Going on a Tour with Mom and Teen Son

Hi, what age is son, if son is over 17 he should find it fine, if he is under 17 why not take the Rick Steves Family tours , there will most likely be kids on it in his age group and that would be fun for him.

If your son is the only teen in the group, could be a problem. What does he say?

I wouldn't take my kids on an adult tour.

I took my mother on one (for her sake). I felt like the odd-man out and I was over 40. While I enjoyed it, the rigidness to meal and hotel times and lack of willingness to explore drove me nuts.

Rick's adult tours probably cater to a somewhat younger crowd but will include a lot of adult interest visits to churches, museums and wineries.

Unless it's specifically a family tour, you would probably spend a lot of money for your son to have a horrible time.

I went on a RS city tour this past summer (Paris). There was only one person under 30, and he was 10. However, with a city tour, there is lots of time on your own, and it is really easy to break away from the group if you wish. I would think that a city tour might work; however, having raised three children, I would be cautious about the other tours.
Have you considered a different tour group (oh,the blasphemy!) Hehe. You might look into the more active ones like REI; that might be something he would relate to more. Althought RS has a great style of touring, some of the groups that are more geared to younger folks, have the same "backdoor" concepts. The tend to be a lot more active, though. And watch how they charge and what is included - and not included. There are a lot of good ones out there.

Hope you find what you need!

Karen:

I have been on several RS tours. Since I travel in the spring, there were no kids. What you might want to do is to look at the tour member feed back for the summer tours, or the scrapbooks. It seems that there are kids on the summer tours. Maybe the tour divas can direct you to a tour where there are other kids.

RS tours always give you plenty of time away from the group. Have your son research and pick one or two places in each city he would like to see and you can do that on your own. Florence has a cool science museum. You will also see and learn things that you may not on your own.

But lastly, he might just have a good time meeting other adults. The people on these tours are always very interesting.

He is 14 - he doesn't want to go on a tour. We used Rick Steeves book and dvd to plan out trip to Germany last year and although it was great, it was a lot of work for me to research and plan. That's why I am considering a tour; but I don't know the make-up of the group so that is why I am checking. If it is all couples, then I don't think it will be any fun for him. The family tours available don't aren't specifically for Italy. We want to do the Venice, Florence, Rome trip.

If he doesn't want to go on a tour and you don't want to do all the planning work yourself, then why not let him help with the planning? 14 is plenty old enough.

Is there any chance you could go with another parent and teen (friends from home)? That'd give your son someone to hang out with, and you too, without the formality or schedule of a tour.

Karen - I don't think that an adult tour would have been a good idea for my teenage son and I must say that 14 was about the worst for awkwardness, sullen attitude, etc. My son has been on two trips without any siblings and on both trips we took our goddaughter with us instead. She counts mostly as family since I didn't want to deal with bringing another teenage boy as a friend. My son definitely thought it better to travel with her as an addition than to being only with us (the adults). So do you have a cousin or another family member to travel with you? My son would even count his aunt (she is the "fun" aunt) as a friend rather than just another adult.

And if you don't want to do the planning yourself what about using the one on one Rick Steves planning consultants? I haven't used them but I would imagine they would be able to help you book a Rick like tour for just you.

Karen, sounds like you're stuck between a rock and a hard place. Sounds like a great learning opportunity for your son, that he either needs to suck it up and help with the planning, be fine with a bunch of adults on a ETBD tour, or not go at all.

I've worked with numerous 14 year old boys over the years. Giving them the pros and cons of all of their options and then letting them have a say in the decision usually works. If that doesn't work then I have a hard time believing that he got anything out of your first trip and would question why he's willing to go back.

Karen
I have been on two ETBD tours and on both of them there were several teens. All were welcomed by everyone in the group and some even ventured out with other tour members to do things they wanted to do without their parents. The guides always included them in discussions and made it a point to know some of the things they were interested in. You have free time to do things you want and can always break away if there is something you don't want to do. After years of being the vacation planner, I found it is so nice to have some of the things taken care of for you. A lot of people on summer tours are in education and enjoy being around kids. If the two of you go by yourself, he will not be other teens and this way there will be opportunity to spend some time apart if needed. From what I saw and in talking with the kids, they all had a great time and everyone enjoyed having the difference in ages on the tour. I think the two of you will have a great time.

I have done 14( yuck, LOL) ,, took my then 14 yr old son to London and Paris two years ago.
I like research and planning trips, so for me it was not a huge factor, so can't really address your specific problem.
What I can say is I MADE my son contribute to research, there is no way I am spending THOUSANDS of dollars on a great trip for my kid and not expecting him to particpate. I made him research and find three places he wanted to see. This was not too bad, except I had to go with him to the "Catacombs" in Paris which are dark dank tunnels under the city which are filled with human bones, LOL, me being slightly claustraphobic made this not fun for me, but hey, he had to do things I wanted to do too!
My hubby then took our next son( this yr also at 14) to Germany and Paris and London this past June. Did same thing. ( We like doing one on one trips with kids as we have three ) .
This next July I am taking my 12 yr old daughter, and yes I have considered tours, but frankly
next

I find I can do trips on my own much cheaper and tailor it to our specific likes and dislikes.
I did invest in a day tour to see the Loire Valley Chateau as they are best done by car but I won't drive in Europe( yes, I know , I am chicken) . Tour was way too much for one day, but ,it was dead easy and a no brainer, sort of a "day off" for me.

Anyways, I guess planning trip on your own is your best bet, but , as I said that is a huge part of fun for me, and obviously not for you, sorry!