I need help!!! I have no idea where to begin. I will be traveling between September and October for two-three weeks. I will also have my five year old child with me. I would like to go to France, Italy, Spain and any other great places. I will be looking for lodging, so I am open to recommendations. I would LOVE to take the train and experience all these great places have to offer. Any ideas or suggestions are welcomed!!
Thanks!
Given that you have no idea where to begin, I'd suggest starting with a travel consultation. Here is the link you need: http://www.ricksteves.com/about/consulting.htm
Your question is about as broad as it gets. With no idea where to begin, you might want to try what I've been doing. Browsing the forums, and keying in on thread titles that look interesting. Tons of great information, ideas, tips, etc... have already been written.
Maybe after you have looked around for a while, and narrowed down what areas/cities you want to visit, and what you want to see and do, you'll have some more pointed questions.
I'm just now completing the planning, reservations, tickets, and other travel arrangements for a two week air/rail/rental car trip through Southern Germany/Austria in mid September. (Octoberfest) 70% of the information I've needed came from reading these forums. The rest came from Rick Steves Germany book, and internet search.
This is the first post I've written on this forum, since all my questions were answered without asking :)
Good Luck, Planning should be fun!
Patricia,
I would recommend picking up Rick's Europe Through The Back Door and begin reading...lots of excellent information. Also, you may want to focus on planning an itinerary and making some reservations for accommodations and things, as time is getting short to be planning a Sept-Oct trip
I'd also suggest not considering any more places than what you've already mentioned. Three countries in three weeks (or less) is plenty.
As one who has traveled with small kids, I'd generally advize to plan on a half day of sight seeing and then some down time and maybe a little more poking around in the evening. We tended to upgrade our accomodations slightly in the knowledge that we'd have to spend more time there, letting the kids nap, watch TV, etc. Nothing spoils travel like a small child who is tired and cranky. That having been said, our kids have grown into great little travelers and it's been (mostly) a joy showing them Europe and I'm sure its broadened their perspectives. We have settled into a style of travel that is no more than one country per week, but thats just us. You could easily spend the entire 2 or 3 weeks just going from France to Italy. Paris - Avignon - Aix-en-Provence - Cinque Terre - Florence - Rome - Done! That's even probably too much. Good luck and have a great trip!
Also, go to www.hulu.com and search for Rick Steves Europe. Watch some episodes on places you are thinking of going. You can get full episodes there.
Evan
The first advice I would give is to scale down your trip to one region. The best way to ruin a trip is to try doing so much that you never see anything - your time is spent getting from transportation to your hotel and vice versa.
I missed the part about having your 5-year-old with you. The suggestions to cut down to 2 regions are good. We've found with traveling with kids, it's easier to rent an apartment or cottage and stay for at least 5 days. Apartments give you a little more room, access to a kitchen so if your child is tired around dinnertime, you don't have to have a cranky kid in a restaurant. You'll probably also have a washer and dryer there.
Scheduling downtime is also a good suggestion. Don't go crazy with the museums and churches, a little of that goes a long way with kids. Find playgrounds and ice cream.
Jon, thanks so much for your post! There really is a lot of information already here for the taking if you just look for it.
Don't dumb it down too much for the child...we had good luck starting when our son was that age...he's now 18 and been to 7 continents and 50+ countries. Having said that, we found it useful to throw in a zoo in almost every country we visited. We like nature anyway and have found European zoos to be very interesting. For example, in one country (Scandinavian, I think), the zoo had a "mountain" for children to throw away their pacifier/binky as a rite of passage...pretty cool, we thought. A zoo also provides Mom and Dad some downtime while the kid runs off energy.
PS: My eight year old son was invited into the kitchen at Gordon Ramsay's in London in 2000, I wasn't. He wore a tie, I didn't...sigh...
Jon's post was very good advice, and the other posters have given fine suggestions as well. For me, the crucial consideration is your 5 year old child. Is your child shy and easily frightened by noise, crowds of people, and strange happenings? Or is he/she fascinated by the new and different and drawn to hubbub? A great European city will have huge crowds of people, a diversity of people that your child has probably never seen, the whole pageant of life from beggars lying on the street to teenagers with green hair to millionaires...will he or she be excited and curious or terrified? The food will be different, though oddly enough pizza and spaghetti now seem almost universally available.
In the same way that one could do New York--Washington--L.A. or else Glacier NP, White Sands, and rural North Carolina (think of the different Americas those represent)...one can pick and choose from a huge variety of experiences in Europe and there is NO ONE RIGHT CHOICE FOR EVERYONE. Think about it...what do you and your child like to do here? What kind of weekend would be your perfect one? Then you will know the kind of experiences you are looking to have, and the accumulated wisdom represented by the posters on this site will be able to really help you. Then make your reservations, buy your tickets and have a wonderful time!
These are all great suggestions!
We traveled all over the world with our very inquisitive son when he was 5. Having our hands free was absolutely necessary to keep a hold on him, esp. when getting off/on trains, subways, cabs etc.
It was a challenge to pack light, keep our valuables safe and use only backpacks. Inquisitive children get dirty.
Does your child still nap? If so, I would definitely bring a sturdy umbrella stroller like a MacLaren. All the excitement and new things to explore will tire him/her out. And of course, it's a safe place for him/her when you have to deal with any travel business. And I loved to stash my daypack in the stroller to give my aching shoulders a rest.
Sounds an exciting trip! Have a great one!
Patricia,
Good for you for being willing to share this experience with your child. You have many good comments so far, so let me just expand on a few;
1) Don't design you trip for the child. Start right now talking to your child about what an amazing experience this will be and how he/she is very fortunate to get to do something most other children do not. Then plan to do what YOU want to do and talk about how great that will be with the child. You only need to do two things differently; 1) Don't do anything sedate for too long. If you think a museum is worth two hours, spend one and then move on. and 2) When you come across a park, playground, or place where other children are playing, let yours join in for a while. Remember, this isn't DisneyWorld. There is no need to scurry about trying to make it seem like DisneyWorld for your child. You child CAN love what you love - just not for as much time.
2) Assume you will return, if not next year, then in 2-3 years. Why scamper across Europe in a rush, just to return later and scamper across Europe in a rush again? Better to not be in a rush at all. Focus on as small an area as you can (I prefer one country or one similar culture) and then see a different place in depth the next time. Too often, when people scamper across Europe it seems as if their main goal is collecting photographs and being able to tell others about the exotic places they set foot. But all of that is just window dressing. Dig deeper and do more than just set foot on a place.
3) Children get no charge out of cities like adults do. And too many European travelers just scamper from city to city. I always get discouraged when I hear adults do this on their trips. I think it's almost criminal to subject a young child to that kind of intensity for 2-3 weeks strait. Rural Europe has so much to offer. Do some of both.
Thank you all for such great advice!
P
