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Traveling With Teens

By Diane Garner (travelingwithteens@cox.net)

Even though we live in or near San Diego, most of My husband and I were flush with excitement as we
us choose to travel away from America’s Finest City planned the first trip with the used RV we had recently
occasionally. We often return wondering what in the world purchased. Images of carefree independence and the
were we thinking to voluntarily leave paradise even for a wide-open road invaded our dreams of family vacations
brief time. This feeling may be especially strong if you have and early retirement. Naïve, so naïve! After days of
been traveling with a teenager. packing, supplying, and preparing the rig, we headed off
like a herd of turtles for two days of skiing and RVing at
Volumes have been written about how to travel with small Mammoth Mountain. In retrospect, we should’ve spent
children, but there is a void when it comes to advice on those days studying the multitude of owner’s manuals.
traveling with teenagers. Having survived numerous trips
with two teens, I submit to you, fellow parents of teens, that The first bad omen was our teenage
traveling with a teenager is far more difficult than traveling daughter’s bout of motion sickness
with anyone under the age of thirteen. Why? Because
children have needs; teenagers have ATTITUDE. brought on by the gentle swaying of
the rig. Remembering the one previous
Are you experience with this problem when she
asking: What hurled partially digested donuts, we
makes this
woman think quickly (remember this term is relative
she’s an when traveling in an RV) stopped
expert? Good
question. at a 7-Eleven and stuffed her with
Actually, I Dramamine. She was catatonic for the
28 don’t consider myself an expert. I am a survivor. I will say remainder of the drive.
that I’ve had a lot of experience. Judging from the travels
of relatives, friends, and neighbors, I’d venture that we’ve After negotiating the last few miles through snowy slush,
traveled more than the average family. Our savings account we were relieved and thankful to pull safely into the RV
would also be evidence of that fact. park by dinnertime. We marveled that there were only two
other RVs in the park even though it was prime ski season.
Our travels have taken us from Honolulu to Athens and Naïve, so naïve. My husband and teenage son braved
from San Francisco to St. John. We have camped on the biting cold to plug in, hook up, and fasten together
Mammoth Mountain and cruised the Mediterranean. We the loose ends of everything they could find. Meanwhile,
have been pampered in first class, but also been carsick in my daughter and I bounced around like the silver ball in a
an RV. We have snorkeled in the Caribbean, scuba dived pinball machine as we prepared dinner in a kitchen the size
in Hawaii, hiked a river canyon, shivered in underground of a bedroom closet. Fearing we might run out of propane,
caverns, cried on battlefields, listened to Supreme we used the heater sparingly, so the best part of squeezing
Court Justices, gawked at a mansion, pondered inside the four of us into the tiny dinette for the mediocre meal
the Colosseum, toured the White House, and explored was the shared body heat. With teen discontent brewing
innumerable National Parks. from boredom and cold, we retired to bed early.

Since I’m not an expert, I’ll simply be sharing with you After everyone showered the next morning, we noticed that
things that worked and things that didn’t work on our family the gray water tank was nearly full. We decided to “dump”
trips. I’ll throw in some horrors and some successes. You that evening. So, my husband and two teenagers set off to
may be obliged to tolerate some maternal philosophizing, ski in the fiercely blowing snow. (No, I don’t ski, and don’t
but I’ll try not to bore you with verbal home movies. I can’t ask!) At the end of the day, they returned frozen, starving,
promise that I won’t brag occasionally. and exhausted. Deciding it was wise to do the dump before
dark, my husband and disgruntled son attacked the project
To avoid any misconception that I perceive myself as the of unplugging, unhooking, and unfastening. We were good
Mary Poppins of traveling with teenagers, I am sharing to go until hubby lowered the hydraulic lifts, the six tires hit
the experience of our trip from Hell. Imagine a situation in the ground, and the right front tire went completely flat.
which your teen is cold, bored, hungry, and embarrassed,
and you will understand our disastrous trip. This story could
be titled “How NOT to Introduce Teenagers to RVing.”
March/April 2008