Guide to your first Parent-Free Holiday

If "OO-AH-MALIAAA I SAID OO-AH-MALIAAAAAAA" is all you're hearing at the moment then congrats, you're going on your first parent-free holiday. No curfews, no rules, no problem. Perfect. Or is it?

Firstly, if you think your parents are going to let you leave for your holiday without inviting the Queen around for a goodbye ceremony of the weirdest kind, you're wrong. It will all start a month or so before you're due to leave when they start to ask you about what you're going to pack, when you're going to pack and where you intend on getting your rape alarm from. My advice is to let them worry because even if you try to reassure them, they'll be right back on it the next day. After my A-levels, our friends went to a house in Cornwall (because it's where all the cool cats go). It's also because most of us were in couples and saw no point in having to subject ourselves to the sunburned sights of Kavos all trying to get off with each other. Our parents still "helped" with the packing meaning they took out every bikini and crop top and swapped it for jeans and a rather flattering sweatshirt owned since 2001. No matter though, the bikinis came with us. 

Secondly, I don't know how well-known this is but your parents are older than you. They have so much more "experience" of life which is unfortunately, an end to any rational argument about whether to take 2 cans of pepper spray or none. Your parents "know more than you ever will" even if they've never been clubbing or to your destination before. Your parents will never understand that you've had experiences of your own that they've never had and refuse to even think about comparing them to the rich and complex experiences they've had. My advice? Let them believe they know everything but use your own experience to guide you. You know it'll be hot so take a proper sun cream. That's from you. Your parents will also insist on kaftans and hats but you need to choose what to wear, not your parents. 

Thirdly and lastly, your parents will expect some form of contact out there and will have probably bought you an international calling card that they used a lot but us teens have never encountered before. If you contact them every now and then, you'll put their minds to rest and they can trust you. Remember, you are away WITHOUT your parents. Go and get so drunk you'll never want to be drunk again.

Unless you want to end up on Sun, Sex and Suspicious parents, I really would heed your parents advice on most things (or at least tell them you will) and contact them at some point. You do not want your parents being in the same club as you whilst you dance on bars with attractive/scummy people.