Planning a family vacation to Europe for 2008. Not sure where to start. Does anyone have a travel agency that they would recommend to help with this. The ones in my area don't seem too knowledgeable

Decide which countries you want to visit. For sights to see, the Michelin Green Guide is very reliable. There are also the Fodors guidebooks.

I suggest checking some guidebooks out of the library. And getting a few issues of various travel magazines (Conde Nast, Budget Travel, National Geo Traveler, Travel & Leisure - depending on your budget).

Even a good travel agent, will need to know what your interest are to make suggestions about a trip.

First, travel agents can only help you if you have some idea of what you want.

Second, good travel agents - who do a lot of non-tour europe itineraries well and have been there often - will charge a significant amount for their services.

As a first step get every tour brochure than you can and a couple of good guide books - and spend a couple of weeks looking at them - so you at least have a clue as to what places you really want to see.

To find a good quality - but not inexpensive - travel agent specializing in europe (versus packages to Disney) have a look at the list on the web sites of Travel & Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler.

Well for these type novice questions i usually recommend some great free resources: www.ricksteves.com for not only train/railpass info but lots of great tips and www.budgeteuropetravel.com to get the free European Planning & Rail Guide, a great primer for not only a European rail trip but lots of other tips from packing to changing money. But you don't say if you're going by train or car or group tour - please specifiy because that is the most crucial info folks need to know to even being to answer your question.
Also ages of folks involved, type of budget, etc. You'll find Fodorites to be a veritable wealth of info on planning such a trip so pose specific questions and you'll get a lot of responses from seasoned travelers.

When I'm not sure where to go in a country, I usually buy a Rick Steves book of some kind. If I didn't even know what countries I wanted to visit, I'd get a Rick Steves "Best of Europe" book or one of his "Europe Through the Back Door" books. No, I am not a shill for Rick Steves. I find his books quite useful when I'm not sure where I want to go or what I want to see.

I also had a book called "Europe for Dummies" or something similar. It had an overview of important cities one might want to visit.

I would recommend that you confine your trip to just a few countries, if you are going to more than one, depending on how much time you have.

I enjoy my travels more when I go slowly and don't try to see every possible sight and don't try to cram in too many places. The "if-it's-Tuesday-this-must-be-Belgium" tours don't appeal to me at all.

Assume you are going to go back....

Hi RanMan,

A few basic questions-

When are you thinking of traveling and for how many days?

Where are you flying from?

How many travelers and what ages?

Any special interests among the group?

I ask these questions because you may be able to plan the trip yourself with the resources of this website and some good guidebooks.

You might want to get the family members to do some reading about places in Europe and see what places they may be interested in visiting.

I agree with the advice to avoid trying to see too many places. A good rule is no more than 1 travel to destination every 4 days and to try to limit the distances between destinations. This will allow you the opportunity to relax, experience and enjoy your vacation.

Zoë