August trip with daughter and friend

Hi Scott,

The question about the best time to do train travel is a personal thing. Anyone that answers it will probably just give their opinion. Really, I think it depends exactly how long the trip is, if you have enough time in each of the two destinations, etc.

For me, the best thing to do is to plan to see what you want to in the first location, try to determine how much time you need for it, and then try to plan your traveling time around it.

You said that it seems like too much travel to you, but again that is very personal. There are different ways to do travel, and you can decide to do a quick overview of each place, or see a place fully. Quite frankly, your itinerary seems to be one for just a quick overview. If you want to see places fully, then I would recommend about three places for the time that you are there. Just Paris and London could possibly take up the entire time that you are there. If, however, you want an overview so that you can do a more full trip later on, then it should be fine as long as you are comfortable with the traveling.

Scott, you might ask your daughter to consider what she wants to see in these places. I bet if you look at each city a little more closely she'll agree with you about Dublin. You can have a very busy schedule in each of these cities! In Berlin, think about a day trip to Potsdam. ; ) Pam

I'd consider traveling to Berlin from Frankfurt the day you arrive and then:

Berlin-4 nights

Amsterdam--4 nights

Paris--5 nights

Take day trips from each of those destinations.

As far as train travel, I like to leave in the morning to arrive at a city early to mid-afternoon.

Enjoy your travels!

Sharon, you may want to edit your suggestion as he's flying into Frankfurt to see a friend, and then flying home from Paris.

I agree Dublin is too far out of the way. And not enough time.

Thanks Frank II--I've edited my post!

After you spend some time in Frankfurt, take the early morning train to Berlin. See if you can get a discounted ticket. If you leave early, you can be in Berlin by 11:30, with plenty of time to sightsee. Not sure which is more cost effective in the trip to Amsterdam or London. Kind of think the trip over the channel is a bit out of the way for your short trip. You have Frankfurt, Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris. How many days were you planning for each of these cities? Berlin and Paris especially are BIG cities with a lot to see in each one, and if you add in a day trip or two, your vacation time is pretty well used up. The plus is that you can save on those transportation costs to London and Dublin. You basically only have 12 days to see all of those cities. Travel time will eat away at your sightseeing time a lot.

What school did your daughter go to.. I want to go there.LOL All those school trips.. did she ever have to attend classes.. LOL

Personally at 20 the level of indepth visit some poeple like is alot less then what a more "mature " person would enjoy.

At 23 I spent 3 months in Europe,, and I thought Athens wasn't worth more then 2 days....LOL

How about she goes up to Amsterdam while you visit with your friend in Frankfurt (unless you REALLY want to see Amsterdam yourself). Then she rejoins you to go to Berlin, etc. I personally would knock London off as well as Dublin. There is so much to do and see in both Berlin and Paris and they are so far apart unless you fly from Berlin to Paris.