Family European winter holiday
Dec 12th, 2013, 08:58 AM
#21
You are talking <u>fourteen</u> people. Your preliminary plan would be difficult w/ a couple, let alone <B>Fourteen</B>!
All that moving will be next to impossible. And some make no sense. >>Ireland 2 nights<< will net you a grand total of 1 full day somewhere in Ireland - presumably Dublin. Heck, 14 people won't even all learn where their hotel is in one day.
There are few holiday rentals that sleep 14 - though there are some. You would do better to stay 6 places 1 week each - and rent either very large lodges/houses, multiple apartments in the same bldg/complex, or hotels.
All the travel/logistics gets exponentially more difficult the more people, wider the age gaps. Everyone wil be on different body clocks. Some will want to run/run/run and som will need to sleep in now and then.
I've taken as many as 13 and when I take that large a group i simplify, simplify, simplify. One trip for instance was one week in London in rented flats and one week in the countryside in a rented manor house. But that wasn't over Christmas, in the dead of winter w/ the short days and possibly nasty weather.
All that moving will be next to impossible. And some make no sense. >>Ireland 2 nights<< will net you a grand total of 1 full day somewhere in Ireland - presumably Dublin. Heck, 14 people won't even all learn where their hotel is in one day.
There are few holiday rentals that sleep 14 - though there are some. You would do better to stay 6 places 1 week each - and rent either very large lodges/houses, multiple apartments in the same bldg/complex, or hotels.
All the travel/logistics gets exponentially more difficult the more people, wider the age gaps. Everyone wil be on different body clocks. Some will want to run/run/run and som will need to sleep in now and then.
I've taken as many as 13 and when I take that large a group i simplify, simplify, simplify. One trip for instance was one week in London in rented flats and one week in the countryside in a rented manor house. But that wasn't over Christmas, in the dead of winter w/ the short days and possibly nasty weather.
Dec 12th, 2013, 11:30 AM
#22
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I get where you are coming from, literally. It costs a fortune to travel from Australia to Europe and there is a tendency to try to cram in as much as possible, BUT!!
You've received really good advice here about how 'less is more'. If it was me, I'd be out if my mind in no time at all with the frustration if having to pack up my family every few days and be on the move again.
I wouldn't bother with Monaco/Nice at all. Our Australian beaches are just as good if not better.
Unless you plan this very, very carefully you may find that some of you aren't friends any more by the time you get home. 6 weeks is a long time to all be together. Have you considered travelling together for 3 weeks and then splitting up for the remaining 3 weeks?
We've travelled in a group of 9 adults and no kids for about 2 weeks and that was plenty. There's one guy in that group who I won't travel with again unless it's a 'fly and flop' holiday to the beach. He contributed nothing to the planning but moaned every day about what had been planned. It wore very thin after a while.
I'm giving you lots of brownie points for all the planning you are doing, but it's time to back peddle a bit. I'd book 5/6 nights minimum everywhere you go with a day trip thrown in. And some of the time I'd book hotels rather than apartments so you can all get away from each other occasionally.
You've received really good advice here about how 'less is more'. If it was me, I'd be out if my mind in no time at all with the frustration if having to pack up my family every few days and be on the move again.
I wouldn't bother with Monaco/Nice at all. Our Australian beaches are just as good if not better.
Unless you plan this very, very carefully you may find that some of you aren't friends any more by the time you get home. 6 weeks is a long time to all be together. Have you considered travelling together for 3 weeks and then splitting up for the remaining 3 weeks?
We've travelled in a group of 9 adults and no kids for about 2 weeks and that was plenty. There's one guy in that group who I won't travel with again unless it's a 'fly and flop' holiday to the beach. He contributed nothing to the planning but moaned every day about what had been planned. It wore very thin after a while.
I'm giving you lots of brownie points for all the planning you are doing, but it's time to back peddle a bit. I'd book 5/6 nights minimum everywhere you go with a day trip thrown in. And some of the time I'd book hotels rather than apartments so you can all get away from each other occasionally.
