High Schoolers and overseas trips

[DVCLiz]

A question for those who don't allow foreign travel for high schoolers - are you going to allow it during the college years if the opportunity is there?

I would think it would be more reassuring to a parent to send a high schooler with some supervision than to wait until college when there truly is NO supervision. Again, just curious...

 

[ladypage]

My son and two neighbors daughters all traveled overseas at age 15 with People to People. They were in Europe for 20 days. It was a great experience for them. They had to be responsible for their own belongings, getting up in the morning, being places on time, handling money, etc. They all stayed with host families which was a great experience. They learned about other countries, interacted with a lot of different people while there. They also had to get along with their fellow travelers and listen to/follow the directions of adults who weren't their parents.

I would strongly recommend it.

That's who I did it through, and visited 13 countries before I graduated high school! It was expensive ( and now the costs are ridiculous!), but it was SO worth it. I've gotten lost in Rome, met the Prime Minister of Poland, and got to see the Romanovs Tomb. In a more practical sense, I was forced to learn to deal with living in a mroe dorm like situation than I was used to, listen to adults I wasn't used to, and make choices for myself. I also learned how to budget money better, and how even a slight difference in cultures can change a lot!

 

[tara lynn]

The schools wouldn't do these programs if there was no interest. In my case it was an exchange program. I had to write an essay and be accepted. There was a lot of interest and not everyone was selected. In my DH's case it was strictly group travel with parents and teachers as chaperones as well as local guides. Some people do have savings they can pull from and not everyone lives paycheck to paycheck. I don't mean that to sound snarky. These programs aren't for everyone but just because some can't afford to participate or don't want to doesn't mean that the programs shouldn't be offered.

I know in my town there was always HUGE interest for these kinds of trips. The year I went to Europe in high school there were at least 30 kids in my group, and another big group went to Italy at the same time.

It is expensive though. I know when I went in high school we definitely didn't just have a few thousand dollars sitting around, but my mom made it work because she thought it was an important experience for me to have. I was about to graduate from high school and I had never been anywhere without her for more than a few days at a time.
I'm so thankful I got to go, because without having done that I don't think I would have been comfortable moving to England for a semester in college (which was one of the best experiences of my life). I had friends who wanted to study abroad but were too scared to because they had never been away from home before so they never did it.

 

[tink1969]

My 15 yr old DD will be going to London/France next March with her high school. I didn't think twice about sending her. She will be two months shy of her 16th birthday.
I am 43 and have always wanted to go myself. But I got married, had children, work full time, etc etc. For the four of us to travel as a family, we would be looking at a minimum $12,000 for the trip. I don't have that kind of pocket change!

She is absolutely thrilled to be going and I'm thrilled for her!

 

[christineann]

My daughter went to Rome for 10 days during 10th grade. It was a small group handpicked and led by a professor of hers who used to live there. At the informational meeting, a parent asked about discipline, and the professor said that he had spoken to every teacher each of the students had had since first grade, and if he thought there would be any problems, they would not have been asked. It was an incredible experience for her.

(Edited to add: a few years later, two of the students on the trip were drinking. The professor called their parents and put the students on the next flight home!)

During college, she spent a semester in Austria, and my son spent a semester in Germany. I felt it was a great educational opportunity for them to go with a group and that they would learn more this way than if the three of us went.

 

[elaine amj]

I would definitely be looking at a program to send my kids overseas when they reach their teens. Friends of mine went when they were 14 and I always envied them. I didn't start hanging out with them until the following year - or likely I would have gone too. I was just too nervous to go by myself without at least a couple of friends.

Now, I host Japanese exchange students. I've done this for the last 4 years. I get a 16yr old girl who stays with me for 2 weeks. We love hosting the students and always make sure the girl we get has a great time. I hope to send my kids somewhere on a homestay like program at some point in their teenage years.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

My DD went on school trips to England, France, Italy (twice), Ireland and Amsterdam. Then last year, as a senior, they went for two weeks to Peru. She (and the whole group) loved it, thought it was best trip she'd ever been on. She called us from the top of Machu Picchu, so incredibly excited.

