I am planning a trip for me and my 4 sons aged 17-8 to Europe, we want to go to France,Benlux,(Belguim, Luxemburg, and Netherlands), Getmany, Switzerland and Italy we plan to hostel and we want to see as much as we can in 30 days the big stuff as well as off the beaten path options for a liifetime of memeories, any information on packing, what not to bring would be most helpful
Keisha
When? Weather makes a difference.
General advice - figure out what you need to take, then pack half of it, leave the rest at home. Figure out how much money you need, double it.
And an observation (accountants always do the math): 7 countries (not cities, country), 30 days. That's 4 days per country (not city, countries) on average including local travel time. Consider this: is it better to see everything or to enjoy everything you see?
yes, too many sights and too much travel. slow it down a bit.
Keisha, Besides reading Rick Steves guides, we found the book "Take Your Kids to Europe, How to Travel Safely (and Sanely) in Europe with Your Children" a Great Resource.
The best thing my girls (12+14) brought were their I-Pods. Besides the girls' selection of tunes, We downloaded 10 episodes of "Corner Gas" (a truly Canadian Comedy). During long train rides, bus waits, boring afternoons (and there will be some) and "cranky times" we took turns with the I-Pods and watched "chilled" for a while.
The Rick Steves backpacks were perfect, and the rule was "you pack it, you carry it". (that way they knew that Mom wasn't carrying their junk)
Have Fun !
When traveling with our two sons (about five years apart) we found it very beneficial to schedule a dead day, nothing planned, about every four days.
Thanks a million for the advice, I have decided to scale my trip down to 3 countries with 10 days in each so we can move leisurely and instead of hosteling we decided to rent which comes out cheaper
I would also get them involved in planning the trip. Get them to start thinking about things that interest them, what they like, what they don't like, learn a little about the history of the area. If they're participants of the intinirary, they'll be more engaged.
Good point Susan,
When I took my 14 yr old son to Europe, and then on a seperate trip my 12 yr old daughter, I had each one of them do some research and come up with at least 3 sites THEY wanted to see.It really helped make the trips fun, and not just me dragging them around.
I also taught each of them how to use the metro and got them to look for signs etc .. to help me out.
Of course son found the Catacombs in Paris, which for someone like me ( claustrophobic) is not fun, but the deal was he came along to sights I was interested in , so I went to visit his! LOL
I am glad you have cut the trip down to 3 countries, you will do and see so much as it is, easier to keep memories clear if you haven't visited like 15 cities !!
Which three countries did you settle on?
Switzerland is amazing( although very expensive) there is nothing as pretty as the Alps.
I personally would skip the Benelux countries, but thats personal tastes. I have been to Luxebourg and can't recall anything about it,, thats never a good sign, LOL
How are you travelling between countries. I found it was cheap to fly from Paris to Rome on an Europeon airline, flew Air Vueling and it was cheaper then a train ticket ( when booked ahead)
Travelling with your boys will be great.
Just to warn you, hostels may not be the cheapest option for you, because they charge per person. There are six of us (2 adults, 4 kids also), and I found my best bet was calling reasonably priced b&b's, explaining how many were in my party, the ages, and who could share beds and asking them what room combinations they recommended. Often, they came back with better combinations (by adding a pull-out, for example) than I would have requested.
