Curious…by the time your kids graduate HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have lived on four continents and outside my home country for 25 years. I have no idea how many countries I or my kids have been to. It would never occur to me to count. Why do people do that?

People do that when their number is very low. I’ve also lived on four continents and cannot count the countries I’ve been to since infancy. However, for my very young child I can still count. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Many Americans traditionally did not travel much out of their country, due to high costs, less time off, and far distances. It’s a much different story for someone from Europe who gets 6 weeks of paid vacation, and chooses from 6 countries all within a 4 hour drive. You really cannot blame anyone here.

I don't understand your answer. You said it makes sense for your young child because of.....?

For the record, I am not European and am from a country much further flung from Europe than the US. I did not travel outside my country until I had finished university and everything was self-funded. So travel was never accessible or easy for me and I have never taken it for granted.

[Anonymous]

COVID threw a wrench in our plans - our kids were in HS and we were finally able to do more overseas trips that we could not swing when they were younger. Not to be, but fortunately all healthy. We are trying to make up a bit now that they are in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious about this too. My kids will have been to quite a few states (mostly because we have moved within the US a few times) and about 5 countries. When I graduated from high school I had never been outside the US, but that was many years ago. And we were poor.

OP here. Travel abroad wasn’t a thing even for most middle class families. Now it’s the norm?? I wonder for how long given inflation. But yeah, it’s crazy all the places kids have been to from my kids’ classes.

You can take them places, but to be honest my best trips were ones I paid for in my twenties when I wasn't traveling with my parents. Earlier trips with my mother were very stressful and over organized.

Backpacking, staying in hostels, meeting new people and surviving on very little a day was the best kind of travel for me. My kids were taken to far flung places around the world because my husband and I come from different parts of the world and had to visit extended family in these countries - this isn't the norm though. Now, I expect my kids to decide on their own travel experiences and I hope they have some fun adventures.

[Anonymous]

My kids are both in high school. Compared to my youth travels, they’re had it pretty good. Europe twice, Caribbean a couple times, Disney, Universal, OBX more times than I can count, Cape Cod, Maine,Canada, and a ton of trips out west- Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Utah…etc.

We just got back from Italy. First time for everybody and while it was awesome, the kids (and even me) enjoy our trips out west the best. Italy was great, but it was also very crowded. Since it was our first time in Italy, we did mostly tourist stuff, so that probably had something to do with the fact that it was a little overwhelming.

That said, we’ve been fortunate to have a lot of great trips with our kids. They are great travelers and look forward to a week at OBX as much as more far-flung vacations. Great memories for me hopefully the same for the kids.

[Anonymous]

So far we've done:

Bethany Beach
Rehoboth, DE
Bermuda
Disney 3 times
Chicago many times
Philadelphia
Acadia, Maine
Sleeping Bear Dunes and the UP of Michigan
Smith Mountain Lake, VA
Miami/Everglades
Asheville, NC

Future definite trips:
Norway
one European trip each picked by our two kids, probably based on which language they choose in high school

Possible future trips (realistically probably only two of these):
Caribbean all inclusive
Iceland
London
Hawaii
Alaska cruise

For this area, we have a modest income and don't get that many days off work. Plus our kids do travel sports and it's getting harder to get away. But compared to the travel I did growing up, this is a ton and I'm happy we'll be able to do these things with our kids.

As a PP said, we do travel to show our kids different places/cultures, but also to have quality family time away from the pressures of school, work, sports, etc. Some of our best trips, where we really connected and made great memories, probably sound really boring compared to some of the exotic locations on this thread!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are both in high school. Compared to my youth travels, they’re had it pretty good. Europe twice, Caribbean a couple times, Disney, Universal, OBX more times than I can count, Cape Cod, Maine,Canada, and a ton of trips out west- Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Utah…etc.

We just got back from Italy. First time for everybody and while it was awesome, the kids (and even me) enjoy our trips out west the best. Italy was great, but it was also very crowded. Since it was our first time in Italy, we did mostly tourist stuff, so that probably had something to do with the fact that it was a little overwhelming.

That said, we’ve been fortunate to have a lot of great trips with our kids. They are great travelers and look forward to a week at OBX as much as more far-flung vacations. Great memories for me hopefully the same for the kids.

My kids have been taken around the world. Their favorite trip ever was visiting the Badlands and Custer State Park in South Dakota.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are both in high school. Compared to my youth travels, they’re had it pretty good. Europe twice, Caribbean a couple times, Disney, Universal, OBX more times than I can count, Cape Cod, Maine,Canada, and a ton of trips out west- Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Utah…etc.

