First trip for grade school kids, feedback on Ireland and---what??

Just some random comments on what's worked for us...

We took each of our kids (on separate trips) for their first European trip when they were 10 years old.

We first took our son to London, Paris and the Loire Valley. He loves cities, and is a big Anglophile and loved James Bond at the time, so London was an easy choice. Paris because we love it, and the Loire because we wanted some time in a rural location and we thought he'd like the castles. He did love the castles very much, and all of our subsequent trips have included castles (the older, the better).

We started in London, because I thought he'd need acclimating to another culture before adding in a foreign language. Turns out, that was not necessary - he didn't really care what language everybody else spoke.

In all of our trips, we've stayed in small inns with character, and some B&Bs. Our kids like that kind of place, and they provide a lot more individuality than bigger places. We've never done a home rental - we prefer to move around more. But we do try to avoid one-night stays.

Our kids do enjoy museums, though on that first trip to London, we only spent a short time at the National Gallery and the British Museum. But by the time we were in Paris, at the end of the trip, we spent most of a day at the Louvre.

We've found the Rick Steves provide the right amount of museum detail for kids.

We live in the Rocky Mountains, so tend to not do many outdoor activities on vacation, because we go hiking or biking in the mountains almost every weekend at home. Castles and world-famous art, we do NOT have where we live, so we do those on vacation!

Joanne,

Are your kids definitely set on visiting Ireland or would another location be equally interesting? Ireland is a great place with lots of interesting history and beautiful scenery, but I wonder how long the "attention span" of 7 & 10-year olds will be in that area?

You indicated that due to the "school year" you'd have to travel in July / August. What will the total duration of your trip be?

Since you "crave something new like Greece or Italy" I'd try to work out something that covers both areas. In the same circumstances, I'd probably plan something like this (assuming that Ireland isn't definite):

Fly to England: I believe both Air Transat and Canadian Affair fly to London / LGW from Halifax (starting in Manchester would have been preferable, but I didn't check Air Canada).

Tour London: Lots to keep both adults and kids entertained - Buck House and the Changing of the Guard, Cabinet War Rooms, HMS Belfast, BA London Eye, Tower of London & Crown Jewels, Imperial War Museum, etc. Even riding the Tube might be exciting for them?

Side trip to York: This would probably be interesting for kids also. There's the Railway Musuem (free, as I recall) which has a working roundtable and lots of trains and displays, The Jorvik Viking Museum, York Minster and lots of interesting old things to see. If they can stand an hour or so, the free walking tour might be interesting.

Use budget airline (EasyJet?) from one of the London Airports to Rome. Tour the Colosseum and other sites that may be of interest. The exposure to the culture and language in Italy would be interesting for kids, and it would at least provide you with a brief sample.

If you have a generous travel budget, you might have a look at the Family Best of Europe tour. That would provide an exposure to several countries and cultures.

These are only a few possibilities. There are lots of options.

Good luck!

I replied on your other post, but Ken said it better than me.

The only counter to Ken's idea of skipping Eire is if you have Irish roots (a decent possibility for someone from NS), I think it is important to expose kids at a young age to their ancestry (whether that be Irish, Turkish, Japanese, etc...).

Thanks everyone, yeah, we do have Irish roots so have a fair bit of background to go on, they know something of Cu Chulann and the saints and kings...

I think the idea of at least a few days in London early in their European travels makes sense too. We tend to do museum passes at home so they can go for a while, and leave when they're tired...the British Museum and the other great free museums of London lend themselves to that. (They're still free, right??? It's been 10 years almost for us.) Last time we stayed in Bloomsbury so it was easy. And I know they'd lose their minds if we got tickets for the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower. Hadn't thought of York as a side-trip, but I know they'd love any kind of train (up to Yorkshire or just to the other side of London...).

I'm thinking we'd do about 2 weeks, more than that and we get missing home these days. Though a self-catering home base helps.