bethanyrichardson

Hello, all. Based on what you currently know of the travel situation, would you plan a family trip (kids aged 8 & 10) to France (Paris & Dordogne) in summer 2022, or hold off a year?

We have always planned this trip to be around our youngest's 8th birthday. Husband and I have done some traveling abroad (though never France), but the kids have only been to Caribbean (from Texas). Such a big trip won't be frequent for them,, so we want to make the most of it and give them the full experience.

Most likely hiccup will be in vaccinations for the children.. I expect they'll be available by then,, so am I safe to assume they will be required? Husband and I are vaccinated and will get boosters as needed, but still hesitant about the children. I'd rather not have my hand forced.

I know a lot can change between now and June, but for planning purposes I'd like to make the decision to go ahead or postpone in the next month. If you were planning a first family trip, would you go for it at this point, or postpone?

Thank you so much!

KTtravel

It is so hard to predict, but I would assume vaccinations would be required for all.

dreamon

This is a highly subjective question. But if they were my kids, I would not take them until they were vaccinated. When you consider that they are more likely to get sick from covid if they are not vaccinated than if they are, what are the consequences? For their health, health costs, dealing with health care in another language, for quarantine, any impacts on delaying return home. Not worth it in my view and I would delay. There may also be restrictions (we don't know for sure) which may make going a year later more enjoyable. But of course, you'll likely find everyone has a different opinion.

vegzet

FWIW, I piggybacked a two week vacation on a 1 week business trip in Germany with the 2 kids, ages 10 and 8,
They still remember things from the trip, 45 years later

bethanyrichardson

Sometimes when you have young, developing children, you want to take your time to make sure you and they are 100% ready. I don't want to rush simply because I have a trip looming.

Thank you to those of you who took the time to give helpful replies.

Vaccination statuses aside (because we cannot yet know what will be available/ required), do you feel that the full experience is currently available, as things are now? Knowing that this is a once-in-a-lifetine type of trip... I guess without me having been there personally, I don't know if the environment just feels more restricted now, or if everything is pretty much business as usual with all attractions available (with masks and health passes, of course). If we may be missing out on some experiences, I'd rather wait.

AJPeabody

“It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” --Yogi Berra

dreamon

Bethany, I can't comment on current restrictions because I haven't been to Europe since Jan 2020 (and I'm very grateful to have got that trip in before everything went crazy). But I think you should consider where you want to go and what activities you might want to do. For example, the opportunity to give or get covid will be greater if you are in markets, shops, restaurants, indoor museums and galleries, on crowded transport, etc, than, say, in the rural outdoors doing activities such as hiking, cycling, canoeing, etc where there are simply fewer people. Guess that may be obvious but perhaps worth considering if you haven't.

At home, I find wearing a mask when I leave the house, signing in everywhere, showing my vaccination status all the time, keeping my distance from people, worrying about that person with a sniffle, etc, a necessary but frustrating experience. I don't think I'd have the best possible holiday if I had to do that while away and for that reason, we are deferring our own travel plans. Of course, no one knows what 2023 and beyond will bring but hopefully good times. fwiw, we first took our kids to Europe at ages 12 and 9 and found that to be perfect ages.

mjs

I agree with Yogi. We have been to Europe twice this year and have had to completely redo our June trip on the fly almost due to COVID. Our September trip also had some last minute changes due to the Pass Sanitaire. We took our children to Europe for the first time when they were 8 and 10 so I think your children will be fine. I suspect your children will need to vaccines for France next year but who knows? They don't need them now. I do not think they will be missing anything due to COVID the way things stand now. I would recommend planning for your trip this year in such a way that you could cancel without penalty. This includes airfare and lodgings. Cover your nonrefundable costs and the possible quarantine costs if one of you tests positive on your way home with Travel insurance.

Coquelicot

My first response is, go! You might as well make the first trip in 2022; that way you can make a second trip the next year, and a third, and things will be different each trip because the kids are growing up.

At least you can plan the trip without locking everything in just yet. If you do buy plane tickets or rent a car, being able to cancel without penalties is important. Before our trip I kept an eye on the case rates for the areas we'd be visiting and at one point I thought we'd have to postpone our trip, but the rates went down.

I assume your children are comfortable wearing masks and seeing lots of people wearing masks. I mention this only because we know kids who are not, because we live in an area with very low vaccination rates and where hardly anybody masks.

Speaking personally, it cheered us up to see everybody masked, starting at our departure airport and the whole way through till we got into our rental car at the airport. From then on we encountered unmasked people but only on the street, though most people carried a mask on their arm in case of need. It didn't bother us one bit to put on masks before entering a store or show our CDC card or passe sanitaire to enter a restaurant. I think most kids would take that in stride.

And if it's summer, you'll be doing lots of outdoor activities.

Of course, and fingers crossed, this may be moot by the time you go.

kerouac

So far, only children 12 and above require vaccinations in France. That can change of course.

KTtravel

I like the suggestions above regarding planning but trying to keep as much fully refundable as possible. Be sure to take out trip insurance with the "cancel for no reason" clause to cover your plane fares when you are ready to purchase those. You kids will be good ages to enjoy such a trip. I hope you get to go!