<p>One thing I forgot to mention is that it is quite difficult to find a European hotel that will allow more than 3 people in one room. Search using the key words of quad or family room. It is very unnerving to have your teenagers in another room and usually on a different floor while in a foreign country.</p>
<p>^^ That’s an important point Kajon mentioned about the single/double/triple rooms generally available but quads or family rooms being more difficult to find. The hotel workers don’t bat an eye when they tell you you’ll need to have two dual rooms to fit the 4 of you but of course that means that the room that’s already far more expensive than a typical hotel room here is doubled.</p>
<p>Make sure you check out the family/quad room availability and don’t be surprised if it ends up taking some hunting to find. You might also want to try some B&Bs. We’ve found that they’ll sometimes be willing to let two doubles go for less than double the price of one unlike the the typical hotel. We also found that a number of them have family rooms available that can fit 4. It also gives you a bit more of a flavor of the local atmosphere than a big tourist hotel. </p>
<p>If you do need to get 2 doubles at a hotel look and you don’t want to spend a fortune look for the large budget chains that have sprung up in Europe where the rooms aren’t so expensive. There’s really no local atmosphere but you’ll save some money and you can walk down the street to some local atmosphere in town.</p>
<p>Wow, these are great tips! The “kids” are 20 & 22 and would probably be fine (& we are too) being in their own room, even on a different floor from us. They went to Taiwan on a month-long tour & were very happy, even tho their knowledge of the language was & is pretty sketchy. D speaks better German than all of us combined; I speak a minute smattering of Spanish, S & H understand some Manarin. For the most part, we are pretty good with making gestures to be understood & speaking English slowly. :)</p>
<p>Really appreciate everyone’s thoughts and hope you keep them coming!</p>
<p>The only time we were in Europe, there was just me & H (we left the kids home with my folks). Have not heard about family rooms, but that makes good sense, as does the quad suggestion. We stayed mostly at B&Bs when we visited in 1995. I’m fine with budget chains, since all we want is a safe, clean place to sleep near the attractions (quiet is nice, as is non-smoking).</p>
<p>I’ve found TripAdvisor helpful for US hotels and assume it would probably be good for foreign hotels as well.</p>
<p>If you really want some wise travel advice, check out the Fodors Travel Forums. There’s a specific one for Europe. It’s like CC for travelers. [Europe</a> Forum | Fodor’s Travel Talk Forums](<a href=“http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/]Europe”>Europe - Fodor's Travel Talk Forums)</p>
<p>WARNING: It is a highly addictive website!</p>
<p>Have you considered trading your home for a home somewhere in Europe? I know someone who has gone that several times with good results.</p>
<p>Thanks for this thought. I think you have to be MUCH more trusting than we are to trade houses, but I have heard & read of folks who have found this a great way to travel.</p>
<p>I would consider a house trade but my spouse would never. Works for some people</p>
<p>One option I have read of is renting a villa or apartment. Probably the most adventurous we would be is a B&B, but will have to see what evolves.</p>
<p>My spouse would NEVER want anyone among our stuff & it’s too big a mess anyway. He feels he is really stretched when we have a shared bathroom, as we did for some of the B&Bs in 1995.</p>
<p>OK–D’s interested; just have to check on S’s schedule & will see how this all evolves. H still prefers the national parks but will go along with us.</p>
<p>OK, we sent our kids questionnaires so they can help us with the planning & we can keep their preferences in mind. So far, H wants a river cruise, castle tour, possibly Rome, Paris and London (we’ll be in Europe about 3 weeks). Since D has taught herself German, we also plan to go to Germany. Any other thoughts? Loved Venice last trip as well, but don’t want to overplan.</p>
<p>Looks like the openjaw flights will be about $1000/person or so. We’re thinking of flying LAX to Rome, taking the train throughout Europe through to London & then flying out of London back to LAX.</p>
<p>I would consider starting in London first and ending in Rome. London is a great “welcome to Europe” city and there isn’t as much of a cultural shock, IMHO. Otherwise what you planned sounds great! I don’t know if you thinking about a short river cruise in the German part of the Rhine or a week-long extravaganza, but it would all be fun.</p>
<p>We thought it might be better in terms of weather to start south and head north, even tho of course it is easier to understand and communicate in English (London). Our hardest communication issues were in Rome last trip, but we figure between the four of us, we’ll do better this trip. There is a whole lot to do & see in Rome, in spite of the gypsies pestering H (before I was able to get him to leave his wallet hidden in his suitcase in the B&B & just use his money belt). We never did catch the right train from Rome to Paris & ended up with a 22 hour train ride instead of a 4 hour one! Talk about exhausting rides!</p>
<p>We may just skip London entirely, but aren’t sure.</p>
<p>Maybe I’ll price both options & see what works out.</p>
<p>HImom, if you’re going to Germany, check out the Mosel River - lots of little towns and castles along the way.</p>
<p>You could do some kind of river cruise up the Rhine north of Franfurt through real castle country. There are lots of cool castles along there.
