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I will admit that I have been a very lucky mama when it comes to international travel with my teen kids. Both of them are seasoned travelers and handle most trips with ease.

My son took his first road trip at five weeks old, and now at age 14, he has put more miles under his belt than most adults twice his age. It comes with the territory when you’re a military brat/contractor’s kid.

Even then – there are times that traveling is stressful, or tedious, and just boring. International flights are hard enough on adults, but especially for teenagers, whose attention spans have a tendency to be short-lived.

The many layovers, the constant lines of security checks, and the overwhelming size of most international airports can be a lot for teens to handle. Over the years, I have tried many tricks to keep my kids occupied to make the long hours and miles pass quickly.

3 Travel with Teens Hacks

Here are three most tried and true tips to make traveling internationally with teens easier for the whole family.

Tip 1: Technology Is Your Friend

Raising teens these days is very different than it was for our parent’s generation.

Our generation has had to learn how to integrate the internet and social media into our parenting style. Most of us walk a tight line trying to balance giving our teens’ screen time and knowing when it is too much. This usually means limits on daily online activity for most teens.

I would strongly encourage you to consider lifting those limits temporarily when you are traveling. Or, at the very minimum, raising the maximum allowed screen time for the day of the trip.

Airports are LOUD. They can be very large, and confusing to navigate – especially if they are located in a foreign country. Teens use their technology as a means to unwind and decompress from stress. As adults, we understand how stressful travel can be and how important self-care is to our overall sense of well-being. Why not afford that same consideration to your teen on travel days?

Let teens de-stress in a way that makes them happiest.  Up their screen time limit, and see how grateful your teen will become. Or, at the very least, see how much less grumpy they will be. (Sidenote: I was told that teens are grumpy- but HOLY CATS. Like this is for serious, y’all. Teens are beasts. You’ve been warned.)

Pro tip: Don’t forget the batteries!!

Make sure you purchase a set of new batteries to take with you in your carry-on for anything that may need batteries (camera, portable game system, etc.). Also, be sure to bring a portable phone charger for every phone you have in your group. Don’t forget to charge the phones and portable chargers completely up the night before the trip.

Speaking of charging things up- don’t forget the plugs to all of the technology things as well. Nothing makes a kid bummed faster than to have a dead phone because they forgot their plug.

Tip 2: Or DON’T Use Technology

Sometimes old school is the way to go.

Phones (and portable phone chargers) run out of juice. Technology can get boring after traveling for more than 24 hours. And when these things happen- it is best to have a “non-technology” backup waiting in the wings.

I always carry a deck of cards, a baggie of five dice, two travel card games (Pictured below are Travel Clue and Travel Monopoly card games that I found at Target back in the states), Exploding Kittens card game, LCR (Left, Center, Right) dice game, a small notepad, and a few pens. These fit very neatly into a quart-sized baggie and take up almost no room in my carry-on.

We play W.A.R., Go Fish, Old Maid, and Rummy with the deck of cards. Sometimes, someone will play Solitaire. We use the dice and the notepad to play Yahtzee and Farkle. Everyone in our family loves travel Clue and Monopoly.

Exploding Kittens is a game we have played for many hours while waiting on flights, and I highly recommend it for teens. It’s a little bit on the PG-13 side, and just “mature” enough the teens will get a kick out of it, without the parents feeling like they are contributing to delinquency. LCR is a quick dice game that everyone can play. We also play tic-tac-toe, Hangman, and M.A.S.H. on the notepad.

While it’s also a good idea that everyone brings something to read, I’m a big fan of the family interacting and playing together to make the time pass. I think it sets the mood for a fun, family vacation.

Pro tip: Pack the card decks in their own bag within the quart-sized baggie.

TSA has a strange obsession with decks of cards. The first time I traveled with them, I had one TSA agent check every deck individually. She took all the decks out of the boxes, sorted through the cards, and put the cards back into the boxes in the most haphazard fashion I’ve ever seen. As you can imagine, this took up quite a bit of time and caused frustration levels to rise among all involved.

I have since learned to take the cards out of the boxes, and instead, put them into their own baggies. I then put those smaller bags of cards into the larger quart sized bag with all of my travel entertainment gear. This makes getting through TSA so much easier and less time-consuming.

Tip 3: Get On Your Feet!

One of my favorite things about most airports is all the free education they provide. Maybe it’s just the homeschool mama in me always looking for ways to teach something new. But, I have found that walking through airports can be a one-two shot with kids and teens.

Most international airports have art displays all along the terminal pathways. I’ve seen everything from full museums in some airports, to interactive displays on local history, to life-sized dinosaur skeletons!

Take full advantage of these free opportunities to exercise and educate! Most teens actually enjoy these excursions, whether they admit to it or not. If the airport you’re visiting has a tram system, and your layover time allows for it, take a free ride.

My teens (and who am I kidding? I do, too.) love to ride the rail system from start to finish. The turn around on those trains is always our favorite part. It’s fascinating to see how these train systems are set up, and you usually see a part of the airport you might not have gotten to see otherwise. It’s a time and boredom killer that few teens will object to.

International vacations with teens can be so exciting for a family, but it is not without its own challenges. Planning ahead to limit those obstacles with your teens is critical to having the most enjoyment out of your family vacation.  Let me know what your favorite tips for traveling with teens are in the comments below! Have you ever tried any of my tips? Did they work for your family?

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