I’d add that I did many solo hiking trips lasting days or weeks both in college and after across multiple different countries (Germany, Finland, New Zealand, US) and did a multi-week hike in Turkey (in a more remote set of mountains in the northeast of the country).
I think the dangers of hiking solo are much, much less than traveling in populated parts of challenging countries. And the people in remote parts of Turkey are incredibly welcoming, we were frequently invited in for tea, offered meals etc. I particularly remember one family’s hut we were invited to, where the daughter went to fetch milk for us straight from the cow.
Oh yes! I didn’t mean that I don’t think it will be wonderful and that he will return safely. Just that I think it’s pretty normal for moms to worry, LOL. Just part of the job. I think solo hiking not only leads to lots of valuable introspection, but probably pushes many people to be more chatty with local people they come across, leading to some very cool experiences!!
Older s has done adventurous (and risky) stuff. He was more cautious as a kid, but boy did that change. Some positive stuff (engineers without borders to remote locations in Nicaragua and Honduras) Bungee jumping from what was then one of the highest he could get to, heliskiing and skiing on double black diamond runs, and now he and his W occasionally do what I would consider unnecessarily risky stuff with their kids.
While my kids were on my payroll I didn’t fund anything that I had to stay up at night over. There was only one time that D1 went to an island down under with unexpected tsunami. Now they are on their own, they are creatures of comfort.
I often think about the crazy stuff that my parents let me do without batting an eye. I went to Delhi when I was 16yrs old for 3 months and helped build a school. On the way back I got food poisoning and was stranded in a London hostel for 4 days, alone. I went camping in the Canadian wilderness alone with friends before I could drive for weeks at a time, we brought rifles with us in case of bears!
Now my mom texts me 300 times a day asking how D23 is adjusting. I had to remind her that she dropped me off, helped me make my bed, and told me to call but only on Sundays for 30 minutes because it was expensive. See ya at Christmas!
Thank you all for all the interesting stories about your impressive and adventurous kids. They were fun to read and made me feel less alone. @EmptyNestSoon2 - thanks for your kind words and asking about my S’s progress. So, I was able to track him occasionally through an air tag and when his phone was turned on even though the service was iffy, and he did send some messages. About six days into the hike he stayed in a hostel in a small village (had been in his 10$ tent otherwise). He said he hadn’t seen any other hikers (I thought there would be many from what I read) and really wasn’t enjoying being alone with his thoughts for that long (couldn’t really use up his phone battery to listen to music). He also didn’t have proper hiking shoes and had fallen and cut himself but was able to clean up in a mosque and keep going. Keep in mind he had recently spent a month surfing in Morocco with his phone mostly off so he had plenty of time for introspection, meditation etc.
Once he had gotten through some really strenuous parts of the trail and knew he could do it, I suggested maybe he stop or stay for a while in a coastal town that was about halfway, since he wasn’t liking the experience so much. However, he’s super stubborn and felt that he had to finish as a mental challenge. S knew he was going to have to skip a 3-day section due to not having certain gear, and he did hitchhike occasionally when he was near a highway. But mostly he just powered through, getting up before dawn and doing multiple days of 25 miles/day. As @Twoin18 mentioned, S found the people in the villages to be very kind and welcoming. Also, one of times he was picked up and brought to a little beach town, the people bought him dinner. He found some mosques that were nice places to rest.
One highlight toward the end was sleeping near a lighthouse after a grueling day. S also finally ran into some hikers near that lighthouse and befriended a guy who he is now staying with for a few days.
So, he made it to the ending point of Antalya and the 30 day hike turned into a little under two weeks. He’ll be chilling in Turkey until mid September when his high school best friend meets him in Istanbul. I know he’ll be happy to have someone to travel with after all this alone time.
Our kids were modestly adventurous. ShawD spent several months traveling in SE Asia, sometimes with friends and sometimes alone after finishing her nurse practitioner’s degree. She was thinking of South America, which I considered a lot less safe for a single woman than SE Asia. She also volunteered in NC post-hurricane as a nurse. She was doing primary care during Covid (but never caught Covid). Recently she walked the West Highland Way in Scotland. Again, probably not that unsafe.
My nephew, on the other hand. To give just a few examples, he flew to Brazil to do an Ultra Ironman (which I think is double the normal Ironman). He swam the English channel without a wetsuit. Had to be helicoptered off a pass in the Canadian Rockies after he injured his shoulder in a fall.
… Lol. So glad everything is great with him and GF.