did your 18 year olds go to Europe the summer after graduation?

[Anonymous]

I did it and my DH did it but we couldnt' get our DC to do it. Despite our best efforts incl hosting european HS students and forming relationships with them with this idea in mind - still no go. Absolute home bodies.

No we're not rich and being rich is not a requirement to go to europe and stay in hostels.

[Anonymous]

Nope.

My kid is working to save money for college. Traveling would mean lost income (in addition to the cost of traveling.).

[Anonymous]

This was more common in the 90's - we had the "let's go" book with advice on where to stay/housing for students and the Eurail pass all geared towards student travel. I went with a friend for several weeks and remember calling my parents periodically from payphones.

Times were different, however.

[Anonymous]

Backpacking (okay I had a wheeled bag) is some of my fondest memories. I slept under a bridge with my best friend one night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did it and my DH did it but we couldnt' get our DC to do it. Despite our best efforts incl hosting european HS students and forming relationships with them with this idea in mind - still no go. Absolute home bodies.

No we're not rich and being rich is not a requirement to go to europe and stay in hostels.

I posted that my kid isn’t doing it and neither is anyone we know. DH and I did too, but in the 90s and a summer near the end of college after saving up. Those few years looking back made us seem a lot older than 18 and just graduating HS. Backpacking and youth hostels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bunch of unsupervised teens in a foreign country isn't something I can agree to.

I think it’s great that teens want to explore the world, but personally, I’d feel more comfortable with a trip like that after they’ve had at least a year of college or living away from home. That first year can be a big adjustment—it helps them learn how to manage independence, make safer choices, and become more aware of their surroundings.

While I know the movie Taken is fiction, it touches on a real concern: many teens, especially those raised in sheltered or privileged environments, may not fully grasp that there are people out there who will try to take advantage of their inexperience. A year out on their own, navigating day-to-day adult life, can give them stronger instincts and better judgment when traveling abroad.

That said, every teen is different—and some might be fully ready at 18. But I’d lean toward giving them more time to build life skills before encouraging a big overseas trip with peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol. Nope. My kids work every summer. Maybe that’s a rich kid thing.

Stop it. You don't have to be rich to go to EU. Or make over minimum wage to do well in life.
You have to be really good with money. I double my minimum wage when it comes home thanks to credits, deductions, and then double it again every year inside my Roth.
My kid will not be on my tax return as he would get a lot more money back being on his own. The refund would pay for his college.
Having money is little bit of work, but mostly knowledge. Your kid can be a rich kid too if they only knew that money doesn't come from work only. Your kid could have doubled the money and then spend what they earned. Now they don't even have experience doing it.

It’s really hard to be good with money when you are poor. You can have good financial advice, but dealing with life’s emergencies as a poor person creates a choice between being screwed now or absolutely f@cked later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is there for about 3 weeks with several groups of high school friends. Living the 11pm-4am disco life.
Going to some museums during the day. They are staying at hostels. My son is spending money he made earlier in the summer.
How common is this?

Not common these days among the middle class.

My kids had internships or summer jobs the summer after HS. One DD took a CC course so she could skip it once she got to UMD.

They all went to Europe in HS. It will be there in the future if they want to return.

[Anonymous]

My 18 year old spent a week in Europe with his 22 year old cousin. Both celebrating graduation. They were in an inexpensive location, for Europe. Their hotel was super inexpensive, but not a hostel. They weren’t joined at the hip, explored some separately.
The extended family met up at the end and vacationed together.
I would have let him go with a similar aged friend, but worried much more.

[Anonymous]

Yes! My dc went to Germany with a friend to visit family and then Greece. Did it on the cheap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is there for about 3 weeks with several groups of high school friends. Living the 11pm-4am disco life.
Going to some museums during the day. They are staying at hostels. My son is spending money he made earlier in the summer.
How common is this?

Probably not with this crowd. They’d all have leashes on their dc if they could

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was more common in the 90's - we had the "let's go" book with advice on where to stay/housing for students and the Eurail pass all geared towards student travel. I went with a friend for several weeks and remember calling my parents periodically from payphones.

Times were different, however.

Very true. The kids are different now. I did this at 16 but kids now aren't built for that kind of independence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is there for about 3 weeks with several groups of high school friends. Living the 11pm-4am disco life.
Going to some museums during the day. They are staying at hostels. My son is spending money he made earlier in the summer.
How common is this?

My recent high school graduate is spending the money she made earlier in the summer on college. And she is still working for the rest of the summer for college money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol. Nope. My kids work every summer. Maybe that’s a rich kid thing.

Stop it. You don't have to be rich to go to EU. Or make over minimum wage to do well in life.
You have to be really good with money. I double my minimum wage when it comes home thanks to credits, deductions, and then double it again every year inside my Roth.
My kid will not be on my tax return as he would get a lot more money back being on his own. The refund would pay for his college.
Having money is little bit of work, but mostly knowledge. Your kid can be a rich kid too if they only knew that money doesn't come from work only. Your kid could have doubled the money and then spend what they earned. Now they don't even have experience doing it.

The cheapest flight to Europe is a few hundred dollars. Daily expenses (hostels, food, sightseeing, etc) is an added expense. My kid who is making minimum wage and saving for college, car insurance, gas, books, college fun money isn’t going to have money for a trip to Europe no matter what he does. Me neither. I will hit $90k this year as a teacher. Once he graduates college, I’ll have more money for saving, investing, etc.

[Anonymous]

Those of you whose kids are "working to have money for college" --are your kids contributing money to the cost of college tuition?