Not until MS did we do too many international locations. But prior to that, Caribbeans like St Lucia, OR, DR. A lot of resort actions near national parks like Yosemite, Joshua Tree, Jackson, TN, Keys, Mexico, lots NE corridor incl Niagara, all your beaches within distance here and NYC, VT, Boston. Some major metropolitan cities like Chicago, New Orleans, San Diego, QC and Montreal. Toward MS years more Europe and this summer Asia.

I think kids have to be at right ages for travel to make sense. I did a ton of traveling before age 16 globally and I don't remember much at all. I studied in Europe however between HS senior yr and College freshman yr and that is when it really made an impression.

And your kid has to want and enjoy travel because even if you don't, it's not like you will be a dummy. I know plenty of people who have not extensively traveled and are thriving. Travel is not like how it used to be either so I wouldn't chalk this up to just checking the box to see as many sexy places as possible in life. There's always YouTube for that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this some parenting competition I don’t know about?

The more you know…

I’ve heard kids have pissing contests about this, too. Points are also granted for flying private vs first vs business vs peasant

My kid has been to Canada, way back when we lived near the border so probably doesn’t count in this contest

Some kids go to expensive private schools, play on travel sports teams or have piano/violin lessons. Some families have second (and third) homes, boats, and high end luxury cars. We don't have any of these things. We live within our means in many ways so we can afford two international trips per year (school spring break and summer). We are not resort people and we don't stay at the Four Seasons (it's really hard to have an authentic cultural experience at a large chain hotel of any sort). And we always fly coach.

We have been to many wonderful places and have great family memories and photos.

Different priorities for different people so this is no more a contest than anything else in life.

You realize most of us aren’t taking a couple of international trips per year bc we are prioritizing private school or multiple homes? We are prioritizing things like retirement, savings for college, and just paying our bills. Damn DCUM is so out of touch.

+1. The above might be the most DCUM response ever.

My teen has been to Canada, Bahamas, Turkey, Netherlands, Italy, & Vatican City (not all separate trips). Most of these trips were before the kids were in school, so we saved money by traveling at off-peak times. Our kid attend public school, and we rent— don’t own one house, let alone two.

Most teens in the US (& worldwide) have never left their home country at all.

Anonymous wrote:1 - Cananda.

? - where’s that?

Anonymous wrote:Some of these lists don't even make sense. A person would need to take 5 trips a year to get to this many places with a school-aged kid. That's exhausting to work around the school schedule, if it's even possible. I don't see people heading to Botswana over President's Day weekend.

Winter Break, Spring Break, Summer Break. Summer we've traveled to more than one country because it's a longer break. One kid, easy to work around their schedule, been traveling for years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of these lists don't even make sense. A person would need to take 5 trips a year to get to this many places with a school-aged kid. That's exhausting to work around the school schedule, if it's even possible. I don't see people heading to Botswana over President's Day weekend.

Some single trips involve multiple countries. Think of a cruise, for example. Or a trip where you visit Austria, Germany, and Switzerland by train. It's like visiting multiple states on a road trip.

But doesn’t taking a cruise defeat the whole purpose of exposing them to different cultures?

I am the PP and that was not really my point to advertise cruises. Even if you take out cruises, it's super easy to travel to multiple countries in a single trip when they are close together.

1 - Cananda.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of these lists don't even make sense. A person would need to take 5 trips a year to get to this many places with a school-aged kid. That's exhausting to work around the school schedule, if it's even possible. I don't see people heading to Botswana over President's Day weekend.

Some single trips involve multiple countries. Think of a cruise, for example. Or a trip where you visit Austria, Germany, and Switzerland by train. It's like visiting multiple states on a road trip.

But doesn’t taking a cruise defeat the whole purpose of exposing them to different cultures?

Not everyone has that purpose.

Anonymous wrote:Some of these lists don't even make sense. A person would need to take 5 trips a year to get to this many places with a school-aged kid. That's exhausting to work around the school schedule, if it's even possible. I don't see people heading to Botswana over President's Day weekend.

A lot of the kids/teens I know that travel a lot like that have a parent in the military stationed at a base overseas, or other government job.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of these lists don't even make sense. A person would need to take 5 trips a year to get to this many places with a school-aged kid. That's exhausting to work around the school schedule, if it's even possible. I don't see people heading to Botswana over President's Day weekend.

Some single trips involve multiple countries. Think of a cruise, for example. Or a trip where you visit Austria, Germany, and Switzerland by train. It's like visiting multiple states on a road trip.

But doesn’t taking a cruise defeat the whole purpose of exposing them to different cultures?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of these lists don't even make sense. A person would need to take 5 trips a year to get to this many places with a school-aged kid. That's exhausting to work around the school schedule, if it's even possible. I don't see people heading to Botswana over President's Day weekend.

Agree. 30+ countries and barely a teenager. I like to travel, but that sounds exhausting. Also, with school, sports, band and other activities, who has time for that much travel? My kids like to travel, but they also like to stay home and chill.

My 10 year old has been to over 30 countries but we lived in Europe for several years so travel logistics were much cheaper/easier and her school had more frequent breaks throughout the year. (Plus she was young enough to not have major sports or other extracurricular activities that would impede travel).

Ours have well over a dozen so far due to free miles but seriously, one trip to Europe, one to Asia and one to Latin America are enough, no need to go abuse mortgage, college or retirement funds.

16 years old.

Canada
Barbados
St Kitts
Costa Rica
Panama
Japan
South Korea
Taiwan
China
Hong Kong
Thailand
Australia
France
UK

Anonymous wrote:Some of these lists don't even make sense. A person would need to take 5 trips a year to get to this many places with a school-aged kid. That's exhausting to work around the school schedule, if it's even possible. I don't see people heading to Botswana over President's Day weekend.

Some single trips involve multiple countries. Think of a cruise, for example. Or a trip where you visit Austria, Germany, and Switzerland by train. It's like visiting multiple states on a road trip.

Anonymous wrote:Some of these lists don't even make sense. A person would need to take 5 trips a year to get to this many places with a school-aged kid. That's exhausting to work around the school schedule, if it's even possible. I don't see people heading to Botswana over President's Day weekend.

Agree. 30+ countries and barely a teenager. I like to travel, but that sounds exhausting. Also, with school, sports, band and other activities, who has time for that much travel? My kids like to travel, but they also like to stay home and chill.

Some of these lists don't even make sense. A person would need to take 5 trips a year to get to this many places with a school-aged kid. That's exhausting to work around the school schedule, if it's even possible. I don't see people heading to Botswana over President's Day weekend.