Fun for Teens in Europe
Summer is for hometown parties and hanging out with friends — payback for a year of hard study in school. But Mom and Dad want to go to Europe! How can a teen stuck in Europe with his family have fun? Try screaming on the “white knuckle rides” of Blackpool, England; mountain biking in the Alps, playing pool and darts in Irish pubs where minors are welcome to be part of the scene, etc. Share your favorite teen activities and sights in Europe.
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Activities our 4 teens liked best
Our family (one teen loves to travel and the other three teens weren't that excited about going) spent three weeks in Europe. All the kids had a blast on the Fat Tire Bike Tours. We did the Paris day tour and had so much fun we went back the next day for the night time Paris tour (our favorite- even though it was in the cold rain!). We also added the London tour. The guides are all peppy, young American college students and it's easy to see they love their job! We also rented bikes in Amsterdam and Bruge- good, but not quite as fun as the Fat Tire Bike tours.
Other teen suggestions- give them some euros and turn them loose. They can easily read the metro maps and find their way around the cities and totally loved the independence. I also recommend having cell phones that work over there. Also, split into groups. We found that our family had different traveling styles and we enjoyed being able to go at our own pace.
Barb <email>
Sugar Land, TX USA 07/22/2009
Travelling with Teens
My 17 year old daughter and I have taken trips together for the past 5 years to Europe leaving the men folk at home. I always try to include a unique activity in our itinerary. For example, In Paris we took a 3 hour cooking class in chocolate. Check out Ateliers des Chef website for dates and courses. A huge success. Taking the Thames River cruise up to Greenwich was very popular. "Look, I'm in the Western Hemisphere and you're in the Eastern Hemisphere"
Wendy <email>
Toronto, Ont Canada 05/27/2009
Teens in Europe
Paris - roller hockey sunday mornings at Invalides esplanade or Trocadero.
anne
Paris, USA 04/10/2009
Preparing kids for the trip
We took our kids to London in Oct 2006. At the time our daughter was 10 and our son was 13. A few months before we went, we assigned them different topics to research (e.g., The Tower of London, Thames River, Stonehenge, Bobbies, etc.). Once a week at dinner, each child would present three facts about the assigned topic. It lead to some great discussions at dinner and it gave the kids some context for what they were going to see. We weren't hard-nosed about it -- we just wanted them to google it and come up with three facts. More often than not, they got interested and presented more than their three facts.
While there, we had a pretty busy schedule and saw most of the main sights. Since we have two kids, we were able to take one day and split up -- one child per parent and let the kid pick out what to do that day. It was good one-on-one time and it let the child (since mine have pretty varying interests and tolerances!) pick out what they wanted. We did this toward the end of the trip so that the kids would be able to pick things that they had seen while there or revisit places that the other sibling wasn't as interested in the first time around.
I really do think kids have a better trip if they 1) understand where they are going and know something about the place and its history and 2) have some say in what they get to do.
We had a great (and exhausting) trip and our kids have been angling to go back to Europe ever since. Maybe next year...
Amy
Raleigh, NC USA 06/02/2008
Getting Your Teen Ready for the Trip
My husband and I are taking our 13 year old son and 16 year old daughter to Europe this summer for their first time. It IS tough to compete with friends back home. After reading comments here about how teens most love to connect w/other European teens, I decided to volunteer w/our local chapter of AFS (American Field Service) that hosts local exchange students. Last weekend, we went to their mid-year orientation and met 16 teens from all over the world and heard their perceptions and experience of the U.S. Fascinating exposure for my teen and good-pre-Europe education. Also, as a mom, I'm not so cool to hang out w/on weekends these days, but I bet she'll be interested when I plan get-togethers w/some of these students. So I think it's going to keep us closer. And who knows? Maybe we'll visit some of these kids when we're in Europe next summer.
Chris <email>
Carlsbad, CA USA 02/05/2008