Dec 12th, 2013, 01:41 PM
#23
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I've read a lot of comments that this is going to be hard or we are heading for a "DISASTER", I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but we have all travelled in groups before and realise there needs to be a bit of give and take.
I really am after advise on the itinerary and is it workable or I would skip that place and definitely go here! It is a work in progress and having never been to Europe before I really value your advise. So thank you Cathies & Bilboburgler.
I really am after advise on the itinerary and is it workable or I would skip that place and definitely go here! It is a work in progress and having never been to Europe before I really value your advise. So thank you Cathies & Bilboburgler.
Dec 12th, 2013, 03:33 PM
#25
>>I really am after advise on the itinerary and is it workable or I would skip that place and definitely go here! It is a work in progress and having never been to Europe before I really value your advise. <<
You haven't been there and everyone trying to help you either has been there many times or actually lives there. As it is your itinerary is totally unworkable IMHO . . .
If you read the comments -- they don't say going to Europe will be a disaster, but that all the moving around so much likely will be. Especially in the cold/wet/<u>short</u> days of a European winter.
No reason at all to go to Monaco - especially in January. Ireland makes no sense unless you want to spend several days (and the scenic bits on the west coast won't be great in January).
I would plan on a minimum of 4 nights in any one place and more in the big cities.
You haven't been there and everyone trying to help you either has been there many times or actually lives there. As it is your itinerary is totally unworkable IMHO . . .
If you read the comments -- they don't say going to Europe will be a disaster, but that all the moving around so much likely will be. Especially in the cold/wet/<u>short</u> days of a European winter.
No reason at all to go to Monaco - especially in January. Ireland makes no sense unless you want to spend several days (and the scenic bits on the west coast won't be great in January).
I would plan on a minimum of 4 nights in any one place and more in the big cities.
Dec 13th, 2013, 09:35 AM
#26
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The DISASTER is in the logistics of your itinerary littlepossum.
I think cathies probably got it right when writing, "there is a tendency to try to cram in as much as possible"
That appears to be where you are coming from in your thinking. The assumption in that is the belief that the word 'much' is syonymous with the word 'many'. But they are not synonymous and the way to see/do as MUCH as possible is to spend time IN places not in BETWEEN places. Hence the suggestions to cut it down to 6 places for a week each or something near that.
No one can 'see Europe', in 6 weeks or 6 months. Drop 'Europe' from your vocabulary. Instead decide on 6 or so places and then say, ' Hi I need some help planning an itinerary for 3 families travelling to 6 places for 6 weeks in 2014.' It's not about semantics, it's about a different mindset.
In travel, less is always more. The less you move the more you see/do. In the case of your group, it becomes even more important from the point of the sheer hassle of moving 14 people again and again.
I think cathies probably got it right when writing, "there is a tendency to try to cram in as much as possible"
That appears to be where you are coming from in your thinking. The assumption in that is the belief that the word 'much' is syonymous with the word 'many'. But they are not synonymous and the way to see/do as MUCH as possible is to spend time IN places not in BETWEEN places. Hence the suggestions to cut it down to 6 places for a week each or something near that.
No one can 'see Europe', in 6 weeks or 6 months. Drop 'Europe' from your vocabulary. Instead decide on 6 or so places and then say, ' Hi I need some help planning an itinerary for 3 families travelling to 6 places for 6 weeks in 2014.' It's not about semantics, it's about a different mindset.
In travel, less is always more. The less you move the more you see/do. In the case of your group, it becomes even more important from the point of the sheer hassle of moving 14 people again and again.
Dec 13th, 2013, 09:37 AM
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The DISASTER is in the logistics of your itinerary littlepossum.
I think cathies probably got it right when writing, "there is a tendency to try to cram in as much as possible"
That appears to be where you are coming from in your thinking. The assumption in that is the belief that the word 'much' is syonymous with the word 'many'. But they are not synonymous and the way to see/do as MUCH as possible is to spend time IN places not in BETWEEN places. Hence the suggestions to cut it down to 6 places for a week each or something near that.
