One big shift between kids and teens is that teens can get easily bored.  The trick for traveling with teens is to stay busy.  A beach vacation is great but after two straight days of laying next to you on the beach all day, they will be bored.   Plan activities for the day that not only keep them busy, but that they will enjoy!   Schedule a mix of excursions and activities that will keep them engaged.  I love this because nothing makes me happier than having fun with my kids and shared experiences create memories.    Even if you utterly fail at the activity, you can laugh about it for years to come!

2.  Find a Sleep Balance 

Teens love their sleep.  My kids would sleep until noon every day on vacation if we let them.  Obviously, you don’t want to waste your vacation with the kids sleeping all day.  When you add in jet lag from time changes, it can be really tough.   If you have activities that require an early morning, balance them out with days they can sleep later.

When we took a trip to Hawaii, our time change was 6 hours!  We planned our sunrise on top of the Haleakala volcano for the very first day because we knew that we would wake up at the crack of dawn anyway.  6:00am in Hawaii would feel like noon to us the first morning, so that was the perfect day to have to get up and out of the house by 4 am.  When it feels like 10:00 am, it isn’t so hard to wake up.   We came back to the resort  and had a leisurely afternoon at the beach after the sunrise.  It’s all about balance. 

3.  Downtime is Essential For Teens

With teens, you want to stay busy so they’re not bored, but also remember that downtime is essential.  If they have been active all day, they will want some downtime.  This could be time relaxing at the pool or might simply be just time to lay on their bed to scroll through social media or catch up on their Snaps.  When you are planning your vacation itinerary, be sure it is balanced with activities and downtime. 

Cramming everyone into one small hotel room for a week can be tough on all members of the family, not just teens.  If possible, choose a vacation rental or a 2 bedroom suite over a standard hotel room.  You would be surprised at how much they are similar in cost to a hotel room. 

We are a family of 5, so a standard hotel room with two beds wouldn’t work for us anyway.  But when my kids were younger, we had two experiences where vacation rentals were cheaper.   Both were with VRBO.   

The first time was in Orange County, California.  We were in town for a wedding and the invitation came with suggested hotels.  My parents and brother both got hotel rooms from the list.  We rented a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo from VRBO in the same town for $10 more per night.  The extra $10 per night was easily made up for with the fact that we could eat breakfast every day at the condo.  Not having to eat at a restaurant for every meal saves a lot of money.  We also loved being able to pack lunches for the beach.  The bedroom the kids shared had a twin over full pyramid bunk bed, so all 3 could fit comfortably.   

The second was in New York City.  We stayed in a very overpriced, TINY hotel room in Times Square.  After the trip, I looked up New York City  on VRBO and found a very nice condo in Times Square for the exact same price as they tiny hotel room.