Traveling with Your Teen
Oh, how starved we have been for seeing places other than the four walls of our home, and our neighborhood, or the grocery stores. So when we were fully vaccinated, we took some time to be out in Nature, away from the din of suburbia, and tried to center back into ourselves.
Conde Nast Traveler asked me about how I travel with my teen. This is the full breadth of my interview.
(Many of you know that), that I have travelled with my daughter, solo, back and forth to India and across the US since she was 8 months old. Because of this, she has become an enthusiastic travel companion. We both also love arts and crafts, and food places. We enjoy trips that combine the art-scene, food (if in India - tea and agri-tourism), local gardens, museums, and crafts. We sometimes go antiquing, do scenic drives, or even stop at the local farmers market if we see one. If my husband (her dad) is traveling with us, we add architectural tours to the itinerary - she enjoys those too.
Every teens personality is different so what works for us, may not for another teen. For us, trips that do not offer a variety of experiences, or those that have too much sensory overload are seldom appealing. My teen needs down time to decompress between sights. She likes to *see* the place she’s visiting and eat local fare - not be cooped up or be only eating at a fast-food chain.
The phone nearly eliminates the need for any additional gear so in the past few years, we have begun to carry a few things to make trips relaxing and enjoyable as part of a single “kit or pouch” - this is our “self care kit”. The pouch includes a selection of seasonal Ayurvedic remedies that we use throughout the year anyway, which makes it easy to assemble. In it are a few hand-filled tea bags of Ayurvedic teas, a small tin of assorted herbs and spices for relaxing teas/ tisanes, a few single use herbal face masks and/or some bath salts, as well as a few single serve hot chocolate pouches. The pouch/kit offers a personal refuge for when we are in between sites/ sights and it forces us to relax and enjoy the moments - even if it is sipping a tisane on the hotel balcony. This ensures that we make every trip a relaxing vacation.
I did not add this bit, but we also travel with some art supplies – some watercolor paper, some pencils etc. I have always been fascinated by book binding techniques, and after I learnt a Japanese Book binding technique with my daughter, decided to experiment with making something from India. India is considered the birthplace of book binding techniques, with ancient texts found on palm leaflets. I recreated a watercolor book for me, that looks like a Venetian blind.
We recently took a socially distanced, safely observed trip and I took many of these objects with us. She was gifted a polaroid by her older cousin brother, which was a fun addition to my daughters’ photography collection. At a farmers market we found a broccoli bouquet, and another, some fresh strawberries (they did not make it to the car)…
As we begin to travel again, my self-care kit comes with me.
Learn more!!
Do you want a tea kit and art kit like mine? Or do you want to customize yours?
Email me: currycravings@gmail.com to purchase a tea kit like this one... show in the next photo, and if you want to do a tea tasting class with me. If you are travelling, I can even ship it to you – directly to your destination 😊 provided it is in the US. Tea tasting kit can be made dosha specific or for specialized / personalized care.
