.......that I'm aware of[/QUOTE]

Decades ago, I worked one summer with a middle-aged fellow from the firm's German subsidiary, there on a 3 month temporary assignment. Throughout June, July and August, I don't think he took a shower. He smelled at 8:00 AM when he came into work.

I think some folks are so accustomed to their own smell, that they don't realize they have one. AND, they will not consider the possibility that they even COULD develop an odor over the course of a day (or, in his case, a week). Wearing days-old clothing multiple times in mid-summer ought to be a mental warning, even if one doesn't get a nasal warning.

Jeff
You've received a lot of great advice, and a lot of the typical concerns as well. It seems that you and I plan similar types of trips. I've planned 5 trips to Europe, most with kids (8/10 on the first trip...and 16/18 on the last one) so know a thing or two about traveling with kids. It's getting late and I don't want to repeat what others have said, so I'll just push back on a few things I've seen as I skimmed:

1. Your itinerary sounds perfect to me! You'll often hear "oh...you'll hate it" or "you'll be so exhausted". I think that is often from people who are MANY years past their first trip to Europe. Only YOU know how your family likes to travel. We ALWAYS spend 2.5 days in a location with a half day of travel (sometimes 1.5 days with half day of travel) and we've never said "wish we'd stayed longer". Our mindset is always..."this would be a fun place to come back". It's not to say that some aren't way overambitious and do need to scale back...but I don't think that's you at all.

2. We love the hop on/hop off busses. Yes it's touristy, but it's also a great way to see City for the first time. We relax up top and after a few hours we understand the city better and are ready to start walking. We LOVED the bus in London.

3. We always pack in carry on luggage only. Never lost a bag and never needed more clothes than we brought. Just pack smart and enjoy the ease with which you'll move around.

Enjoy this trip Jeff...trip of a lifetime for sure!

I am another proponent of travelling light with carry on only and no, it is not an “obsession”, rather an entirely pragmatic approach to travel. I do this whether travelling on a six month trip in Asia or a city weekend away or a business trip.. It is far more convenient, bags don’t get lost (yes it does happen!), no waiting at baggage claim, no need to check bags in. The reality is that it DOES save a lot of time. The fuel saving and the contribution to reducing Carbon emmisions is every one travelled with carry on would be enormous. As long as I am fit enough to put my less than 10kg bag in the overhead lockers. I will continue to travel this way

Contrary to some of the rather offensive comments contained in #75, I pretty sure I have never offended anyone with with personal hygiene issue whilst sitting on a plane (but have been offended plenty of times by people spraying themselves from head to toe with free perfume and aftershave from the duty free!!).
As for "I try even when touring to spend at least a few moments in my room that morning considering how my appearance might bear on others” Seriously, no one cares what you look like.

I wrote that lost luggage is unlikely, not impossible. The event you describe is an outlier. Every decision, indeed getting on a plane at all, entails some risk. As for returning home in dirty clothes, my comment was in response to a specific writer who said they do exactly that.

It would indeed be an ideal world where no one cares what you look like (albeit with consequences for the $42 billion fashion industry in my country of Italy). In the meantime, I will hedge my bets and assume that my personal appearance has some small, if unfair, bearing on how strangers perceive me. I don't expect everyone else to follow suit (pardon the pun), nor do I strive for any advantage that gives me when securing a nice table in the front of a busy restaurant...

Dear me, such angst. I travel light, and have done since I started taking long trips in 2001. Back then it was a convertible backpack, the last decade it's been a 22inch two wheeler and day bag. I do my laundry in the bathroom sink before dinner, and I wear clean clothes on travel days (lol). However, it depends somewhat on how you travel. If you fly into a city, take a taxi to a hotel, have your luggage carried upstairs, and then repeat the process, it doesn't make much difference - to you - how much luggage you have. But if you take trains - limited luggage space and often stairs in stations - buses - limited luggage space - marshrutkas, songthaews, tuk-tuks, shared taxis etc. - very limited luggage space - and stay in places where you carry your own luggage upstairs (and arrive there by public transport), how much, and how heavy, your luggage is makes a very significant difference.

Sorry about the fashion biz, matter of total disinterest to me.

Don't see any angst here, people have different ways to travel and not everyone is in the carry on only camp.

As far as "no one cares what you look like", well it's just not true.

Maybe not, but I do not, almost all the time, care whether they care. I don't notice what other people wear, unless it is totally bizarre, and I don't worry about whether they notice what I wear. So long as I am covered, clean and comfortable, and the colors don't clash, I'm happy.

Of course it's true. If I saw you in the street or a restaurant amongst why would I care how you were dressed? Why would you care how I was dressed? That is the way the vast majority of people think. People have way more important things going on in there lives than what other people are wearing. if they haven't then I feel very sorry for anyone who has nothing better to worry about,
.

Well caring to the point of worrying about it, no, but caring meaning noticing it and it perhaps influencing which seat you get in a restaurant or the like, yes definitely.
People notice what other people look like and that includes what they wear. Do they worry about it, no of course not, but they notice and it sets the first impression.

