Discount Holidays with Teenagers


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We’ve all been there haven’t we? You start talking about going on holiday and the teenagers groan and say they want to go away with their friends. But they are too young or you fear that their choice of friends would brook trouble potentially, especially a long way from home. Have you considered a discount holiday option to share with your teenagers?


A good option would be to include one of their friends in your family holiday. It is important to speak with the friend’s parents to establish ground rules before you go so you have some support when establishing your own on holiday. Maybe sit down all together and write them down so there are no misunderstandings. This will probably be reassuring for the other family as well. Establish in advance what you will pay for and what pocket money they will need to bring to pay for everything not covered already by the amount their parents have paid to contribute to the holiday. It can be embarrassing if they don’t have the money to buy ice cream fro example and you don’t want to be funding everything as this leads to resentment on both sides. If you are creative with your search, you can create an affordable, discount travel package for your family and for your teenager’s friends.

Another option is to take a holiday where there will be lots of other teenagers for yours to befriend. Teenagers don’t always find it easy to approach other teenagers so holidays that offer teenage clubs and organised activities are a boon. If you have other younger children this can be a great way to enable children and teenagers to have some independence as they go off to their own clubs during the day and lave you in peace to read or play some sport.

Activity holidays such as sports tend to appeal to teenagers because they don’t have a chance to get bored, a teenage problem away from their peer group. Learning or perfecting a sport also gives them some status on their return and in some cases a new interest with the confidence gained on holiday. Cycling and ski-ing holidays are great for teenagers because they are still within your group where you can keep an eye o them but they can go off cycling or ski-ing with their friends, perhaps joining you only in the evening for a meal. All of these travel options are easy to find at a discount when you search online.

Teenagers generally don’t like cities unless they have loads of money to spend in the shops. Museums and art galleries are of very little interest and should be avoided unless you happen to have a very arty teenager.

Teenagers need to be occupied but not under your eye all the time, safe but with a frisson of independence that gives them stories to tell their mates when they go home. For special deals on activity holidays, plan well ahead and this will give you time to establish some ground rules that will make the holiday a success for everyone.

Posted by Gabe on Mar 29, 2008 | Comments


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