Most parents may not be as excited as you are, about the idea of exploring new places & cultures, meeting new people, and living an adventurous life. News and media never fail to project the world as a very dangerous place. However, this doesn’t mean you need to remain chained to familiar surroundings and suffocate the adventurer in you.
Given the exaggerated projections of the dangers, parents in an attempt to be protective, assume that the world in its entirety is unsafe, and simply a waste of time and money to travel. Little are they willing to understand that travel is a sure way to discover the beauty of the world and this can be one of the most rewarding experiences of one’s life that have no substitute or alternative.
While some parents allow their children to explore and see the world, there is the unfortunate majority who do not support it. Convincing your strict parents to let you travel may not be easy. But it doesn’t mean it can’t be done either. Reasonable persuasion is always successful. Although the parents are against traveling, there is never any question of their love for their children.
Here are some tested ways to convince parents to let you travel solo, with your friends, or for your dream foreign trip.
Tips To Convince Parents
Table Of Contents
To Travel Alone
1. Honest Communication
Many college students escape home in the name of internships and projects by telling lies, just to spend time with friends or travel to a new place. If you are seriously looking to travel frequently and consider doing long-term, stop cooking up stories and be honest. Lies might be a band-aid solution at best. They more often cause a lot of complications, wherein, your best case scenario is getting a lifetime travel ban.
A proper sit-down and open conversation with them will help most of the time. Just be prepared to answer a lot of questions, and push past their initial reluctance to continue the conversation. Show them you are responsible and have figured out what you want to do in your life.
2. Sheer Stubbornness
You have lived with your parents your entire life. They are the first people you interacted with, love, and grew up with. You know the best way to convince them. For us, it was sheer unrelenting stubbornness that helped a lot in convincing (wearing down) our parents. If you desperately want to go, stick to it until the very end as much as you can.
If you couldn’t convince them this time, be patient and don’t give up just yet. If they say “NO”, asking for their reasons will help you get those corrected the next time. Disapproval shouldn’t stop you. Try harder and tell them that this is what you wanted to do and you are gonna do it sooner or later.
3. Start Small
With typical Indian parents of girls, we know how a trip to Ladakh or Delhi sounds to them before marriage. “Get married and go wherever you want” would be our parent’s first response if we ask them. They generally don’t wish to entertain the idea of their daughters far away to regions that are unknown and inexperienced to them. So, the best way is to start small.
Choose a place that is close to home or start with day trips. Then eventually go for weekend trips and then for the longer ones.
4. Be Financially Independent
Firstly, money gives you the freedom and the luxury to make important decisions in life. Being financially independent above all gives you the confidence to stand up for yourself. The reality is once you are financially secure, it removes the dependence on your parents and you no longer have to ask them to pay for your travel needs. It also helps you decide the place of travel, stay and mode of transport based on your budget. Nowadays, there are a wide variety of freelance jobs available. Try to be on your own and support yourself 100% as early as you can.
To be honest, we started traveling only after joining a corporate job. We moved out of our hometown for work and explored the city we moved in and its nearby places. It all started from there. We usually tell parents that we have planned a trip with our roommates, friends or office mates but we ourselves go out together.
5. Show Them Your Passion & Love For Traveling
Whether opportunity presents or not, constantly show them that you are interested in traveling. Show them the bucket list places you have bookmarked on google maps. Tell them travel stories and ask them to see the pictures and videos you took from your previous trips. The more often your parents hear your rants about traveling, the easier it is for them to believe that you really love to travel. These subtle things ease in paving your way to the dream trip.
6. Join Group Trips
Group trips are advantageous in several ways. Everything will be arranged for the trip including food, and accommodation, with multiple pick up and drop locations. Every group trip is accompanied by a leader who is available to guide you. These things are very assuring for parents who are contemplating letting you go on the trip. Take advantage of group trips while starting out.
7. Wait For The Right Time To Ask
Timing is crucial. Asking for permission after a bad day will never work. Catch them in their best moods when they are relaxed or when they look happy.
For instance, in our home, if we tell them early, they would plan for a pilgrimage tour on those exact days and spoil our plan. Sometimes we inform them at least a month before, but for some trips, although we book in advance we inform them just two days before the trip. So, it is very important to discuss your trips at the right time.
8. Show Examples
Showing pictures and videos of friends and travel influencers who have already been to those places proves that it is safe for you as well. Share your inspiration and role models in the field of travel and explain specifically why and what you like about them.
Initiate these conversations whenever your parents talk about general or some random stuff. These meaningful chats that you do really matter when you bring up the topic of going on a trip.
9. Promise Them To Be In Touch & To Be Safe
Your safety is their foremost priority. Despite the media and news, your parents have to believe that their daughter or son will be safe wherever they go. Keep updating your whereabouts every day and assure them that you are safe. Document your journey and share it with them. Wouldn’t it be cute to see their reactions?
Remember, the efforts that you put on your first trip will give them the confidence to allow you for subsequent trips.
10. Do Your Homework & Prepare Thoroughly
Share the full day-to-day itinerary with your parents including the emergency contacts. Figure out transportation, friends who will accompany, accommodation, safety, duration, and cost. Involve them in your planning by asking them for suggestions. Transparency and trust should not be broken by any means.
11. Be Flexible
Don’t be trapped by your itinerary. Consider it as the outline of what you want to do. If your parents aren’t comfortable with the destination, have a backup place in mind. Be flexible enough to change the destination. Also, be prepared to postpone the trip but don’t cancel them.
It is a delicate balance that needs to be maintained. Your goal is to be allowed to travel, so the destination is secondary. Remain focused and stubborn about being able to travel. Over time, this will ensure that you are eventually allowed to travel to the place you wish.
13. Tag Them Along
Even after multiple attempts if they are not convinced, show them how confident and responsible you are by taking them along on your trips. They would be happy to see you grow, and eventually, be more inclined to accept and understand. Gift a trip on their special day and spend time with them.
For Trips With Friends
Parents are extremely concerned about the company you hang out with. Tell them you are going with someone whom they know and trust.
We were not 100% transparent in the initial days because we knew the drama we would be subjected to and the eventual refusal that would follow. For example, if we planned a trip with a bunch of girls and boys, we tell them that we are planning a “girls only” trip and share the pictures of only girls with them. But now eventually, they allow us on group trips with mixed genders considering that food, accommodation, and pick up and drop locations are being taken care of.
We highly recommend you to be honest with them because despite all their reservations that is what parents like and expect from you. Your first trip ideally should be a gateway for your second, third, and subsequent ones. If you lie for the first trip and end up getting caught, they would lose trust in you, and this will severely compound their reluctance, ensuring that there is no mention of travel for more than a couple of months minimum.
To Go Abroad
Personally, we know several friends who do their bachelor’s or master’s degrees abroad. Few have even gotten job offers and have settled there for life. You can take this as an opportunity to explore as well. Once you get to go confidently to nearby places with the permission of your parents, an abroad trip is just your bread and butter.
The tips and tricks shared above and the lessons that you have learned along the way will definitely give you the courage to persuade them. Last but definitely not least, if you have got the approval, make sure to stick with your promises.
From being afraid to ask for permission to inform them about our trips, we have come a long way. Convincing parents is a slow and tough process. Don’t push too hard. With time, we are sure they will be convinced to let you go.
Be patient, don’t lose heart & good luck!
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