<p>My oldest asked permission at 20 because she was still completely financially dependent on us (car, insurance, phone, college tuition and even some spending money at times) and no matter the age, if you rely completely on your parents you are a child and must ask permission. My 18 year old has always been more naive and a homebody and honestly it didnt surprise me that she did not want to go on the cruise. Going to FL for a week is more her speed. She has almost finished her first semester in college and is doing fabulous. A cruise is just a little too far from home, I get that, but I also know her personality. Now my 16 year old is more like my oldest and has already started planning a trip to Europe after graduation with some close friends. My 7 year old wants me to be her roommate in college hahaha … do you think in 10 years she will change her mind?</p>
<p>Neat…When I was in college I certainly went on a few outings without asking permission. BUT they were not 4000 miles, and weeks long, did not involve a car my family owned, did not involve any finances from my family. And did NOT interfere with my ability to work to earn the money I was expected to contribute to college costs.</p>
<p>Since the OP has left the room, it is unclear what the parents have said, or not, about this trip.</p>
<p>I would very much support a trip for these students after graduation…but NOT a 4000 mile road trip in lieu of working for the summer.</p>
<p>I hope you come back, OP…</p>
<p>I think your trip sounds like a BLAST. When I was 18, I drove from L.A. to Minneapolis (and back) by myself, without a cell phone! My two-year-old Jeep broke down, I had to spend lots of extra $$, but I made it and everything worked out great. </p>
<p>If you are fortunate enough to convince your parents to let you go, a couple tips:</p>
<p>While in California, do not call it Cali out loud (likewise SoCal/NoCal) 
and if you plan on doing any beach camping (DO IT!) be sure to make reservations for CA state beaches. You must book them MONTHS in advance. For June dates, book starting December 1; July starting January 2; August starting February 1. Santa Barbara area beaches are the most desirable and usually the first to go. Refugio, El Capitan, Gaviota, Carpinteria (in that order) are the best, IMO. Ideally, you should have several people working the computers at once to nab your site. Probably a bit premature (since you may not go/don’t plan on beach camping), but we’ve run into so many visitors from OOS and abroad that have absolutely no idea how popular beach camping is and are shocked to find out that they have nowhere to stay that night! Just hoping to spare you from a potential snag (and, you can add this to your PP presentation to show your folks how carefully you’ve researched everything – tee hee). </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>There are likely a lot more variables here than you’ve considered.</p>
<p>After high school, I spent about 3 years traveling the country and going to a lot of music festivals, doing a ton of camping, and just generally seeing the country. I’m a very low maintenance person, as were the people that were with me. Myself and one of the other guys that was with us were both very mechanically inclined, which came in handy a number of times. Cars break down. Especially when you’re putting thousands upon thousands of miles on them at a time. </p>
<p>Trips like this are inevitably going to cost a LOT more than you think they will. Gas and food alone are going to cost a lot. A real lot. Even roadside campsites will often cost a lot more than you think they will. Factor in the countless side trips to random things that you come across, countless impulse munchie purchases at truck stops…factor in the fact that you’ll probably spend twice as much in gas as you’ve estimated as well. All of the side trips and turn arounds, those times when you realize you’ve been going the wrong way for the last 40 miles(it happens) and countless other unseen factors. </p>
<p>As others have mentioned, most hotels won’t even rent rooms to people that are under 21. Many roadside campsites won’t either. There’s too much liability involved. </p>
<p>That said, a trip like this is something that you would remember for the rest of your life. </p>
<p>Eat a lot of blackbean fajitas and grilled cheese sandwiches made fresh on a campgrill at a rest stop and you can save a lot of money. A couple months worth of stops at Dennys is going to add up to a rather hefty pricetag. </p>
<p>One of the best things I found out back when I was getting my wanderlust out of my system was that national parks let you pitch a tent wherever you want. For free. This was about ten years ago though, it may be different now.</p>
<p>I’d also point out that this wasn’t exactly a “with permission” kind of thing. It was more like me telling them that I was taking off for a while. My parents were always pretty loose with me though. In my case, a “while” ended up being about 3 years. It was a great 3 years though. I got to live in California, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah, for at least some length of time.</p>
<p>My kids at 23 and 21 went on a cross country road trip from LA to Lake Tahoe and many other points before getting to The elder kiddo’s new place to live and job in Washington DC. His job reimbursed travel expenses and both had been in college, had AAA with a 100 mile towing membership, S’s credit card and savings. By that time, they had both spent a month in Taiwan together with a student youth summer program and S had spent 6 weeks in Thailand. Both had drivers licenses for some time. </p>
<p>I agree that teen drivers should ideally not drive great distances with other young drivers. There are just too many things that can and do go wrong bi can see doing this after a year or more of college, where you’ve lived more independently. I expected my kids to earn funds toward their college spending money over the summer. This long trip sounds like it would cut into summer jobs.</p>
<p>There are some good objections to add to the power point. </p>
<p>Dont let the big sit down be the first time this is sprung on them. Start socializing this plan now- “Debbie and I are thinking of taking a little senior get away after exams”. Dont let them know the scope but at least establish that something is being planned. </p>
<p>You have to establish a few minitrips now. You and Debbie need to go skiing for a weekend. During Easter break go on the mission trip to Honduras to rebuild a well. </p>
<p>No one is going to accept you going from 0-100 in responsibility in one jump.</p>