Planning Ideas for a European Vacation
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Our family just got back from a 3-day road trip. While we had a fabulous time out of Dodge, we are tired and happy to be home. Our kids are pretty good travelers, packing their stuff and loading the car in pretty short order. We love the idea of traveling with our big family.
As happens when we’re away from home, we start talking about our trip to Europe, tentatively planned for this fall. While we have some vague ideas about what we want to do, nothing is in stone. It’s been so long since we were in France for our honeymoon, we know that much has probably changed in European travel.
I suggested to FishPapa that he and I could do a recon trip by ourselves for a week, but he wasn’t buying that.
My follow up suggestion was that we ask you.
I did this years ago when we were planning our first Disneyland trip with kids. I can’t tell you how immensely helpful your suggestions were back then! I benefitted so much from your hard-earned wisdom. So, today, I’m turning the mic over to you as concerns European travel with children.
How would YOU plan a European vacation?
Feel free to plan my family’s European vacation. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
Who: Two parents, Six kids, ages 6 to 17
Our kids have never left the country. They will be ages 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, and 17 when we go.
Where: Europe
The boundary lines are wide open. We were initially just set on France, and then France and England. For this exercise, we’re entertaining all ports.
When: Fall, after summer vacations end, for up to 5 weeks
We’ve heard this is the best time to go. Since we homeschool, we can make our own calendar.
How: Budget travel
Let’s say you have about $25,000 to cover transportation and travel expenses for eight people.
Feel free to leave me links, book recommendations, travel spots, things to pack, tips, etc.
Go to Amsterdam. We went 2summers in a row and fell in love with the place. Its very easy to navigate especially because of the tram system you can buy a tram pass for the amt of days you are there then you just hop on and off as much as you want—-just don’t lose that little card. We stayed in an apartment in DePijp, a small neighborhood behind the Rijks Museum. The people in Amsterdam are so incredibly nice and always happy to help with directions or answer questions. Most people speak English, however we ran into one guy who one no English but he tried his hardest to help us! I highly recommend a few days there.
In Paris go to the Luxembourg Gardens and Rue Mufetard (spelling, sorry) it has a great farmers market.
I look forward to your posts when you get back!
I know this is really late, but… 😉
We are currently living for a three year period in Scotland (it’s gorgeous here so do visit!), but we’re off next week for a month in France. I’m lucky to be doing all of our staying with family though. 😉
Airbnb is good for places to stay. Sykes cottages is also a great one for the UK. We’ve found excellent deals on that for home rentals. When are you planning on coming? If you make it as far up as St Andrews in Scotland, let me know. 😉
How wonderful to get to live there for a season! We actually bumped Scotland for trip #3. After this London/Paris/Western France gig, we’re going to try for something tropical. Then Scotland/Ireland. Take good notes!
Oh my gosh. Somewhere tropical! How far from home are you thinking? Lol please consider visiting the Great Barrier Reef. I would love to meet you in person 🙂
If only…. we could afford Australia!! I would love to meet you — and see the Great Barrier Reef.
Hi Jess
I commented on your link to your pinterest page regarding recreating your picture in front of the Eiffel tower. Just a few more thoughts. My family and I have been back home (Cairns, Australia) for about 5 weeks now after a 6 week vacation through the States and then 12 months in Edmonton, Canada doing a fire-fighter exchange. With traveling, school for our two children etc, my husband taking countless photos at the fire station, me working etc we came home with 40,000 photos/video files!!
1. We had 4 cameras between us along with 2 phones which took awesome photos as well (you might well take more with your bigger family 🙂 ). I was overwhelmed in how the photos ended up on the laptop while overseas and I have come home with a bit of a shamble. The laptop saved each cameras photos in different ways and the Nikons and the Cannons save with different prefixes. I also deleted photos by mistake because the cameras started naming pictures the same as previous transferred pictures. This meaning when I uploaded pictures to the laptop for storage there were already pictures called the same thing. Before I realised what was happening I had saved over the top of photos. We took awesome footage of us riding bikes along the south rim of the Grand Canyon. We can’t find it 🙁 which is devastating.
SO… have plans of how you will save your pictures while overseas. Trial now how your laptop saves the pictures from each camera so you have a plan for on the road. Can you spend the money on enough sd cards so that you don’t have to do any transferring while overseas. I wish I had spent the couple of hundred dollars on a few extra big sd cards.
2. I didn’t think to change the time & date on my good Nikon 5100. With the time difference between Australia and the US my camera was out by 17 hours. So… change the date in your cameras so the property data of each picture reflects the actual date taken. All my pictures are out of whack. Not a biggie but still would be helpful to sort by date taken considering the shamble of pictures I have
3. Make sure you have some ideas in your head about what memories you all want to preserve in photos. I was conscious about not spending all our time behind the camera but the other day we were looking for a picture of the house we were living in in Edmonton covered in snow. (lol we do not have snow in the tropics of Australia) We couldn’t find a picture. What!!! We didn’t seem to have taken any. Though we do have many of sledding, skiing, the car covered in snow, shoveling etc we don’t have a proper picture of the house from across the street with 6 foot of snow . In the end we do have the memories and the places in our head. But find a happy medium.
