Tips for travel with 2 Teens (girls).

Low-maintenance hair style!

Make sure each has their own camera and iPod.

Can you be more specific?

Good for you for taking the children!

Have them read some of the posts here, like "If you knew then", and the information on onebag.com. Maybe they will learn from others' experiences without having to learn from their own!

There was an article on the front of the style section in today's Charlotte Observer newspaper. It was written about a woman's joy in packing lighter and lighter. She told about how she was voted the most stylish in her travel group even though she brought the smallest suitcase (a small duffel). Maybe you can find similar articles for them to read!

It will be a great trip! We took our then 11yo daughter on a trip that included Rome and Florence last fall, and she loved every minute. Even now, whne I ask her what she enjoyed the most, she says "everything."

We didn't have a problem with luggage. She took one 21-inch bag (which we checked) and her backpack, and it was more than enough room. More importantly, she could handle her own bags 95% of the time (I helped her a bit with long flights of staris at railway stations). If you're only taking carry-on, then that's a slightly different analysis.

My daughter is a pretty adventurous eater, but was even more adventurous when she and I shared dishes (for example, we'd order two pasta dishes, and trade them halfway through). That way, she could try something more out of her comfort zone, knowing that she was only responsible for eating half!

Your teens will probably be offered wine with their meals. Our daughter was, and she's very small, so looks younger than she was. Drinking age is 16. We were ok with that, but if you're not, now you know.

I went online and found a link to the packing light article in the Charlotte Observer- Here's the web address.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/06/10/1489313/travels-a-chance-to-indulge-passion.html

I'd probably let them pack what they wanted to ahead of time and then make them pull the luggage down the street, up some stairs, load it in to the back of a car, get on a bus, etc until they realize you are saying pack light for a reason.

Dealing with my teenage girl, ummm wife, haircare products and shoes are always the big problem. Tell them when they get there they can buy x amount of hair product and x amount of shoes if they pack light initially.

That usually does the trick...

Edit: I should say that my wife has become a great, lightweight packer. It's usually me that ends up with 20 extra pounds of electronic gadgets that bog us down

As a mother of 2 teen girls who have been on 6 European trips, and as a former teacher, I think pre-trip education makes a world of difference in their enjoyment and appreciation. I bought them age appropriate books to read to develop an understanding of peoples' lives in other cultures. We had many family movie nights watching classics like "Roman Holiday" and "A Room With a View" among countless others. I did many cooking nights featuring the cuisine of the area we were visiting next. I bought CDs of Italian/French/Spanish music to play while we ate dinner and traveled. Also, watching the Rick Steves series (especially the episodes where he discusses travel skills) are invaluable. A little education goes a long way in helping them learn to be wise, insightful travelers. It was fun family time and we got a lot of happiness mileage out of planning and anticipating our next adventure.

Remind them that if they want any souvenirs, they'll need room in their one bag to take them home, so save some room. Maybe that'll help. Then you'll also need to remind them that whatever they buy needs to fit in that bag!