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Traveling with teen son,14 , and daughter, 17. Help!

I've been several times to Croatia as a child to visit family. This is my children's first time. Planning on traveling from Chicago to Zagreb, Pula, Zadar, Split and ending in Dubrovnik...mostly staying with family .I'm nervous that 4 weeks may be too long for them,especially my son, thinking of scaling back to 3. Will be get bored? I'm sure at times. But I'm really torn if he will be homesick or begging to stay longer! Anyone travel with teens there? Planning on seeing Plitvice and tracing family roots. My question is also, should they bring cell phones?? I'm definitely bringing mine.

Posted by
2161 posts

Hi Deb, you know your children but I would say that visiting with relatives for 4 weeks would be too long for me! I'd suggest researching the historical/cultural sites in the areas you are visiting and including them in your itinerary. Get the kids involved with the planning.

Share with the kids why it is important to them and to you to know where they came from. Check out some of the genealogy sites. Buy a family tree poster so they can fill in the blanks. Get them involved in tracing their family roots.

I don't take my cell phone on vacation so I can't comment on that. I use my I-pad to e-mail/FaceTime friends/family.

Hope you have a great trip!

Posted by
491 posts

Definitely add teen-friendly activities - biking, kayaking or whatever they like. Also, at 17 and 14, they should be able to do some things without you - dinner and a VO movie, or a bike tour or something else. Will they have cousins, however distant, near their ages to have some teen days with? Even if not, if you send them off to dinner on their own, they will feel independent. You probably don't spend every minute together at home and 4 weeks of complete togetherness might be rough. Yes to the cell phones, and I agree that you need to be sure they don't run your data through the roof. Maybe a prepaid plan for the month if you have unlocked phones.