How to Plan for Your Grown Up Son or Daughter’s Solo Travels
For a lot of young people, going travelling around the world by themselves can be the first big step into adulthood. It gives them a chance to be independent and undertake a big task and adventure without having parents or family alongside them. That’s an important step and can teach them a lot about themselves and about life.
That doesn’t mean you, as a parent, will be particularly happy about it though. It can be very worrying for parents, and that’s understandable. But it’s that time in life when you have to let go a bit and allow them to find their own way. Here’s how to prepare and plan your son or daughter’s solo travels to minimise stress and worry for everyone!
Prepare Them Well
The most important thing you can do is make sure they’re prepared for the realities of travelling alone. Read through guidebooks and make them read them too. Then have discussions about whatever is worrying you and let them do the same.
You can also make sure they have all the items they’ll need to take. Parents are much better at preparing well than young, eager travellers!
Make Sure They Can Stay in Constant Contact
When you’re separated from your son or daughter, and they’re on the other side of the world, staying in contact is vital. If the lines of communication break down, you’ll just be left worrying and fretting about their safety.
Luckily, modern technology allows us to stay in contact all the time nowadays, wherever in the world we are. Give them a spare mobile phone to use alongside their ordinary one and make sure they have a laptop with a webcam to take with them so you can video chat.
Plan Their Accommodation with Them
It’s best to have their travel routes and accommodation planned out before they leave. If they want to do it off the cuff, you can try to persuade them of the benefits of planning things in advance.
Making sure everything is planned in advance will also mean that you will know whereabouts they are at all times. And if anything did happen and you couldn’t contact them, you’d know which hotel they’re staying at, and you could contact them that way.
Be There to Offer Financial Support
As anyone who has done any travelling knows, budgets go out of the window pretty quickly. However carefully you plan your finances, you always face extra expenses, and everything seems much more costly than you imagined.
You could set up a regular cash transfer with a company that offers the best currency rates. That way you can transfer money to your son or daughter regularly if they’re going travelling for a long time. Your mind will be put at ease if you know you have the right amount of money.
Don’t Forget to Give Them Space
It’s good to be prepared and make sure they’re as safe as possible, but don’t smother them! They need the freedom to be able to explore by themselves and break free from the family. You were their age too once upon a time, so think back to how you felt then.
Preparation will give you peace of mind, but there’s no way you can monitor their travels 100%. The best thing you can do is let them do things their own way and then be there to help them should they need you.