I so want your daughter's life!

 

[Hannathy]

I so want your daughter's life!

Me to! Can you adopt us?

 

[gina2000]

Back in the early 70s, I went to Moscow and Leningrad - behind the "Iron Curtain". It was the most amazing adventure of my life up until that point.

I learned so much about life outside the US. It was the beginning of a lifelong love of travel.

I'd send my son in a heartbeat but he has expressed zero interest in traveling abroad alone. He has been to Canada, the Caribbean, and Central America with us.

 

[mom2travel]

Our DS went to Nicaragua for 10 days last year for spring break (a couple months before he turned 17). It was a combination service trip and language immersion. They spent part of the time lodged with schoolmates and part of the time with a host family.

It was run by a favorite teacher of his who has been doing this trip for at least 15 years. DS is a good traveler, aware of his surroundings, familiar with airports, etc. He'd gone away to camps or similar sleep-away events before just never out of the country. It was a great opportunity for him, and although you are always nervous when your kids are away without you, I feel like we need to guide them and let them spread their wings. He worked hard, communicated in Spanish while away, met locals and got an appreciation for those not living in the same circumstances to which he is accustomed. He had a fabulous time!

That said, DD soon to be 13 asked if she could go to Costa Rica next spring & DH gave a resounding "no-way unless you take your mother!". She is tiny, more than a foot shorter than DS, not fluent in Spanish, and although well-travelled domestically, nowhere near aware enough of what's going on around her for us to be comfortable with such a trip. I have no doubt there will be other opportunities for her in high school

 

[mhsjax]

Hey, different strokes! I get it. Especially the part about finances. It's not like my DH and I are rushing off to Europe (or Disney or anywhere) all the time, just whenever we can. That being said, my parents were all about travel and drinking. They imposed their beliefs and preferences on me at a young age. I have pictures of my mom holding up frilly drinks all over the world (the joke is that my grandma won't recognize her in photos if she's not holding a drink). I can tell you my parents did not care that I drank while in Spain. They care that I did it responsibly. Not all kids do and not all kids can be trusted to do so. As for the travel, my parents very much cared that I have experiences outside our country. They had friends who never traveled like that with their kids, but then those kids had new skis every year and new cars in the drive. Everybody's got their likes and dislikes, and most kids get theirs from their parents. Was I jealous of my friends designer clothes? Of course, I was. However, I'd like to think they were just a little jealous of the hallway where my parents hung all our family travel photos.

Very well said. I know that there are tons of people that love to travel, and up until very recently I was one of them, but something happened and now unless I am going to WDW a cruise or to a certain relatives house, I am pretty much not interested. I don't know why, but that is the way it is. My kids are pretty much the same way, they each have a few certain places that want to go, but none of them involve going out of the country.

 

[mhsjax]

A question for those who don't allow foreign travel for high schoolers - are you going to allow it during the college years if the opportunity is there?

I would think it would be more reassuring to a parent to send a high schooler with some supervision than to wait until college when there truly is NO supervision. Again, just curious...

If they have the means in college to pay for it themselves there is nothing I can do to stop them, but I can assure you that with 3 kids to put through college and all 2 years apart, I won't be footing the bill for travel, no matter what the reason. But again, mine at this point have no desire, I can't even get my DD to get on a plane for a 2.5 hour flight, and she has heard way too many of my friends talk about being stuffed into a tin can for 11 hours flying overseas, for her to ever want to do it. WE offered to take her and the rest of the family to Hawaii, somewhere she really wants to go, after hearing about how long she would be in the plane, she said no thanks, it wasn't worth it. At least to her is wasn't.

Travel ins't for everyone, as I stated, I have several friends that have traveled out of the country, and some family that has, they didn't care for it and basically have said that they did it and now they can say they crossed it off their bucket list, and some love it dearly, for me listening to people talk about going to Japan, Peru, Paris, is just not something I get the least bit excited about, can't help it, but there are way to many places here that I would rather go. It doesn't take going to foreign country to make you a better person, you can do that here, if you want to. If you don't that is fine also.