My husband and I are taking our three kids to London at the end of May for two weeks. Our kids are 6,9, and 12. I can get a great deal on flights in and out of London. He and I have visited Paris, Amsterdam, Venice, Florence, and Rome. We are trying to figure out a great itinerary for the kids, without repeating our previous locales. I am wondering if we should stick to London with lots of day trips or pick a second location altogether. Would it be feasible/cost effective to still return from London? Open jaw flights bump up quite a bit from Los Angeles. I am a bit overwhelmed at this point. I would appreciate suggestions!

Would it be feasible/cost effective to still return from London?>

Britain itself has a ton of swell places do some dummy - you may want to end up in say Edinburgh - castle and stuff great for kids and fly back from there.

Maybe go over to Bath and Lake District to Edinburgh. Could all be done by train - www.nationalrail.co.uk for train times - www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com for lots on British trains.

Switzerland could be nice then or Germany or a bit of both. Fly for those of course.

Why not a week in London and a week in Scotland -- you could fly directly up to EDI from LHR on your day of arrival, spend maybe 3 nights in Edinburgh, pick up a car and do 3.5 days/4 nights exploring either the Borders/Hadrian's Wall/Alnwick or the Trossachs/Stirling/Glencoe, drop the car back at EDI and then take the train down to London for the final week.

You'd only have three hotels/apartments 1 in Edinburgh; then 1 in either Alnwick/Melrose or somewhere else south of Edinburgh - OR - Callander or somewhere else in the Trossachs; 1 in London. This way you will be IN London to catch your flight home.

I wonder what search engine you are using to find "open jaw flights bump up quite a bit from Los Angeles." Using matrix.itasoftware.com (Google's info service for airlines) I checked London/Glasgow and London/Dublin in May, finding just about the same prices as London round trip. London/Paris added $100. Since all of these prices are cheaper than I can get in the Midwest, I urge you to try again, being sure to use a multi-destination search. (That Google site doesn't sell tickets but its info is useful for vendor sites.)

What are the kids interests and what sort of things do they enjoy and what sort of places do they like visiting - towns and cities, countryside, museums, castles, Harry Potter, railways, seaside.... Are they being involved in the planning?

Yes waselys Questions are vital to even beginning to answer.

KSOILES what do you think?

Agree with Wasleys.

To get the conversation going with your kids, check out some Rick Steves videos of England, Scotland and Wales and have your kids watch. I have seen them on youtube or at the library.

Just thought about something:

Prince Harry is marrying Meghan Markle on May 19. I would definitely still go, it's the time that works for you. Only rich people go to a royal wedding and most people are not going to fly to another country just to queue up along the route.

Still, you might want to be a little proactive in your thinking.

You might want to do the Scotland portion first and then come back to London when it's over.

Also you may see some bumps in ticket prices if you wait very long and you are flying just before the 19th.

I would get cancellable lodgings for London for my dates soon.

http://time.com/5039393/royal-wedding-2018-details/

The wedding is in Windsor, and is unlikely to affect London.

London/Scotland would be a great combination. If you want an easy trip to another country; Brussel by Eurostar and a visit to Brugge.