4. Like the comment I made about recreating the picture of your husband and yourself in front of the Eiffel tower, make an effort to take a group family shot in all the major places you visit. Our most treasured photos through the states and Canada were the ones of the 4 of us in front of the Grand Canyon, the Disneyland Resort entrance, a selfie of the 4 of us with the Matterhorn behind us, on the red carpet at Universal studios, standing and looking out at the Hoover Dam, Mt Rushmore, in front of Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies… and many more places of course etc etc. Ask a stranger to take the picture for you or learn how to use the self timer on the camera if appropriate. You might not be able to do this in a crowed place you all have to step away from the camera perched on a ledge to use the self timer.
As a scrapbooker I also love the pictures we took of us at the airport leaving, arriving in Honolulu with an Hawaiian Airlines plane behind us, our bags packed to come home after being away for so long, even the few I have of the many motels we stayed in along with camping etc. Take the trivial and the mundane as well.
Hope some of this is food for thought. Cheers Janine
This is super helpful! I had not thought of any of these things. DId you take a separate camera bag or just pack it in your daypack?
Hi Jessica, I’m so very sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you. We did take camera bags but they weren’t true camera bags. We had these really cool padded drawstring bags that we then put inside our backpacks (daypacks?) They are from an Australia company but I see they have a store based in New York. http://www.crumpler.com/us/camera-bags-straps/haven-l I got the largest one for my camera as it fitted my dslr as well as an extra lens etc. And it still fit in th bottom of my backpack albeit filling the bottom. We were very happy with them, they worked very well and are very good quality. I see they are a fare bit cheaper in American dollars 🙂
1. I would practice taking your kids on long walks. The distances you typically walk in Paris (or anywhere in Europe really) to get from one place to another always shocked my friends when they would visit me. It was nothing to walk 5-8 miles a day and it would be annoying to have sore calves and feet for the first week or two when you’re only going to be in Europe for a month. Obviously, comfy shoes are going to be important as well.
2. Picnics! There’s nothing like getting DELICIOUS bread, cheese, fruit, and treats from the Monoprix for a few cents and eating outdoors (rainy Paris weather permitting). While the open markets are beautiful, I found every day things were just cheaper at Monoprix and plenty good. When I was a starving student, I carried a wedge of cheese, a loaf of bread, a bag of marinated olives, and apples in my purse and ate in gorgeous parks and public places all over the city. You can make easy sandwiches of saucisson sec, cornichons, and butter on baguettes in the morning and carry them around all day too for a cheap and easy meal. Oh and make sure you carry a large bottle of water everywhere you go.
3. Pick pockets in Paris are NO JOKE. Especially when you get swarmed by small gypsy children in the Metro stations and you get distracted by their begging. Backpacks are the worst for getting pickpocketed, so make sure your kids keep valuables around their neck (like those passport pouches on a string), preferably tucked under their shirt. I either carried a small cross-body purse (and would sometimes zip it up under my jacket) if I was riding the Metro, or a larger tote that zipped up that I could keep tucked firmly under my arm. Do not let your husband and boys carry wallets in their back pocket.
4. If you are going to eat out, I would stick to the areas that cater to students like on the Blvd. St. Michel near the Jardins du Luxembourg. They usually have inexpensive prix fixe menus for lunch and dinner.
5. Pick smaller but memorable food splurges. A hot Nutella banana crepe or sugar gaufre off the street. Ice cream at Berthillon on the Ile St. Louis under the shadow of Notre Dame. Fancy hot chocolate at Angelina’s. A macaron at Pierre Herme. Incredible falafel sandwiches (and a great tie in to the North African culture aspect of Paris) at L’As du Fallafel. Visiting the smaller, and less overwhelming market on Rue Mouffetard (although Rungis market could be an adventure as well). This could also be a great way to reinforce the rhythms of the French diet (no snacking, just breakfast, lunch, gouter for children, and dinner) by making the most of that afternoon gouter.
6. Time your visit. Paris has free admission to a LOT of places on the first Sunday of each month. http://en.parisinfo.com/discovering-paris/themed-guides/paris-for-free/low-cost-culture/free-admission-and-good-deals-in-museums-and-monuments-in-paris#Ancre%202
7. Teach your kids to slow down when they eat and savor their meals. One thing that blew my friends’ minds when they would visit me from the States is how LONG meals went in France. They were so used to the American style service where you get your food quickly, get your check quickly, and leave that they all thought French service was horrible. They were extremely cranky about it in fact! I had to explain that the French would consider it rude to shoo someone out the door quickly and often expect you to linger for a long time, whether its a 5 course meal or a cup of coffee. I can imagine a long, slow meal could be hard for younger kids if they are used to eating and darting off in a different direction.
