Tweet
Our daughter is on her 3rd year of German in high school and we have started planning her German trip for 2026. She already went to DC with the school last year and absolutely hated it. She loved to travel and see things but they were on the go constantly and she just didn't really have a whole lot of fun. It will cost us about $4,200 for her to go, $4,800 for adults. I like to budget high so I'd say 14k. The teacher recommended $20-30 a day spending money but all meals are included. We don't really have fundraisers but he encouraged us to do our own with our churches, family, etc. They also have a scholarship that's available to apply for but very limited. This is ALOT of money to us. But it's also a once in a lifetime trip. I was a little disappointed, a few years back they went to Austria and Belgium and this trip is just Germany but multiple cities around the country. I have never traveled internationally so I'm genuinely curious if this is a good deal or could we take DD ourselves for the same or cheaper price, like 15k total? They are booking with a educational tour company. If we did take DD ourselves we'd make it a family vacation and there's 7 of us, youngest would be 2 so a big family... But it would be her senior trip/graduation present too.. Or another possibility would be to cut it down to DH and I, DD and ODS. The rest of the children are 10 and under. ODS will be 16 then. Notes: Her friends are not in German so they won't be on the trip and she isn't very social. She's very quiet and literally would rather just sit alone and not talk to anyone than go up to someone and talk. But she's also very independent and doesn't seem to mind that or maybe just doesn't show it. I really have no doubts in her going alone if it came to that. Yeah I'd be nervous being international alone but she's a smart girl and her teacher is from Germany so she'd be in good hands.
-
-
Can she maybe go alone as an exchange student? That would be far cheaper, she'd really learn the language and culture. -
I did a similar parent-kid language trip and what helped us was keeping travel flexible so we could follow her interests. I used a Euro rail pass on that trip, which made it easy to hop between cities without overthinking tickets. It took some stress off and let her practice German in lots of different settings. Let her pick a couple of must-see spots too; it makes the whole thing feel more like her adventure.Comment
Comment