Family Travel with Teen Boys in October

What are your main interests, e. g. history, ...? Or what are dislikes?

These criteria often helps the forum to come up with ideas.

How many nights will your adventure be?

Several pieces of advice. Count your actual days on the ground, not arrival.nor departure days although you can get perhaps a half day of touring on arrival. If you decide on two countries be sure to fly multi city all on one ticket. You do not want to start in Edinburgh then visit London then back track to Edinburgh for flight home as an example. Also try to book direct flights of course depending where you live. Strongly advise you get Europe thru the Back Door and then the individual tour books for the two countries you are visiting. Engage the boys, what do they envision seeing or doing.? If you can try to go early in October to have as much daylight as possible. Renting an apartment would let you spread out and have a few meals "at home". I know you weren't impressed with London but they might like the London Eye, the Tower, boat on the Thames, day trip by train to York and then maybe train to Paris, two days in Normandy, Eiffel tower, Louvre and home. I was shocked when I took my two teenagers to Paris and of course I got the eye rolling and sighing when we went to the Louvre and spent the entire day there, one loved the sculptures and one fell in love with the paintings. They did not want to leave. You do mention Loch Ness but we felt it was a long boring day just for a ride on the boat there but that is just our opinion. As you work on your trip keep coming back here for fantastic advice. Some.members have extensive experiences in Europe and are more than happy to help you. Also check your passport expiration dates now. Good luck and enjoy what will be a wonderful family experience.

Some things to think about.

How do you plan to get around outside of cities? Will you rent a car or prefer public transportation?

Generally Italy and Spain will be warmer than Scotland and England in October.

What do flight schedules and fares look like from your home airport to various cities in Europe? Do you only want to travel nonstop? That may narrow your options.

What didn't you like about London? And what did you like about your favorite European places?

In my opinion, you only have 10 days, pick out one country, two at the most, to make the best use of your time. If you try and include a bunch of countries, you lose a day to travel for each time you switch. Ask the boys what they’d like to see. It’s hard to give advice without more info on the boy’s interests. London has a variety of all kinds of activities that might appeal to boys from the war museum to natural history museum, rib boat ride on the Thames, Harry Potter, The Tower of London, guided ghost walks….

9 or 10 days as in leave on a Saturday and return on a Sunday? Go to England. Easy and you have enough time for London and some day trips to castles, etc.

Do it better for the cost of the long haul flight and spend two weeks and do London/England (knights and castles) and Rome/Italy (coliseums and gladiators).

Hi, Amy, wow, that will be a great experience for your whole family but especially your kids!

A lot depends on what your interests are and so on, but earlier this year I took two of my grandkids, a boy age 15 and a girl age 11, and we went to London and Paris for 2 weeks. We flew into London and stayed there, then took the Eurostar over to Paris for the remaining time and flew home from Paris. We booked a multi city flight, which made it a lot easier and also saved on time, as we didn’t have to go back to London after Paris to catch a flight. I would suggest that you look into doing that no matter where you go.

Both of my grandson kids loved the trip and especially loved all the sites in both cities. They had been Harry Potter fans and even though it had been awhile since they read the books, they absolutely loved the Warner Brothers Harry Potter tour north of London.

I also took them on a tour of Tottenham Spurs Stadium, which they really enjoyed as they both play soccer. They really enjoyed seeing Hampton Court Palace and Buckingham Palace. And of course we saw most of the major sites in both places, including taking an evening sunset cruise along the Seine River in Paris to see the Eiffel Tower lit up.

But I also involved them in the planning. I gave them a guidebook and told them to look through and see what interested them. My 11 year year-old granddaughter surprised me, because she decided that she really wanted to see one of the illusion museums in London and they both had a fantastic time there. It’s something I would never have thought to visit.

But I definitely would involve them in figuring out what they want to see. Tell them to go to YouTube and look up videos or look in guidebooks and see what looks interesting. It took some persuading for them to do this, but I think they were glad that they had some say in the process.

I would also not overdo it. I would say two destinations in 10 days is more than enough. My vote would be for London and Paris. You mentioned not caring much for London over 25 years ago but tastes can change. I went to Paris when I was younger and wasn’t thrilled with it. But this time (30 years later), it was absolutely wonderful. Plus keep in mind that if this trip is for your kids, it’s not going to be your likes and dislikes that matter, it’s going to be theirs.

So while you may not care for London, they would probably be enthralled. Interestingly, the things they enjoyed the most were being able to go out on their own and get take away food from nearby vendors, going out for a morning croissant, and riding the double-decker buses in London. They both thought that was wonderful and loved looking down on all the sites around them. They loved the Tower of London. And they loved the food. There are so many different kinds of restaurants and food available in London, and the kids loved every place we went to.

One last thing. Mr. E is correct—London is easy and so is Paris. You could probably get a nonstop flight to London and from Paris, I would imagine. For a first time trip, I think it would be helpful to start in London with no language differences, get the kids used to that, then take the Eurostar (which is a fun experience in itself) to Paris, where they will get a taste of another culture and place. There are plenty of castles in and around London, and you could always take a day trip to Versailles from Paris.

Regardless, no matter what you do or where you go, I’m sure it will be a wonderful trip!

A good entry-level destination that you can see a lot of in 10 days is Ireland. Aer Lingus just added a direct flight from Nashville to Dublin four times a week.
Ireland has great ocean, river and lake fishing and a surprising country music scene. American country music. And kids are allowed in the pub until 8 or 9. Sunday shows often start early.
Plus castles.
Even if you don't want to drive on the "wrong" side, you can get around on public transport to loads of places. This site is absolutely LOADED with itineraries, must sees, etc.

Please consider using trains. I cannot imagine being the 3rd person in the back seat, traveling for hours at a time. Plus all the luggage. Trains are 10 times more fun.

Check out Berlin for one of your stops. Something there for everyone. Then perhaps someplace sunny and warm, like Porto or Lisbon.

I have teen boys too. I totally get wanting to expand their worldview. I recommend going to a country where English isn't spoken, but where you can get a good mix of outdoor and city activities. With 10 nights, you really want to focus on one, max two, locations - so you are on the right path, in my opinion.

I would recommend Slovenia and Northern Croatia (Istria). English is widely spoken in Slovenia as well as in Croatia.

In Slovenia, there are gorgeous mountains, rivers, gorges, and caves, but also a beautiful but small coastline as well as the lovely capital of Ljubljana. Slovenia is also now famous as a foodie paradise. Northern Croatia includes more stunning coastline and fantastic off the radar history - we go every year with our family. You can rent a huge house with a pool and use a car to explore hilltop towns and coastal Venetian cities as well as the Roman ruins of the Brujuni Islands and Pula. And the food is the best in Europe, in my opinion - a mix of Italian, good seafood and Croatian specialties. A day trip to Venice is also easy.

This would be a truly magical and memorable trip without the crowds.

We lived overseas when my children were pre-teen and teens. I took the approach to make our trips a learning experience for the children.
Before our trips, I would give them historical information on where we visited, sometimes a book.
Then, during the trip, I would, using my Michelin guidebook point out key history or other features to them. I treated them more like Adults.
Now, they all love travel and still remember our travels.

Not to disagree with Emily, but I would look for cities with different languages, cultures, ways of life, and style. Yes, Slovenia is am sure is stunning, but the lesson is better if it's about people.