No one can 'see Europe', in 6 weeks or 6 months. Drop 'Europe' from your vocabulary. Instead decide on 6 or so places and then say, ' Hi I need some help planning an itinerary for 3 families travelling to 6 places for 6 weeks in 2014.' It's not about semantics, it's about a different mindset.
In travel, less is always more. The less you move the more you see/do. In the case of your group, it becomes even more important from the point of the sheer hassle of moving 14 people again and again.
I think cathies probably got it right when writing, "there is a tendency to try to cram in as much as possible"
That appears to be where you are coming from in your thinking. The assumption in that is the belief that the word 'much' is syonymous with the word 'many'. But they are not synonymous and the way to see/do as MUCH as possible is to spend time IN places not in BETWEEN places. Hence the suggestions to cut it down to 6 places for a week each or something near that.
No one can 'see Europe', in 6 weeks or 6 months. Drop 'Europe' from your vocabulary. Instead decide on 6 or so places and then say, ' Hi I need some help planning an itinerary for 3 families travelling to 6 places for 6 weeks in 2014.' It's not about semantics, it's about a different mindset.
In travel, less is always more. The less you move the more you see/do. In the case of your group, it becomes even more important from the point of the sheer hassle of moving 14 people again and again.
Dec 13th, 2013, 10:01 AM
#28
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Oops, this site hiccuped yet again.
OK, here is how I would personally approach this nightmare littlepossum.
I would want to simplify things as much as possible to begin with. So 6 weeks, 6 stops.
A group booking in a hotel in London for week one. Each morning breakfast at 8am to discuss the days plans. Each individual can say what they want to do for the day and others are free to join them or do their own thing. Anyone not wanting to meet for breakfast is obviously on their own for the day. No hassles.
Week two a group hotel booking in Paris. Same procedure as in London.
Week three, rent 3 chalets in any of the villages in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland. Pick a village on the train lines. For those who are not into skiing as much, give them the website for Swissrail's rail passes and suggest they arrange to buy a pass. You can day trip to most of Switzerland easily enough. A day in Montreux, a day in Bern, a day in Lucerne, etc. if that's what someone wants to do.
No breakfast meetings obviously, maybe a pre-dinner meeting in one chalet each day to discuss tomorrow's plans.
Week four, Salzburg region similar plan to Switzerland.
Week five, Venice and Florence split 3/4 either way. Hotels and breakfast meetings.
Week six, Rome, hotels and breakfast meetings.
Fly home from Rome.
OK, here is how I would personally approach this nightmare littlepossum.
I would want to simplify things as much as possible to begin with. So 6 weeks, 6 stops.
A group booking in a hotel in London for week one. Each morning breakfast at 8am to discuss the days plans. Each individual can say what they want to do for the day and others are free to join them or do their own thing. Anyone not wanting to meet for breakfast is obviously on their own for the day. No hassles.
Week two a group hotel booking in Paris. Same procedure as in London.
Week three, rent 3 chalets in any of the villages in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland. Pick a village on the train lines. For those who are not into skiing as much, give them the website for Swissrail's rail passes and suggest they arrange to buy a pass. You can day trip to most of Switzerland easily enough. A day in Montreux, a day in Bern, a day in Lucerne, etc. if that's what someone wants to do.
No breakfast meetings obviously, maybe a pre-dinner meeting in one chalet each day to discuss tomorrow's plans.
Week four, Salzburg region similar plan to Switzerland.
Week five, Venice and Florence split 3/4 either way. Hotels and breakfast meetings.
Week six, Rome, hotels and breakfast meetings.
Fly home from Rome.
Dec 13th, 2013, 10:01 AM
#29
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Oops, this site hiccuped yet again.
OK, here is how I would personally approach this nightmare littlepossum.
I would want to simplify things as much as possible to begin with. So 6 weeks, 6 stops.
A group booking in a hotel in London for week one. Each morning breakfast at 8am to discuss the days plans. Each individual can say what they want to do for the day and others are free to join them or do their own thing. Anyone not wanting to meet for breakfast is obviously on their own for the day. No hassles.
Week two a group hotel booking in Paris. Same procedure as in London.
