ellenem

For anyone who is interested, I found the company that is offering this tour:

http://www.kesari.in/World-Tours/All-Of-Europe-E1.asp

Spivonious

AJU - I'm going to agree with everyone else. I do think that a package tour would be best for you and your family, but you need to pick one that concentrates on one area of Europe.

My wife and I took our honeymoon in Europe. In 14 days we went to London, Paris, Wurzburg, Rothenburg, and Munich (with day trips to Fussen and Dachau). 5 cities in 14 days and it STILL felt rushed.

You need to pick one area (Italy, Greece; Germany, Austria, Switzerland; Spain, Portugal; France, Belgium; England, Wales, Scotland) and then take your 20 days there. You'll have a much better time, trust me.

ellenem

It is interesting to note that the tour website does not bother to provide a list of possible hotels. I suspect that when visiting each city, the tour hotel would be far from the center of town.

The E1 tour synopsis:

Day 01 : Madrid
Day 02 : full day of travel to Barcelona
Day 03 : Barcelona
Day 04 : full day of travel to Nice
Day 05 : Nice
Day 06 : half day of travel to Pisa
Day 07 : half day of travel to Rome
Day 08 : half day of travel to Florence
Day 09 : half day of travel to Venice/Padova
Day 10 : half day of travel to Innsbruck
Day 11 : half day of travel to Lucerne
Day 12 : Lucerne (3 hrs local travel)
Day 13 : Lucerne (3 hrs local travel)
Day 14 : full day of travel to Cologne
Day 15 : half day of travel to Amsterdam
Day 16 : half day of travel to Brussels
Day 17 : half day of travel to Paris
Day 18 : Paris
Day 19 : half day of travel to London
Day 20 : London
Day 21 : London (3 hrs local travel)
Day 22 : Departure from London

For my taste, too many one-night stops after spending half the day on a bus. And because the hotels are probably located well outside the city, out of reach of public transportation, you will not have much opportunity to explore the city centers on your own.

If you want to be able to say that you "saw" all these many places, this is the perfect tour for you. According to the itinerary, you will drive past most, and actually visit very few.

It all depends on what you want your vacation to be.

annhig

AJU, thanks for taking the trouble to come back to us and posting that long tour itinerary. it's easier now to understand why you asked what you did.

i'm in agreement with all the above - DON'T DO IT.

by the time you got to Rome you wouldn't know what city you were in and i bet you wouldn't even care.

CathyM

I'm surprised a tour company would even allow children on this type of tour. It would be exhausting and I'd hate to be a fellow traveler listening to the unhappy children after day 2 or 3. I can almost assure you the hotels will be in the middle of nowhere and will be lacking any charm. You won't be able to do anything in the evenings as you'll be stuck at the hotel - but you'd be too exhausted anyways.

Please listen to the previous posters. I made the mistake of taking a very fast paced (advertised as leisurely) tour once for 17 days in ONE country. Needless to say it was the last tour I took. I'd choose 3-5 base cities and focus on these places. You will have memories that you want to have and not nightmares.

Sassafrass

AJU,
Think about this. That tour has you on a bus for 7&1/2 days of your 20 days. That is over a third of the time in Europe traveling - on a bus! If your trip costs $5,500, say $2,000 for airfare and $3,500 for land part of the tour, you would be spending at least $1,175 for the 7 days on the bus, a total of $4,600 for your family just for that time sitting on a bus, seeing pretty much nothing.

We understand you want to see as much as possible, and you do have to spend some time getting from place to place, but there are so many great things in Europe, you can see more by not spreading out over such a large geographic area, and by not spending 1/3 of your precious time on a bus. Wouldn't you rather spend most of your time in beautiful, interesting places seeing wonderful things, perhaps taking short interesting day trips to medieval towns, etc. rather than from the window of a bus?

We still do not know what you (and your family) most want to see and do. When you tell us that, you will get the best advice.

janisj

ellenem has laid out the tour very clearly. One little change from her post though:

Day 17 : half day of travel to Paris
Day 18 : <B>Disneyland</B>

So virtually NO time in Paris.

Plus you will be eating <u>every single meal</u> with the other 50 passengers. Probably in touristy/low quality restaurants, since they will need room to seat 50 people all together and get them in and out fast. The reason for this is because the tour is so rapid/crazy they cannot have people going off and eating in restaurants of their own choice.

You would be paying nearly $25,000 for this horrible experience

suze

I do think you need some kind of an organized packaged tour to move around at such a fast pace. They can bus people around quicker than you can do it on your own. I don't think the tour your posted sounds good at all, but I do think working with a travel agent may be better than self-planning for your situation.

tomboy

I volunteer, for only $20,000, to guide him through Europe (itinerary of MY choosing).

AJPeabody

Now this is a blast from the past. My first taste of international travel was in the early 60's and it was one of those IITIMBB tours. London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Nice, Monte Carlo, Venice, Florence, Rome, Pompei, and Geneva, plus 15 minutes in each of Austria and Germany at the corner where Switzerland, Austria, and Germany touch (post card and go stops). We used boat, train, and bus for transport (mostly train). I learned to pack in nothing flat (and nothing I packed was flat, either!). All in 32 days.

So, mine was 11 places in 32 days, but the tour proposed to the inquiring OP is impossible. It is all getting there and no there.

nytraveler

What happened to the 5* hotels? The tour will be 3* at best - and agree that most will not allow children. Have you checked on this? Also I'm not aware that tours ever do quad rooms - so I would assume that you are paying for 4 full passages - with 2 people in each double room. Believe me your kids will be miserable on such a tour - and the (mainly elderly) tour members won;t be happy unless you kids are really quiet and cooperative.

AJU

Thanks again for valuable advice , regards

tdk320n

I strongly suggest that you do not do this tour. You will return home exhausted and the whole trip will be a big blur in your mind
I would focus on 2 ountries and at most 2-3 cities in ecah country.. You can do day trips from thee cities
Wshatever you decide on I hope that you have a great trip.