Traveling With A Group

Grocery stores are perfect. Not only are they the cheapest options, they have meat counters that slice meats and cheeses to order. Bread rolls can be purchased individually. They can buy soft drinks and chocolote to suit their tastes.

I used to chaperone my son's marching band. We never had any complaints when we stopped at a grocery store for food. Each kid could get something they liked.

European grocery stores are even better because purchasing smaller portions is the norm.

To add to Brad's suggestion, just browsing in a foreign grocery store is fun. We always do this when we travel. They'll see things that look almost familiar (same brands in different languages) and things that are totally foreign to them.

I've got two suggestions for London, one if it's dry and one if it's wet. Both start off by purchasing sandwiches and stuff from Sainsbury's on Kingsway.

If it's dry cross over Kingsway and head right until you come to Portugal Street. Turn Left into Portugal Street and take the first left. This brings you past 'The Old Curiosity Shop'. It's not exactly the fictional one that formed the title of the Dickens novel but it is a very faithful reproduction and the building itself is genuinely old and a great place for photographs. If you follow the road you come to Lincoln's Inns Fields. This is a wonderful place to sit on the grass and have lunch.

If it's raining head left out of Sainsbury's and keep walking until you come to the Euston Road. Turn right along Euston road until you come to St. Pancras Station. Duck into St. Pancras and eat your sandwiches on the main concourse near the statue of Sir John Betchemen. St. Pancras is one of the great gothic structures of London, it's newly refurbished and an architectural masterpiece.

Hey, we just did this, too. 20 students to Paris/Munich/Rome/Venice/Swiss Alps/Zurich for 14 nights.

In Paris we did Restaurant La Varangue one night for a group dinner. The rest of the meals could be taken within a 1-block perimeter around our hotel...Royal Phare which includes the Rue Cler. The kids always had to stay in groups of at least 4. There was another place we went to at the base of the Sacre Cour that accomodated all of us nicely.

In Rome we did the same thing...dinner all together one night, the rest of the nights the kids ate within a block perimeter of our hotel in Campo dei Fiori.

Be aware that if you show up at a restaurant and are seated together as a group, the server will most likely expect 1 person to pay the entire bill. This was probably the worst part about making group dinner reservations.

If you plan on traveling by train in Venice you can get a student group discount via Trenitalia.

In Paris you can get group discounts for Versailles, Eiffel Tower, Louvre. We also used the 5-day Paris Visite Pass to give us unlimited metro travel as well as free travel from CDG airport via RER to our hotel and from our hotel to Orly airport via metro and orlyval train.

In Rome you can get a group/student discount for entrance into the Vatican Museum. Always bring your school's letterhead with the names of all of the participants to get these school discounts.

Good luck and be prepared to be totally exhausted beyond belief. We did all of the planning ourselves in order to save money on travel agents.

Perhaps making lunch your main meal of the day? Many restaurants offer lunch specials that are quite a bit lower than what dinner would cost. Then evenings could be something lighter, like sandwiches from the stores. I saw in Italy, France and also in Germany, butchers and bakeries often have sandwiches to go. There are also yummy fast food options in the many Turkish / Moroccan type of cafe's. Like Doner kebabs, soups, Turkish pizza, that kind of thing. They are usually quite reasonably priced and delicious. When I compare their prices with the typical burger and fries, it is at least 50% cheaper, a lot more nutritious and better tasting.