Week three, rent 3 chalets in any of the villages in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland. Pick a village on the train lines. For those who are not into skiing as much, give them the website for Swissrail's rail passes and suggest they arrange to buy a pass. You can day trip to most of Switzerland easily enough. A day in Montreux, a day in Bern, a day in Lucerne, etc. if that's what someone wants to do.
No breakfast meetings obviously, maybe a pre-dinner meeting in one chalet each day to discuss tomorrow's plans.
Week four, Salzburg region similar plan to Switzerland.
Week five, Venice and Florence split 3/4 either way. Hotels and breakfast meetings.
Week six, Rome, hotels and breakfast meetings.
Fly home from Rome.
OK, here is how I would personally approach this nightmare littlepossum.
I would want to simplify things as much as possible to begin with. So 6 weeks, 6 stops.
A group booking in a hotel in London for week one. Each morning breakfast at 8am to discuss the days plans. Each individual can say what they want to do for the day and others are free to join them or do their own thing. Anyone not wanting to meet for breakfast is obviously on their own for the day. No hassles.
Week two a group hotel booking in Paris. Same procedure as in London.
Week three, rent 3 chalets in any of the villages in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland. Pick a village on the train lines. For those who are not into skiing as much, give them the website for Swissrail's rail passes and suggest they arrange to buy a pass. You can day trip to most of Switzerland easily enough. A day in Montreux, a day in Bern, a day in Lucerne, etc. if that's what someone wants to do.
No breakfast meetings obviously, maybe a pre-dinner meeting in one chalet each day to discuss tomorrow's plans.
Week four, Salzburg region similar plan to Switzerland.
Week five, Venice and Florence split 3/4 either way. Hotels and breakfast meetings.
Week six, Rome, hotels and breakfast meetings.
Fly home from Rome.
Dec 19th, 2013, 05:52 AM
#31
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If you need information about family trip in Switzerland I can suggest you to visit the following website http://www.myswitzerland.com/en-us/family.html
you can find suggestions, offers, etc.
About how to visit Switzerland in 3, 5 or 10 days check on the same website http://www.myswitzerland.com/en-us/t...ng-around.html
you can find suggestions, offers, etc.
About how to visit Switzerland in 3, 5 or 10 days check on the same website http://www.myswitzerland.com/en-us/t...ng-around.html
Dec 19th, 2013, 10:28 AM
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Little Possum -
Sorry - but your itinerary is extremely ambitious - and doesn't take in the difficulties of moving so many people around - esp in mid winter when weather may shut airports, delay trains and make driving impossible for a day or more. With your itinerary one day off will create chaos.
Also "moderate" for hotels or apts means nothing. Do you want to spend 200 euros per night for a double room and put kids in another for 200 euros? Are you looking for family rooms that will hold 4 people? and at what price?
I think a week at a time is plenty of moving and lets you use apts - which will save on food (at least breakfast and snacks) as well as give you more room and privacy than stuffing 4 full-size people in one small hotel room. And do expect hotel rooms to be small unless you are going for luxury places or upgraded rooms - way increasing your budget.
As for skiing in Switz - a great idea. But - do run the numbers so you know the budget up front and it isn't a surprise - not only lodging but renting equipment, paying for lessons, lift tickets, etc.
Sorry - but your itinerary is extremely ambitious - and doesn't take in the difficulties of moving so many people around - esp in mid winter when weather may shut airports, delay trains and make driving impossible for a day or more. With your itinerary one day off will create chaos.
Also "moderate" for hotels or apts means nothing. Do you want to spend 200 euros per night for a double room and put kids in another for 200 euros? Are you looking for family rooms that will hold 4 people? and at what price?
I think a week at a time is plenty of moving and lets you use apts - which will save on food (at least breakfast and snacks) as well as give you more room and privacy than stuffing 4 full-size people in one small hotel room. And do expect hotel rooms to be small unless you are going for luxury places or upgraded rooms - way increasing your budget.
As for skiing in Switz - a great idea. But - do run the numbers so you know the budget up front and it isn't a surprise - not only lodging but renting equipment, paying for lessons, lift tickets, etc.
