Your first time overseas

2

Replies

  • k8eekins
    k8eekins Posts: 2,264 Member
    How old were you the first time you travelled abroad without your family? I was 16, my husband had graduated so 21yo+, my daughter went on a school trip at 17.

    We are just about to send our 11yo off to Japan for 2 weeks and the jitters are starting. Ours, not his!

    Can very well understand your jitters for your child :flowerforyou: . International flights have much improved from my days traveling about at around that age, and they weren't at all bad back then, with how minors are assigned carers, etc.

    24y36n8.jpg

    First time I'd travelled abroad without family was at the age of 12; One international flight and an average of 2 domestic flights each way (plus a seaplane depending on where the family was during the Breaks), always in my regulation school uniform. I'd despised planes long enough to have refused flying for years, until I'd gotten over how much I loathed every bit about it.
  • emergencytennis
    emergencytennis Posts: 864 Member
    Crikey, sisters, that is, is, that defies words!

    Lots of answers on here. I reckon US to Mexico/Hawaii absolutely qualifies for unaccompanied international travel. Canada not so much (and vice versa).

    Around eleven seems to be a lower limit.
  • Monkey_Business
    Monkey_Business Posts: 1,800 Member
    First time I travelled overseas was immediately after training in the Army.

    Was 18 at the time and was one of the first to enlist in the new 'VOLAR" (Volunteer Army) and the Army's overseas location of choice was "South East Asia" (Vietnam).

    The Army's official slogan back then was FTA (Fun, Travel and Adventure).

    Unofficially it was "Learn a skill, travel to strange and exotic countries, meet interesting people and learn to kill them.

    I did travel, and it was adventurious, the Army was a little weak about the 'Fun" part.

    But thats the way it was back in '72.

    Strange part was, thats is exactly what I enlisted for sooo..... careful what you wish for , you might get it.


    Sure was pretty igorant about the world back then.
  • teresamwhite
    teresamwhite Posts: 947 Member
    I'm an Army brat, so i've been travelling overseas since I was an infant. But on my own? i went to Mexico when I was 16 with a group of kids from my high school, and then I enlisted in the Army after high school and did all of my time overseas.

    Where is your son going in Japan? i'm fascinated by the country and would like to go with my kids one day.
  • emergencytennis
    emergencytennis Posts: 864 Member
    Late September. He will turn 12 there.
  • angiewf
    angiewf Posts: 175 Member
    School trip to Provence (with overnight stopover in Paris) when I was 16.
  • RhonndaJ
    RhonndaJ Posts: 1,615 Member
    First time I travelled abroad without my parents was when I was 11 or 12, class trip took the ferry across to Bar Harbor, Maine.

    First time I travelled aboard and in charge of my own travel, and a friends' as she had never travelled at all, was when I was 14 or 15. Travelled to Bermuda with an overnight in Boston.
  • SergeantG
    SergeantG Posts: 92
    I went to Europe (France, Spain, Italy and Monacco) with my boyfriend and his parents (we were chaperoning thier school trip they sponsored). My boyfriend proposed to me at the Trevi Fountain in Rome :o) (my first husband)

    I went to Kuwait on my first deployment overseas. That was with my unit of course. Then to Iraq about two years later.
  • BrotherBill913
    BrotherBill913 Posts: 662 Member
    When I was 19 I went to Korea in the ARMY
  • michellechawner
    michellechawner Posts: 892
    Went to France for 3 weeks when I was 16. School trip. There were about 40 of us that went - it was my sweet 16 present, I didn't have a big party - my parents paid for the trip, and I saved up for my spending money.
  • Temporalia
    Temporalia Posts: 1,151 Member
    I was 2 months old when my dad got posted in Germany, my brother was born there and we came back to Canada when I was 4 years old. After that, my dad was posted in Algiers when I was 12, came back at 14. On that second time, I had the chance to visit London, Geneva, Zurich and Paris (plus some cities in Algeria).
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,992 Member
    4 years old. Clark Air Force Base Philippines.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • emergencytennis
    emergencytennis Posts: 864 Member
    Quite a few people have read it wrongly.

    How old were you the first time you travelled overseas without your parents?

    Not oh I was a baby when my parents were posted to PNG.





    My parents sent me overseas before they had travelled abroad themselves. All credit to them.

    My mother never left Australia.
  • NaomiJFoster
    NaomiJFoster Posts: 1,450 Member
    I've never gone overseas without my parents. Even as an adult. Hint: Don't travel overseas with your husband, parents and sister when you are in your 40s. Don't!


    Age 12 --- Traveled to Israel and then The Netherlands. My dad had meetings with his publisher.
    Age 15 --- Traveled to England (sidetrips to Scotland and Wales). My dad was on Sabbatical, teaching in Manchester.
    Age 18 --- Traveled to England and France.
    Age 20 --- Traveled to England and The Netherlands. My dad was presenting at a convention.
    Age 22 --- Traveled to Israel.
    Age 42 --- Traveled to Israel.

