BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi everyone

I'm new to travelling (I am 40) and am taking my 13yr old son through South and Central America for eight months. Do any of you have any advice for keeping a teen happy and interested for such a long period of time? I know he'll be seeing new places and meeting new people all the time, but any tips on problems I might face would be helpful.

Thanks

Wow. What an amazing trip for you and your son. i don't have any advice except to just do it and keep us posted. My doc and his wife did this with their daughter when she was around that same age right before 9th grade I think? and they sailed for almost a year and stopped a poor ports and offered medical treatment at the docks on their boat for interested locals. Needless to say he was amazingly supportive of my travel plans!

Keep us posted!

hi there, that sounds like a wonderful experience for you and your son. I haven't yet started a family, but I went on a 2 month trip through Europe with my family when I was 16, so here's some advice from my experiences as a teen traveling with parents (and note, not all teens would respond in kind as I'm sure you know).

The thing I hated most was the constant picture taking from my family. I know they wanted to document the great memories and places, but for me it was a bit excessive, and as a 16 year old, I desperately wanted to blend in and not be seen as a tourist or an outsider to the culture. This may be harder in South and Central America than in Europe, but not sticking out too much may make him feel more comfortable.

The second thing I needed along the way was a bit of personal space, which is often important to teens. I had my cousin and older brother with to go off and explore with, which did help satisfy this need of mine. If you feel your son is getting moody, this may be what he desires. I wouldn't let him off on his own, but maybe you could think of some compromises or creative ways to feed any needs for independence. This was a major issue for me when I was a teenager, so thats just a possibility. I know not every kid is like that, or that they may go through the phase at different times.

But overall, no matter what my family did, or what moods I may have had, I look back on that trip with very fond memories and wouldn't trade the experience for anything in the world. So if you do hit some rough patches somewhere in those 8 months, just push through because in the long run you'll both remember the good times and have a laugh over the bad times.