xalyth

Hello folks!

It is very possible that we will travel to Europe next year for a friend's wedding. I've been doing a lot of research and reading and I get conflicted posts whether or not the following cities, and itinerary are child friendly. Of course my thoughts are, there are children everywhere, why wouldn't be child friendly? But many bloggers bring good points and so the more I read the more concerned I am about it! Need some encouragement about traveling with young kiddos!

Also we are doing mainly backpack or carry on. No car seats as we don't plan on renting a car, and no bulky suitcases to haul.

The potential date is September 2015. We foresee some rain perhaps? The wedding will be in Brno, Czech Rep. We would like to do some hopping around since I've been checking airfare and it looks like we would fly into London with Icelandair, then fly Ryan Air to Brno. We'd have to return to London eventually.

This is what we think we'd like to do.

Day 0. Afternoon flight London (from west coast)

Day 1. Arrive London - Break journey with lunch and Hyde Park, then take train to Stansted, spend the night.

Day 2. Early flight to Brno - Get settled, looking to rent an apt./house via Airb&b - just rest / go out for leisure walk, park, lunch / groceries. Night 1 in Brno

Day 3. Wedding. Night 2 in Brno

Day 4. Day trip to Prague or Telc. Night 3 in Brno

Day 5. Brno. Night 4 in Brno

Day 6. Train to Vienna - Get settled, looking to rent an apt./house via Airb&b - just rest / go out for leisure walk, park, lunch / groceries. Night 1 in Vienna.

Day 7. Vienna. Night 2 in Vienna.

Day 8. Day trip to Bratislava. night 3 in Vienna.

Day 9. Vienna. Night 4 in Vienna.

Day 10. Vienna-Munich - Afternoon train to Munich - dinner in Munich, overnight train to Paris. Night in sleeper train.

Day 11. Paris. Night 1 in Paris (or fairly outside Paris to find something economical.)

Day 12. Paris. Night 2 in Paris.

Day 13. Paris-London - Train to London. Night 1 in London (or fairly outside London to find something economical.)

Day 14. London. Night 2 in London.

Day 15. Afternoon flight back to USA



Does this seem like too much for such young ages?Are we being overzealous wanting to visit too much? Our boys are terribly energetic but do get tired easily like any 2 an 4 year old kiddos. We're mentally preparing for not covering much of the typical sights and mostly go at their pace. We're not being ambitious in our itineraries on each place. We mainly want to enjoy the cultures and "every day life" in those countries. We want our children to experience life outside their little world.

PalenQ

It does seem overly ambitious for kids that young - and even for someone without kids.

Big cities can be a hassle - I would consider renting a car or camper van and limiting your travels to a more finite area - driving 3-4 hours a driving day - if you stay at campgrounds they are very kid and family friendly and much more relaxing IME of doing this many times with my kid - camps have playgrounds, swimming pools and most importantly many other kids from all over Europe.

Even large cities like Paris and Vienna and Salzburg and all of them have camps right in them - commute by metro, etc and leave the car in the camp. Anyway consider a camping tour if you had not thought of it and I would ditch London and stay on the Continent.

I will just give you some great resources for planning the rail part of the trip if that is your decision - superb sites IMO - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

sleeper trains can be fun for young kids - I took my 5 yr old son on sleepers for the first time and he thought it was so so super -

suze

<Does this seem like too much for such young ages?>
<Are we being overzealous wanting to visit too much?>

Yes and yes. I think it's way too much moving around at too fast a pace. Also you aren't going to see "culture" and "every day life" with only 1-2 day stays in major cities.

I don't know which places you most want to visit, but I would cut at least 2 cities from your list, then spend more days/nights in whatever is left.

jane1144

I would fly "open jaw" into one city and home from another to avoid backtracking which is expensive in transportation and time. Check fares carefully to see what is possible. Sometimes the savings with a particular airline are really a false economy when you take the backtracking into account.

xalyth

Thank you!
Seeing your guys' impressions on this plan, gives me a pretty good idea of how to go about it. The hubs and I were already thinking about cutting travel places.
We have a traveler friend who recommended a minimum of 3 nights on each place so the kids don't go crazy being moved around so much; however, we may just stick to a slower pace moving around.
I have been checking http://www.seat61.com/ for trains and as much as we want to do a sleeper train, we may have to cut that. My oldest loves all trains and my husband is also excited at the prospect of doing a night train but it may have be left for another trip.
We had not considered camping....will take a look at that. We don't tend to do camping other than in the summer!
By culture and everyday life I meant that by using the public transport and stick to what the locals do and not just landmarks and the popular sights could give us a good idea....having children is always a good conversation starter ;-)
THANK YOU ALL for your input!

nytraveler

A couple of notes:

Munich makes no sense at all - you have really no time there

I would not return to London but just spend a day there on arrival and put the time to Paris and fly back from there

(Actually I would kill London and fly direct to Austria so you have some time to decompress - not two heavy travel days in a row)

Gretchen

Backpack or carryon is fine--ummm, you have two little ones who also may need to be carried from time to time and won't be carrying their "luggage".
Go a couple of places and enjoy it. Don't drag little ones and you all over the place.
and definitely fly open jaw.

xalyth

Thanks Gretchen. We don't plan on letting them carry any luggage, except one small backpack with a book and a favorite toy...but we had thought about having to carry them, that's why we're leaning toward backpacks instead of wheelies.

