Europe 2018

I lived overseas for a total of 9 years while my kids were young. When first exploring Europe with kids, my Daughter was 11 and son 5 and a half. No problem with my Daughter, she took it all in and loved it. My Son doesn't remember much prior to age 10, but he caught on later.

I think age 12 and 14 is fine. Your kids will learn a lot about history and culture of other countries and they will grow up with a love of travel.

I agree with the previous poster. My youngest's first trip to Europe was at the age of 7. We did a 5 week trip with him at the age of 11. Still some of his best memories, and we all had a great time! Two years later we did a 4 week trip with that child who was then 13 and two of his young adult siblings. I wouldn't hesitate to take two kids that age on a 3 week trip.

I think you could certainly do 3 weeks with kids that age. Next year's tour schedules usually start being released in August sometime.

You could do the family Europe tour, where they'll be guaranteed to have other kids traveling along with you. That takes some of the pressure off you to occupy every moment of their time. We took the My Way Europe in 2013 and although it was not designated as a Family tour, because of the timing (late June through early July) there were about 8 kids from 13 to 21. My stepdaughter had just graduated from high school and there were others who had also just graduated, one a little older, a few a little younger. They were all really nice kids (raised by "no grumps" no doubt) and they all had a great time together. The parents were able to bond better, too, I think, because the kids got along so well. Great trip and we still stay in touch and visit some of the friends we made.

You may be almost to 3 weeks off work because you will want to give yourselves a couple of nights ahead of your tour start date to give yourselves some time to get over jet lag and to allow flex time in case there is some kind of airline disruption. Then you may want to stay some nights on your own at the end!

Wow! Thanks everyone. The consensus seems to be that the longer we can go the better. I am self-employed though, and so unfortunately there is a limit. I have not yet figured out a way to make money without working:-) If there is no way that I can take off longer than three weeks, is it better to put our family on a jet lag schedule before the trip and maximize time on tour with a 21 day tour? Or, maybe better to plan a 14 day tour and work on jet lag in Europe maybe by arriving a couple of days early? Has one way or the other worked well for anyone?

Honestly, tours are expensive. I wouldn't want to be sleepwalking through Day 1 and (possibly) Day 2). Unless there were aspects of the 21-day tour that made it really significantly more attractive than the 14-day tour, I'd do the shorter tour with perhaps two extra days pre-tour and whatever additional days I could spare, post-tour. You'll be travel pros by the end of the tour and can enjoy your independent time.

Edited to add: I don't have children, so I can't factor them into this decision.

Choose a 14 day trip, and add some time on you own before and/or after. Simple.

Sounds simple, but for someone whose never done much overseas travel, seems an opportunity also to get lost, a bit more overwhelming in terms of planning, etc.