Suggestions for 6-8 week educational trip for me and my 16 year old daughter

First, what country do you live in?

What countries have you and daughter been to?

Does she, herself, have any special interests? How about you?

Start by asking your daughter which countries interest her to involve her in the planning.
I would look at a list of World Heritage sites and get some ideas. There are language schools all over Europe which you can investigate after you decide where you are going. Same with cooking classes. And since it will be late winter,
I would be considering southern countries - Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, etc.

How about Mexico, Central and South America? They all speak the same language (except Brazil) and many of your travel wishes can be accommodated.

It might be helpful to know what her 11th grade curriculum involves. Is she studying US history or World history? American literature or Shakespeare/Chaucer/Pope? (That even assumes you are based in the U.S., which I shouldn't assume!!) Is she taking any language courses? What are her electives? Or what are her interests -- if it were an in-person semester, would she be involved in any extracurricular clubs or activities?

You are a creating an wonderful opportunity, but I would definitely customize it to what she will be actually studying.

Spot on History Traveler and bostonlphil. we need to know a little bit about your likes, dislikes, curriculum. It is always helpful to know where you live so that we can recommend places for your cold vs heat tolerance.

A little more info from you is required for us to give suggestions. Certainly, countries located in Southern Europe would be smart for weather. You said “ mix of sun (with the rain and colder weather” - so maybe start in Northern Italy for some Dolomite action. But again, we don’t know what your preferences are

How much time each day is your daughter expected to be actively involved in her online school lessons? Is she a motivated and independent learner? The answers to these questions need to be a part of your planning.
One key consideration for both of you will be internet connectivity.

I have lived overseas, Saudi Arabia and Germany for a total of 9 years with my two children and two step-children.
We traveled extensively and I encouraged all the kids to prepare for our trips, by reading about the places we were going, the countries histories, etc.

We traveling we visiting historical sites, art museums as well as scenic places. I made a point to read about key facts from my guidebooks when at an important site.

All four kids, now in their late 40s and early 50s love travel and are interested in history. art and foreign cultures.

My wife and I still arrange some trips with some of our kids and their spouses.

As for where to go, my first places to visit were Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Later the UK, and most of Europe as well as the rest of the World. Egypt and Israel were also huge.

Is your daughter studying a foreign language? It might be wise to select a country that speaks that language.

I also, love Great Britain and all its countries. The culture is very similar to that in the USA, so language is not an issue.

Still, for history, art and dining, nothing beats Italy, especially Rome, Florence, Venice and the Naples area.

I agree about heading south. Spain would be my first choice as it has different areas, Galicia, Basque, Andalusia, to name a few. It has a long, complex, but very interesting history, weather would be good, and it’s on the lower end budget wise. They have a great train system too, so it is easy to get around. many wonderful sights to see.

Note that Easter is the end of March for 2024, which will greatly increase the crowds the week before and after Easter. So- some places you should probably plan to avoid. Also, availability of lodging will decrease greatly, while the price increases, around this holiday.
Enjoy this wonderful mother- daughter planning experience. Safe travels!

since we have no idea what part of the world you are in, I will just give a bit of general info - wherever she is online schooling to will probably keep its normal hours and your daughter will have to adjust her online time to match, and much of Europe is around 9 hours ahead of the US/Canadian west coast, 5 or 6 ahead of the US/Canadian east coast, and here in England we are 4 hours behind Dubai and 11 hours behind the east of Australia.

My wife used to do support for a Canadian company from here and that meant being up at very strange hours.

You may find that your work will also be affected by the time difference.

It is a year from now so time to check if both of your passports will be valid 90 days after your planned return date. If they need updating it much less hassle if you don't need to pay for expedited handling and sweating waiting.

For 2025 Easter swings to the far end of the time frame at April 20, 2025.

I'll just add that to me ANY travel in Europe is educational - learning transportation, figuring out menus in a foreign language, understanding local customs and how to not tick the locals off, lol.

I'd probably do 3 countries in that time frame. For me that would be Italy, France and England. Your choices may be different based on the answers to the queries others have given you. Any genealogical ties to a certain area?

Pam, nice catch , I didn't see that the trip is 2025. Also good to know that for myself, for our 2025 plans. I've been caught in Europe twice at Easter, so have finally learned. One time it was actually fun, Easter markets in Prague and Easter Mass in Salzburg Cathedral, and the second time was in Italy, which I would never do again. Safe travels to all!

If your daughter is a minor you might need written permission from other parent to travel overseas. Suggest you check.that out. Good luck and enjoy.

My daughter is going to switch to online school for the 2nd term of her grade 11 year

Does she have to be online live when the class is happening?. Will time zone differences have an impact?

Many folks have answered with great questions.

Everyone needs more info.

I wouldn't jump around too much. LONDON. PARIS, ROME are sort of the backbone of European tourism and represent a lot of Western culture. Get an Airbnb in each, spend 2 weeks in each, do a lot of day trips and 1 or 2 night trips elsewhere by train and discount airline.

If you wanted to get a bit adventurous and break the mold, add BUCHAREST or SOFIA or BUDAPEST or BUDVA to the list.

