Am Teen, Can't Travel
Posted Thursday, June 26, 2008, 7:24 PM by Lonely Planet
I am 15 years old and as you would expect independent travel is both a difficult and overwhelming aspiration. I've got many tentative plans for after I finish school but until then I'm looking for ways to see the world while still under the roof of parental control. My first attempt to bust out was a year and a half ago when I went to LA with my family. I had aimed to go to a local punk night at a club in Echo Park, live music being an interest of mine wherever I am. The fact that this night in particular didn't work out has not deterred me from searching for my own interests through and while travelling. As other aspiring travellers of similar ages will agree, if you are in the situation where you can't travel alone that makes it extremely difficult to look into things that solely interest you and not just your guardians. Despite these challenges I think everyone should take the opportunity to travel free while you still can because sooner or later we will have to fund and guide ourselves and who knows? That could be half the fun. If anyone has any tips (other than wait a while) for under 18s wanting to explore the world, please throw them here.
- Max Mildren, work experience student
Labels: Echo Park, travel for teenagers
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15 Comments:
I was traveling overseas alone at the age of 16, i never took a lot of money and had to do the occasional job to fund my way. the only tip i have is if your passionate and eager to start traveling now then do it. If your studying then just limit it to holidays.
I work for a student travel company called Explorica. While you can't organize a trip yourself, you can ask one of your teachers to. Our travelers are predominantly teenagers accompanied by a teacher who acts as the chaperone. Many of the students find that our trips are their first experience with somewhat independent travel since their parents don't have to come along. You can pass on my e-mail address to any of your teachers cbolin@explorica.com if you'd like them to look into organizing a trip for you and your friends. Tou can check out our website www.explorica.com as well if you'd like to look at our programs. I was a teenage traveler myself (went to spain on my own two summers of high school)--so I wish you good travels and I hope to see a new blog from you soon--"How Teen CAN travel". Good luck.
s.v. - an adult needs to be with you, this is the law now
An idea, well..if the parents of one of your friends' know yours, maybe convince them to come so both you and your parents would have someone to stay with..this worked for me a couple of times
One great way to travel when you're young is to seek out exchange programs. Many exist that range from 1 week to a full year. These can be opportunities to not only get approval from your parents to travel semi-independently, but allow you to explore a new destination with resources to help you in finding your way and getting the most from your experience.
hey max, i'm 15 years old too and love to travel just like you. i can relate to that feeling of being tied down on family vacations and not having time during school, but there are a few ways that tend to work for getting out on your own. one really good idea is to go on an exchange trip. i went to spain this spring and stayed with a family that had kids my age and had a blast! i really got to experience their culture; hanging around with spanish kids halfway around the world from home was pretty top. there are a ton of organizations that will send you abroad for part of high school or a summer session. you should also check with your school to see if they have any programs you could go on. another really good excuse for getting your parents to send you out of town is visiting relatives. if you've got any cousins or family in cool places ask if you can go visit them for a week or 2 sometime during the summer. your parents will be more comfortable with you on your own if they know you're staying with family. also if you're in a sport or part of a club that could send you out of town take advantage of that. choir groups sometimes get to travel on tours to perform as well. if you can't swing that, start small and go on road trips with friends once you're old enough to drive. you'll be close to home, but if you're on your own with your buds it will be fun. anytime you can take friends on vacation you'll be able to go out and get away from your parents as well. then you can go check out music or events going on for youth wherever you are. lastly, use colleges as an excuse to get out of town. say you want to visit the college in whatever city you want to visit and see if your parents will take you to check it out. that works really well too ;)
hope that helps, good luck and have fun out there!
Maybe cut your teeth on some of the semi independent tours that are offered or better yet ask your parents if you can volunteer overseas somewhere, that way you can convince them you'll be supervised and chances are you'll find you have a fair bit of freedom when you reach your destination!!! And save save save, since leaving school I've hit up a trip to SE Asia, Fiji and been right through South America and It's only been 2 years since I left!
