hey there, i'm new to this forum so i hope this goes well. Me and my friends are trying to plan a trip for after our graduation, the only problem is, we don't know anything about travelling. so now im hopin to get some advice from people who know about this subject. we are trying to search for a fun destination for almost 10 17 year olds. we have some 18 year olds if that matters. we were looking at nice since it has good public transport so we can get around but after watching online i did not see a lot of activities for us to do. can anybody help me plan this? thanks so much already
-
CONTACT US if you have any problems registering for the forums.
planning a trip after graduation
- Thread starter lazy
- Start date
georgemiller
10+ Posts
Welcome to the forum! I’ve been to Norway, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands. From those destinations, I would recommend Spain as a more lively place for young travelers. It would also help to define what “fun activities” means to you and your friends so that you can get more tailored responses from more experienced travelers in the forum. It’s good that you’re watching videos to gather more information. I will try to find and recommend some nice YouTube channels for you and your friends to watch and help with your decision.
PatrickLondon
100+ Posts
Off the top of my head, I rather think most us here are a generation (or more!) away from you and your group, which makes it a bit difficult for us to know quite what would suit you, but a couple of random thoughts:
You'd probably be looking at youth hostels for accommodation, not only because they'll be cheaper than hotels, but also because hotels may look askance at a group of unsupervised teenagers (sorry, but it's a tough old world out there). But also, youth hostels mean meeting other young people who'd be far better than I at advising on fun places.
I suspect you're also just that bit too young for the well-known "party" islands and resorts in the Balearics and the Greek islands.
Try reading the "sticky" thread on planning a trip to Europe, and by all means come back with some sort of ideas about what would be fun for you. For example, are you thinking beaches rather than art/history museums in big cities? Water parks? Fast food rather than gourmet restaurants?
You'd probably be looking at youth hostels for accommodation, not only because they'll be cheaper than hotels, but also because hotels may look askance at a group of unsupervised teenagers (sorry, but it's a tough old world out there). But also, youth hostels mean meeting other young people who'd be far better than I at advising on fun places.
I suspect you're also just that bit too young for the well-known "party" islands and resorts in the Balearics and the Greek islands.
Try reading the "sticky" thread on planning a trip to Europe, and by all means come back with some sort of ideas about what would be fun for you. For example, are you thinking beaches rather than art/history museums in big cities? Water parks? Fast food rather than gourmet restaurants?
Ian Sutton
1000+ Posts
Welcome!
The world is you oyster, but it's also huge and so can be difficult to narrow down exactly where to go.
It can help to ask questions to help narrow it down:
- Logistics: How far are you happy to travel to get 'there'? I tend to see travel time as mostly wasted, but if a longer plane flight might be the first for a number of you, it in itself may be part of the adventure.
- Daily activities. Do you value a vibrant and multinational / multicultural scene over seeing famous sites / sights? In short People or Places?
- City or nature... or a mix?
- Hot, Warm, Cool or Cold? This influences the places, but also the time of year, but perhaps the time of year is already set in stone? If so, that will help narrow down your choices.
__________________________________
Outside of that, some additional thoughts:
- With 10 of you, be prepared to split up, ideally in different subsets, from activity to activity, but finding time to also meet up as a full 10 most days be that for breakfast, dinner, or a shared activity. Some might also value a little quiet time, so having flexibility in plans is ideal.
- Pre-holiday prep can be fun, but I'd also expect many to be disinterested in it, but happy to 'go with the flow'. For me prep serves the following purposes:
1) Helps keep the prospect of the holiday exciting, especially when set against the daily grind.
2) Heavily reduces the disorientation of a new place and that feeling of not having a clue what's near / good to do. It also helps avoid falling into the obvious, and especially the pitfall of eating in restaurants near a major landmark / tourist attraction, which are invariably rubbish and overpriced. This perhaps typified by advice for Venice which simplifies to "Get lost!" i.e. explore away from the main attractions / thoroughfares, in order to get better / more genuine experiences.
That prep might include having 'google streetviewed' the place where the airport bus drops off, having a map and already planned to route to where we're staying, options for day trips, restaurants, bars, shops, etc. etc. that I can tap into, but with the prep embedding some of it in my brain. It's an alternative to the idea that we resort to our mobile phones 'in the moment' and stop to seek its guidance.
