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European trip ?'s



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 3rd, 2006, 12:37 AM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Default European trip ?'s

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.
We are just starting to look into this and any recommendations would be
appreciated. We are budgeting 10 - 15 thousand , is this reasonable ???
  #2  
Old January 3rd, 2006, 12:44 AM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Default European trip ?'s

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.


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


  #3  
Old January 3rd, 2006, 12:59 AM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Default European trip ?'s

Ken Blake wrote:
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.


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.

First class everything for my family, you must be kidding. LOL. We have
saved a while for this trip as gift for our daughter who reaaallly wants
to go. Any Ideas on where to start planning?
  #4  
Old January 3rd, 2006, 01:37 AM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Posts: n/a
Default European trip ?'s

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.


I think that group tours sometimes have a place- I've enjoyed the very
few I've been on- but I think you'd do better on this kind of trip by
yourselves.

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


10-15k USD I take it? That's a very generous budget. You can easily
spend that much, but you could also get by on a lot less.

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer http://soundjunction.org
  #5  
Old January 3rd, 2006, 01:38 AM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Default European trip ?'s


"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



  #6  
Old January 3rd, 2006, 01:45 AM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Default European trip ?'s

On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 17:37:12 -0600, 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.
We are just starting to look into this and any recommendations would be
appreciated. We are budgeting 10 - 15 thousand , is this reasonable ???


You can easily organise this yourself, London is obviously completely
trivial for you, you speak English, and we're very used to American
tourists, and the same with Paris of course.

First step is to find a flight - open jaw Your place to London /
Geneva, you should be able to get this for under 1500 USD each
(depending on where you are in the US which I'm assuming). Hopefully
well under, but that would depend a bit where you are and when you're
travelling.

Then it's find a hotel, there are loads in all budgets from a
travellodge in London for 150 dollars that would sleep all 3 of you,
to top of the range hotels that would probably blow your budget in a
day. I'd say 300 dollars a day would get you and partner and your
daughter seperate average rooms in London or Paris. Travel between
London and Paris and Geneva (say) would cost another 200 ish dollars
each.

So that's 8100 for your basic travel and living, at 10 days you then
have somewhere between 190 and 750 dollars a day to spend on food and
entertainment - that's lots!

There's lots of sites on the web for looking at hotels, and look at
the archive for the group for specific recommendations or places to
avoid in London and Paris - but remember these are 2 of the most
touristed places in the world, you'd have to be extremely naiive not
to be able to get around yourself!

Jim.
  #7  
Old January 3rd, 2006, 01:52 AM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Default European trip ?'s


"jst" wrote in message news:77juf.1487$Dh.457@dukeread04...
Ken Blake wrote:
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.


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.

First class everything for my family, you must be kidding. LOL. We have
saved a while for this trip as gift for our daughter who reaaallly wants
to go. Any Ideas on where to start planning?


Decide on the cities you want to visit (though 3 days is barely enough to
scratch the surface of London, and a week is just enough to give you a nice
feel for Paris). Since this is your first trip to Europe, I wouldn't spend
it running from city to city. Remember, too, that your arrival day is
pretty much shot, even if you're one of the lucky few who doesn't suffer
much from jet lag. I can't make recommendations in the Alps -- my
experience of Switzerland is limited to Zurich -- but I'd suggest trying to
plan an open jaw trip, i.e. fly into one city and home from another. There
is no cost penalty to do this, and avoids having to backtrack.

Remember that summer is high season for European travel -- you usually can
do better, airfare-and-hotel-wise, if you travel in the shoulder seasons,
April/May or October/November. Also remember that August is the month of La
Grande Vacance, when the French traditionally vacation.

I'd recommend that you pick up a couple of good guide books to start. My
wife and I like the DK Eyewitness series -- they're beautifully illustrated
and make nice souvenirs after the trip. They contain illustrated
neighborhood maps, and will help you decide where you want to stay. They
also contain hotel recommendations, which will give you a starting place.