Thanks NYtraveler, I will check into flying to Austria

I really appreciate your input! I am all starry eyed right now at the possibility, and I am afraid my eyes are bigger then my stomach ;-) Godo thing is we have time to revise, receive feedback and revise again.

StCirq

<<We mainly want to enjoy the cultures and "every day life" in those countries. We want our children to experience life outside their little world.>>

You'll have very little time to appreciate everyday life, and frankly, your children probably won't even know where they are or what they're seeing at those ages (and I say this as someone who took my children to Europe at least twice a year every year from the time they were born until they were in their 20s). Their "little world" will most likely travel right along with them.

Gretchen

You might think about backpacks to carry the kids and wheelies for you. Especially the two year old.

nytraveler

Oh - and I think 'll find that traveling with kids that small will mean a lot more luggage than are planning for. What ab out at least one stroller. There is no way they can do all of the walking involved and if you have to carry them everywhere you will soon be exhausted.

If you don't live in a fairly large city and usually travel by car this may not be apparent - but kids under about the age of 6 or 7 just can't do all of the walking necessary for a very busy city-based multi-location trip. And if there is no stroller you will be carring them a LOT.

Gretchen

You are talking a lot about "economy" but going back to London and all that entails will be Expensive. Open jaw as we have said--count it all up and see the "economy".
Icelandair flies to Paris (I think) and does to Luxembourg (3 hour train ride from paris).
Pare this trip down to the essentials, and really have a good time. You are young, and will go back.
An overnight sleeper with young kids? think about other people as well as being totally cranky the next day for the whole family.
To be honest, it seems you are looking at this trip through YOUR young eyes as doing what you personally can do, and not realizing you have little ones in tow. You just can't do the same things.
Don't stay on the outskirts of Paris--there are economical places in the city and makes everything accessible. I am sure it is true other places also.

PalenQ

An overnight sleeper with young kids? think about other people as well as being totally cranky the next day for the whole family.>

Well you can book up a private 4-person compartment so not sure about thinking of other people - well I guess if you tykes cry loud all night - but that could be a neat adventure for the whole family. Bring food on board - make it a real adventure.

xalyth

Thanks.
We're now considering open jaw or just fly into Prague.
Our kiddos are good sleepers so we didn't think an overnight train would be a problem! We're all pretty laid back people but in other conditions, jet lagged who knows...

Yes, London is so expensive based on what I looked...but we wanted to see if we could get away with it...we think it's not an option now!

Thanks for your input. A traveler friends with two boys said it would be doable but of course she is a seasoned traveler and so are her kids but enough said, we will change this itinerary ;-) and definitely make it a way slower pace one.

We are now considering open jaw (Amsterdam-Prague), or just fly into Prague and stay in Brno and Vienna as they seem to be the cheaper places to rent a place. Having a more "house like feel" and a kitchen is a MUST!
My husband and I have been to France, but the kids will have to wait ;-)
I really appreciate a critical eye on my request, we've decided to change things already based on the input I've been getting.

THANK YOU ALL!

eastave

Are they 2 and 4 now, or will they be 2 and 4 when you travel? We take our daughter (now 8) almost everywhere we go. When she was 2 there was no way we would have survived without a stroller. When she was 3, occasionally we could have her walk. I can't remember when she completely dropped her afternoon nap, but that is something to think about too. It is no fun having tired kids. This was part of why we tended to stay in a place for about a week if possible. It made it easier to get the naps in when we weren't schlepping to the next place.

In terms of luggage, I think the point some of the above posters are trying to make is that you need items for your two kids and they aren't going to be the ones hauling them. One option is to try to stay some place that has laundry facilities. But then you have to decide how much of your vacation you want to spend doing that!

I think most cities in Europe will be fine for kids of this age. Mostly what they want is a playground and you can find those everywhere.

suze

Your plans are sounding much better. Cutting London entirely if you can arrange other flights is a great idea to streamline things.

If you think you might have to carry your kids at some times, wouldn't a wheeled suitcase make MORE sense than a backpack? So you're rolling your luggage and could pick up the kid if need be? Carrying a child with a full backpack on doesn't sound so good.

xalyth

Eastave: They'll be 2 and 4 next Fall. OK, suggestion noted. We're not much stroller people, we're mostly baby carrier people, but we can see about renting or buying one? We do have a double stroller...don't know about hauling it with us though, done that before and it was just something extra to carry and we didn't like it much ha! But who knows right?

Our oldest doesn't nap anymore, our youngest...he probably will...so far he falls asleep where ever he fancies but we'll see next year. Yes, we are planning on doing laundry because we don't want to have to carry much clothing. Thank you for your feedback!!! I really appreciate the time you all put into giving me some sound advice!

I think this itinerary was like when you plan for an event and or when you buy a house....write down your closes to "dream _____" and then shave off from there! Leave the non-negotiable and change everything else

PalenQ

I think a few bases where you kind of move into the community for several days is great for kids - you go to the local playgrounds, kid-friendly places, etc. In two weeks I'd do no more than 4 bases and if you find a neat place say with a beach or kids stuff maybe fewer.

xalyth

******EDIT******
We've decided to fly into Prague, settle in Brno and take one day/two day trips to Telc, and Vienna and of course Prague. We'll focus on Czechia and Vienna area.

THANK YOU ALL!

xalyth

I forgot to add, I will be doing research and once I have an itinerary for those 3 cities, I will post back, if that's OK with you all!