Reply to Graduation HS Senior wants to go to Europe with friends

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Only you can say how mature or not she is. If you do send her, make sure she carries notarized permission to travel solo. Our bus from France to Italy last year was delayed because the driver asked this of a French teenager traveling alone.

There may be other logistical issues for under 18’s:

- My son is younger, but when we sent him to the UK on his own for summer camp at 12yo, I contacted the currency exchange vendor at Heathrow and they said it would be at the discretion of the manager that day as to whether or not they would change money for a minor; we obtained pounds ahead of time to avoid trouble. My son was able to use a credit card, but probably shouldnt have been allowed, as they are illegal for anyone under 18 to use in the UK (minors are technically not allowed to sign any kind of promissory note).

- Set clear expectations of how often you expect her to check in with you. My son was scared of running up a huge overseas data bill, so he turned off cellular service, making it impossible to track him or communicate with him while he was in transit.

- Also, a group of barely 18yo girls will most likely not be allowed to rent a car: I’d have a hard no-hitchhiking rule. Uber may/may not work in their destination countries. Find out ahead of time and make sure her account works, if you’re ok with her using it.[/quote]

New poster here. We travel in Europe frequently with our teen and have friends there (locals) who have teens. OP, please heed the excellent post above and the points about travel.

This post also raises a good point: Do the girls plan to rent cars? They won't find vehicles big enough for so many; car rental is much more expensive there than here; and many rentals (at least, in the UK) are manual transmission. Can they drive a stick shift confidently, if all that a rental firm has in stock that day is a manual?

Say they're not planning to rent cars, but--what if there's an emergency and they need to?

And they can take trains, which are great, but the likelihood of getting seven or eight seats on the same train can be dicey during certain times. Do they know to check whether they're traveling on a local holiday when trains are sold out in advance? Are they OK with standing up to ride the train? Because that does happen. For hours. I can't picture a group this size NOT ending up arguing about logistics and costs of schlepping around. Two or three people? Sure. Seven or eight? They won't end up sticking together.

All this to say--a hard no. My own DD has traveled a lot and I would say no to this setup your DD describes.

[/quote]

So you are a hard no because they will have to rely on mass transportation, may not be able to get on the same trains sometimes, and might argue during the trip?

Seriously?  [/quote]

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