Have you stayed in your penpal’s house?

I'm a 18 years old Japanese girl. I have been friends with a girl for 2 years. She is from Finland, and I'm planning to go there and stay in her house for about 2 weeks next summer. Her mother allows me to. However, I haven't asked my parents for permission to go and stay there.
Once I asked them if I can go and stay at my boyfriend(We have long distance relationship and he lives in Sweden), They said no. But in this case, she is female.
I have no idea how they will react.

So my question is,
how did you get permission to stay in your penpal's if you have that kind of experience?

Do you have any tips for convincing parents?

Thank you for reading.

Well, I don't know how strict your parents are but you're at a slight advantage as the person in question is female. I would say maybe show them that she is indeed a real person and not somebody creepy from the internet. Pictures, skype or some other method. But all you can really do is ask. You're still young so they mightn't feel comfortable letting you go overseas to a foreign country to meet someone who you've never met before.

How i did it is having my parents get to know my pal also . Like mentioned so they won't think your buddy is creepy :) My parents are pretty strict to before so they want to know if their kids is staying at a person house they can trust.

Hi,

As a Japanese mother, I'd say I would feel more at ease if I could talk to the penpal as well as her parents on phone or Skype. It's also definately different if it's about a female penpal. Meanwhile, your father might be more interested in your penpal's father's occupation. At least, that's pretty much how it worked in my youth.

私が若い頃は、電話で親同士が話し合う（実際にはあいさつ程度）ことで、少なくとも同性の場合は、たいていオーケーでした。相手が異性のお友達だと、親としての責任上、なかなか許すわけにいかないでしょうけれど、相手が同性なら、親としても安心だし、世間体としても問題を感じにくいだろうと思いますよ。ご自身も、大人として冷静に親御さんと話せば、親御さんも「この子も大人になったんだな」とお思いになるでしょう。