I was wondering if you parents have helped your new graduate to find travel mates/travel partners?
My daughter is 21 and had a stressful graduation as the job she accepted didn’t work out just close to her graduation and she had said no to other offers to accept this start up but luckily after she graduated she reached out to her previous offers and was able to get back one offer!
So now she is feeling better and would like to travel to Europe. Since they started planning late most of her close friends already have other commitments. So far only one girl is committed. So in this kind of scenario are there any options to find similar new grad travel mates?
Appreciate your input!
I know there are opportunities in social media , recently my friend’s sister’s daughter who is 26 went on an Asian trip with global travel group apparently aged 21 to 30.
All 5 of my kids have traveled overseas with friends, and one thing they all agree on is that some folks are great to travel with, but some are not. They have eliminated some friends as travel companions. Also, the larger the group, the tougher it is.
My daughter actually travelled alone for a bit through Europe and loved the freedom to do whatever she wanted. My niece went with one friend and they also did well together.
Unless your D is looking for a tour, I’d be very hesitant to travel with strangers. Especially trying to cobble something together last minute.
But, there are companies that specialize in tours for young adults. My D did a trip with EF tours. My understanding is they have a spin off for young adults 18-24.
Very positive experience with EF to Costa Rica but it was a school trip. She liked it enough though that she was looking into the young adult version but ultimately opted to travel alone.
I did a fair amount of travel alone when younger. It was very easy to meet other travelers especially when staying in hostels or other small hotels frequented by younger people. You can also sign up for day tours at the destination. I agree I’d be very hesitant to commit to a whole trip with people I didn’t know - would rather travel alone or with one friend I already know.
Traveling alone can be very liberating. If your daughter plans to stay at hostels, there are lots that offer programing designed to help people meet other travelers.
I highly recommend Toc Hostels in Spain. Hostelworld is also a good place to find hostels that offer a lot of traveler programming for young adults.
Also, food tours are a great way to meet other people traveling without committing to having to go along with a group for long periods of time. Secret Food Tours is a great option.
We did not help either of our kids with post college travel plans. One has travelled a lot within our country, and the other has travelled a lot internationally. They both found friends to travel with. At times, they needed to wait until a friend was available in terms of the time/day and place.
DD does a girls trip annually, and even this is not that easy to coordinate. They just wait and do what is convenient.
Perhaps your daughter can find a tour as suggested, or maybe reach out to friends who might be able to travel later on.
I’d also recommend trying out traveling alone but using hostels to meet other young travelers. I agree predicting travel compatibility in advance of a long trip is nearly impossible, and that being entirely able to set your own agenda and pace may sound intimidating at first, but can end up very rewarding.
A more specific tip? When in hostels and such, listen for Australian accents. If you ever hang out with Australians you meet this way, you will very likely quickly understand why I am recommending that.
I took a year off after undergrad and backpacked alone. Staying in youth hostels all the way, you always meet people and almost always have someone to go sightseeing with. There were occasions when I would end up traveling for a week or two with people /groups I’d met. I was terrified when I set off because I was a huge introvert and it ended up being the best year ever. And it helped cure some of my introversion, because you can’t always rely on people to start talking to you first.
I did have a lot of fun times with various Australians, to echo above.
And definitely don’t plan too much. Flight ticket to and from Europe and maybe the first few days. You find places you want to stay longer than you had planned and places you want to leave earlier, and places you didn’t think of but your fellow travelers have told you about or you go somewhere with them… youth hostels and trains make it all very easy to travel around without having too much planned in advance.
Both my girls traveled after college (both actually left the day after graduation). My oldest spent 3 weeks in Australia & NZ. She and a friend went with a specialized tour like the EF one mentioned above (female travelers only), where the itinerary was pre-planned.
My youngest also went with one friend at this time last year on a 3-week trip to southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand & Vietnam). They planned their own itinerary after doing a ton of research and talking to friends who had traveled there to get recommendations. I was pretty nervous about them being on their own, so far away but they did great and only had one or two minor hiccups that they expertly solved on their own.
I think it helped in both cases that they previously did study abroad semesters, so they were comfortable navigating foreign countries and acclimating to the customs of other cultures. They also chose travel mates who they knew from their study abroad experiences, that they were compatible with. I would echo the posts above that not every friend is the ideal travel mate. Agreeing ahead of time with a travel mate on a budget is very important. If one is a 5-star hotel traveler and the other has a hostel budget, things could get spicy.
I think it depends on your daughter’s personality as to whether she would be better suited to join a tour or travel alone. Both my girls met many other recent college grads during their travels. If she hasn’t traveled abroad before, just make sure that she realizes that trains in Europe (if that’s where she’s planning to go) get canceled (for strikes and other things) so she may have to pivot if that happens - and during the busy travel seasons in most countries, reservations at the popular hostels are recommended.
My D and some friends went to a Japanese island together and she mostly enjoyed herself, but also found it super annoying. She likes to get up and see places, but most of the others wanted to sleep in. They threw their stuff all over. She then orgazined a solo short trip to an island in Japan. It was interesting, but she realized she wants to share her experiences with others.
She used Intrepid for a young singles adults group trip to Turkey. There are other companies known for a sort of “party” group trip, but she deliberately avoided using those. She had a good time, but as a budget trip, it had its drawbacks, primarily regarding food and transport.
She has travelled with only one friend at a time since then. It’s much more manageable.
I did a couple of solo trips both in the US and in Europe as a young adult. I don’t recommend it personally. I was harrassed in various places and I really didn’t enjoy being on my own. I have done trips with one friend at a time and that seems to be the sweet spot.
Our S did some solo travel after he graduated college and before his orientation at work started. He went to Bangkok where a guy from his HS was and got certified in scuba diving. He said he had a great time. He had not traveled solo before, as far as we know. He’s pretty good at finding his way around and resourceful.
There are sites like” Host a sister “ and “Workaway”.My daughter has done both. She backed packed through South East Asia herself. She saw the same people over and over and in the hostiles they had movie night’s and game nights etc. They all kinda looked out for each other. This is what she used “Workaway “for free food and lodging. They picked her up at the airport in Vietnam. Most of the exploring is going like either North or South and everyone tends to go see the same /similar sites. Not uncommon to see single female travelers from all over Europe etc
