Senior Class Trip!!!!

"a few years from now" - I think you are well ahead of the pack. Questions on this forum range from "I am leaving in 2 days", I would say the bulk of questions are for trips in 3 or 6 months. Occasionally people post about plans for next summer, which I find an unbelievable amount of forward planning.
"And how far in advanced do I need to start planning this trip?" - decide that you want to go 6 months in advance. Work out your dates and how many days in each place. Then you can book the expensive tickets (plane, longer train trips) 4+ months out. Then add the hotels.

"How easy is it to plan a trip with multiple destinations?" - relatively easy. Work out how many nights in each place (never less than 2 nights), and put it all in a spreadsheet (one line per day). You can then add travel costs, adjust as you go, and finally book hotels.

[All the above is my personal opinion and I will probably get totally contradicted by later posters]

I suggest that you start by reading "Europe Through the Back Door". It will give you good basic information on how to travel. Then get some guidebooks for the areas you are interested in and start making a list of what you might want to see. Involve your child, too. If this is several years from now, there is little point in worrying too much about booking your travel or accommodations. There is just too much likelihood that it will all be different by the time you are ready. But you can start looking at how prices are trending. To me, planning is one of the best parts of travel. The possibilities are endless - you just have to be realistic about what you can do in your available time.

Here is my travel planning tip: Go to the library, go to a thrift store, go to a used book store and get a variety of travel guides about places you may want to go. I usually pay between 25 cents and $1 per book at a thrift store. Start reading.
Important disclaimer: These books are usually not the latest edition and you can't rely on them for the nitty-gritty details such as hours or prices. You can, however, find all sorts of information about customs, and top places to visit.

When you have a list of places or activities that really seem to interest you and your son, start coming up with an itinerary. Then, use the internet to find the most up to date info about hotels or sights that you are interested in.

I like to start planning about 1 year out, but then I also enjoy the planning process very much.

I am sure that you will have a special memory making time with your son that you will both remember for a long time.

I also start planning a year out. I make several drafts of my plans, which change during that time.

Right now I suggest you read guidebooks, watch videos, and be alert for clues about where your son wants to go; the more involved he is, the more he will probably enjoy the trip (once it gets a bit closer).

I second the suggestion to read Europe Through The Back Door. It is the very best prep for any trip. I strongly urge you to read it.

My husband and I started planning our BIG TRIP about the same time as we were planning our wedding -- and we weren't expecting to go for three years. On more recent trips, I start planning about a year ahead (or on the plane going home from the prior trip.)
You might want to get a big map of Europe and put it on a wall to flag places you want to see (and visualize distances between them.) Research what you want to see/do. Decide how much time you will have available, and how much money. If you're like most of us, your travel desires will far exceed your time/budget, so prioritize and pare down. Keep reading this forum and ask questions about places that sound interesting. Planning is almost as good as traveling.

A few thoughts on your questions......

• Planning for multiple destinations - that's very easy, and something that most of us do on a regular basis. Once you have the destinations figured out, the transportation aspect is usually fairly straight forward.
• How far in advance - I normally start roughing out a few ideas about a year prior to the trip, and then start actively planning about 6-8 months prior to the trip. On occasion I'll start thinking about the next trip before I've finished the present one.

I agree with the others that reading Europe Through The Back Door would be a really good idea. That has a LOT of good information on how to travel in Europe and will likely answer a lot of your questions. Once you have some destinations finalized, use the RS country or city-specific guidebooks to plan hotels, sightseeing, local transportation, etc.

Once you have an idea of some destinations, post the list here and the group will be able to help you work out the details. A few questions though.....

• When are you planning to take this trip?
• What is the time frame of the trip?
• What destinations do you have in mind?
• Where are you flying from?
• Why only France & England?

Above is all good advice from thoughtful experienced travelers. I'd add just one point -- don't try to "do it all." If you follow this board, you see many posters whose planned itineraries take them from city to city to city, day after day, without considering how long it takes to get from one place to another (door to door) or how tiring it can be to pull up stakes and move around constantly. Not to mention expensive.

Chris is right, you don't want to spend just one night anyplace unless it's strictly a way-station on a long road trip. Pick your destinations, plunk down for at least a few days, and get to know them. A week each in London and Paris would be my best advice for a first-time two-week trip, unless you really want to focus on rural areas. One or two day trips out of each city would let you see more and provide some contrast. Both are expensive cities, but you're likely to be flying into and out of one or both of them, so getting to any other destination will also cost you.

Which brings up another suggestion -- fly "open jaw," for example from US to London and then Paris back to US, rather than round-trip to and from one city. That costs about the same as a round trip and saves you the time and cost of backtracking. Use the "multi-city" option to find this in search engines.

I hope you and your son have a wonderful time planning and taking this trip. He's a lucky kid!

Definitely buy and read ETBD, plus any other guidebooks by RS that are appropriate (England and France or just Paris, etc.). You'll get some hard info about what's open when and how to get there, entrance fees, etc., that will be helpful in planning where you'd like to go, and how you'd like to arrange the order of your trip.

You can supplement those books with any others that interest you, but RS books are invaluable for the nuts-and-bolts of European travel - he neatly lays out what museums are open and when, etc., that make planning easy. You'll learn enough to more than pay for them!

