10 Terrific Ways for Surviving a Vacation with Teenagers

Are you getting ready for a family vacation with your teenagers?

Maybe you are going on a road or hiking trip with your teen or heading to the Caribbean on a cruise. Maybe you are getting your teenager ready for their first fishing trip.

You may be planning a teen vacation and wondering what’s the best way to travel with teens, but you need tips on how to plan vacations for teenagers.

This article will provide the best ways to plan for a teen vacation with the family.

1. Tell your teenager about your plans to travel in advance.

Don’t wait until it’s time to pack (though it may be tempting) to let them know that you are going on a trip.

Give your teenager enough time to prepare for the trip for them to get used to the idea of going.

2. Include your teenager in the travel preparation phase from the beginning.

You should include their thoughts on where they want to go on vacation.

Give them a few options of places to visit and let them choose where would be their favorite. You can also ask when they would want to go (ex. Spring Break or Summer Break).

Give them options that work best with your schedule of course.

3. Travel to a different destination each time.

If you get into the habit of visiting the same place over and over, your teenagers will express, “Again?!”

You don’t want to start planning a vacation with your teenager and they don’t have the motivation from the start. Give them inspirational ideas to make them want to travel with you.

If your time or budget limits you from visiting another state or country, maybe expand to the next nearest city you went to last time.

4. During the planning of your trip, research and include events and activities that you think they would like.

Look for things to do that include interests for your teen’s age group.

You don’t want to take them to a Sesame Street show because the price is right. Think of parks, shopping or museums they would be excited to go to.

5. In addition to looking for activities and events for your teenager, also look for their favorite restaurants.

When you are traveling, you will always be on the search for places to eat, so you want to also make sure that your destination will have some of your teenager’s favorite foods to eat.

Do they like pizza, burgers or Mexican food? Take some time out to find their favorite food so they can enjoy it during the vacation.

6. Book accommodations with enough space for the entire family.

If possible, try to reserve accommodations with lots of space for everyone.

Look for accommodations that provide separate bedrooms for your teenagers, such as resorts, vacation home rentals or suites. The more your teenager can feel at home, the more comfortable they will be during the stay.

If you aren’t able to get separate bedrooms, try to book hotels with the biggest and/or extra beds, if your teenagers have to share.

Our family loves to rent out condos or vacation homes when we travel. Book your spacious accommodation at VRBO for your next trip!

7. Just like your hotel stay, if you are renting a car, get a vehicle with lots of space for comfort.

If you are taking a road trip, you will want your teenager to be able to have enough leg space and maybe enough space for them to lay out during a long road trip.

Being comfortable on a road trip will help your teenager adapt easier to being stuck in a car for hours.

Use the same idea for when you are also traveling through the town. If you fly into your destination, rent a bigger vehicle like an SUV or minivan for transportation during your vacation.

8. Always have snacks handy!

This is critical! Teenagers are always hungry! You don’t want to be caught off guard with no snacks.

If you are on a road trip, make sure you have enough snacks to last you the entire trip. Pack snacks like fruit, breakfast bars, nuts, chips, and water.

Even if you are flying, take extra snacks with you. Whatever you have leftover from your flight, use those snacks in your hotel room. When those snacks are done, get some more.

You don’t want to be stuck on vacation with a bunch of hungry grumpy teenagers.

9. Give your teenager a day to choose what to do during your trip.

Give them the ‘decision torch’ for the day and let them decide what the family should do that day.

If they want to go shopping or bike riding that day, plan for it. If they want to ride the wild roller coaster or see the cute koalas, get your tickets to the zoo.

As long as what they want to do is something the family can provide during the trip, let them get a chance to plan for the day.

Letting your teenager plan for the day will help motivate them to participate in the activity and they will want to go on future travels with the family.

10. Allow your teenager to be on vacation!

This is the whole purpose of traveling. We all want to go on vacation to relax and have fun. Am I wrong?

Give your teenagers opportunities to do as they please. Maybe before and after you leave for the day, allow them to hang out in their rooms and surf the internet or play video games.

Do they want to go to the candy store and get bags of candy? Do they want to drink Slurpees to stain their lips and tongues? Do they want that printed T-shirt for $40 as a souvenir?

Let them sleep in sometimes, stay up or stay out late doing fun things they like to do. Let them feel like they are also on vacation and not just following your commands.

If you are traveling with teens on your next vacation, follow these great ways on how to make it the best teen vacation for them.

Include your teenager when planning your trip, book accommodations and transportation with lots of space so everyone can be comfortable.

Give them a day to choose what to do and most importantly, allow them to feel like they are on vacation too!

Have a wonderful trip (and don’t forget those snacks)!!

Here’s a great vacation idea of traveling with teens and tweens in the Caribbean. Check it out!

Have you gone on vacation with teenagers? What are some things you did or did not do to survive your vacation with teens? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.