    And of course, there have been many many drives to Canada and Mexico.
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
    Canada/Mexico don't count. (was in canada without parents around 16)

    I traveled to London in my mid 20's for work for a few weeks. Was fun, but work trip so seen the major sites but not all the little things.
  • thebigcb
    thebigcb Posts: 2,210 Member
    Think I was 11 when we first went to Spain

    Since then been around around Europe
  • IPAkiller
    IPAkiller Posts: 711 Member
    I traveled overseas the poor man's way and joined the Navy. Probably saw and did ten times more than the average vacationer.
  • 37434958
    37434958 Posts: 457 Member
    I was still in my mom's belly! :P
  • jmc0806
    jmc0806 Posts: 1,444 Member
    the first time going solo was last year, so 26 and to South Africa by myself for a business trip
  • Scarlett_Belle
    Scarlett_Belle Posts: 145 Member
    I was 22 and my first location was Diego Garcia, which is BIOT and I went on from there. It was love :love:
  • emergencytennis
    emergencytennis Posts: 864 Member
    I've never gone overseas without my parents. Even as an adult. Hint: Don't travel overseas with your husband, parents and sister when you are in your 40s. Don't!


    Age 12 --- Traveled to Israel and then The Netherlands. My dad had meetings with his publisher.
    Age 15 --- Traveled to England (sidetrips to Scotland and Wales). My dad was on Sabbatical, teaching in Manchester.
    Age 18 --- Traveled to England and France.
    Age 20 --- Traveled to England and The Netherlands. My dad was presenting at a convention.
    Age 22 --- Traveled to Israel.
    Age 42 --- Traveled to Israel.

    And of course, there have been many many drives to Canada and Mexico.

    Crikey.


    Australia is lovely from October on. So are New Zealand and southern Africa.

    Wrestle your passport from their clutches and GO!
  • SaltWaterTaffy78
    SaltWaterTaffy78 Posts: 375 Member
    I was 18. London, UK. Studies. Best 4 years of my life! :heart:
  • TheRealParisLove
    TheRealParisLove Posts: 1,907 Member
    30. My family didn't travel. I never even went to summer camp as a kid.
  • csuhar
    csuhar Posts: 779 Member
    How old were you the first time you travelled abroad without your family? I was 16, my husband had graduated so 21yo+, my daughter went on a school trip at 17.

    We are just about to send our 11yo off to Japan for 2 weeks and the jitters are starting. Ours, not his!

    Travelling abroad WITHOUT family? I was 23 and heading on my first deployment to the Middle East. I did a lot of travelling aborad before that, but I was either with my whole family or, at the least, my brother.

    If you'll accept the first time I traveled abroad without parental supervision, then it would be when I was 11 and my brother and I went on Boy Scout trips around Europe.
  • Yetta729
    Yetta729 Posts: 68 Member
    Our Firstborn was 7months old when we took him to Germany the first time.
    He was 6years old when he went by himself the first time, Lufthansa does a great job taking care of unaccompanied minors (Charlotte, NC to Dresden)
    That child is now 12 years old, on his third passport, his fifth trip by himself and in Germany with my parents as I type this. This time around he went through Toronto and Frankfurt, Air Canada does not do UM, I was very very nervous ... but the son is a seasoned pro by now ...
  • Gail3260
    Gail3260 Posts: 354 Member
    I don't count school trips for this.

    First time truly alone.....I was 14 and went from London to the French Alps by train, boat and plane on my own.
  • emergencytennis
    emergencytennis Posts: 864 Member
    How old were you the first time you travelled abroad without your family? I was 16, my husband had graduated so 21yo+, my daughter went on a school trip at 17.

    We are just about to send our 11yo off to Japan for 2 weeks and the jitters are starting. Ours, not his!

    Travelling abroad WITHOUT family? I was 23 and heading on my first deployment to the Middle East. I did a lot of travelling aborad before that, but I was either with my whole family or, at the least, my brother.

    If you'll accept the first time I traveled abroad without parental supervision, then it would be when I was 11 and my brother and I went on Boy Scout trips around Europe.
    [/quote

    That sounds equivalent. Our eleven year old is off on a school trip.

    Thank you, by the way, to all the posters in the services, and to the children of services families.
  • DragonSquatter
    DragonSquatter Posts: 957 Member
    I didn't make it out the U.S. until graduate school. My family never had the money to travel abroad. We didn't even have vacations within the US.
  • vienna_h
    vienna_h Posts: 428 Member
    I'm from Canada. My family and friends seem to think traveling alone is super weird and dangerous.

    The first time I traveled out of the country without family was in grades 7 and 8, we went to Boston and New York City with our teachers.

    The first time I traveled without adult supervision was backpacking Mexico with some random person I met on Craigslist. I was 22, she was 17 (she lied and told me she was 19).

    The first time I traveled completely alone I was 23. I backpacked across South America for several months, all by myself.
  • sillygoosie
    sillygoosie Posts: 1,109 Member
    I was 18 and went to Germany to nanny for my 2 nieces. I traveled alone and navigating the Paris, Amsterdam and Munich airports by myself was a little intimidating. I was a cute 18 year old so I had plenty of help.

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