I suggest making hotel reservation by 6 months out, and train reservations as early as possible - usually allowed either 3 or 6 months in advance (assuming you're not renting a car). Depending on your routes, you may be able to buy train tickets immediately before your train trip, but you could potentially save some real $$$ by buying in advance online.

In the meantime watch lots of travel videos and films, and read about those destinations you think you're interested in seeing. From my experience, you may be planning on England and France, but end up in Italy and Germany ;-)

Be sure your son is very involved in the planning!!! He should have a vested interest in this trip, too.

This is a link to Rick's travel videos, in case you don't have access to them otherwise. I think they make a great springboard for trip-planning and for getting the juices flowing!

Enjoy the planning and dreaming process - many of us almost enjoy that part more than the actual trip LOL!

OH - and for some ideas on books and movies that concern your geographical areas of interest, go to his Tours pages and select any tour. There will be a link on each Tour page with suggested books and movies for that particular Tour's focus area.

Everyone has given you great advice. I would just like to comment following what Eileen said about going to the Rick Steves Tours page. Consider going on one of Rick's tours. Click on different tours and read the itineraries to find one to you liking. All your planning, hotel reservations and rail tickets are done for you. Also the right amount of time is given to each stop on the tour. The cost is there on the tour prices, which makes it unnecessary for you to be wondering what the cost of your trip will be and what to budget each day for food. Ideal if this is your first trip to Europe. I am assuming this would be a trip for you and your son only, and not his entire senior class.

I just have a couple of additions to the good advice above. The RS giude books are really good for the practical issues involved in travel, as well as the attractions that are typically hit by tours. However, there are many wonderful places that are not covered in the RS guide books. Consequently, I suggest you also look at some other guide books – I find the DK eyewitness guides to be really helpful in planning. This is particularly true if you have topics or geographic areas that are of particular interest to you.

In addition, if you are looking for high-quality budget lodging in very popular and expensive areas (e.g., Venice), I suggest booking that lodging as soon as your travel plans are stable. I typically booked that type of location 8 or 9 months ahead of time if possible.

One of your biggest expenses will be airfare to / from Europe. As others have stated, plan to fly open jaw. For example, fly into Paris and return from London or vice versa (assuming you plan to go there). If you want to fly for free, you can start playing the credit card game. For example, both British Airways and American Airlines currently have credit cards with 50,000 mile sign up bonuses (there are similar deals for hotel credit cards that could get you free hotel stays). There is an annual fee (usually waived for the 1st year) and you have to spend a certain amount of $$ in the first 3 months to get the bonus. You can get multiple cards if you so choose over the next 6 months to get a couple of hundred thousand miles. Once you get the bonuses, you can cancel the credit card if you want. I have several different cards and just leave them on my dresser to avoid the temptation of using them too much. Once you have stockpiled the miles, you can find award flights for your trip. American Airlines opens seats up 335 days in advance. For European trips, it usually best to secure the flight as soon as you can if you want to use miles. You can get one-way awards in business class for 50,000 each way per person at the saver level. The drawback to this is that you may not be able to get the exact dates tat you want, so you may need to be flexible in your planning. Once you have the flights, then you can start planning your time on the ground in detail.

Youtube! There are a myriad of videos on there, not just Rick Steves. Let your son have fun checking them out (and you!). We have found places to go that we never even thought of. You could be doing this now, just to get you more excited about your trip! Actual planning, I start about 6-8 months out.

I guess I'd just add that your son should be just as involved in the research and planning as you are! This is a golden opportunity for him to learn a few lessons about the Fine Art Of Travel so take advantage of the teachable moments, Mom! The more he is included and expected to contribute, the more excited and appreciative he'll be about the trip when the day comes. Besides, it'll be much more fun to plan and learn together than doing it all yourself?

Personally, I probably wouldn't recommend doing an RS tour as this is going to be a special time for the two of you before he heads off to college. Or will he be a college senior when the time comes?

Good for you for starting the nest egg! With a couple of years to feed it, you'll be in good shape. Do understand that exchange rates today will not be the same in a couple of years, and while they could go either way (or change little at all), planning for more versus less is probably a good idea.

Go to the library and check out the guides for countries you're interested in. Ask questions (we're here!). Dig around on the net: there's tons of info free for the looking these days. Figure out the wheres first: the hows can come later. And encourage your young man to do the same!

I agree with all the advice above. But, I'll add one thing that many first-timers don't know about. London does not have the only airports in England or the UK, and Paris does not have the only airports in France. Depending on your interests, it may be more efficient, and not more expensive, to fly into or out of other places. For example, you could start in the south of France in Provence (fly to Marseille) or the Cote d'Azur (fly to Nice), or you could end your trip in northern England (flying out of Manchester or Liverpool) or Scotland (flying out of Glagow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness, etc). Some of these have few or no nonstops from the US, meaning you'll have to change. But the time and money you save by being where you want to be and by avoiding backtracking are worth it.

When you plan an itinerary, it's usually easiest to travel in a circle or a line and avoid backtracking. As you start to look at areas that interest you, take note of nearby airports. Rick is starting to list more of them, but he misses some as well; Wikipedia is a great source to learn more about airports in a country or near a city (under "Transportation" for a city, it usually lists the closest airport).