I think we will just have to agree to disagree. Lets not discuss tipping!

Fair enough! Discussing tipping would be a bridge too far for sure.

I haven't read all of the many helpful suggestions here, but here are some pointers from a number of visits to the places you mentioned, including with teen-aged kids
Keep an eye, especially your kids, on when and where you have your phones out. It is very easy for a person walking by to snatch a phone. Even my city-smart 21-year-old daughter put her phone on the outside edge of our table at a cafe without thinking. Luckily our waiter noticed and reminded her to be careful.
In Rome, we find the public transport to not be as useful or convenient as in some other cities (Paris or London). We walk a lot in Rome, which is fine because there's so much to see. We prefer to stay just off Piazza Navona, because there are so many nearby Piazzas to sit, have a drink, and people-watch. Our favorite these days is Campo de Fiori, there seem to be more locals and fewer tourist here in the evenings.
Train travel is great for picnics. Buy a bottle (or half-bottle of wine), other drinks, and cheese, pastries etc. and have an onboard feast.
I won't get bogged down in the luggage debate, but I will say that I work for an airline and I never check bags if I can avoid it. We often will check one bag and carry on another bag, and split our clothes between the two, so if the bag is lost or misplaced, each person has half their stuff. This will be more significant for you, as you're moving around enough that it would be a little more difficult for an airline to get a misplaced bag back to you. Also, in addition to the bags, a backpack, so your hands are free. And of course, don't put valuables in the backpack.

We used Context Tours to visit the Vatican and for the Colisseum, Palatine and Forum and felt the guides really enriched the experiences and were worth the cost. We like that the tours are limited to six people and include skip-the-line access. Their website has a lot of helpful information about popular sites in each of the cities where Context operates.

Again, I really appreciate all the advice. You all have been most helpful.

We will likely heed the packing advice and try for 1 carry on and 1 back pack per person. That will be our goal at least.

How do you handle money and exchanging money? best/worst places to exchange?

Will we need cash for taxi's or do they take cards in London/Paris/Rome if we need to take one? I figure the metro/trains all would take our (no international fee's) cards.

We had some friends recommend some cooking classes. Our girls sounded interested in such. Has anyone done a pasta cooking class in Rome or macaron cooking class in Paris?

We definitely planned to talk about safety with the girls, but you all are helping to provide us with some specific things to talk about with them. We will for sure watch out of all the things you mentioned.

When I get off the plane in Paris, I head immediately for an ATM, and take out $300. Then get the luggage. Then look for a taxi.
After that, ANYWHERE you go, you'll be passing an ATM (virtually every block), and you can daily get whatever cash you'll need over and above what the credit card will pay. In other words, that's my cushion.....the world doesn't come to an end if I get pickpocketed, yet it's enough to cover cash-only incidentals.

Be sure to tell your credit card companies ahead of time you'll be travelling internationally, and tell them your rough itinerary. That way, they won't block your charge for coffee just after your taxi ride, and if you did get pickpocketed and the thief phoned your number to his boss in Byelorussia, the CC company will deny it even tho it's also international, since they'll know you're not going to Byelorussia

Agreed, get money from an ATM, don't use a money changer. After using one at the airport I look for ones inside banks, although you can use a credit card so many places now you likely won't need much cash. Also, look up Dynamic Currency Conversion (scam), and avoid it.

I wear a money belt under my clothes, so thieves have slim pickings - just one day's cash and maybe one credit card (I travel with three).

Post covid there is more card use than cash around. Certainly London cabs will take card. London public transport requires a whole thread https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-informatio...isitors-to-pay . In Rome it is worth looking at train/metro/bus routes carefully as they are curtailed from development due to both the river and the high density of archeology around the city. There are apps and the system works pretty well. I've only had one incident of the system failing and that was very late at night and they had maintenance to work on so I completely forgive.

Yes don't use money changers, but you may want to bring a little cash for your few hours but really you can pick it up at an ATM at the airport (charges may apply), once in the city you will find some ATMs charge for access and some don't (just like at home).

Do your cards offer "swipe" and also pin security, I'm guessing so but worth checking. Also don't let staff walk off with your card, most card machines are portable and the whole walk-off thing would worry me.

One thing you might run into is non-Bank of England notes in the UK. These are legal but some English locals have a thing against them, one solution is to palm them off on tourists. So it is worth just identifying what a �5,10 and 20 look like. https://www.scotbanks.org.uk/banknotes.html are the Scottish ones, there are also Northern Irish ones but far far less common in London

Do almost all ATMs at the airports in London and Paris still belong to Travelex rather than banks? A few years ago there was a lot of discussion generally advising avoiding the Travelex ATMs where the exchange rate was less favorable and dynamic currency conversion (DCC) was strongly urged.

To the OP: If you are not aware of the DCC scheme, you may encounter it any time you pay with a credit card. The merchant, hotel, restaurant, or ATM will offer to put the charge through in your home currency rather than the local currency. This is always more costly to you.

https://www.heathrow.com/at-the-airp.../cash-machines