Eldest DGD off to Greece with her friends this summer

My GD had no need of contraceptive advice from me! She used to tell me all about them. Sometimes TMI! A 20-year-old student is unlikely to need anyone else to buy condoms for her.

Do grannies really give condoms to twenty year old granddaughters? Do you bring them home from Tesco's with the shopping?

I think you should leave the advice giving to the parents. Your role is to worry quietly.

As she is at uni so living away from home and had the sense to deal with a "numpty" I would think she is a sensible girl. Also as there are 5 of them at least one of them will be sensible at any one time.

"Foreign" has the same dangers as here and Bournemouth is now called the
Ibiza of the south.

Of course we worry but there is nothing we can do and I just will the time to go faster until they are back safe. Also they worry about us oldies. I wonder why?

To be honest, Newquay, a 20 year old probably knows far more about all those things, and MORE, than we ourselves do!

Whew-more things to worry about now! Condoms, phone bills, gangsters, sunburn. . . . Will it never end. . . . Lol!

The point I was really making about my daughter in Africa in the 90's is that at least these days there are emails, Texts, Facebook, Skype, FaceTime, what's app and many other methods of instant communication. All I knew was that my daughter had been alive 9 days ago when she posted the letter - usually when they were taken to a town in the Masai lorry from time to time and had access to post. After she left the village she 'travelled' around Kenya with another girl I didn't know so I had no idea where she was - that was worse! On one occasion she saw a place where she could send a telegram so did - when I received it I was convinced she had died or at least was ill or in hospital. My relief when I read 'On a beach near Mombasa, all cool' was overwhelming! And dated the day before!

Yes it can be worrying. When eldest daughter was 18 she went to work on a kibbutz for 2 months, 2 years running.
The first was OK, I went over to visit her. But the Second one was right next to the Lebanon border, and soon after she arrived there were bombs flying over for a few days. They all had to go into the bomb shelters. As well as that she made herself deaf by diving off a tall cliff into the sea at Rosh haNikra. TG she got her hearing back.
But it was a great learning experience.

When my daughter was 18 she went to Malia for 2 weeks on holiday with a group of friends. Such a great time was had that on her return she announced that the following year she wanted to go out and work during the holiday season. Much to my horror she gave up a good job and did just that with 2 friends, it took her over a week to get in touch to say she had arrived safely! I was beside myself with worry.
She worked in a bar and managed to earn enough to live, she came home getting on for 3 months later, she had a good time and got it out of her system although it took some time to get back into a decent job after a few bad experiences. If she were perfectly honest looking back, I don't think she would repeat the experience. Although it was a worrying time for me, I'm glad she got it of her system.

I was terrified when my daughter went to Keya as a student to help in a Masai school She was in an isolated village with people she didn't know, no electricity, no phones, no internet of course and it was before mobile phones. It took 9 days for her airmail letters to arrive home. I was so relieved when she got back safely.

I don't know as I haven't checked but I think kidnapping is frowned upon, possibly illegal. If it isn't kidnap her; if it is then warn her about all the dangers within an inch of her life. It could save her from far worse misery than a nagging.

My daughter went to a lovely, university full of 'nice' students and she still had her drink spiked. Goodness knows what could have happened had she not been rescued by a friendly taxi driver and the lovely young man who is now her b/f.

Boys go to Malia for free and frequent sex. Some local boys look on English girls as fair game. Thieves target tourists whom they consider wealthy. You can choke on alcohol related vomit and die. These are not trivial dangers.

Does she ever go out in the UK? Have you not read the stories about what clubs here are like now? It's completely 'normal' for women to get groped twenty times crossing from one side of the room to the other. Drinks get spiked. Women are pursued out of the door. Drinking songs about rape are taught to the new students in their first week.

If she has been a student here, or a young person who just goes clubbing, or someone who has walked along the road, she will have had practice on survival and will be equipped to cope with Foreign.

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Has she got an ehic card yet? (European health insurance) so if she does need a doctor she is covered? Suggest she applies now - and avoids any sites that are not actually UK gov or nhs as there are shysters who pretend to be official but ain't!
Hope she has a great time!

Give her a hug, plenty of Sun tan cream, condoms and tell her to buy drinks in bottles or if she gets it in a glass watch the bar person pour it then keep it with her all the time, if she does need to go to the bathroom she should get a fresh drink after in a clean glass unless she takes her drink with her. That's what my daughter's do when they go out clubbing.

Warn her about roaming charges. My GD's friend had her phone stolen (in Malia) and used GD's to phone home, running up a considerable bill in the process. Also warn about the strength of the sun. My GD's so-called friends left her sleeping on the beach and she was badly sunburned. A 'good tan' is not the be-all and end-all of a holiday.

When my daughter was at uni she was recruited by a time share company to go and work in Gran Canaria for the summer. Nothing we said would stop her. She went, and found the people she worked for were bordering on being gangsters. She stuck it out because she didn't want to admit we were right. It was an awful summer for us, as we were so worried. The experience taught her a lot about staying safe. She's now a police sergeant!

Give her some comdoms and tell her to have a good time

Treat her to good insurance and send her off with your best wishes.

Thank you all for your contributions. I'm sure you're all right; she has been brought up well and will have a whale of a time?

And if she is on FB or other sites, I am hoping she has enough commonsense not to put on any of her social activities.

Why are there such horrible individuals around - people call them sad, but they are not sad when they try to wreck other people's happiness.

I hope she has a wonderful time.

This is probably why she wants to do something more exciting!
You are lucky she wasn't doing it 2 or 3 years ago. Since her parents have done a great job bringing her up I would just leave the common sense warnings to them and look forward to hearing all about it afterwards.

I spoke to her Mum this morning about these posts and my concerns. DGD has been harassed by a stupid young man at Uni to the extent that she has had to make a formal complaint and have him warned off-so far it's worked-but, because of that, DD (her mum) has bought her a personal alarm. At the mo she's on the campus so is relatively safe, next year in a house in nearby town so let's hope said numpty has got over this by then.
She doesn't take risks but has led a lovely safe life up to now. . . .

There are so many things to think about that may happen but realistically your DGD will be fine along with her pals,they will look out for each other and have a good time I'm sure, we have to let them go sometime don't we and we will worry until they are back home under our roof once again,even now I worry when mine go away and they are all grown up with partners its something we parents do very well however old they are.

Our grand-daughter (I think I have mentioned this before) is on 3 months travelling with friends and at the moment is in Vietnam. Her mum has advised her - her dad has just worried, and I have just said "enjoy yourself". Evidently they hired bikes - her dad can't remember the last time she rode a bike - WHAT cycle! where's my car. We do have to let go, but until she is home I shall worry constantly.

As you say, Newquay, there are so many things you want to warn your DGD about, the list is never ending! Why not just say something like, "take care of yourself." If she is currently at university she will already know about having drinks spiked and personal safety.
She will no doubt have a great time, but you will be glad when she returns home!

I've never been to Crete, but we had a wonderful holiday in a few islands of the Cyclades, about 30 years ago.
Apart from what has already been mentioned, in those days there were lots of nude beaches. We heard of some people bathing nude on beaches where it wasn't allowed. They were arrested and the police took their passports away for some time.
Maybe things are different now, and this wasn't Cyprus, but worth a warning to your grand-daughter.