My European trip with wife and daughter

It's a fast-paced trip, but it's doable. Someone might quibble over a day here or there, but given your priorities, it seems like a reasonable way to divide your time. Only thing to note is that, assuming your inbound flight is a redeye, don't expect much from everyone (including yourself) on your arrival day. If you want to push on to your first actual destination (Liverpool) via public transportation, that's OK (but I would not advocate driving on that day). You'll might be a little jetlagged for that football game but time spent outside in fresh air should help with that.

You are spending far too much time in transit trying to fit in too many countries for my taste, but it’s not my trip. You need at least 3 full days in Venice to do it justice. The food in Venice isn’t great. I would drop Venice and spend longer in Paris and Rome.

You need to be aware that next season’s football matches will not be confirmed until mid June (they can’t be confirmed in February, as they don’t know until the end of the season who will be in the Premiership) and matches are subject to change to fit the tv schedule, so can be anytime between Friday evening and Monday evening. The dates are confirmed about 3 weeks prior.

Hi Jennifer: thanks for the reply. I know we are visiting a lot of cities in 2 weeks but I don't know if when will have the opportunity to visit Europe with our daughter again. You are correct about the Premier League schedule announcement - I just checked again and it happens in June. This is important to me so we will make our final plans after the schedule is released and adjust it based on when the game occurs - be it on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. Venice is on our list not because of the food but because my wife and I visited there before my daughter was born and we'd like her to see the places we went.

Thanks David for your reply and ideas.

I have two Liverpool fans in my immediate family. LOL. I think your itinerary is a good amount of time for an exposure to each location. I like that you are taking mostly trains, as they are restful, but also give you a sense of the countryside. This is completely doable and is likely to encourage your daughter to return sooner rather than later. This sounds like a great trip!

I did a trip this fast-paced with my husband and boys ages 8 and 11. We started in Glasgow and in three weeks toured a bit of Scotland and England, a taste of Amsterdam, Munich, and Salzburg. It was exhausting and wonderful at the same time. The boys loved traveling and begged for another European adventure, which materialized after they finished college. But version 2.0 was six days in London, 4 days in Normandy, 3 days in Amsterdam, and 4 days in Berlin, with 3 days lost traveling between locations. I think your current plan will be OK but might be more enjoyable if you skip Paris this trip (or London) and plan to see it on another trip.. Use the extra time for more days in London or Paris, whichever one you don't skip. That way if it rains or you need to do laundry or someone catches a cold you have some flexibility.

Avoid the pressure to make so many destinations fit into your time. Each transfer introduces the possibility of glitches that can really foster stress and anxiety in you or your traveling companions.

I would skip either France or at least one city in Italy. Neither Venice or Rome will have the great food Italy is known for. The best meal we had in Rome was at a Chinese restaurant!

Paris, Rome or Venice can each take 4-5 days to see it properly.