Family Europe:London to Florence in 13 days

There is another thread posted today that features a link to a youtube video by the Rick Steves folks, that might be helpful. It shows what the tours are like, including the family tours, and answers a lot of questions about what to expect; RS Tours right for you
It's about 1 hour 20 minutes in total. There's some Q&A at the end,

Common advice is to arrive a couple of days before the trip departs, in case of any delays and to shake off the jet lag. I'm guessing your kids are still working and only have two weeks vacation. If this is the case, could you take the grandkids (or the two older ones, anyway) ahead and spend a couple of days in/around London showing them the Harry Potter sights (or whatever their interests are)? Or to Iceland, as below.

On my recent trip I used the Time Shifter app to help adjust to the time change. It worked pretty well.

My advice re: transatlantic flights is always to choose the "best" flight for you (whatever that means: cheap, short, uses miles, whatever) that gets you to Europe. For example, the stopover in Iceland is popular for a reason. It's a short flight (7ish hours from the West Coast), easy to get around and see a lot in a couple of days, helps you adjust, etc. Once you're anywhere in Europe, it's generally easy and cheap to get anywhere else in Europe. Another example, I recently spent three nights in Germany at the start of my trip to Ireland because that was the best flight for me. And it was AWESOME, wouldn't change a thing and only slightly regret that I didn't see the option for a direct business class flight to Dublin for about the same number of miles.

Have a great time with the family! You're a very generous granny to do this for them.

What a fun trip!

For my first RS tour I did the Heart of Italy with my brother, SIL and their 2 young adult sons (ages 20 and 24). I pushed for the tour because I did not want to feel "responsible" for everyone's good time PLUS I didn't want to waste half the day with the kiddos wanting to sleep in. The tour for us was perfect. The boys were the first ones down for every departure based on their many years on athletic teams going by the if you are 10 minutes early you are 5 minutes late coaching method. We all had a marvelous time!

One thing I would suggest though. I have not done a family tour so the dynamic might be a little different and the guides may approach things differently BUT traveling with a group of 8 within a bigger group, please work to do some integration within the larger group. I'm suspecting there will not be many/any solo travelers on the family tour BUT on a regular RS tour I've had a negative experience with a group within a group. On one tour there were 11 friends traveling together. They insisted on sitting together at all group meals and there was much faffing around with them saving seats, etc. One morning I was down to breakfast early in our tour hotel and went to sit at a long table with other tour members sitting there. I was told that the seats were "saved". Uh ok. And NO....others did NOT come down to breakfast. Yikes. Their behavior very much affected the group dynamic. As I said this was not a family tour so that will probably start out differently anyway but I'd ask that people be mindful that there are others around.

I'd also agree with arriving early to London! This will give you some flex time for travel tiredness and transportation delays! Plus there is SO much to see in London! IF you can eke out any extra days in Florence I'd go for that too. If you can't maybe Grammy can head down to Rome and do Rick's Best of Rome at the end, lol!! MIght as well blow all the inheritance!

What fun! You've travelled together before, so you have a lot worked out already. I'd still suggest sitting down and discussing these things as a group:
* what time are we going to eat? (Europeans tend to eat around 7-8 pm or later, and trying to eat at 5 is a challenge)
* Do we need to go everywhere together? splitting up in smaller groups may work better at times
* how adventurous will our dining be? It's a shame to be in Europe and not try local food, so prepare the grands for that
* who's in charge? when you are trying to pathfind separately from the tour, it's helpful to not have several different voices competing. Identify the person with the best sense of direction and let them lead you.
Have a fab time!

I agree that the RS Family tour sounds terrific, handling lots of the logistics and giving everyone travel skills for the next trip. However, are you sure that your youngest grandchild qualifies for the tour? The description states, “The Family Europe tour….is great for families with kids as young as 8.”

Thats a great question. I've seen a lot of posts saying it was recommended kids be 8, but are they that strict?
My grands are more resilient than me at Disney! And the 4 year old, last year, climbed around altitudes that I had to slow down on! So, wondering if it depends on the child? Also, I'm not getting any younger - a mere 70 - but I really want to take my family next summer! Anybody book a family trip with a 5 1/2 year old? She will be that next summer.

Only a conversation with a Rick Steves representative can answer whether they will allow a 5-year-old on a tour. I’m thinking it’s not likely.

I’m sure your grand has plenty of energy! But traveling in a group that includes many family groups with mostly older children and teens is quite different from traveling with only your own family. There just isn’t as much flexibility with a group of as many as 28 people as there is when you are dealing with only your own family group. I’m guessing that RS has set an age limit because of their extensive experience in creating a fun experience for all. In this size group, everyone needs to be punctual for the bus and activities, able to listen to a guide for a reasonable amount of time without disturbing others, able to adjust to a schedule of planned group activities and meals at organized times, willing to eat what is served, etc. All of this might be a stretch for a five-year-old, even a relatively mature one, especially since the tour is necessarily geared to children much older.

Road Scholar offers family trips, but there doesn’t seem to be any for children under 8. Gate 1 allows children on their trips but, again, only over age 8. I think that all these companies have come to the conclusion that children under age 8 are not developmentally ready for this type of organized tour.

Since you will be a fairly large group, you might consider hiring a private guide instead of joining a tour group with others.

My kids started during RS tours when my daughter was 10. We have not done the family tour but did the normal 14 day tour when they were teens. I know there are changes to family tour but I believe it is way too much for a five and half year old. It is very long days. Very early mornings and a lot as in a lot of time in a bus.

That is hard for a kindergartner to keep up with for 14 days. Very little down time. Even if RS allowed it (which I don’t think they would) it would be hard for the rest of the group.

It would take more planning but maybe rent an Airbnb in a central location and do your own family trip as an option? I saw lots of families on holiday last week when I was in Ireland. Lots for kids to do and lots of places to just run around. Just a thought.

Also how do I get adopted into your family? What a great grandma.

The minimum age on a Rick Steves Family Tour is 8. So, it looks like an RS tour is out.

You have a few options. There are companies that will design a private tour for you. They will work with you to accomodate everyone. They will make all the arrangments for you.

You could arrange your own transportation and accomodation and hire local guides at each destination.

Either way, Uncle Rick has a webpage with tips on traveling with children:

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/trip-planning/kids-in-europe