I was lucky in that my high school orchestra traveled to Germany and Italy for two weeks when I was 15; we had an exchange program where German students would come to the U.S. for one year and the next year would be our turn to go over there. Find out if your school has any trips, or look into year-long exchange programs if you're daring. Maybe you could look into summer camps in the U.S. or abroad. Even other locations in the U.S. is a change from your home state. Alternatively you could also save up your money now and splurge on a huge senior spring break trip with your friends. Make sure you look into study abroad options at the college/university you want to attend; it might even have an option for you to attend a freshmen-only trip before you officially start classes.
hey. you could go on an exchange trip that runs during the holidays. i'm fifteen and am trying to raise enough money to go to japan from New Zealand :). good luck with finding something.
Maybee it would be a good idear to couch-surf both unexspensive & safe: www.couchsurfing.com/
mate all these ideas are great but make sure you work out which 'tentative ideas' will work out - either in the short term before you finish school or the longer term. I finished school a couple years ago now and had the chance to do Germany/Switzerland to visit relatives, did two sports tours to NZ and managed to get to Indochina for two and a half weeks on a school tour.
Thing is, those trips were great at the time but i was doing them at my parents expense and could jump at any chance of an overseas trip. The same is true of exchange programs and that sort of thing - if you think youll enjoy that then go for it.
However, I actually regret my school tour to indochina because a) we were on a tour bus 90% of the time and i felt like a tourist, seeing the sites etc. both teachers that came with were experienced travellers but their hands were tied with resposibility. b) it was a great experience but cost double what i would have paid to do indochina now and for twice as long.
Be patient, work, but most importantly, flesh out your travel aspirations and work out exactly what trips youre most interested in doing. I've put off travelling overseas again since i finished school because i wanted to save up and spend it on something i will be able to get the most out of and will really appreciate: the result is i get to do a trip around Australia for two months at the end of the year and this time next year will be in europe following the tour de france and watching the Ashes, something Im REALLY excited about.
best of luck!!
i am 17 and have dreamed of travelling since i was tiny...
i have been saving a lot of money so as soon as i can go i have the funds.
also have found some good tours to do, i think this keeps the parents happy to know that im not by myself!
I started traveling indy when I was 14- I did a month-long class at Oxford. My parents liked the idea because a) it was educational and b) my sister lives about an hour away. So they picked up the tab. I think it was a great start in becoming an adventurer, if you will :-D, because I had a safe home away from home to return to after exploring the area and I didn't have to worry about money. These types of programs also usually offer scholarships, if that's a problem.
That said, I have two pieces of advice for you:
1) Get a job. Now. I've had several (none too glamorous), and let me tell you, even just a couple thousand saved up will give you the feeling of independence you crave. And who knows, with all that demonstrated responsibility, your parents might be more likely to let you travel during holidays and even pay for some of it.
2) Don't ever forget that your goal is to be a traveller. It's CORNY, I know. But- and I'm still not sure how this happened- with my head still spinning, I somehow ended up with plans to take a year off, travel to Morocco and Europe alone, and go to University in Scotland.
If I had let the monotony of high school get to me and let me drop my travel plans for a career track, it would never have happened.
And remember, you'll be an adult very, very soon.
-Best
Best way to sort this off is get into student exchange. You have multiple benefits. No one to stop you from traveling, you dont miss your studies and most imp you can travel and visit lot of places.
i'm 17 and plan a cycling trip to vietnam.bringing a sleeping bag and some useful hoousehold goods will save a lot of money.occationally part-time helps too!
It helps if you have relatives or close family friends overseas.
My mother and I migrated to Australia from the states when I was a kid so growing up I'd travel back by myself occasionally to see my dad, grandparents, cousins etc.
I also have relatives in the phillipines and germany.
If you can convince your parents to let you go alone - tell them it'd be a great way to learn to be responsible and independent not to mention an oppurtunity to get to know your relatives while immersing yourself in a foriegn culture, because family and cultural understanding is very important in this day and age...maybe don't overdo it like that but you get the picture.
Parents eat that stuff up, worked for me!
Also, older relatives usually try to play the "cool one" by organising for you to spend time with people your own age like cousins or kids from the neighbourhood.
Not only is this a great way to get to know your relatives and meet new people, you virtually get a free tour of your destination not to mention an authentic local tour guide who'll know where and whats cool to do for people your age, and you can explore virtually unsupervised!
Hope that helps!
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