Brief Trip Report--Western Europe Family Trip 7/2016

I don't have kids but really enjoyed reading your report. It sounds like this trip was a terrific experience in many ways, including being a segue to some "life topics" that your kids were exposed to on the trip. Were your kids initially excited about the trip, or did they come around once you were on the ground? Were they good about sharing a quad room with their parents? What were their favorite aspects of the trip?

What a great report!

We traveled with our kids to Europe in 2013 - at the time they were 8 and 13. And boy, has it ever opened their eyes. I created two kids who can't wait to see the world and experience different cultures.

What place did each of your children like the most and why?? We are thinking of taking the kids back in two years after the oldest graduates high school so I'm always looking at options of where to go.

Wonderful report, lots of valuable information and thank you so much for posting! I really like the way you exposed your teens to some of the "differences" between here and there...drinking, the red light district, marijuana, etc. I have always felt that those kinds of opportunities allow for more open discussions of how your family feels about the oks and not oks of each experience. We traveled with my teenaged grandchildren to Italy last summer and had exactly the same rewarding experiences as you did with your children. Again, thank you for posting and I am so happy to hear you all had such a wonderful trip.

Great trip report, no wonder your kids had a great time! You are my pick for Travel Dad of the Year.

@ traveldad....On seeing "very few Americans during our travels." I would say fewer Americans too. But noticeable were other nationalities very frequently, especially lots of Italians, Russians, Chinese, Japanese, either in bus tours or private traveling. My flight on 24 May to FRA was not full either, which is what I am used to seeing.

Great trip report! I have found that the advice in the Rick Steves guide books to be excellent.

Thanks for all your responses. To answer some of the questions that were posted, the kids were excited about the trip before we left but came back home ten times as excited. They liked Paris the most, I think, they enjoyed the food, the differences in culture, and seeing all the young people in love or otherwise having a good time. Celebrations in the street after France won their semifinal football match also made an impact. However, they'll have fond memories(and lots of stories!) of all the places we visited.

Lovely trip report.. and parenting done right.

When my kids started to hit the teen years.. my husband and I decided they needed to be taken out of their milieu. We wanted them to see that teens talk differently, dress differently , eat differently and see things differently .. than the group of kids they hung out with in highschool. That there was a whole big world out there and their little group of peers were not the be all end all.

I think it did impact them in positive ways too.. they are young adults now ( 19, 24, 26) and do seem to have developed a more open minded view of differences .. and how ultimately even in other cultures.. we are more alike then different, regardless of surface values of what music or fashions etc are "in".

I am also europeon born.. and grew up in Canada being given some wine with special meals ( birthdays Christmas etc) from my young teens.. so when my peers started drinking I didn't quite feel the same draw of the forbidden.. basically I learned to drink like a civilized person, not chugging a bottle wrapped in bag behind the school gym.. lol It wasn't such a forbidden fruit..

Thank you for posting. We head out with our teens in a few short weeks

What a great experience you've given your sons. I, too, choose you for "Travel Dad of the year." Thanks for sharing.

I loved your report too. I wish I could've taken my teens on a trip like this a few years back, but life circumstances interfered. But we're working on a next trip with our young adults now.

My husband and I were exchange students in our youth (me to France, he to Denmark) and I've always believed that the European approach to exposing them to responsible drinking earlier and frank talk about sex and contraception "normalized" otherwise forbidden things to avoid binge drinking and teen pregnancies. I think Amsterdam experiences are good :)

I mentored a number of exchange students here to San Diego a few years ago and the kids thought it was funny that all the American teens were whispering about which party they could get wasted at on a Friday night. The Europeans thought it was funny as they'd been meeting friends at clubs for years. They also remarked on how there weren't many places for American teens to meet for an evening out besides Starbucks and malls due to the drinking age.

If I had it my way, I think I'd change the US drinking age to 18 and driving age to 21!

We did this last year Thanksgiving break with our 2 boys 12 and 14 at the time. They loved it. We went to Amsterdam, Germany, Prague and Italy. They had travelled a fair amount in the US, but all year since they have asked when we can go back to Europe, way more than Disney world or any trip like that. We also found the quad room was helpful especially if it came with breakfast. My younger son was fascinated by high speed trains as much as anything. We also had the Amsterdam talk, although living in Colorado the pot thing is already here. My older son now can't stop doing his high school reports on something from Roman history as he loved that. We have also spent a lot of time trying to recreate food that we had Indonesian from Amsterdam, wiener schnitzel, Czech goulash, and roman pastas. We stumbled upon some killer fares so we are going back this thanksgiving break to Paris, Normandy, Belgium, and back out of Amsterdam.

We are calling it the "Don't Let the Terrrorists Win Trip" as I am sure the low priced tickets were partially from fear from Americans.

Loved your report.