6 Week Trip with 4 Teenagers
 

My Husband and I will be traveling to Europe with my 4 kids 20, 17,15 and 13 Summer 2016. I want to cover a lot of ground traveling, flying into Istanbul jumping a flight or train to Rome traveling up through Italy to Germany then over to France then down to Spain ending in Portugal. I would love any feed back, about ways to travel i.e train vs rental car, towns to not miss, areas a must see. I realize this is crazyish, but there is nothing wrong with being a nomad once or twice in your life. Thanks for your help and suggestions.

Now that is what I call a planner.

Thank you! Doing the best I can. I want to stay in off the cuff places experience all the cultures. Low on the touristy stuff. Any ideas?

six weeks, six countries - will give about 5 days (or a little less) per country after accounting for all the travel time. Five days in Rome is great, 5 days for 'Italy' - not so much.

5 -ish days is OK for an intro to Madrid and Barcelona - for 'Spain', again not so much.

5 days in Paris is a nice first visit - but not for also trying to see multiple other parts of France.

Are you more interested in the 'getting there'? Or are there several places you want to visit in Italy and/or France and/or Spain, etc.

1. Ask the teenagers what they want to see and do. It will not be much fun if they are complaining all the time. On the other hand, make sure they keep their ideas within reasonable and affordable limits.
2. There is a lot of difference between a 20-year-old and a 13-year-old. Make sure the older ones get some time to do their own things without the younger ones.
3. Decide on rules for the older kids about late nights, alcohol and "temporary boyfriends/girlfriends". You don't want to have that argument with a drunk 17-year-old at two in the morning.
4. If you are doing trains or cheap flights, make sure everyone packs light. Tell them that they have to carry their own things. That's actually a good idea even if you rent a car, because six large suitcases will take a lot of space.
5. If the kids are the sort who can't "survive" without their phones and an Internet connection, make certain all hotels have free WiFi or get local SIM-cards with cheap data plans.
6. Are you paying for everything? Or will the kids have to provide their own pocket money? Remind them that all the souvenirs they buy have to be transported home and they get to do the carrying.
7. Have fun!

I would like to follow a guide, but a loose guide. So for instance I would like to see things as we go and maybe stop and stay somewhere for longer than others. I do not need to stay long in Paris or any of the big cities. Stoping in the big cities is just to satisfy the "Wait....you went to France and didn't go to Paris????" I will get from people and plus my kids should see these things and who knows if they will get back to these places.

I also could extend the trip if need be.

Thank you so much Anyegr! That is awesome stuff. I will get my kids on the planning stuff. As of right now my now 17 then 20 is mellow and almost younger than my now 13. But all good stuff keep it coming!!!!

you said 'off the cuff' and '<i>So for instance I would like to see things as we go and maybe stop and stay somewhere for longer than others</i>"

That may be difficult (understatement). You are a party of six and finding accommodations for that many is hard booking months ahead - 'on the fly' during the summer it will be VERY difficult.

Why not slowdown just a bit, rent apartments or villas to use as bases to see things in the various regions.

Three years from now your oldest may not wish to travel with you, lol by then alot of young people go on their own,, i realize he/she is only 17 now, but I think you are really jumping the gun. I do understand its fun to make out a rough plan though, and agree with others, the teens should have alot of input, and they can help with research ( I made both my 11 yr olds and 13 yr old come up with their top three sites they wanted to see) !

I think I would watch alot of travel shows with the kids and really get their input.. and my own personal travel style is not to cram too much in.

Also for train and some plane tickets within Europe it makes a huge price difference to book months in advance..

Depending on your rough plan you may wish to do a combo of flying and training,, a rental car for 6 of you and all your bags, costs may really add up, gas is super expensive, cars as a rule generally alot smaller, and many toll roads, parking in cities insane and expensive, and in Italy you often seem to get lovely souvenir tickets and fines months and months after you return( do a search on that you will be surprised). A mix of train, plane, and maybe some rental car.

Ps with a group of 6 its not quite as easy to just wander, in many cities you will have a hard time finding a hotel with two rooms free near each other with no notice, and there is almost no chance of you ever finding a room that takes more then 4 and those are not the most common ones either.

