Travel with a teen in winter -Where to

I have a bit over 2 weeks time in January for a vacation with my teen child. We have been in many countries but not yet in Japan (expect Okinawa). We travel too much and she is a bit tired of long flights. Normally she doesn’t like to travel, mostly because she is exhausted from this nonsense school schedule in Taipei.
I though about Japan because she loves to ski, but after seeing the cost and type of accommodation in Japan I feel maybe it would be better to save Japan for a shorter trip.
She has experience skiing in Germany, Austria, East Europe, so I didn’t want to repeat the same destinations, although East Europe is great cost wise. With say, 100usd per night you get a pretty good accommodation with whole new modern apartment, full kitchen, even sauna, meanwhile 100usd in Japan can get you some tatami room or some dorm (for 2) with shared shower, or some place with terrible heating and falling into pieces.

So the option of Japan is not so attractive to me. The other would be just hopping to Singapore, Indonesia-Bali, Malay(?) and then back. But I kind of feel wasting these long dates as those countries you can go in any 4 day holiday from here.

Should I repeat the same ski destinations in Europe? Maybe try to visit west Europe instead but no ski? I am just afraid she will be bored in Barcelona, Porto etc, teens are a different species. Thinking about Italy too but then no coast fun because it will be cold.

Any of you experienced travellers have a suggestion of this desperated teen parent?

  • the teen behavior has increased exponentially during the last months and I need a class to deal with it all. I wonder if I was like that in my teens too.

When you ask her what she wants to do, what does she say?

She doesn’t want to go anywhere. She is burnout from the school I guess she just wants to sleep.

Although afternoon talking to her she says she can accept going for a trip, but she is not crazy about it.

Malaysia has a good mix of cities, beautiful scenery and beaches. And pretty good food. You could easily spend a fun week there!

1 Like

If she doesn’t want to go anywhere, then maybe you shouldn’t go anywhere. Let her catch some Z’s.

4 Likes

Just checked the weather in Malaysia for January, Google says average 25 with highs in 29. Sounds not bad. Gotta search if any mosquito epidemic there (dengue etc). Is there other things besides going to to the beach? For me anything work, but for her I don’t know. We spent the summer this year at amazing beaches and she was bored.

And hang out with her mates. That’s what she wants to do.

1 Like

Adding together with the CNY gonna be a lot of Zzs :sweat_smile: 3 weeks to be precise. If she stays here, she will have to study something as the Taiwanese side of the family is the typical if you are not studying you are wasing your time let’s have a big family fight type.
So pretty much cram school from morning to evening

I’d suggest to stay in Taiwan, let her have some rest and if you want to bring her somewhere you could have a short trip of a few days to the hot springs in Yilan. Plenty of relax, some nice hiking paths, nice scenery, good food, close to Taipei.
My wife likes travelling, but more often than not we end up going there for short holidays and weekends, especially when she needs to recover from work.
A cooler trip but with a similar theme would be Taiping Mountain, since you can enjoy hot springs in the open on a high mountain area, do some hiking etc etc.

But if she needs some “time off”, don’t force her to a long holiday. i’d suggest a 2 or 3 days trip, then let her enjoy the rest of the holiday the way she wants, be it sleeping or meeting with friends.

1 Like

Lie to them? Tell them she’s cramming when she’s really just at home chilling :wink:

+1 for local hot springs.

2 Likes

That’s a good suggestion too. I will definetly think into it.

I have no problem letting her stay in taiwan. But I feel he childhood/teens years are been wasted away studying 15-16hours a day. It would be more of a way to free her from this.

If she stay there is no way I can convince her father not to send her to cram school whole day. She will only have the weekends for short trips in Taiwan.

I hate the way they put children to study here.

Poor dear.

Definitely try some more local escapes. That takes out the stress and fatigue of travel, and gets her out of cram school obligations, too.

1 Like

though it depends on the aim of your trip, visiting where you and your daughter like again may not be bad.

2 Likes

Staying here will definetly out her in cram school all throughout her winter break, but maybe if I can find enough activities for her in different places in the island we could rent a place in other cities, just don’t know if enough to fill a 2 weeks schedule. I will have this conversation with her. However we go often to the East and West coast (and mountains) on weekends. The only problem is that teens get bored fast, so I need to have different acitivies regardless where we decide to stay in Taiwan.

It is pretty sad because when we are in Europe or the Americas she always can’t believe the kids are back home by 2pm. She was asking me if that was some kind of festival break, then she felt so unfair that it is their normal schedule.

The plan for the future is to let her study abroad if there is no way around the 15 hours here. She is already so concerned about the Big Exam for high school. At her age I was jumping up and down, playing ball, riding bicycle every day after school.

Tando makes a good point, as usual. If you’re worried about trapping her in cram school if you stay here, then you could just take her to the places that you’ve both enjoyed before.

1 Like

Yes, she likes comfort and adventure. And she loves snow. Maybe if I could visit a few different towns in the same region would not be so bad.
But the long flight is the issue. Oh man! What a work to deal with teens. And I thought the sleepess crying nights were the most difficult part.

I wouldn’t worry too much about her feeling bored and having to hop around different places often to keep her interest. It sounds like she just wants to take it easy for the most part.

Would it be possible to bring along a friend of hers?

1 Like

No such thing.

Teens are edgy. She probably wants to do something less mainstream than Japan or a ski resort in Germany. Take her to Vietnam or Cambodia or Laos. Give her a taste of the wild (but controlled) side to quell that rebellious teenage nature.

1 Like

you could let her decide what to do/where to go. She might enjoy to make a plan by herself.

1 Like

With Taiwanese parents I wouldn’t dare, nor would they. Sleepovers here are a no go zone, much less going abroad with a friend, I imagine.
If a parent could accompany us that would be great, but it is almost impossible the parent to have the same free schedule.
I will have her ask. If SA works for a friends parent I guess she will be excited to have a friend accompany her.