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Post by TexasChick on Mar 30, 2023 14:33:32 GMT -5
DH and I have been talking about doing this for a few years. We seriously considered going to Europe in the summer of 2020. That obviously didn’t happen. Then, we wanted to wait until the restrictions were lifted and things were opened back up.
We decided to take the plunge and we’re going next year! We just booked our plane tickets on British Airways in the new(ish) Business Class Club Suites! Kids know we’re going but have no idea about the business class seats nor do I even think they know what Business Class is especially internationally. I’m so excited! I’ve only flown BA before within Europe, but we had a good experience. I’ve heard good things. Plan is to go to London, Paris, and Amsterdam (more kid friendly places to start for them). We’ll be gone for almost 2 weeks. Any and all suggestions on traveling with tweens to Europe are appreciated and accepted. DH and I have been all over Europe including these cities a few times before, and we’re hoping that helps us navigate them a bit easier.
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Post by BWV Dreamin on Mar 30, 2023 14:48:13 GMT -5
Is this a land tour or are you doing this all yourself? My hat is off to you navigating this itinerary. Have no suggestions but can’t wait for the trip report!
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Post by Wiltony on Mar 30, 2023 14:49:49 GMT -5
This is SO awesome. We would love to do this, too. I think 2024 or 2025 is our target for making something like this happen. I wish you all the best on your trip! Please let us know how it goes and share your best tips and tricks!
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Post by nickys on Mar 30, 2023 15:09:15 GMT -5
DH and I have been talking about doing this for a few years. We seriously considered going to Europe in the summer of 2020. That obviously didn’t happen. Then, we wanted to wait until the restrictions were lifted and things were opened back up. We decided to take the plunge and we’re going next year! We just booked our plane tickets on British Airways in the new(ish) Business Class Club Suites! Kids know we’re going but have no idea about the business class seats nor do I even think they know what Business Class is especially internationally. I’m so excited! I’ve only flown BA before within Europe, but we had a good experience. I’ve heard good things. Plan is to go to London, Paris, and Amsterdam (more kid friendly places to start for them). We’ll be gone for almost 2 weeks. Any and all suggestions on traveling with tweens to Europe are appreciated and accepted. DH and I have been all over Europe including these cities a few times before, and we’re hoping that helps us navigate them a bit easier. I can help with London! But I’ll need to know a bit more - like ages of the kids, how long you have and what your family interests might be. a few suggestions: You can do a lot of the classic sights by walking. For example, Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Horseguards Parade, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus. That would be about 2 -3 miles. Boat trip down the River, Tower of London. Pick one or two museums or art galleries. Churchill War Rooms - I did that again last summer and loved it. Theatre show Cathedrals - Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s, Southwark Outlying “villages” such as Greenwich, Hampstead. I helped Kim plan their London trip that didn’t happen - thanks Covid. That was big on Medieval history. No idea if she ever took it, I certainly hope so. Come to think of it, I also helped Dirk a little with his plans for a pre-cruise London and Canterbury. And again, I don’t know if that happened. Anyway, happy to help. 😊 |
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Post by TexasChick on Mar 30, 2023 15:16:16 GMT -5
Is this a land tour or are you doing this all yourself? My hat is off to you navigating this itinerary. Have no suggestions but can’t wait for the trip report! We are doing it ourselves. Most cities have those Hop On/Hop Off buses which makes it so easy to see everything. This is SO awesome. We would love to do this, too. I think 2024 or 2025 is our target for making something like this happen. I wish you all the best on your trip! Please let us know how it goes and share your best tips and tricks! Thank you! We are going in 2024. Here’s some things I didn’t know. The European airlines publish fares 354 days out as opposed to most US airlines which are 330 days out. There are some days of the week which are pricier than others to travel, so be flexible if you can. Also, as opposed to any US airlines now, European airlines are significantly cheaper if you do RT on the same airline. The European airlines still charge a premium for one way tickets. Many US airlines don’t do that anymore. In general, I have thought the bigger European airlines (BA, Air France, Lufthansa, and KLM to name a few) are much nicer than the US Airlines. Also, trying to buy business class tickets with miles was a joke with how much they’re charging. We got our fares at a pretty reasonable cash price for what they are, and all the flight prediction tools I could use to check to try and predict the price changes all came back with the same result that we pretty much got the lowest fare they thought it would be on BA. We’re booking VERY far out too which I don’t like doing at all. |
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Post by Brian5581 on Mar 30, 2023 15:35:06 GMT -5
All cities I'd like to return to sometime in the near future. Enjoy!