8. Along the same lines as above, practice doing big Sunday lunches as a family. Things often shut down on Sundays in France anyway, so its a good way to fill the time. Oh the epic 3-4 hour long French Sunday lunches my host family’s mother had at her house…They were legendary. It was such a great way to recharge and connect with the family before the week began.
9. Carry a small pack of baby or Kandoo wipes, a wad of toilet paper, mini packs of Kleenex, and hand sanitizer. Bathrooms in Europe can be….tricky.
10. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/travel/travel-guide-paris-for-kids.html?pagewanted=2
11. Pack peanut butter in your checked luggage. You can find the most delicious jams in France, but they will charge you an arm and a leg for peanut butter. And sometimes you just need a PBJ to remind you of home after all that “foreign” food.
Thanks for all the great tips! Glad to hear that some of the things I did 20 years ago still work.
We took our children to Europe three years ago for three weeks, and it was an amazing time. They were 8 and 11 at the time so we tried to break up the city sightseeing days with “fun days” for the kids. For instance, we spent a day at the Vienna Zoo, and rented bicycles to ride around the ancient wall surrounding the quaint town of Lucca, Italy. Spring for the bike helmets! Trust me, I learned the hard way that not every culture rides bikes on the same side of the path….anyway, I wanted to share some tips that helped us that I didn’t read in the comments above. Most importantly, TRAVEL LIGHT. We all had one carryon, rolling suitcase and a backpack. We did laundry just once, and washed our unmentionables in a sink when needed. You want your children to be able to carry their own bags, and large suitcases are a big pain to load onto trains, cabs, etc. We traveled by train, sometimes in sleeper cars. When the kiddos removed their shoes to sleep, the small cabin didn’t smell the best. Baby wipes worked great to do a quick cleaning. A tennis ball is also a nice way to massage those sore feet after walking all day while sightseeing. Bring a padlock to attach to a “Love Lock Bridge.” We saw these in several cities throughout Europe, but couldn’t find a hardware store to buy our own. You write your initials and wedding date on a padlock, attach it to the side of a bridge and throw the key in the water….a very romantic symbol! Try to spend more time in the smaller towns. We found the prices to be cheaper, and preferred the quieter places rather than the big cities. Our itinerary: Prague (a wonderful, must-see), Vienna (would have preferred Salzburg), Venice (AMAZING!), Florence (a good central stop to see the surrounding area of Tuscany) and the Amalfi Coast (Heaven on Earth). After that we boarded a cruise, and stopped in Genoa, Italy, Marseilles, France, Barcelona, Spain, Malta, Sicily and ended up in Rome. The cruise was a fabulous way to visit numerous cities, unpack once in your “hotel” room, and have all your meals included. They are pretty reasonably priced and sometimes have free fares for children. You don’t need to pay for excursions in every city. Most of the ports on a Mediterranean cruise are in big cities that offer many things to see as soon as you step off the boat. In fact, we ran into our fellow passengers in more than one port. We had walked or taken public transportation to a particular sight, while they paid almost $100 for an excursion to the exact same location. They weren’t happy to see us when we ran into them. One more thing, spring for the gelato every day….you will be walking so much it won’t register on the scale! I’m jealous, have a fabulous time!
Sounds wonderful! Thanks for sharing your experience!
Just a few comments, some of which have already been covered by others, but here goes:
1. VRBO for apartments. So much cheaper than hotels, more room for your large family, laundry facilities, wifi and full kitchen. Hit a grocery store and you are set for some of your meals.
2. Metro/Tubes multi-day passes. The best way to get around Paris and London, although we did take a double decker bus once in London to satisfy my 10 year old.
3. Put your kids to work over the next 6 months. We went to Paris and London 2 summers ago and my now 13 year old did a lot of our trip research. I checked out guide books from the library for him, and he did online research. He put together a full itinerary and discovered some true gems that we would never have thought to visit on our own.
4. Rick Steves books on Paris and London were valuable while we were over there. Nice to know top sights to see, museum hours, closure days, restaurant recommendations, etc.
5. Notify your credit card company that you will be traveling. Ours got turned off while there until we called them to reactivate it after explaining our travel situation.
Have a fantastic trip! Exposing our kids to travel is so beneficial. You will not regret it and they will remember the experience forever. We took our boys to NYC and DC last fall (and experienced part of the government shutdown while there! They received an unintentional lesson on politics), and are already planning our next big trip. Safe travels to you and your family!
Thank you for the recap. I’m sending my teen boys to read these comments this week and start planning. 🙂
Check the blog Kevin and Amanda, http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/travel/how-to-give-a-vacation-as-a-christmas-present.html They asked the same question and got tons of tips in their comment section!
Thanks for the suggestion!