And if money becomes an issue go for quality over quantity and day closer to 6 weeks.

Hello again.

Thank you to everyone for all the great information and suggestions. You have brought up some very good points. I will try to answer a few of the queries:

• We currently live in Saskatchewan, Canada, although we are from BC (Vancouver Island).
  • We get a choice of online education in this province (Synchronous or asynchronous), which means we can travel through time zones without concerns about meeting at specific times. My daughter does very well in school without any intervention (nagging) from me. She is organized and works diligently so I have no concerns about her struggling.
  • The online school suggested I discuss the curriculum with the specific teachers next year to see if anything that is being learned in class would align with what we are doing on our travels. As someone said in this post, everything about travel is educational so we are going to embrace that theory :)
  • As a family, we have travelled to many parts of the US, Mexico, Costa Rica, the UK (multiple times as we have family ties there) and Scotland.
  • I was thinking of Europe for 6-8 weeks in February and March 2024, then the East coast of Canada (I have some contract work there), Iceland (and maybe Ireland) in June 2024. So that would mean 2 trips with a return home for April and May.
  • My daughter has an interest in Greece and has been studying a little about the culture and history so I thought that would be a natural place to visit. Maybe we would travel between islands for 10 days then settle down in another country to get our work/school done. Based on what people are saying about the weather, perhaps we should go to Italy and Spain/Portugal? What are people's opinions about Croatia? We are not adverse to colder weather and the rain so we are open to suggestions.
  • I have a little Spanish (studied at the Universidad de Guadalajara a lifetime ago) and Sophia has taken French in school. I would say both of us are very limited in our language abilities at this point.
    
  • I am a lover of the natural world and prefer quaint villages (rural lifestyle) and natural habitats to big cities. However, my daughter likes the energy of bigger cities so we will look at doing a mix. I abhor tourist traps and long lineups so we will try to avoid those scenarios. I am hoping that the timing of our travels will help us in this respect.
  • My daughter is a competitive swimmer so bodies of water are a definite must! We both love being in oceans, lakes, swimming pools :) We are both very active a like to hike, bike, etc.
  • We also both love music and of course, exploring new places, trying new things and meeting people.

Once again, thank you for all of your suggestions. I hope the additional information will help narrow things down a little.

Based on everything you've written, I would consider Greece, Rome, and Andalusia in Spain. Logistically, you'd probably fly Rome to Madrid, but I'd then travel south to concentrate on Andalusia. My concept (unsurprisingly given my user name!!) is a history focus on three powerful civilizations -- the Greeks, the Romans, and the Muslims. Of course, you'd also be weaving in art, music, food, natural history, etc. Seville would be a logical base for the third leg, but given what you've written, I'd build in a second stop along the Costa Del Sol, such as Málaga or Marbella. All three regions are filled with smaller sites and museums that are not "tourist traps."

Anyway, that's one way to slice it...

My daughter is a competitive swimmer so bodies of water are a definite must! We both love being in oceans, lakes, swimming pools :) We are both very active a like to hike, bike, etc.

February or March? You arent going to find any place that begs you to run into the lake or ocean. Even Spain while "warmer" is not "warm". Okay, maybe a few spots in late March.

Since you have been to the UK, we pull that. But this I am suspecting is a trip of personal and academic enrichment and discovery so.....

• Paris for two weeks. From Paris you can see quite a bit of France on
  1, 2 and 3 night out of town trips.

• Rome for two weeks. Same as with Paris. From Rome you can see quite
  a bit of Italy on 1, 2 and 3 night out of town trips.

• Athens for two weeks. Again, you can see quite a bit of Greece on 1,
  2 and 3 night out of town trips.

Then you have two more weeks. You just did the centers of Western historic culture that is the most relevant to North America. If you add Spain then take it out of the 6 weeks and make the stays shorter, maybe 10 days a piece. But thats also a lot of travel and I would save the last leg of travel for the unexpected.

• Croatia is great, but transportation within the counrty isnt the
  easiest. Montenegro along with Bosnia & Herzegovina would be better
  because at the fringes you can touch some Islamic cluture ... but
  again not the easiest to negoitate within the countries. Like
  Croatia no rail service.

• Romania would be pretty sweet. There is some good rail and its so
  cheap anyway that if you wanted to hire guides it wouldnt break the
  bank. 10 days + is easy.

• Prague has some good side trips attahed to it, and for 10 days or
  less is worth considering.

• Budapest has some good side trips attached to it and for 10 days is
  worth considering. Also inexpensive and if she wants a body of water
  in February, the thermal bath houses have lap pools besides the fun
  pools and the theraputic pools. There is alos a thermal lake not too
  far out of town where she can swim in 98F water all day.

• And finally Istanbul. That would be trip of a lifetime.

With these long stays I wouldnt sweat getting from one to the next. Fly. Look for discount airlines. The trips could be a little as $100 and place to place 1 to 2 hours flight time.

Sally
Thank you for giving us more information and a big welcome to the Forum. You’ve been given some excellent ideas and I’ll just add that IF your daughter is inclined to attend university/higher education and since this trip will be during her junior year in high school, you both might think about including some visits to colleges and universities in the larger cities that interest you.