SELees

We are planning to take our 12 year old granddaughter to Europe next June. She/we are interested in Italy, France and England. Both my husband and I have been to England a few times, France for business but never to Italy. I've done some reading on each country and am quickly becoming overwhelmed!

So far, we're thinking we'd like to do Rome and the Amalfi Coast (Florence if we have time) in Italy, Paris in France, London, York and maybe Bath/Stonehenge in England.

Any ideas on how to start planning?

Many thanks.

rex

Step 1 - - define a budget; even if it is plus-or-minus 50% If you live in the US, I recommend $6000 to $10,000.

Step 2 - - decide if you are more time-constrained or more money constrained. If time is your constraint, decide how much time you can afford. If you can't afford 12 days minimum, then I recommend you take a good hard look at why you really why want to visit three countries, and why wouldn't you be better off to drop one. Remember, despite "united Europe" (ha!), these are three separate and very distinct cultures (language, art, history, cuisine, any way you want to define culture).

3. If you're keeping Italy, re-think your decision to omit Venice. You and your granddaughter, equally, will likely be absolutely awed by Venice.

Steps 4 through 99 depend too much on steps 1, 2 and 3 for me to continue for now.

Best wishes,

Rex

fun4all4

HI!
That sounds like a lot for 2 weeks. It is easy to get overwhelmed, but try not to overplan and do too much. It is easy to want to see everything, but I think it is best to focus on several priorities and enjoy those to the max. Start reading and talking. Once you have narrowed down your priorities and interests, it will be easier to plan a fabulous itinerary. You could easily fill 2 weeks in any of those areas. I would recommend 1 country, but no more than 2 for sure. Good luck, keep reading, and it will start to come together. You have given yourself a good amount of time to plan a fabulous trip.

mermaid_

Here's your post from last year, with the same question. I remembered it because I responded to it, as my daughter was 12 years old when her grandmother took her to Italy for two weeks.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34518847

My answer is still the same this year! Don't go jumping around so much. Young girls don't see travel time between places as something that is good and relaxing and a chance for down time; they see it as crashing boring. Take it from me--I know!

BabsB

SELees, I am the family force march enforcer and I think that if I tried to force this plan on my family they would riot. I think it is either too many places or too little time. One or the other needs to be adjusted and money is probably the factor that will make that determination. I love all three countries but if this was my trip I would stick with Italy. You have already been to England and France so Italy would be a new experience for all three of you. And as many posters have advised in other posting, you will be back. Your granddaughter will have a lovely time in Italy and it will give her a taste of world travel so that she will want to visit France and England and other places on her own when older. As far as planning, read every book you can gets your hands on, surf the net and even pick up travel brochures from travel agents to see what's hot and what's not. Now I don't mean for you to take a tour, just read up on how they put the trip together and what sites they see that might interest you. Good luck to you.

SELees

LOL, mermaid. I just finished reading the wonderful responses from last year, too!

To answer rex,
1) the budget right now is at about $10k. We have enough frequent flyer miles to do this trip, so the budget doesn't include airfare. Yes, we live in the US.

2) We are more time constrained than anything, at this point. We can be gone for 14 days.

3) We haven't omitted anything. Venice would be fantastic!

rex

Okay - - more information; that's good - - and let me share this, since (uncharacteristically, I did NOT check your "previous question history&quot - - might it be that you do not know about "click on your own name"?

Several reactions...

Three FF award seats, huh...? in June, that <i>could</i> mean you have 180,000 or even 240,000 F miles to &quot;burn&quot;. Personally, I would not &quot;blow&quot; them on <i>coach</i> seats. You haven't yet identified your likely origination airport, but dependng on where you are in life (with regards to future travel and financial &quot;comfort level&quot, maybe you ought to save them, and <u>buy</u> coach seats. You might be able to get them for $1800-$2700 (too many variables to make any kind of accurate guesstimate).

Alternatively, (though this won't work with the cheapest seats), consider using those FF miles for <i><b>upgrades</b></i> to business class. If you have saved FF miles for so long, and feel like a treat, for all three of you, that would be really nice (maybe even your husband would let the two of you really &quot;bond&quot; in biz class - - and just save those miles, by flying in the cheapest coach seat available (on the same routing).

Whatever your decision, if you know the dates now, you need yo secure the aard seats NOW. Some of the best seats for early June 2006 will get snarfed up in the next few days (330 days out).

I'm going to encourage you to omit France. Four days England, ten days Italy - - either 4-10 and fly open jaw, or maybe 2-10-2 and fly RT London. You can fly cheaply between England and Italy.

I believe in building the skeleton first. Details later.

mjs

I actually think that using FF miles for RT tickets from the US to Europe in the summer is a reasonable use of these miles as airfares this summer to Europe are pretty pricey. Using the FF miles to upgrade gives you a bigger bang for your buck but as you know this does not work usually with the cheapest fares.
Alternative itineraries would include open jaw to Rome and return from London for a Rome-Paris-London trip or just doing Italy and visitng Venice/Florence/Rome/Amalfi.
$10K is plenty money for this trip if you do not have to pay for airfare.

LoveItaly

I don't think the budget is the problem, I think trying to squeeze all of the countries into a 2 week trip is the problem. SELess, I am wondering, when you say that you will have 2 weeks does that include your travel (flying) time from the US to Europe?

And have you calculated the time you will lose traveling from place to place? I would imagine that all of you will be very drained half way through this trip.

Personally, with 2 weeks and a 12 year old granddaughter I would fly into Venice and depart from Rome. 2 weeks in Italy is not even really a lot of time but at least you will be more relaxed and starting in Venice will be more serene after the long flight and most young girls love Venice.

Anyway, just my thought for what it is worth.

starrsville

I agree with one country - Italy. That way you &quot;will have time&quot; to go to Florence - and to enjoy the rest of the trip as well.

