Traveling with Teens | Challenges We Face and How to Overcome Them | Personal Space and Alone Time

Likely for any teen, independence, freedom and time alone are experiences they treasure in their young adult life. Keys to a car, their phone, friends and social activities are all ways they discover who they are and where they want to go. 

For us as parents, teenage years are a true rollercoaster of emotions. We are raising our kids not to need us but we really want to be around them and spend time with them before they head off on their own for good. 

Before we get started… 

In case you are jumping into the conversation on this topic, this is a series to share the challenges we as parents face when traveling with teens and it was all inspired from a friendship of moms that started on Instagram, grew to sharing more on Instagram lives (the first live is here and the second one can be watched with this link) and now we are here sharing it in accessible, readable segments. 

All three of us are moms of teens (seven between us three) varying in age from 13-18. We are passionate about traveling with our teens and find that for our families, it’s the best way to connect with each other, disconnect from the distractions of life and continue to reinforce the foundation of family and the values we share. 

You can follow along on our adventures of travel and motherhood on Instagram and read more about Jen and Laura on their websites. They each offer incredible insight and shared experiences that help every parent of teen feel less alone in this new journey we face! 

Laura with Travel 80 by 80. Check out her blog today.

Jen with Go Family Adventure. Follow her blog here!

Moving on to our final topic, personal space and time alone! Something every teen craves.

Q: My teen is used to being in his/her room with space and privacy? How do you manage personal space when traveling with your teens?

All teens greatly treasure their personal space and alone time. When traveling with family and siblings, neither of those are easy to come by. The struggle is real! 

Sharing rooms. I don’t know about your house, but likely yours is like ours and each teen has their own room. Only on rare occasions (thanks to some rentals) will each teen have their own room so that means they have to share with their siblings. 

Sometimes our kids (we each have boys and girls), have to share rooms and if we are on a boat sailing, our teens have been known to have to share a bed and that can raise tensions quickly! 

The best tips that we find help diffuse the tensions are: 

1) Allow them to go off to a common area nearby (like a lobby, living room or pool) to find space and alone time. 

2) Communicate—if tensions rise, talk it out. It might get awkward for a bit but it will help resolve matters. 

3) Headphones can be true gifts, esp noise reducing ones. 

4) Encourage them to keep their spaces neat even if it’s not their normal thing. My daughter is very organized, my son is happy living among piles—when they are sharing a room, it’s expected that my son makes an effort to keep his side “neater” than usual so the small space is easier to navigate for all.

5) Respect the occasional distance. With teens, long gone are the days that they will hold your hands and walk alongside you wherever you go! Sometime teens walk ahead or behind just to create a little distance from their parents. It can be for a variety of reasons but it’s rarely personal, it’s just who they are. Maybe they like to look around on their own, maybe they want to converse with a sibling or just “feel” like they are exploring alone. We suggest giving them the space they crave with no nagging or complaining and if you do so, you’ll often find they catch up eventually. The only rule is paying attention to their surroundings…no roaming with heads down.

Traveling with teens and renting cars

Once you have teens that drive, it’s a rare day that you are all in the same car at home so it can be an adjustment when you travel. Our advice, especially from Jen who has three strong and healthy teens is upgrade the car.

Having to fit luggage for five, personal bags and long legs, extra room in the car will go a long way. That extra space and elbow & leg room will be worth the extra cost when the bickering and complaining is reduced! 

Also, be sure to remind your teens to pack extra car charger bases and cords! One less thing for them to fight about.

Traveling with teens is about making memories with them and allowing them to make some of their own.

Photo credit @melissaaskew via Unsplash

Why we created this series about traveling with teens.

Our goal through these conversations to two-fold, one to show you that traveling with teens is a lot of fun but can have its ups and downs (like everything in life) and we all have to find balance and compromise to make it work. Second, our hope is to inspire you to take that trip because through all our travels, we have never come back from a trip saying “we wish we stayed home”. 

The good times always outweigh the bad and no matter what type of trip you take, the experience of traveling with our teens always strengthens our relationships and creates lasting memories. 

Our unified goal with traveling with our families is just making the most of our time with our teens. As parents, we’ve all had that moment thinking they will be with us forever and then the teenage years arrive and it’s so blatantly obvious that is not true. 

Traveling with teens leads to authentic conversation, teaching moments and fun memories that we will all treasure, especially as they prepare to leave the nest and venture out on their own. 

Jen, Laura and I are a part of a community of travelers that aim to encourage each other to take the trips, we’d love for you to join us. You can find us all online. You can always reach out to share your stories, ask questions or connect when you need a reminder that you are not alone! 

There is so much more to discover, check out these helpful posts from Jen and Laura!

If you need packing suggestions for your next trip with teens, be sure to read this blog post Jen wrote.

Photo credit: @gofamilyadventure on IG

Curious about this hike to Potato Chip Rock? Read all about this adventure on Laura’s blog!

Photo Credit: @travel80by80 on IG

Celebrate your teens, explore the world together! 

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In case you missed the other topics, here are quick links to read more about traveling with teens and overcoming the challenges we face in doing so!