We surprised our boys for Christmas by telling them we are going to take them to Europe for the first time next summer. My husband and I have both been quite a bit and we like to have our days pretty busy, which I know isn't going to work for our 13 and 11 year old. Our boys are seasoned travelers, this year alone they have been to Charleston, Hawaii, Ohio, Baltimore/DC, Disneyland and Costa Rica (all from San Francisco). I am not at all worried about how the will handle the flights, however all our trips have either been to visit family or more adventure type travel. So, I am looking for lessons learned, tips, hints or general advice from other parents on our trip. I have am itinerary of cities and have started booking apartments (we don't do hotels) and we are doing Lisbon, Seville, Barcelona, and Paris over 15 days. Any advice from other parents who have been from what to remember to pack that I may not think of to what to do is appreciated!
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area
5697 posts
Sarah, join us for the monthly travel group meeting in Larkspur (January 9 and every second Saturday) -- some of us have traveled with kids at various ages. My daughter was (and is still) interested in history and museums so England at 12 and Paris at 18 were like traveling with a like-minded friend -- just had to remember to carry snacks and be on the lookout for mid-afternoon meltdown. Take a look at Rick Steves' suggestions on traveling with kids -- including the idea of leaving them at the apartment while you go out for an occasional adult dinner.
Posted by
Placentia, CA
1073 posts
I have mentioned this in other posts, but I cannot recommend this enough. There is a television show on PBS called "Travel with Kids". You can find most of their shows on YouTube. They have a number of episodes on cities all over Europe and the world. I even recommend watching it if you don't have kids. It is very entertaining and informative.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
"Lisbon, Seville, Barcelona, and Paris over 15 days"
That's more moving around than it may seem at first glance. Particularly because connections between Lisbon and Seville aren't great (flight or long bus ride), and connections between the other pairs are 5-6 hour train rides. Are you (and your kids) really up for that many long rides? Each one will lose the best part of a day.
All of these are great places, by the way; I'm just concerned about the linkages between them.
Here are the options for getting from Lisbon to Seville, as shown on Rome 2 Rio: http://www.rome2rio.com/s/Lisbon/Seville
For train schedules between your other destinations, the best single source is the Bahn (German Rail) website http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en, following Rick's tutorial: http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/online-schedules
Since your kids have traveled a lot, let them start doing research on the destinations themselves; I'm sure they'll figure out some things they want to see that you never considered.
In Barcelona I think they'd be captivated by the Casa Batlló (I know I was!). I actually feel it's worth the steep admission. You get an audio-video guide that's fun (when you point it at the fireplace, it comes to life), and Gaudi's desire to delight and surprise, and his commitment to function as well as beauty, is everywhere evident. https://www.casabatllo.es/en/visit/