Hello all! I am hopeful that these forums have some other itinerary planning junkies like me! I could really use some help tweaking this before it is finalized.
Background:
My husband and I will be traveling to Europe with our four children in July 2022. Unfortunately we do not get to choose the dates because we are flying over for my sister’s wedding. I have traveled pretty extensively in Europe but it has been a while since we have been back, due to having so many children! This will be their first trip to Europe. They are good travelers who have done several RV trips, Central America, Hawaii, Hong Kong, and most of the big cities in the US so we know their travel style pretty well. Ages: 16, 13, 11, 5 (almost 6 at time of travel) Yes. He’s a little happy surprise! Having one child that is so much younger than the others does provide some challenges for travel. We typically try to give her the trip for the older kids with some points of interest for him along the way. He is pretty flexible as long as he gets some time to run around and a few treats along the way. He no longer needs to nap and we do not need a stroller. He is pretty used to tagging along. That said, my husband will have to go back to work after a couple of weeks and so he plans to take our youngest back to the states with him. I will be spending three weeks with the older three kids on a road trip. In total will be abroad 37 nights, including 4 for the wedding in western UK. I lived in France for two summers, once in high school and once in college, and I was a French major as well as an Elementary school French teacher for a time before I had children. My French is Rusty but I can definitely get us around no problems. My two daughters also study French in school and this is going to be their first exposure to the culture and they are so excited. I share that to say that we will not struggle with communicating or understanding what is going on around us so I am hopeful that that will help! I know I am biting off a lot but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity before my oldest goes to college and I wanna make the best of it! Sorry to share so much information but I see on these forums people ask for background all the time so I figured I would give you what I could.
None of these plans are written in stone besides the wedding and I am open to any and all revisions.
Plan:
7/4 fly into London from Atlanta. Land 8am
7/4-6 London; recover from jet lag; hit a few basics like Tower of London and Westminster abbey. No big plan. Hotel near Westminster abbey
7/6 family transport to wedding with stop at Stonehenge (3hr drive)
7/6-10 wedding festivities
7/10 early train totnes to London, transfer, late afternoon Eurostar to Paris
7/10-7/15 Paris
7/15 train to Rouen; rent cars (2 small cars. Can’t find one big and husband will return his in a few days)
Sleep farmhouse B and B 30 mins outside Rouen
7/16. Veules-les roses, etretat; sleep honfleur or trouville
7/17-19 bayeux, day beaches
7/19 mont st michel in evening, sleep nearby B and B
7/20-23stay outside dinan with my dear friends; visit dinan and maybe st malo
7/24 drop one car in Rouen, son and dh train to Cdg, Sheraton in airport for early morning flight
Me and big kids to vannes via josselin
7/25 overnight chateau nieuil near angouleme
7/26 - 29 dordogne
7/29-8/3 Provence
8/3- 8/10 getting fuzzy
I am hesitant to take on dordogne or Provence in July but also don’t have any date flexibility. We are married to the north for the beginning of the trip to see friends in pleudihen. My girls have studied the major sites ion school and both think they want to see pont du gard and prehistoric caves. If we don’t go south for 3 weeks I am at a lost as to what to do. We have tons of time but I’m lost. We could do Strasbourg and return the car there before returning to Paris to fly out. We could attempt Switzerland or Annency. Help!