[Rhine</a> Castle trail](<a href=“http://www.loreley-info.com/eng/rhein-rhine/walking-hiking/rhine-castle-trail.shtml]Rhine”>Rhine Castle trail)</p>
<p>Depending on what style of traveling you do, you could easily do something like Amsterdam to Rome and back in 3 weeks (I could anyway). You could fly to Amsterdam, rent a car, and just head on out from Amsterdam, to Den Haag (maybe see the Madurodam miniature city there), to Kinderdijk to see the windmills, then down into Belgium to see Bruges and eat some pomme frites and maybe chocolate, then over into Germany through the Mosel and Rhine river valleys seeing castles, doing river cruises, and sampling wine, then down into Switzerland/Austria - stop at Zermatt if in Switzerland, then down into Italy maybe and then back through France including Paris then back to Amsterdam.</p>
<p>I like getting around though when I’m on vacation and don’t enjoy spending time away at some sidewalk cafe sipping a drink and watching people all day. I’d rather head out and see a castle or old cathedral or the Matterhorn or something.</p>
<p>Some of our best times were unplanned stops that we decided when we spotted a castle out the window of the car and headed there or diverted at the last minute through the Cinque Terre or similar unplanned side trips.</p>
<p>Yea, I am not sure about pros & cons of Mossel vs. Rhine. We prefer not to rent a car & drive but are willing to catch bus and trains. We are directionally challenged and the idea of driving in a foreign country doesn’t appeal to any of us.</p>
<p>I’m more of a planner (at least for where we’re sleeping), since I don’t like the idea of scrambling for a bed. I’ve read great things about folks who just call as they decide where they’ll be sleeping, but it makes me nervous. So far, as long as we alot enough time for each city/town, we’ve not had plans sticking to our plans.</p>
<p>Amsterdam is another great “Welcome to Europe” city, and one that young people generally love. Nearly everyone speaks some English, and it is a smallish city, very easy to get your bearings. May may be an expensive time to go as it is tulip time, but if you can swing it, the Keukenhof gardens (a short distance from Amsterdam) are in full flower and absolutely breathtaking.</p>
<p>Himom, you mean you and your H don’t want to drive on the Autobahn? I agree with forgoing driving, especially in big cities. Even if your D didn’t know German, Germans speak enough English that you could start there. I know that Rick Steves is recommending Amsterdam as a good starter city for the reasons midwesterner stated. If I can recommend any more cities, Prague and Budapest are also amazing, youthful cities. Along with Berlin, they are less expensive than the other popular European cities.</p>
<p>Last time, we landed in Munich (I think) & then trained to Rothenberg. It gave us the opportunity to get our bearings somewhat, since the flight from HNL to Europe was really grueling, especially with a 12+ hour layover in Newark.</p>
<p>Since we’re flying from LAX, we feel it shouldn’t be nearly as bad. I think we would love Amsterdam, but if we want to be efficient, it seems somehow better to start southeast and go north and west (or I guess vice versa).</p>
<p>When we were in Europe in 1995, we generally were pretty well understood most places we went, except sometimes in Rome and Paris. We figure D’s German & even a smattering of Dutch and my awful Spanish should convince most folks to speak English. :)</p>
<p>I figure we might like going from warmer (south/Italy) to cooler (north–everywhere else) anyway. It IS hard to choose, but we prefer seeing a few things in depth than rushing & trying to take in too much.</p>
<p>If it were me, I would end in the city which has a direct flight back to LAX. </p>
<p>I remember when my H thought it would be a great idea to rent a car and drive through Germany. Everything was going great…UNTIL he decided he needed a nap and I found myself driving on the Autobahn with everyone else in the car sound asleep. Very scary! If you do decide to rent a car, remember that there is a HUGE financial penalty for returning the car to another country and start brushing up on your stick shift driving because automatics are few and far between.</p>
<p>Driving in France (outside the city) and the Scandinavian countries is a piece a cake.</p>