We just got back from Italy. First time for everybody and while it was awesome, the kids (and even me) enjoy our trips out west the best. Italy was great, but it was also very crowded. Since it was our first time in Italy, we did mostly tourist stuff, so that probably had something to do with the fact that it was a little overwhelming.

That said, we’ve been fortunate to have a lot of great trips with our kids. They are great travelers and look forward to a week at OBX as much as more far-flung vacations. Great memories for me hopefully the same for the kids.

My kids have been taken around the world. Their favorite trip ever was visiting the Badlands and Custer State Park in South Dakota.

PP here. We did South Dakota and the parks too…what a gem. Great scenery, great hiking, not too crowded….one of our favorites too.

[Anonymous]

When I graduated from high school I had been to 4 states and flown once (from one side of PA to the other). No other countries. Vacation was a drive to the Jersey shore each year. No other vacation as a kid.
My kid won’t have been outside the US, but will have flown multiple times and been to maybe 15 states.
In my 20s and early 30s I traveled and lived abroad for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly travel isn’t the end all and be all for exposing kids to different cultures. And yes a week or two weeks long vacation where you just visit the touristy spots isn’t exactly exposure to different cultures. But that duration is fine if all you want to do is visit places that have historical significance.

With the crowds these days, traveling has become overrated for me. Plus we are bound by when the kids are off school. Tourist spots are always so crowded during winter break, spring break and summer break. It’s over whelming with the long line ups for pretty much everything and takes the joy out of traveling to new destinations.

OP here. Not sure if the point is to expose them to different cultures but rather see different places. I’m South American and my kids have been to my country a few times and even then they are just getting a little bit of it when they visit so I get what you are saying. I noticed some people who travel to tons of different countries (especially poorer ones like mine) to “expose” their kids to different cultures are still kind of condescending jerks living in a bubble when they come back home. I do want to at least give my kids the opportunity to see a few different places in the US and abroad. Even if we doubled our HHI, there’s no way we can take tons of weeks off work to travel. So my kids’ final list will never be as long as many of the PPs. I do hope travel is accessible to them when they are adults. I think bc of climate change, things might look different.

We are a couple from overseas. In addition to trips abroad, we have focused on taking our kids to different parts of the US, in large part because we want to see more of these places too. If we move back to one of our home countries, we can be happy that we saw as much of the US as possible. Some of our best breaks have been within driving distance of DC. It's nice to throw whatever we want in the back of the car and drive, compared to the queues and crush of international flights.

[Anonymous]

I have a 13 year old and a 10 year old. They have been to:

UK (many times)
France
Iceland
Canada
Cuba
Mexico
Costa Rica
Panama

California
New Mexico
Arizona
South Dakota
Colorado
Wyoming
Maine
New York
Florida
North Carolina
West Virginia
Michigan
Illinois
Tennessee
Utah

Possibly some more states that I’ve overlooked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a 13 year old and a 10 year old. They have been to:

UK (many times)
France
Iceland
Canada
Cuba
Mexico
Costa Rica
Panama

California
New Mexico
Arizona
South Dakota
Colorado
Wyoming
Maine
New York
Florida
North Carolina
West Virginia
Michigan
Illinois
Tennessee
Utah

Possibly some more states that I’ve overlooked.

PP above here, I should as that our HHI has never been above $150k. We travel well but inexpensively and using a lot of credit card points and other ways to save money.

[Anonymous]

Age 16 and 14:

Hong Kong
China
Japan
Thailand
Singapore
England
France
Netherlands
Sweden
Denmark
Norway
UAE

[Anonymous]

Country wise our 11 year old has been to Canada and the Bahamas. Covid definitely hurt that list quite a bit. HHI is $285k.

State wise I don't even know. 2 dozen at least. We love little weekend road trips. Currently we have trips scheduled to:
- California (LA, San Diego)
- Hawaii (Oahu)
- Iceland

Europe is on the list after (I think it'll end up being something along the Mediterranean).

[Anonymous]

My 7th grader has been to 27 states and 9 countries. Not sure what the next few years hold for us - but hopefully more travel!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which places in the US and abroad will they have visited? And what is your HHI? Many families in this area seem to think nothing of traveling to all sorts of places during what seems like single every school break (even long weekends). I’m just curious how they fit it all in both time and money wise. Any regrets? Any places you would def do before the kids head out to college?

Greece
Germany
Paris
Spain
Costa Rica
Dominican Republic
Cayman Islands
Canada
Holbox Mexico
Belize
Florida-Likely 20x
Los Angeles
NYC
Honduras