TRAVEL
TRAVEL WITH TWEENS San Diego Satisfies Travellers Of All Ages by Bianca Bujan My heart races as my 12-year-old daughter and I settle into our cherry red plastic seats on San Diego’s Patriot Jet Boat, a thrilling tour that promises speed, screams, and splashes. It’s not the boat itself that has me feeling nervous, but the high-speed spins, tricks, and turns that are to be expected on the turbocharged ride. My daughter notices that I’m gripping the bars in front of me with both hands and wearing a worried look on my face, and laughs at me as the tour guide prepares us for what’s about to go down. We haven’t even left the harbour and I’m already second-guessing my decision to board. Once the safety spiel ends, there’s an uneasy silence, and then Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” begins to blare from the speakers as our boat speeds away from the dock. Suddenly, the wind is hitting my face with force but I can’t stop smiling. The boat does a reverse 360 turn, just as the song hits the climactic chorus, I’m going off the rails on a crazy train! Everyone on the boat simultaneously raises their arms as if descending a steep hill on a rollercoaster, and screams the words to the song in unison. Around me, grandparents, tweens, and single twenty-somethings are bonding over this one-of-a-kind boat ride, and when we return to the dock, I proclaim that I want to go again. After an adventure-filled mother-daughter trip to San Diego with my oldest daughter, I realized that planning a trip with a child who is approaching her teen years is a unique feat, and that if not properly planned, taking a tween on a trip can be more challenging than travelling with a toddler. This age group can be tough to impress, and if you’re not prepared, your travel itinerary will be met with eye rolls and apathy - the perfect recipe for a ruined family trip. To help you plan a family trip with your tween in tow, I’m sharing some tips on how to keep everyone in your family engaged - especially those kids on the cusp of childhood and their teen years.
24 WestCoastFamilies.com
