"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...
jst wrote:

Our family of three( 2 adults & 17 y/o )are considering a trip to
Europe this summer. We would want to spend at least 2-3 days in
London then 5-7 days going from France ( Paris a must ) to
Switzerland ( the alps ). We have traveled the states extensively and
have never been overseas.Is this the type of trip that we should do
exclusively with a travel agency and do the group tour bit. We have
never been the types to do a group tour but would do one if we could
find the right locations included.


Your choice, of course, but personally I hate group tours and always make
plans on my own.

As you say, it's personal choice, but I couldn't agree more. My wife and I
travel a lot and the European destinations in the OP's post are particularly
easy to visit on one's own. Wherever we travel, we always see herds of
tourists ("herd" is the only word I can think of to describe these groups),
piling out of busses, having a "genuine" espresso in an "approved" cafe,
buying the requisite souvenir, and then piling back on their bus. I
honestly can't think of a more unpleasant way to travel.

As has been noted a number of times in this ng, one of the most exciting and
fun parts of foreign travel is not to see sites, but simply to be somewhere
else, with a different culture and a different aesthetic. It's fine to see
the Eiffel Tower, but far finer (IMHO) to walk the streets, drop into a
boucherie, sit for an hour in a cafe sipping a capuchino (in the morning,
only, of course )

With the growth of the internet, it's easy to book hotels, trains and
airfare, and my wife and I have found that a good part of the fun of a trip
is the planning.

Paraphrasing Anthony Bourdain -- be a traveller, not a tourist.



We are just starting to look into this and any recommendations would
be appreciated. We are budgeting 10 - 15 thousand , is this
reasonable ???

10-15 thousand what? If you mean US dollars, for 7-10 days for 3 people,
it should be more than sufficient unless you insist on first-class
everything.




--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup