mall. On another occasion, I sat at a restaurant and watched two mob-looking guys with shotguns escort a man up a sidewalk and flank the doors hidden while he knocked, so that whomever opened it was immediately flanked by them and escorted down the walk and shoved into a car. None of the restaurant patrons seemed to think this was a terribly big deal, though they averted their eyes. My dining companion told me not to look and to shut up. Another day, I had to hit the pavement face down in a suburban setting while two cars careened down the street shooting at each other, bullets flying around me. A couple of the girls I was with ate camarrones at a street vendor (duh!). I took a bite. We ended up horribly ill (me, the least of all), and I had to fend off the doctor who tried to give me an injection with a horse needle. The other girls got shots and ended up having to have work done on the injection sites when they got back to the States. Of course, that was quite a few years back. Still, my worrywartness would kick into overdrive if my kids wanted to go there...</p>
<p>No, I don't think Mexico by second-class bus is safe anymore. Nor was eating at street vendors ever a good idea--unless you saw them cook it. Then it might be okay.</p>
<p>My D wants very much to spend some time in eastern Europe--Prague, specifically--which is far cheaper than western Europe these days. Youth hostels in London and Paris (where my D has stayed) are only about $25/night (even with the horrible decrease in the dollar). Hiking in Scotland is still pretty cheap.</p>
<p>I think Australia is VERY safe and affordable once you get there. And traveling the US by car is pretty cheap (once you get west of Chicago or south of DC) and if you avoid the major cities in CA. The National Parks are worth seeing, and kids are young enough to camp and don't care if the bathrooms are perfectly clean.</p>
<p>Oh, and Cheers, take heart. I'm finding that traveling while the kids are in college works great. You finally get to take advantage of the off-season, and 50-ish isn't too old to enjoy it. We've been back to Africa (Tanzania), to Fiji... planning a trip to Italy this spring.</p>
<p>I'm looking forward to those opportunities Dmd.
I guess you could say we encourage our children to travel. H.S. senior son went to Mexico with his Spanish class last summer. Daughter went to visit friend in Paris during her college junior winter break, and then did the trip cross country one year out of college. Oldest son started off going to visit former h.s. exchange student friends in Germany senior h.s. year, then the volunteer work, then 2 other South American backpacking trips. Some of my neighborhood friends are amazed we allow our children to do these things but frankly, if they save the money themselves and are grown, what can you do?!</p>
<p>Momstheword, thanks for that eyeopener, I can't believe you were robbed by a policeman. That's unreal. You know, before we went to Brazil though, people said, 'why would you want to go there,there's nothing to do, you will get robbed at knifepoint. But we went nonethless, and had an amazing time at every stop. </p>
<p>D's friends are now avidly discussing this trip everyday at lunchtime, and are having a blast just doing that. Someone has friends in Prague, and someone else has family in Geneva, So, tightwads that they are, those have turned into must-see destinations!!</p>
<p>I have a little fantasy about students and travel. What if we turned all the high schools in the world into youth hostels and spent all that education money on around-the-world air fares for students? There'd be a lot of unemployed teachers, but hey, we'd have world peace in no time.</p>
<p>Well, the way the Eurorail pass works, is you can get something like a 21-day consecutive pass, that lasts for 21 days, and kicks in on the first day of usage, and ends on Day 21; or you can get 5 days of usage, for far less money, and that means 5 rail trips, with days in between. So the first kind allows you to travel everyday for 21 days, but obviously you will still travel once every 3 days or so.</p>
<p>Frankly, I'd bag the Eurailpass and plan to do one area intensively. My D had a wonderful time for two weeks in London, and never left the city. She got to know people at her hostel, she had a favorite place for breakfast, she saw every single art museum (her delight in traveling) and thoroughly... and did all the tourist stuff. She did the same thing in Paris another time.</p>
<p>As for a language barrier in Prague, my D tells me that her friends who have been there (hearsay, I know) have not had communication problems--"everyone speaks English".</p>