Published 28th Jun. 2021
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Time to take a deep breath, bite your tongue and get ready for battle. Or - just as likely- get ready to enjoy some really quality time with your pubescent progent and discuss things in a mature manner. Ha, who are we trying to kid? Joking aside, these years can deliver some genuinely fruitful, fulsome family travel. Your children are now of an age when they may start going on holiday with their friends' families, but while they're on your watch, here's a few ground rules so you don't have to ground them...
Teenagers come in all shapes, sizes, temperaments (the full garment from surly to stroppy) and ages. After all, a 19-year-old and a 13-year-old only really have the suffix '-teen' in common, so while we've lumped them all in together for the purposes of this blog post, a holiday with multiple teenagers really needs to be a lot more nuanced, with the elders enjoying a modicum more freedom, particularly of an evening.
*Adopts hushed David Attenborough tones* As instinctive pack animals, teens gravitate to others of their own species. The ideal teen holiday would allow them to meet and interact with other adolescents, including ones of the opposite sex.
Set your camera to the highest possible shutter speed if you want to capture the exact millisecond your teenager smiles in the family group shot. However amazing the trip (and it most certainly will be if you book through us), no self-respecting teen could possibly look like they're having a nice time.
If you're going on a 'fly and flop' holiday and there's even a whiff of them being sent to a kid's club you may find your teens in open rebellion. That said, some clever places have excellent teen-friendly facilities (Exhibit A, Verdura Resort in Sicily with its mocktail making and teen hang out area) that don't feel too contrived.
Older teens might consider being seen on holiday with their parents akin to instant social suicide, but take them to a seriously cool destination and they may, just may, see that parents have some benefits. Besides, they can always edit you out of the photos on their Instabrag feed.
Practical advice and inspiration for your next trip
With four teenagers in or entering sixth form, my family have noticed firsthand that A Level study demands not just recall but interpretation. The jump from GCSE to A Level is substantial; essays are longer, critical thinking matters much more and independent evaluation is rewarded. Several experts suggest that examiners across AQA, Edexcel and OCR consistently reward students who demonstrate awareness of competing perspectives, real-world examples and a confident grasp of context.
26th March 2026 - Family Travel
With four teenagers currently moving through the GCSE and A Level years in our household, we have become mildly obsessed with the idea of the ‘incremental gain’. Not in a hot-housing sense. More in the way that any decent sports coach knows that small, cumulative advantages often show up where it matters – in the final scoreline. Because one thing becomes very clear very quickly when you have children doing GCSEs and A Levels across AQA, Edexcel and OCR:
24th March 2026 - Family Travel
It’s no secret that we’re strong advocates of a family sabbatical, so amid the downpours of February, we were delighted to host an event at the Royal Academy discussing just that. Bringing together Thomasina Miers of Wahaca, Walter Kerr of Oppidan Education and, of course, our very own Tom Barber, the event opened the floor for a practical and frank conversation about the best way to take a sabbatical with your children.
26th February 2026 - Family Travel
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