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Post by TexasChick on Mar 30, 2023 15:54:47 GMT -5
DH and I have been talking about doing this for a few years. We seriously considered going to Europe in the summer of 2020. That obviously didn’t happen. Then, we wanted to wait until the restrictions were lifted and things were opened back up. We decided to take the plunge and we’re going next year! We just booked our plane tickets on British Airways in the new(ish) Business Class Club Suites! Kids know we’re going but have no idea about the business class seats nor do I even think they know what Business Class is especially internationally. I’m so excited! I’ve only flown BA before within Europe, but we had a good experience. I’ve heard good things. Plan is to go to London, Paris, and Amsterdam (more kid friendly places to start for them). We’ll be gone for almost 2 weeks. Any and all suggestions on traveling with tweens to Europe are appreciated and accepted. DH and I have been all over Europe including these cities a few times before, and we’re hoping that helps us navigate them a bit easier. I can help with London! But I’ll need to know a bit more - like ages of the kids, how long you have and what your family interests might be. a few suggestions: You can do a lot of the classic sights by walking. For example, Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Horseguards Parade, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus. That would be about 2 -3 miles. Boat trip down the River, Tower of London. Pick one or two museums or art galleries. Churchill War Rooms - I did that again last summer and loved it. Theatre show Cathedrals - Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s, Southwark Outlying “villages” such as Greenwich, Hampstead. I helped Kim plan their London trip that didn’t happen - thanks Covid. That was big on Medieval history. No idea if she ever took it, I certainly hope so. Come to think of it, I also helped Dirk a little with his plans for a pre-cruise London and Canterbury. And again, I don’t know if that happened. Anyway, happy to help. 😊 I’ll be reaching out for more specific recommendations once I get in “planning mode” if you’re open to it. I’m currently in “I can’t believe we are finally going” mode. I’m also having to calm down from the price of business class plane tickets. I knew they were not cheap, but I need a few days to accept it. The issue for us is that I don’t sleep on planes no matter how hard I try or what medications I take. Also, DH is over 6ft tall, so he can sleep in 30 minute blocks unless he has a more comfortable seat. We’ve been planning and saving for it, but it’s still a lot to process when it actually happens. 😬 Kids are too young to fly in coach if we’re in business class, so it was the price x 4. 😳 |
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Post by nickys on Mar 30, 2023 15:56:43 GMT -5
Just let me know when you’re ready!
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Post by TexasChick on Mar 30, 2023 16:03:33 GMT -5
Just let me know when you’re ready! Thank you!!! You gave me some great recs on where to start the planning. I really appreciate it. |
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Post by pooh bears mom on Mar 30, 2023 18:34:00 GMT -5
Sounds fantastic!!
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Post by BWV Dreamin on Mar 30, 2023 18:54:07 GMT -5
All cities I'd like to return to sometime in the near future. Enjoy! Well we have Epcot to hold us over until we can get to the real countries! Hahaha  |
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Post by rwethereyet on Mar 30, 2023 21:16:57 GMT -5
I am jealous--one of these days. ( deep sigh!!! )
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Post by a1000monkeys on Mar 31, 2023 1:09:17 GMT -5
Sounds great! We also had a Europe trip planned in 2020. We will finally be going next year but unfortunately we probably won’t be able to bring my eldest now that he will be going off to college. We may have missed our window. At least he can join us on our Japan trip this summer.
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Post by rescueranger on Mar 31, 2023 2:54:17 GMT -5
Happy to help out with some tips/trips for London and Paris. Esp Disneyland if you would like to go there.
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Post by helenabear on Mar 31, 2023 5:19:54 GMT -5
Sounds like a blast!
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