We are doing one at 12 BUT we are not calling it a once in a lifetime trip or putting that type of expectation on it. It is a place DH and I have wanted to go to for forever and somewhere DS has wanted to go to since he was 5. Between the cost and the amount of time we are going, we wanted to make sure DS would be old enough to remember and appreciate it.

FWIW, I went on a "once in a lifetime trip" at 16. I've since been back to that place twice.

We've traveled quite a bit with DS. He's 11 and can remember trips from 6+ well but that will fade. From my own experience, 12-13 seemed to be the age I remember trips well from.

It depends on the kid. My old boss took his kids to hawaii and went all out... two years later they talked about going to hawaii and they didnt even remember. I think they were 11/13 at the time and 13/15 now.

Not sure if the memories will fade, but my DD is 8 and she talks often about memories she has from Spain at 4yo and Germany at 5yo...like really vivid, detailed accurate memories.

So I don't think you can go wrong.

It also depends on the kid. I have one who absolutely loves to travel and it really makes an impact so he recalls a surprising amount from trips when he was 7, 8 and 9 years old (he’s 17 now). But I have a 15 year old that enjoys our travels but it just isn’t as important to her - she honestly doesn’t recall a lot from trips we took like two years ago. Obviously she knows she went but the specifics aren’t what take up mental space. It’s interesting to me to see the difference.

I'd say a minimum of 12, preferably older.

When DC was a teenager, one day he said "I'd really like to go to the British Museum some day." I reminded him that he had been there when he was 8, and showed him pictures of him there. He said that he sort of remembered the lions. He vividly remembers getting bitten by the goose he was feeding in St. James Park, though.

Why is it once in a lifetime?

Is it because grandparents will only travel once?

Is it because you can rarely afford any travel?

Are you going back to a country your family immigrated from?

Is the trip extremely expensive? Like an African safari?

I would weigh in all these factors.

Really depends on the trip. I'd say 9 or 10 for most

minimum of 12 but the older the more they will remember.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like the idea of once-in-a-lifetime trips. Too much pressure.

I think of almost every trip as once-in-a-lifetime trips. I never do the same thing twice!

We've taken our kids to many places that I don't expect we'll ever go again. Not because we didn't enjoy them, I just have too many other places I want to try. Some were close by, some on the other side of the world. They don't remember them all. That's ok, cause I still enjoyed them!

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like the idea of once-in-a-lifetime trips. Too much pressure.

And a lot can change in a lifetime. What may seem like a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the parents or grandparents, may become commonplace to a child when they are older. For example, my parents never went to Europe. If we had gone when I was a child, it would have seemed like a once in a lifetime trip. But I go every other month now as an adult...

Maybe 13. Just becoming a teen…

To remember it? At least 12. I was taken to Egypt by my grandmother at 14; I remember some of it, but not well.

I would think no younger than 8, 10 to be on the safe side.

I don’t like the idea of once-in-a-lifetime trips. Too much pressure.

How old does a child need to be to fully remember a trip, in your experience?