Family Europe: London to Florence in 13 Days Tour..any details?

Fly into Florence and come home from London. If you are really interested in some answer, then you need to provide far more information - what, when, interests, etc., otherwise it is shooting in the dark and most of us don't have time for that.

is this making up your tour or do you expect to join an organised tour?

I think Steve is asking about a specific Rick Steves tour - the Family Europe: London to Florence in 13 Days Tour.
I haven’t taken it myself but I did read his question.

My daughter and I took the Rick Steve’s Family tour many years ago - it started in Rome and ended in Paris .
We also added 4 days in Rime at beginning of trip and 8 in Paris after .

Whatever you decide - be sure to fly into city of start at least the day before ! One family on our tour missed the entire first day of Rome as they had arranged to fly in and arrive first day of tour and their flight from States was delayed . So they missed a day and were twice as exhausted . Flying in a few days before tour also allows you to get over worst of jet lag and travel fatigue . And it’s alwyas worth adding a few days at end of tour so you can further explore that city - 2 days isn’t much for a big city .

I don’t see how people make a decision to fly to a destination on a day that the tour begins...

"I don’t see how people make a decision to fly to a destination on a day that the tour begins..."

It depends on how much time and money they have, especially time if they are working. Or, in this case the children may be in school.

My wife and I do not suffer badly (if at all) from jet lag, and if we are taking a non-stop flight, there is not a lot of danger.

My wife and I do not suffer badly (if at all) from jet lag, and if we
are taking a non-stop flight, there is not a lot of danger.

Unless the city you're flying into decides to throw an airport, airline, or public transport strike. Flights have also been known to experience major, last-minute delays or cancellations. Allowances for unforeseen snags are a good thing.

"Unless the city you're flying into decides to throw an airport, airline, or public transport strike. Flights have also been known to experience major, last-minute delays or cancellations. Allowances for unforeseen snags are a good thing."

I guess I am very lucky because in 60 years of travel I have not missed any appointments.

You are. After nearly 40 years of travel with min delays in one week we two international flights cancelled, not delayed, completely cancelled. Fortunately we had an extra week planned so we just make it. Always need to plan for contingencies even if they never happen.

Yep, you've been very lucky!

We had a wrench thrown at us just last month on a domestic flight from Mpls>Santa Fe via Denver. A passenger had a (possible) heart attack right after the plane left the gate. Long story but what with a significant delay for a gate return, paramedic arrival, passenger removal, restocking used oxygen equipment, etc. the majority of passengers with connections in Denver missed them. There were no other flights to S.F. that day so we had to fly to Albuquerque, take a shuttle bus to S.F., pick up already-booked rental car, and then drive to the airport there to collect our luggage...which mysteriously made the connection even though we didn't. Ate up the whole day. We've also had several flights cancel, and experienced very long delays/missed connections due to bad weather, equipment problems or staffing issues (a ready plane but no pilot).

Now that I think about it, the plane Chicago> Greece on my very first European trip (back in the 70's) was delayed by nearly 24 hours.

Note, I specified non-stop flights so I do not risk missed connections.

Got that, Bob. But some of our cancelled or delayed flights were direct. And it isn't always possible to fly direct just anywhere in the world or the U.S. from our home base so connections can be unavoidable.

slucey, On the other thread you started for this same question, one of the replies suggested this RS 2018 Trip Scrapbook winner, whose family did the exact tour. you’re asking about. I actually read it, and it’s great! And the family did arrive ahead of time. The link was a little hard to find on the website.
https://www.familytour2018.com/

I took a look at the RS listing for this tour for 2020. They have 9 scheduled tours for that year during the summer. Between the tour information and the scrapbook pages you should have enough information to make a decision or call RS to discuss. The only pearls would be to arrive earlier and stay a little later if your schedule allows.