Lessons My Teenager Learnt From His First Holiday, Sans Parents

He and his friends did research to work out the logistics of their trip and picked up problem-solving skills during their vacation

- Jane Ng

In 2024, my son, who was then 18, said he wanted to travel with his friends after his national examinations.

Although I was initially hesitant, I gradually came round to the idea. He had been working hard to prepare for his exams and it would be a well-deserved break for him and his buddies.

While it would be his first unchaperoned trip with friends, it would also be the last time they would be able to travel together for a while, as they would be enlisting for national service in 2025.

Apart from giving some advice and tips, my husband and I left him and his friends to plan the trip.

They researched on various destinations in neighbouring countries, before settling on a budget-friendly one.

After the boys got permission from their parents, they looked for the best deals for air tickets and decided to take a budget airline.

To keep costs low, they did not buy check-in luggage and instead made do with 7kg of hand-carry baggage allowance.

I'm glad that while they wanted to travel, they were cognisant about minimising expenses.

They found a basic but clean budget hotel for the first part of the trip, before moving on to a more comfortable one.

He said he got the idea from our family travels. Years ago, when my husband and I took our kids to Ho Chi Minh City, we stayed five days at a new hotel with tiny rooms in the city, before moving to a villa in the countryside for the last three days.

When they complained about the size of the first hotel room, which had barely any walking space after we put in an extra bed, I explained that saving on accommodation cost on the first leg would allow us to stay in a nice hotel the last few days without blowing our budget.

I'm glad that lesson stayed with him.

NAVIGATING THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS