Tssssss.
I also looked because of the me of posts.
Acronyms ? Put yourself in my shoes. Frenxhspeaking. Acronyms in English. Errr. American.

Thanks, Fuzzbucket!

I hate acronyms, and never use them. I don't even like using airport acronym codes. Is everyone supposed to know that DTW is Detroit?

My husband is not always my Dear Husband, sometimes I would use other adjectives.

Just a few extra thoughts. If Tivoli closes before you are planning to get to Copenhagen I would get there a day early so you can visit it. Tivoli is probably what both of you will enjoy most in Copenhagen. Doing that cuts your time in Amsterdam to one day and I would not waste a day of your holiday and the extra costs of travel just for one day in Amsterdam. This allows you to add 2 days to London/Paris which have plenty of things to offer you. There are limits to what you can expect a 6 y/o child to do in a day in touring European cities while on a two week holiday.

Hello everyone.. So let's see where do I start.. Lmtclub.com is not what Janis said it is.. I was scared the first time I booked a room because it was so cheap.. Kind of like all of u.. But ever since the first time I'm addicted to the site.. It may not have all of the hotels that are available all the time but it has the ones they can offer u a deal on.. I never paid for membership.. My job gave me a code.. But you can google promo codes for free memberships.. Knowing what I know now about the site I would pay the 59 dollars or whatever it costs.. I use all kinds of sites though,.. Whoever has the cheapest.. Primarily lmtclub.com tho.. There is a lastminuteclub.com that has offers for non members.. Trust me you will like it if you travel a lot..

I'm not doing hostels or trains anymore to the ones that haven't looked at the posts in between..

Also this tivoli stuff giving me a headache.. I don't see where to buy the tickets but the Halloween is up.. Maybe I have to wait until after Halloween.. It has the description and stuff on the website but no where to buy tickets

Night trains that is

@bv I find myself using airport acronyms allllll the time lol

DH and I didn't take our kids to Europe until they were 10yo (they're grownups now), but we traveled to a lot of U.S. cities before then. Here are some suggestions from our travels.

In terms of planning, though you may not yet have exact train times, get a piece of paper and plot out times for various days. Just so you have a general idea of timeframes, and to prepare your daughter.

For example (just making up times, obviously), on your arrival to NYC. Arrive 11 am, pick up luggage, take shuttle to hotel, check in or drop off bags. Use bathroom, etc. - 1:30 pm.

And let's say you're in London and taking the train to Paris (don't recall if you're visiting those two cities back to back).

6 am wake up
7 take cab to train station (if you take the Eurostar to Paris, you'll need to arrive, I think, 90 minutes early?)
Check in, grab some breakfast, 9 am train to Paris.

Just so you have an idea of how much time you'll be traveling vs. experiencing.

Re big cities and young kids.
- To the kid: Don't put or drag your hands on walls, railings, don't sit on the pavement. Cities are dirty. (This was one of our mantras)
- Arrange a plan for what she should do in the (unlikely) event you get separated on a subway.
- Make sure you can always see her. Holding her hand or in front of you when, for example, you're buying Metro tickets. Think about where she will be on a busy street when you're checking Google maps to see how to get somewhere, for example.
- Some kids need occasional snacks, sometimes familiar ones from home. Our kids didn't, probably because we love to stop at cafes and love to eat local foods. I think I even took a small jar of peanut butter on our first European trip with DS, which never got eaten.
- Even with a great eater, figure out a "safe" dish that will be available in most restaurants. For example, our DS loved steak, so that was his go-to in France. Though as it turned out, he usually had something far more exotic. In Italy, for DD, it was spaghetti aglio olio - spaghetti with garlic and olive oil. We figured, even it was wasn't on a menu, any restaurant would have the ingredients and be willing to make it for a cute kid.
- In France, definitely get crepes (ideally with Nutella) from a stand.
- We have never had a problem with pickpockets or people approaching us when the kids were with us. I had read that families can be targeted because parents are distracted by their kids. But on the other hand, the great majority of people with their kids on the streets in a city are locals, so "bad guys" may think so too and choose to target a rich-looking American couple with no kids in tow. Also, the risk of a reaction from parents with kids is higher, I think. A guy once approached my daughter near Sacre Coeur (in Paris) with a bracelet for her wrist - my reaction was the typical mother defending her child and he probably left the neighborhood after I responded!
- Have a plan B or C in mind in case your transportation gets messed up, and you arrive somewhere later than planned, or don't get there at all. You might visit somewhere else, or just decide to relax at a warm cafe with a glass of wine and a big hot chocolate with chantilly (whipped cream, in France) on top.
Enjoy!

Thanks @Lexma

I'm getting it together! I will be happy when the new train times come out.. Eurostar is okay from London - Paris but I want to see what other times and costs there are

Hello everyone!! Life has been a lil hectic lately.. so I've been quiet..

So I've basically finalized my trip now with the help of you all. I've changed some things though..

Toronto 12/20 》London 12/21
London 12/21 - 12/24
London 12/24 》 Paris 12/24 by Noon
Paris 12/24-12/28
Paris 12/28 》Milan 12/28 by noon
Milan 12/28 - 01/01
Milan 01/01 》 NYC 01/01 by 7pm
NYC 01/01 - 01/03
01/03 》home

I took away denmark and Netherlands.. I really would like to see Italy instead.. only chose denmark because it was cheaper.. but paid a little more to see italy

So far all of our rooms and transportation is booked..

London - nutcracker, london eye, Buckingham Palace

Paris - eiffel and disneyland, museums

Milan - day trip in venice? Haven't planned much here because I just changed it to milan a couple days ago...


So ideas of places to see or things to eat etc are greatly appreciated.. especially for new years eve in milan

So what hotels did you book in Paris and London . Did you get them as cheap as you thought you would ?

Glad you took out Denmark, its so far out of he way, and for me too dark too early in winter . I have never been to Milan ( I hate shopping and think of it as a shopping destination, which is likely totally wrong) but I have been to Rome, Florence, Pisa, and Venice , Italy is a nice change from England and France , so I am sure you will enjoy it .

It's 2.5 hours from Milan to Venice, one way. If you ware interested in Venice, why not just go there? I would think it would be more appealing to a child than Milan (gondola ride, glass blowing).

With a little girl, I think Venice would beat Milan for sure, but it is not a good day trip from Milan - way too far for the little time you would have there.
Did you think about flying from Paris to Venice, then home from Venice or train to Milan and then home from Milan?

I also think London got pretty shortchanged, but guess it depends on what you will be doing there.

Hope you and your little girl have a great time together.

Great thread.
Fun full of judgmental posts going both ways.
May I ask why Milan ? It us imho the least attractive Italian city I have been to.
And yes I would be happy to know the hotels you booked. I am right now in a 3 stars in 18th arr very proper very ok but noisy as hell like a lot if 3 stars and most of 2 stars. And I paid above 100 euros.

I don't know about a ride in a gondola - last time I checked, the gondoliers were charging 200 EU...

A rip off !
But a nice one.

The city of Venice sets rates, though the gondolier may succeed in charging more, and the rates go up depending on time of day, etc. The cost is the total and is divided between the passengers. Current rate is supposed to be 80 euro for 40 minutes, up to six people in the gondola, so about 13-14 euro per person. Two people, of course, would be 40 euro a person. Evening rates start at 100 euro. We always find people to share. Bargain, but expect to have a little shorter ride and to pay a little more.

fuzz: when I was in Venice this May the gondola price wasn't as half expensive. And if you google it up, there's even a 25 mins Gondola ride for less than 30Euros.

A few thoughts as I was in Paris and Venice with a 5 yo recently.

She loved both. In Paris we did not do Disney as her main interest is in Frozen and they didn't have a Frozen thing going on there in April. I recall from the website that they do have that around Christmas so if your daughter is into that, you may be in luck. It seemed much more limited than in the US from what I could tell and didnt seem to have as many princess type attractions.

I second the recommendation to go to Venice. It is wonderful for kids. We flew very inexpensively between Paris and Venice on Air France. I booked tickets on the Air France website - about $70 person one way if I remember correctly.

You could enjoy Venice inexpensively with your daughter. Buy a 2-3 day pass for the vaporetto and take the boats around. We spent a lot of time doing that and my daughter loved it. It gave us a chance to rest our feet too as we did a lot of walking. The city is gorgeous and even a child can appreciate the moody beauty of the buildings. She loved Saint Marks Square and the mosaics in the basilica as well as all the pigeons. There are tons of tacky masks that are heaven for a little kid. My daughter walked around wearing hers for days.

We did take a gondola and it was 80E for four of us as noted above. It was lovely but there are lots of other boat rides and you could certainly skip that one. We found an inexpensive apartment on homeaway that worked well for our family of four. With just the two of you, a hotel room would work too.

If you do go, there is a wonderful children's book about Venice that I found on amazon that really added to her experience. I can forward the link.

You can do a group gondola ride for a fraction of that cost - and much better with a child IMO because they are only 30 to 45 minutes. You share the gondola with 4 or 5 others. So quit scaring the OP w/ tales of €200 gondola rides, he has bigger issues to worry about >)