Involve your teenagers in the planning of the trip, and invite them to contribute to the itinerary. Lure them with food! Give them the task of researching places to eat along the way – they can assess reviews, find their favourite cuisine and calculate mileage between pit stops. If there are other places of interest to them along the way, make an effort to stop – it might be a speciality shop they’ve heard of, the scene of a famous (infamous!?) event or a location from Lord of the Rings.
Navigation, photography, social media documentation… all can be achieved using the devices your teens will have no doubt packed in their backpack or pockets. Reality is, it will be tricky to keep teenagers off their screens on a long road trip, and while we recommend scheduling in some screen-free time for conversation, road-trip games (you’re never too old to spot horses) or simply gazing out the window, you could also empower your teens to put their devices to good use and further engage them in the journey. Swap around who gets to ride shotgun – and the person in the front seat is responsible for navigation. Teens can also document the trip with photography and video. There’s no better way to see the holiday through your young person’s eyes than by following the journey on their Instagram or Snapchat stories!