carolkport

Need help in deciding if I should take my 10 year old alone with me to Portugal for 3 weeks in August? I am concerned he will get bored and homesick when I am trying to see the whole region? We will be renting a car and I am concerned he will just not appreciate the culture and I will have made a huge mistake taking him too early. Should I wait until he is maybe 12?

Any thoughts
Thank you

lreynold1

Hi, Carol,
I think that there will be a wide range of opinions on this topic, and in the end it really boils down to your own sense of your son. My kids, who are now 29 and 25, travelled a lot from an early age, and we were always able to find lots of kid-appropriate things to do. (Most of our travel was either on the Iberian Peninsula or in South America). Castles and palaces are not likely to be in your son's everyday routine, and Portugal has many of those. There are lots of parks, rivers, beaches, and mountains for swimming, hiking and walking.

Lisbon is a great city for kids -- the aquarium, waterfront attractions, the cable cars, the castle, the big squares, the great pastries -- I think most 10 year olds would have fun in Lisbon. And Sintra, which is easiliy accessible, has a ton of castles and palaces and so long as the pace isn't too frenetic, I think any 10 year old would enjoy it.

My one thought is that 3 weeks may be a bit long to just travel around, living out of a suitcase and changing hotels frequently. I'd think you might want to have at least one, maybe two long-term bases of a week. Renting an apartment is easy and economical and also makes things more like home. I don't think a 10 year old is likely to enjoy a "15 cities in 3 weeks" kind of itinerary, but then most adults don't really enjoy that either.

So this is a long way of saying that my opinion is that there's nothing inherently difficult about taking a 10 year old traveling, so long as you are sensitive to the kid's needs and can be flexible. And so long as you realize that you might not be able to see everything you would have liked to see. But then the advantages of having fun with your son likely outweigh the loss of a few extra tourist sites, and seeing foreign countries through the eyes of a 10 year old is a treat in itself.

pookymimi

No way,we just came back from a 2 months trip, daughter 9 y/o and son 21.
My daughter who is 9 loved the Castles, the beaches, etc.
Your child won't get bored as everyday is a new adventure and more things to learn, as she put it "This is like being at School, we learn something new everyday".

Now that we are back at home she is constantly bored because we are at home.

Look at some of our pics.

http://s970.photobucket.com/albums/a...mimi/Portugal/

WWanderer

I also think you should think about several bases for a few days. The main trick I think is to slow things down a bit, and make time for kid activities. We took our son to Amsterdam, Scotland and England when he was 7, and he had a good time, but being in the back seat of a car all day is not idea. Spending time in a place gives him time to meet other children, find the local playgrounds, and see things on his feet, not from a car. Let him have some time every day to just run and play, if he likes.

sj101

We did 2 weeks in Portugal with our 10 year old daughter
in 2008. She loved most of it. We stayed in moderate places,
but they all had WiFi, pool, etc. As for the days, she
loved the castles, the history (which she had read up a little bit prior to leaving) and the majestic cathedrals.
The iPod helped when the scenery became boring (we did the interior too, up to the Spanish border) while we drove.
She also loved the sea (Atlantic) at several places.

It, of course, depends on the child, and you are alone.
But, my guess is that it should not be possible.

sj101

alihutch

A friend of mine spent 3 months in Spain with a camper van with her 10 year old....first few weeks doing a language course.
They had an amazing time and by the end her son map read for her from where they came off the ferry in the south of England back up to Scotland!