You'll do better on airfares if you arrive and depart midweek. Once you've
selected your gateway cities, and priced airfare, just move on to selecting
your hotels. To get from London to Paris you'll want to take the train
under the channel. Last time I checked, first class was around $350 US per
person -- a bit pricey, but it takes you from city center to city center,
saving a huge amount of time and money over flying, as you do not have to
get to the airports, which are fairly distant from London and Paris. For
Paris to Switzerland, consider the train. European trains are comfortable,
reliable and inexpensive.

In any city, we always try to schedule day trips. These are particularly
easy from London and Paris, as both are central hubs for train travel. For
London, one of our favorite excursions was to Bath, a beautiful Georgian
city about one hour away. For Paris, a day trip to Versailles is almost a
requirement.

Within each city, it's really a question of what you enjoy -- are you an art
museum and old castle kind of person? Shopping and culture? Pub crawler?


  #8  
Old January 3rd, 2006, 02:04 AM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Posts: n/a
Default European trip ?'s

jst wrote:

Ken Blake wrote:
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.


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.

First class everything for my family, you must be kidding. LOL. We
have saved a while for this trip as gift for our daughter who
reaaallly wants to go. Any Ideas on where to start planning?



My biggest suggestion is to realize that 7-10 days is a very short amount of
time for a trip to several places, *especially* when those several places
include major cities like Paris and London. You could very easily spend the
entire 7-10 days profitably in either one of those cities without having
enough time to do morethan scratch the surface.

So my suggestion is that less is more. You have to decide where to go, but
whatever you do, don't try to go to too many places. The more places you
visit the lower the ratio of "being there" to traveling, checking into
hotels, packing, unpacking etc., and more tiring your trip will be.

If you're willing to spend as much as $15,000, think about the possibility
of going more frugally and doubling the time to 2-3 weeks. Alternatively, if
you can't get away for that long, save part of your travel fund for another
trip another time.

My other suggestion: go to Rome and Venice instead of London and Paris. ;-)

(But that's a very personal view, and reflects my personal tastes, which
you understandably may not share.)

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup


  #9  
Old January 3rd, 2006, 02:06 AM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Posts: n/a
Default European trip ?'s

PTRAVEL wrote:

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.



Yes! That coincides with my point of view exacltly. When I plan a trip
myself, it's almost as if the trip starts before I leave home.

In fact the internet almost makes it too easy. I now spend much less time
planning than I used to, and that's a detriment.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup


  #10  
Old January 3rd, 2006, 02:16 AM posted to rec.travel.europe
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Posts: n/a
Default European trip ?'s

Jim Ley wrote:
On Mon, 02 Jan 2006 17:37:12 -0600, 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.
We are just starting to look into this and any recommendations would be
appreciated. We are budgeting 10 - 15 thousand , is this reasonable ???


You can easily organise this yourself, London is obviously completely
trivial for you, you speak English, and we're very used to American
tourists, and the same with Paris of course.

First step is to find a flight - open jaw Your place to London /
Geneva, you should be able to get this for under 1500 USD each
(depending on where you are in the US which I'm assuming). Hopefully
well under, but that would depend a bit where you are and when you're
travelling.

Then it's find a hotel, there are loads in all budgets from a
travellodge in London for 150 dollars that would sleep all 3 of you,
to top of the range hotels that would probably blow your budget in a
day. I'd say 300 dollars a day would get you and partner and your
daughter seperate average rooms in London or Paris. Travel between
London and Paris and Geneva (say) would cost another 200 ish dollars
each.

So that's 8100 for your basic travel and living, at 10 days you then
have somewhere between 190 and 750 dollars a day to spend on food and
entertainment - that's lots!

There's lots of sites on the web for looking at hotels, and look at
the archive for the group for specific recommendations or places to
avoid in London and Paris - but remember these are 2 of the most
touristed places in the world, you'd have to be extremely naiive not
to be able to get around yourself!

Jim.

We are definitely the adventurous type of family and have found our best
vacations in the states off of the beaten path. That is one of the
reasons why I am here on this group. The thought of being with a hundred
other people with different ideas on what to see is scary to me. Just
the few responses here have given me new insight on the trip. Since it
is Europe ( NEW )it is a little intimidating at first. I figure that we
can take the Chunnel to Paris and would you guys suggest trains for the
rest of the trip?

 




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