Don't haul a 12 year old around 3 countries in 14 days. Please. That comes from a former 12 year old who was hauled around on ill-planned trips - that felt like death marches. Slow down and enjoy.

KathrynT

OK, how much time do you plan to spend in each location? For example: Rome 3, Amalfi Coast 2, Paris 3, London 3, York 2, Bath/Stonehenge 1 takes up all of your days but doesn't take into account travel time inbetween these locations. To go go all those places will mean you will be spending very little time at each location and much of your time in transit.

I would suggest instead: Rome 4 (give yourself time to get over jetlag), Paris 4, London 4 and either add your extra days to one of those locations, plan for a sidetrip (Bath/Stonehenge or York) or add Venice.

Do you know how you plan to go between cities - train, fly, car rental? You'll need to figure in adding some travel time.

Where does your granddaughter really want to go? It would be an even more relaxing trip to narrow it to two countries and concentrate on those with the hope of interesting her in travel and returning some day to see more.

Hope this helps.

LoveItaly

Hi Starrsville, so you got dragged around on &quot;death march&quot; trips I take it? Doesn't sound like much fun.

I got taken on loooong car drives, my father loved to drive, especially in the mountains. And he speeded up on every curve btw. It was ghastly. Maybe that is why I don't like long car trips, in fact I hate them. When people talk about 10 to 12 hours of driving a day I cringe. And actually, as miserable and as whinny as I was in the backseat (plus getting car sick) I have no idea why my father enjoyed them either. Take care.

janis

Your plan is just not possible. Oh, sure - you COULD get to those places in that much time. But you would not have time to see anything while there. And you would all probably hate each other when it was done - all the rushing around, trying to make very short connections and spending nearly 30% of your time just traveling between points. Totally crazy.

W/ just 2 weeks - consider:

1) the UK w/ maybe 3 days in Paris;

OR

2) Italy (Rome, Venice, Florence and maybe one other location) ;

OR

3) a big city tour of London 5 days, Paris 4 days, and Rome 3 days plus two transatlantic travel days.

Any of these itineraries would be MUCH better and you'd all come home still liking each other . . . . .

ms_go

With the caveat that I realize no two kids are alike...we just returned from two weeks in Europe with a 12-year-old girl. This was the sixth European trip we've taken with her. We spent two weeks just in the area of Naples and the Amalfi Coast.

She's a great traveler and very interested in the things that we see and do. But this year, more than any of the others before it, she was not - how shall I say - eager for a rapid pace of travel. She's at the point now where she likes to sleep in a bit (a little taste of what I have to expect in the teenage years), take her time getting ready in the morning, and take breaks during the day to read, draw, etc. We were happy that we went with the 'less is more' approach this year, and we will probably continue to so.

As all the others have suggested, I would narrow down your list; otherwise, you will spend more time traveling between points than you will enjoying the places you are visiting. Personally, I think that two weeks for Rome and the Amalfi Coast would make a very memorable trip, with plenty of things that will keep both you and a 12-year-old engaged.

jgg

I agree with everyone about limiting yourself to one country, two at most. We took our kids (son age 9, daughter age 12) to Italy this past March for two weeks. You may fiind my trip report helpful, here is the link:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34599242

I strongly agree that you should slow down and just enjoy yourselves, exploring the country and making memorable moments. She will have other opportunities to go to other countries, as will you. Perhaps you can do those together, too.

After such a wonderful trip last year, we have already booked our tickets for next March - a week in London and a week in Paris, this time with the kids grandparents, as they have never been to Europe.

SELees

Thank you so much for your input! This is exactly the help I need to get started. We were thinking some time in the UK for sure, just because we're familiar with it, its the same language, etc. Skipping Paris and going to Italy makes sense to me. We really don't want her to feel as though she was &quot;hauled around Europe&quot; but she's a very active kid, and daily museums aren't going to work, either. Perhaps Rome-Florence-Venice in Italy? None of us speak a foreign language (college French only and its been a long, long time). Is this a barrier?

Rex, we have nearly 400,000 FF miles and I'm planning to book those seats as soon as I can. Using the miles to upgrade from the cheap seats is a great idea, depending on how cheap they really are. 2-10-2 RT to London sounds right to me with a travel day on either side.

rex

&lt;&lt;None of us speak a foreign language (college French only and its been a long, long time). Is this a barrier?&gt;&gt;

You hve a year to begin learning Italian. Today would be a good day to start (although so would Tuesday, since it is a holiday weekend, so I'll cut you some slack!)

Don't think of the question as to whether langage will be barrier. Think of learning Italian over the next 11 months as a way that you can add enormously to your enjoyment and appreciation of Italy.

mermaid_

SE, my 16 year old daughter is in Rome right now. She gets back on the 4th of July and I will ask her for her &quot;best of&quot; and &quot;worst of&quot; list, which I'll be happy to share with you. It might be helpful to you for the Italy part of your trip (it might be a mouthful, too, and guaranteed to be interesting!).

starrsville

Well, SELees, if you are set on the UK (based on your latest post) then I'd add Paris and don't do Italy this trip.

There's always another trip.

rex

I'll choose to disagree on retaining Paris, and dropping Italy. I think 2-10-2 is a great way to visit London (and/or environs), <i><b>a little bit</b></i>, and a very good visit to Italy - - and most imprtasntly, she will feel like she <i><b>actually been to Europe</b></i> (oy, the Anglophiles will really jump on me for that one!)
.

For what it's worth, my 1998 trip (me and my wife plus THIRTEEN 14-22 yr olds) was 2-7-4-2 (the seven was Italy, in a villa, with somewhat frenetic day trips, and the 4 was France; two in the south, and two in Paris).