- If going to a non-English speaking location, most popular destinations will have plenty of English speakers... but it's still great to make some sort of effort, if only to learn the basics of hello, numbers, thankyou, etc.
The world is you oyster, but it's also huge and so can be difficult to narrow down exactly where to go.
It can help to ask questions to help narrow it down:
- Logistics: How far are you happy to travel to get 'there'? I tend to see travel time as mostly wasted, but if a longer plane flight might be the first for a number of you, it in itself may be part of the adventure.
- Daily activities. Do you value a vibrant and multinational / multicultural scene over seeing famous sites / sights? In short People or Places?
- City or nature... or a mix?
- Hot, Warm, Cool or Cold? This influences the places, but also the time of year, but perhaps the time of year is already set in stone? If so, that will help narrow down your choices.
__________________________________
Outside of that, some additional thoughts:
- With 10 of you, be prepared to split up, ideally in different subsets, from activity to activity, but finding time to also meet up as a full 10 most days be that for breakfast, dinner, or a shared activity. Some might also value a little quiet time, so having flexibility in plans is ideal.
- Pre-holiday prep can be fun, but I'd also expect many to be disinterested in it, but happy to 'go with the flow'. For me prep serves the following purposes:
1) Helps keep the prospect of the holiday exciting, especially when set against the daily grind.
2) Heavily reduces the disorientation of a new place and that feeling of not having a clue what's near / good to do. It also helps avoid falling into the obvious, and especially the pitfall of eating in restaurants near a major landmark / tourist attraction, which are invariably rubbish and overpriced. This perhaps typified by advice for Venice which simplifies to "Get lost!" i.e. explore away from the main attractions / thoroughfares, in order to get better / more genuine experiences.
That prep might include having 'google streetviewed' the place where the airport bus drops off, having a map and already planned to route to where we're staying, options for day trips, restaurants, bars, shops, etc. etc. that I can tap into, but with the prep embedding some of it in my brain. It's an alternative to the idea that we resort to our mobile phones 'in the moment' and stop to seek its guidance.
- If going to a non-English speaking location, most popular destinations will have plenty of English speakers... but it's still great to make some sort of effort, if only to learn the basics of hello, numbers, thankyou, etc.
Ian Sutton
1000+ Posts
Agreed - and especially for the natural social interaction with people from different countries, backgrounds, cultures, with the majority relatively young. They can be very good value, and many are set up for single, two, three and four people rooms, rather than the traditional image of larger 'dorms'.
Don’t go to a lot of places. Choose one or two main cities for the first time, like London or Paris. If you only have 2 weeks, for example, and want to see 5 cities you will end up spending more time in airports or trains that on the ground. London is my first recommended based on the fact that it has more than any other city, but the other big ones also have a lot. If you like it, you can always go back and see other places. Finally, do research after you pick your city.
thanks so much for all the replies and advice. we have been looking at lisbon as it is a fairly 'cheap' place, we have found activities and the trip to portugal is fairly affordable. some in my group don't want it to get too hot or too cold. we've been searching for a place between 20-30 degrees in June. then with the activities. we are mostly searching for the beaches, lasergaming, escape rooms, waterparks, 'fun party' parts of town more catered towards youth. but we were also planning on at least exploring the city we go to a bit more. there are a lot of factors but if anybody has an idea for another city or recommendation where i can search/ what region would fit this that would be greatly appreciated.
From looking at the things you mentioned that you like, such as escape rooms and laser tag, I am assuming you are from the U.S. I don’t if Europe is for you. Things like that can be found in the U.S. if you are spending a lot of money to go to Europe, you should consult things we don’t have here, such as Roman ruins, Gothic cathedral, renaissance palaces, and a million other things that we don’t have here.
Pauline
Forums Admin
His profile says he is from the Netherlands!
I agree with Dave, you won’t find lasergaming and escape rooms but the beaches will be good and there will be lots of places to party.
Note that a few years ago I went swimming in the ocean in northern Portugal and it was the coldest water I have ever experienced (and I live in the UK). Not sure it is the same near Lisbon.
I hate to say it, but I may be too old for escape rooms. Unless it is an escape room off Marseilles for some poor guy in an iron mask.
But looking back, when I was young I was pretty dumb.
happy New Year.
Dave