Agree that you are making a lot of assumptions. The 20 year old - and perhaps even the 17 year old may prefer to go with friends. And they will definitely be interested in towns with lots of students and student nightlife.

Also, lodgings for 6 people will require either 2 or 3 hotel rooms (not always easy to get multiple rooms for more than 2 people) or apartments - which means planning in advance - not flying by the seat of your pants.

And I think you need to decide on HOW youwant to trael. From Turkey to Rome the only thing that makes sense is flying. But after that trains or plans or cars may make sense depending on if you are focusing on specific cities or towns of countryside.

And for your group to drive will require a fairly sizable van (european cars don't hold 6 adults, never mind luggage) - but then the centers of many towns are pedestrian only - making cars difficult to deal with.

We have done many road trips in europe - but with 2 (or twice 4 people) and you need to research each town to find out the rules/regs - for many you have to park the cars at lots outside the town. Also, our trip never covered this much space in so little time. We allow no more than 4 hours per day driving - and split the driving so no one has to miss all of the scenery.

I applaud you starting to plan early - but I would start looking at viamichelin.com to get info on driving routes and times and look at bahn.de for train schedules throughout europe.

FYI - driving from Istanbul to Rome takes at least 24 hours of driving time - but probably considerably more - since it involves an 8 hour ferry ride from Greece to eastern Italy. And you would have to time your trip to match ferry times - so this is probably a 3 day trip by car without stopping to see anything.

Have you considered renting a motorhome for this trip, or at least part of it? It would guarantee that you never face the difficulty of finding accommodations for a group as large as yours that includes children.

But I think the first thing to do is make a list of all the places you need to be for the sake of other's people''s approval of you. ("What? You didn't see Paris?") In my view, it would be best to see all those places in the first 2 weeks or the last 2 weeks of your trip.

Then make a separate list of the places you and your family want to go and figure out if it will be more enjoyable to visit them with or without a car.

At this point, you might consider throwing away the first list and adding 2 weeks to having a good time in Europe. If you are committed to the idea that for once in your life you should be a nomad, then see if you can combine it with a once in your life experience of not caring what other people think of what you do and where you go.

Hi babyfee,

we learnt the hard way [eg DD having a melt-down in Versailles when it began to look, at least to her, that we would have to sleep in the car that night] that our family holidays worked best when we pre-booked all our accommodation and stayed for longer periods in each place than DH and I might have liked. that has remained the case, even though they are now in their 20s.

that may not be the same for your kids, but anyway, if they all come with you, moving 6 people around has by some people been described as being like herding cats. and kids of the age yours will be will want and need some independence, which generally only staying in a town or city can give them.

so i would look at staying in 3 or 4 different places, doing day trips or even over-nights from them in order to branch further afield. you might also have a few city stops in between - eg fly into Paris, spend 5 or so nights there [long enough to rent an apartment] then move to somewhere smaller for a week or so, before moving onto Italy, and doing the same thing.

I would also want places near a beach or with a pool for at least part of the holiday, the chance to rent bikes &/or do some sailing/windsurfing, as this will help to make the trip more varied and therefore more enjoyable.

a long ferry and or train ride would also be nice things to incorporate into the trip, but I'm not sure that Istanbul to Rome would be my choice.

happy planning!

Thank you all so much. You are giving me so much to think about.

I think your right:
I am traveling with a small tribe but have a solid plan in place.
The city parking will be an issue.
Get the kids involved with the planning so they have some say in the trip.
Motorhome interesting.
Beach!!!
Apartment or villa rental.

Thank you keep it coming.

Shoot I forgot,

DON'TWORRY ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE THINK!!!!!

Got it!

babyfee - sounds like you are thinking along the right lines.

here's another one - less can be more.

Maybe a blind guide would be best for you.

Another thing to keep in mind as you plan... Some of your destinations will be very hot. How do all of you handle really high temps? You may find you can't fill the days with as much exploring as you thought, especially on a day-after-day basis.

Agreed - in some countries simpler places - hotels, restaurants and shops do NOT have AC - or have very limited AC (there is something called air cooling that lowers temps about 10 degrees - but this is useless if it's 100 outside). Defiitely decide on this well before you go and pick accommodations accordingly.