How to convince parents to travel during gap year

Applying to College
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My daughter just spent the last 8/12 months last year in SE Asia. She was 20 and did her 4 months of study aboard in Indonesia. She was transferring schools and decided to back pack herself to Vietnam, Thailand, Loas and Cambodia over 2 months. She did mixture of lots of youth hostels with most people 18-22 and she met people from all over the world. Everyone looked out for each other and usually hiked together for a few days till the next hostel and went their own ways. Then you meet the next set of people and so on . One thing to understand is in Vietnam there is certain path that most take from North to South for back packers and you meet a lot of people along the way.

She also did https://www.workaway.info/ for free room /board in exchange for English lessons or work. They were wonderful to her and met again a lot of really nice people. They actually picked her up from the airport in Vietnam and brought her to where she would be staying. It’s a real company! This is how she started her trip by herself.

It’s extremely cheap in SE Asia. She had an amazing time. She actually was sent back to Indonesia when she came back she found out she got the CLS scholarship through the state department so 2 more and free months back in Indonesia. https://clscholarship.org/

It was a wonderful experience. Yes a little nerve wracking when she was really sick in Vietnam in the mountains and not by any medical centers. We had great contact with her with what’s app etc We think it was food poisoning. Other then that she had an itenarary and keep in close contact when things changed. She kept better contact with us when in SE Asia then she does now that she is back in college…lol.

So… If you’ve been to 20 countries not sure why your parents are hesitant. You can do the work aways or the like to meet a group of people and then go from there meeting people at the hostels. Most were actually very nice and you can find all female ones or get your own room also. Since you know how to travel these are very safe countries. Her favorite was Cambodia BTW.

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@calmom I don’t think I agree with you. Yes my daughter could of just gone since this was her own money and trip but I think there is some respect of the OP towards her parents. We knew my daughter really wanted to do this trip and we trust her judgment but if we said no she wouldn’t of gone. In Indonesia she did 2 weeks by herself and there were floods/tornados and volcanos going off if you remember the news. Seemed like every where she went to and left something happened. We were actually concerned when Trump went to China and started up there. We didn’t know if it would impact her trip to Vietnam.

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@liveforadventure - presumably, your parents know you pretty well. If you’re generally someone who thinks ahead, who has a lot of common sense and is responsible about staying in touch, appeal to their sense of fairness. Point out the situations you’ve handled safely in the past. Tell them the ways you’ll make sure they won’t lose touch with you at various stops along your adventure. Sell it to them as a package: your research and planning + your character and history = they can trust you to do the trip safely. If, on the other hand, you haven’t always made good decisions or handled tough situations well in the past… give your parents a break and find a travel companion because they have some reason to worry! :slight_smile: Parents by nature are over-cautious because they love their kids and want to keep them safe. But you aren’t a child and your parents also have to face that you will seek adventures of your own and maybe it’s better to let you do that now while you’re still willing to call home now and then…

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I still think some of this depends on what OP has been doing on this gap If she worked at something, that’s different than if she lazed around and now wants a trip to reward herself. We don’t know why the parents dislike this idea.

So many kids nowadays go to far flung corners. Yes to hostels and meeting other kids.

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" My mom definitely wishes I would go in a group (or at least with a friend!) but I’m set on going solo "

Why?
Would you skip the trip if it wasn’t solo? If so, I’d wait until a later time when you have more life experience behind you and don’t need to ask permission. Life doesn’t end at 18.