Traveling with 15 year old daughter
 

I am planning to travel with my 15 old daughter to Spain, France and Italy. Is her firs visit to Europe, My plans are buying a eureil pass and travel from town to town (the more important ones) by ear (without to much planning), stanying in small hotels or bed and breakfast. Any sugestions?

When are you going? and how long will this trip be?

this might be helpful:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...hText=lesliec1

Don't assume that a "rail pass" is a worthwhile expenditure. The majority of itineraries are substantially cheaper, traveling ordinary point-to-point tickets (especially in Italy) - - and/or using one or more of the new low-cost intra-Europe airlines for any (many) route(s) of more than 4 hours by train. Buying a rail pass is a surefire way to get you to overpurchase your intra-Europe transportation needs.

I am personally not a big fan of plan it "by ear" once you arrive, unless you have unlimited time, and don't mind wasting it on finding a place to sleep in the hotels that no one (who planned ahead) wanted, with the slightly crummier features, in the slightly poorer locations, at the slightly higher prices.

You can make this trip last from now until you get back by immersing yourself in the planning and seeking advice from the "community" here. Or you can pack two weeks of "seeing Europe" into four weeks of traipsing around, dealing with your lodging and transportation infrastructure needs, on the fly.

Overly opinionated, no doubt - - but it is how I see it.

Best wishes,

Rex

I agree with Rex 100%. It is so much easier to know where you are going to stay and avoid the hassle of finding a place every time you move.

For what its worth - you'll need about 3 weeks to do the 3 countries with the travel between sites factored in. Spain: madrid, barcelona, seville? France:paris, normandy, loire valley? Italy: rome, venice, florence? if you begin to tighten up the criteria, the planning will be much easier and you'll get more than enough advice from this group.

I agree. I wouldn't play it by ear with a teenager of that age. There's enough that can go wrong without introducing the uncertainty of not knowing where you would stay each night.

Well, you certainly know your daughter better than I do! :)
But, I know something like this would not work too well for my kids. They definitely like to know where they will be ending up.
and they do not like to move around too many times on trips either, they get worn out.

When I was 18 or 20
(back in the earliest of the 1970s ) I would have loved a trip like that.
but, certainly not in my mid teens and traveling with my folks, not matter how much i loved them.

Most of all it would depend on the time of yr you are going, reservations can be pretty important at times.
Have fun though!

Kayakera, our experience with a teenage daughter in the 1970's was quite different than others.
The difference is that we did travel by car and took two months.
Our daughter "loved" the fact that we did not have reservations everywhere.
Think she felt part of the process, one place was "ok" but lets move one". Another place was "fantastic" and lets stay longer. Fortunatly we all agreed whether to leave or stay a little longer. So common interest certainly help. Each traveller and family has their own experiences of course so what works for one family does not necessarily work for another.
But that was our experience.
P.S. I do agree about buying point to point train tickets however,

My daughter is 15 and this summer we traveled to Italy, will travel to Spain at Christmas, went to Hawaii at 14, Finland and Thailand at 13.
Varying the itinerary is the most important. I always made sure there were days where hiking or some outdoor activity was interspersed with cities. Giving her some freedom to shop by herself during the day was important for her feeling of control and independence. I was amazed at how much better a map reader she became when I was not there.
Go for some adventures. For example in Italy there were great hikes in Cinquaterra. In Thailand we took a raft trip down the river. We rented kyacks in Finland etc. There are many choices.

Oh good, someone gave you the thread by lesliec1. I thought her trip with her teenage kids was inspirational. And an extremely fun trip report packed with usual information and observations to read regardless.

kayakera:

I would not travel by ear. It seems to me it would hurt every bit as much as traveling by nose, or even eyeball. I recommend you stick to travel by foot or vehicles.

Just my opinion, which I know is not worth much.

--Marv

Just to be clear, the 2 questions posted by MFNYC represent the essential first step to answering every other question you have, or will have, about this trip.

Step 2 is to get a handle on your overall budget range.

I've traveled a lot with my daughter, who's now 16. Any chance of bringing a friend? That makes almost anything work. Personally, I wouldn't allow her to shop alone in either Spain or Italy, the guys are more aggressive and she might feel uncomfortable. We tried to break up our trips with places that offered shops (she especially loved shopping for unique clothes in Paris and Rome), internet cafe, etc. Also we made sure she saw the things she learned about in school, the really famous sights, such as France: Mona Lisa, the Eiffel Tower, castles in the Loire Valley - Italy: gondola in Venice, the sights in Rome, leaning tower of Pisa, etc. They love to tell their friends about that type of thing. If she studies Spanish she might be able to tell you some places she has learned about in class that might interest her. My daughter wasn't big on traveling through the countryside just looking around. Long drives or train rides would be boring for her. She loved breaking the trip at a beach. She loved meeting any other teenagers, although that's hard if you move around too much. She liked the French Alps and seeing the St. Bernards. She loved the night scene in the bigger cities, with all the locals and tourists roaming around and stopping in cafes or having ice cream. I would not advise too much of one thing, be it castles, cathedrals or villages. Hope your trip is very memorable!

Hi kay,

Before you buy railpasses, enter your itinerary at www.railsaver.com.

I'm not a fan of looking for hotel accomodations after I arrive.

I assume you will be spending at least 3 weeks, if not 4.