1st timer with questions about traveling w/family of 4

is our itinerary a bit too much for 2 weeks? I'd like to relax a bit, and not spend the whole time 'on the move.'

If a 'few days' means 3 nights and 'a couple days' means 2 nights, that makes at least 13 nights.

With the exception of the Florence to Rome move all your other transfers will eat up a big chunk of the day being 'on the move'

If 2 weeks is the time limit you need to either:
a) reduce the number of places
b) resign yourself to 'being on the move" and relax when you get home

Welcome to the forum Pam. Yes, your plan is too ambitious for the time you have. You will spend lots of time traveling instead of seeing and doing. Keep in mind that January will have short daylight hours. And there’s a good chance it will be cold, rainy/snowy the farther north you travel.

Narrow down your trip to no more than three cities and a day trip or two near each city. What do your kids want to see? I’d visit either north (London, Amsterdam, Munich) or south (Rome, Florence and Venice). Since you’ve been following the forum, you know we say count nights not days in each location. And travel days will take at least 1/2 a day each. Rough out an itinerary.

To get an idea of distance, look at Rome2Rio. It is not accurate but it’s good for ideas. Only book transportation with the providers. No third parties because you’ll be caught in the middle if anything goes wrong.

TOO Many places.

Also, reduce your travel between places and pick places geographically closer together.

We recently did a week in Amsterdam and were busy every day.

we're waiting so our 16 year old turns 18 so he can enjoy the pubs with us

"if you’re 16 or 17 and accompanied by an adult, you can drink (but not buy) beer, wine or cider with a meal."

https://www.gov.uk/alcohol-young-people-law

Tom_MN, wow, mind-blown!! Thank you so much for that info!! I was so bummed, thinking, 'whaaat, we have to wait TWO YEARS to go??" :) Not that we're booze-hounds, mind you, but as Rick says, "You can't go to XYZ, and not partake in their drink." (Not exactly that, but you know what I mean!! I think he's said he's not a fan of Uzzo (sp), but when he's in Greece, he can't let the sun go down without having one).

That is very interesting - thank you so much for that; it will definitely be added to our plans!! Appreciate it, Tom!!

Your other question about destination, perhaps fly London to Italy and skip the others. Nice variety. Or combine Scotland with England and leave it at that.

If you are floating around the idea of paying for 4 on a tour, then you have the money to take two 2-week trips in different years. It's not really that far or expensive, and from Chicago a lot of capitals are nonstops.

For tours, consider Gate 1 Travel. We love their tours. Low prices with great quality.

Slow down you are moving too fast, you got to make memories that last.
At the end of your first trip to Europe, hopefully a sojourn stimulating return trips, what do you want to say the family has achieved?
Memories of trains, planes, checking in and out of hotels?
Memories of engaging with experiencing the cultural events of found within your destination?
Essentially there is a need to choose between “seeing there” or “being there”.
Five major destinations within 13 days is the itinerary of a politician campaigning for office.
BTW, January means an absolute minimum of daylight hours highly impacted by cold weather. Yep, you are from Chicago, but losing time due to weather while on an expensive vacation is miserable.
London offers a massive menu of opportunities amenable to everyone’s interest and includes a subway system easily navigable for accessing all points of the compass.
Make use of this forum and post on separate countries you think you might visit asking for how to best enjoy a visit during January and request their opinion for minimum number of days to enjoy the experience.

I agree there is too much on your itinerary for a 2 week trip in January. Each time you move you eat up a good chunk of a day and add potential for travel drama (not that there will be, but it is part of the travel equation). I'd pick two cities at most for a first trip - that will give you plenty of time to get oriented to travel which can be overwhelming and allow you to enjoy and experience places. Fly in to one city and home from the other. Use whatever is the most efficient means of travel between the two (could be train or plane, depends). If your family can't come to consensus on two locations, put the names in a jar and draw - save the rest for another trip.

Small additional point - though your 16 year old could drink beer in UK and Germany, the legal age in Netherlands and Italy is 18. I took my 20 year old nephew to UK and Netherlands and he was carded almost every time, so make sure your kid brings his ID (US driver license was fine).

I’m not sure that I would want to do that trip in January.

If it was me, I would drop Amsterdam and fly to Munich. Consider the train thru the mountains into Italy and do Florence and Rome. I’m not seeing anywhere that’s off the beaten path

You will be relocating four time. Each time you do, you will lose a minimum of one half a day and probable all day because of the distance between some of the stops. With your time constraints, consider limiting your trip to only three places.

Get the kids involved in planning where to go and what to do when there. And there may be times when the kids can be off on their own. The more input they have, the better the trip will be for all. .

We've been on a number of RS trips that had kids the ages of yours, and they seemed to have a grand time. So don't rule that out completely.

Your idea isn’t “wrong”. Lots of people do trips like you describe and enjoy it. For a first trip and with kids (done that), personally I would keep it a bit more simple. And to be honest I did this trip with my three kids a long time ago.

HOME to LONDON (4 nights) train to PARIS (3 nights) fly to ROME (4 nights) train to FLORENCE (3 nights) fly HOME and Home. A nice 16 day trip (Yup, two weeks with the following weekend is 16 days).

The long train from London to Paris? Have you guys ever done a high-speed rail across Europe? It’s part of the adventure. The flight from Paris to Rome; deal with it. Worth the effort. Cheap too.