Traveling with Teens | Travel Life Skills Series | Money
Teaching our children valuable life skills is truly the best tool we can give them as they prepare to leave the nest.
Everything we do as parents is to prepare our children to leave us. Seems unfair, doesn’t it.
With two teens in the house, we are often talking about chores, budgets, responsibilities and the privileges that come with getting older. With each passing year, roles change and the kids gain more independence.
During our recent travels, I realize there is something we need to do more of—teach our kids the life skills of traveling.
On our recent mother-daugther college tour trip, the life skills of traveling were a big part of our conversations.
Up until now, our kids always been with us when traveling. We pay for everything, we arrange everything and we get them from point A to B without much thought or consideration on their part. They are essentially along for the ride, lucky kids!
Traveling has it’s own set of skills and like more things, the more you do it, the better you get.
As our teens prepare to leave the nest, it’s important that we teach them how to travel on their own too and money is a big part of that conversation.
On our recent mother-daughter/college tour trip, my daughter and I came up with this list of things I wanted to be sure to teach her and questions she had.
We are sharing it today in hopes that it can help facilitate conversations in your house too.
Teaching teens to be responsible with money when traveling is an essential life skill.
Traveling with cash is essential and requires the most precautions since it’s irreplaceable.
When carrying cash, be sure to stash it in safe and different locations. Never carry it all in the same pocket or bag. Keep it tucked away.
Do not carry your wallet in a back pocket.
Always be sure your bags are zippered and secure.
If you are traveling with someone else (family) split the cash between the travelers.
If you need to use an ATM while traveling, be aware of fees that might be charged for using a bank outside of your network.
Be wary of small ATMs in stores or in random locations.
Try to use ATMs at banks.
Avoid using debit cards while traveling. You are not as protected in cases of fraud as you are with a credit card.
Credit Cards offer you more protection but come with their own set of responsibilities.
It’s best to use a credit card when traveling. More protection against fraud.
Some credit cards need to be alerted that you will be traveling.
Download the credit card app before you leave and make sure you can sign in with ease (save your pw/login).
Doing so is the easiest way to freeze or report a lost or stolen card.
If you don’t have an app, be sure to add your credit card phone number to your contacts for easy reference.
If traveling internationally, ask a vendor to charge in US $ if possible. Otherwise you will incur foreign transaction fees.
Traveling abroad will involve an exchange of currencies. Exchanging and calculating rates is an entire skill set of its own.
When exchanging cash for local currencies, it’s important to understand the exchange rate.
Get a receipt for your transaction.
Be sure you are using a reputable vendor. Hotels and International chains are best.
Airport exchange stores charge more but if you have to, just do a small amount to get you to the city or hotel.
Knowing the exchange rate will help you determine costs of items as you prepare to purchase and will enable you to make smarter purchasing decisions.
Paying gratuities and/or tipping is a significant part of any travel budget. It’s key to teach our teens how to budget for and offer gratuities for services provided.
Tipping is a part of travel but each country does it a little different. It’s important to read about cultural practices before your trip.
How much to tip depends on service provided though generally 15-20% is standard & how to do that math easily.
When to tip, (after service is complete, usually done with discretion).
How to tip, (whether it’s on a CC, cash, handing it to a person and say thank you).
Check to see if gratuity is included in your bill before adding it.
It’s often custom to tip drivers, guides, hotel attendants, waitstaff and many service providers.
Keeping small bills handy for tipping is essential.
Always tip for great service. Kindness goes a long way.
With every tool and skill we teach our children, we can feel more confident about their ability and success to go out in the world on their own. It won’t delete the worry we will feel but we can have trust in the knowledge we share.
So tell me below, do you talk to your kids about money? Any tips or lessons you would want to add to this list?
Encouraging teens to celebrate independence and explore the world!
Now that we’ve covered money & travels, let’s talk transportation. Head to that blog post now. Before you go, here is a pin to share on Pinterest.
