Originally Posted by
andymo99
I am going to try to be even-tempered and respectful here, but I might lose it...
Holy smokes, you and the kid's parents are doing him a terrible disservice babying him this way. He is (almost?) 20 years old. He is traveling to first world countries. The national language at his destination is
English. He has ATM cards and credit cards. Yet, you all are treating him like an unaccompanied minor who has unexpectedly been dropped in West Africa without money, language skills, or a phone.
Let the kid fend for himself. It will be a learning experience. He will grow.
If you all continue to baby him this way, he is just a few short years from being one of those kids in an entry-level professional job whose mommy and daddy insist on speaking with his boss after his first disappointing performance review.
I sincerely urge you all to let him spread his wings on this one. Happy to continue the conversation with all three of you by email if you'd like further thoughts (and horror stories of how similarly coddled kids end up). I am in Bhutan and so my day is just beginning (though I'll be off the grid for the next 7 hours or so --- mom and dad are ok with that
)
Edited to add: My first trip to Europe without mommy and daddy was at 22, with 3 of my fraternity brothers from suburban upbringings. ~15 years later, we are well-adjusted adults. All married. 3 children among us. All well-paid self-supporting professionals, homeowners. Even a MD. Let him free.
....Well, um, ahhhhh.....you make fine points, and of course I've been exaggerating a bit.....still, here's my thinking:
He signed-up to be part of a school group, so didn't do any of the travel planning himself, or looked much at maps of London, probably.....so he is "on his own" unexpectedly......even if he is in the First World of cell phones and credit cards and a Starbucks or McD's within a few blocks.
Your experience of traveling together with friends was a great example.....you likely researched and talked a lot about travel plans together in advance of the trip, so had some readiness for alternatives in case of travel disruptions.
.....and I'm over-reacting since I'm disgruntled that neither the kid or parents called me, the oh-so-well-traveled uncle, when original mis-connect developed, so I might have arranged the CVG-DTW-LHR routing on DL, rather than DL's choice of CVG-CDG-LHR. It's when family is traveling, with or without you, that you want the usual airline hassles (which we are used to managing) to disappear.
Parents were calmed about the ease of a Heathrow Express-to-Paddington-then-just a-3-mile-cab-ride to his school's hotel. They will text him when he lands at CDG. Was it too much for me to pass along that the Heathrow Express is running only every 30 mins on Monday, so go ahead and jump on the train and pay the extra L5 for on-board ticket, rather than wait in line to buy a ticket but miss a train?
thanks again to all!