Shellydon Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 At some point DH and I want to take our kids to Europe. An opportunity to go with a tour group (EF Tours) has come up. The cost is considerable, roughly $5000 a person, but that includes everything except for lunch each day (airfare, hotel, tickets to museums etc.). I have never done anything with a group, so I have no idea how to go about deciding if this is a good way to travel abroad. Suggestions, experience, ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Europe is quite doable on your own and a lot cheaper. I like the flexibility to plan days to suit our family and change as needed. We have taken a couple of two or three day tours while on a longer trip. It made it easier to see places that were hard to reach by easy public transportation. I would start reading some travel guides and get a feel for things before you decide. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*lifeoftheparty* Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 When I was in high school, we went with another educational travel company- NETC- and had a great time. Here's what you should know. These educational groups are geared toward high school groups... the days are very long, and packed full of stuff. You get back to the hotel late at night, and need to be ready to go early in the morning. You stay in each city about 1-2 nights only- it is very fast paced. When I was in high school- that was awesome, lol. I'm not sure I would enjoy it as much now ;) I am in the process of scheduling a trip to Europe for my CC group, so I'm researching tour groups. I have already decided that I will not be using EF tours. They have way too many bad reviews. Many of the bad reviews are about the food (awful food- lots of "Americanized" food that US teens are used to) and hotel choices. EF Tours has cheaper prices than other companies, and one of the reasons why is because they choose lower star hotels in the city, or, choose hotels that are far outside city limits, which means long commutes- making those long days even worse. Now, there are plenty of people who had a great time with EF Tours, however, there were far too many negative reviews for me, personally, to gamble that much money on. Honestly, if you are willing to spend $5K per person, I suggest going on your own- or going with a better travel company, like Rick Steves. If it matters, I'm either going to use ACIS or NETC for our co-op trip.... and if/when we go with just our family- plan everything on my own. Fly in, get rail passes, stay in B & B's or hostels, etc. You could easily do that for $5000 a person- easy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*lifeoftheparty* Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Rick Steves has tons of travel iteneraries and travle tips on his site... highly recommend :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I just took my kids to Amsterdam for almost a week, solo. Europe is so doable, so much cheaper. Skip the tour and plan on your own. I second Rick Steves, he's excellent. And Pinterest has great ideas, too. The blog "The Man in Seat 61" has EVERYTHING you'll need to know about train travel. I'd also check airb&b and consider apartments in lieu of hotels - so much easier to relax, cook, and experience an area. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellydon Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 Thank you all so much! Off to read and learn more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplejackmama Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 My vote is no. But, I'm not a fan of traveling with crowds. I navigated Europe in college with my roommate. I say go with your family and see what it's important to you! Enjoy!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 We spent in 3 weeks in Northern Europe for not much more than that for the three of us total. $5,000 EACH sounds incredibly, breathtakingly high to me. But, I've never taken a tour or looked into them. Maybe that's a standard rate. You can definitely spend much, much less on your own though, plus not be tied into someone else's itinerary. That said, if making all the decisions, reservations, etc is what's holding you back from going, a tour would be worth considering. I totally third the vote for checking out Rick Steves as a place to start researching. Tour or independently, it's worth doing if you can swing it. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 For your reference, the people I mostly see on tours these days (I work in a tourist town in Scotland) are from countries that are less used to travel, mostly from Asia. There are some North Americans in tour groups - usually special interest groups, like golfers - but most seem to find it easy to navigate (at least in the UK) on their own. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in CT Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Some people don't much like the planning and figuring and organizing, and find it more relaxing to have all that done for you. And certainly it's nice to have your luggage dealt with, etc. The older my parents get, for instance, the more they appreciate the benefits of going with organized groups. But you do pay for it. I don't know how many family members you have, but $5,000/person x family of 4... for $20,000 you could spend a whole summer staying in apartments throughout Europe, taking trains or discount air in between cities, eating dinner in nice restaurants and having a solid budget left for cultural / sports / other stuff during the day. I *like* the dreaming / planning / figuring -- for me it's part of the fun. It is easy-peasy to manage Europe on your own. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 For the family I'd go without a group. Cheaper. You could pick up guided tours in cities along the way. It will more of a family adventure when you've got your own agenda. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I think it depends on how you like to travel. If you want to go to all the "must-see" sites, don't feel confident planning/making reservations on your own, and like being around other people all the time, then a group is probably right If you want to be able to see the things that are important to you and go at your own pace, you will need to research, plan, and execute it yourself. We have not traveled extensively as a family but we did spend a month in the UK several years ago. We were on our own. We made some mistakes and so spent more time driving and looking for the next night's lodgings than we should have, but overall it was a great experience for all of us. I'm so glad we didn't go on a tour and be tied to someone else's idea of what's important. And remember you can never see it all. We spent two days at the British Museum, and that was wonderful, but of course that meant there other London sights we didn't see. We could have spent an hour in the BM and had time for other things, but the experience would have been completely different. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I would never want to travel with a tour - unless it was the only way to access the destination. Europe is easily doable on your own. Western Europe consists of civilized countries with culture comparable to the US, so you do not need a tour guide to navigate. 5k is for what amount of time? You can do it a lot cheaper on your own. I would hate having to stick to somebody else's itinerary, be forced to move in a group, be unable to choose what to see and how much time to spend. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Also, if it's just picking hotels and such that you aren't sure about doing on your own, websites like go-today will fit that. You pick a package, and it will pick a few hotels in various cities for you, help you arrange transportation between those cities, etc. You can get airfaire with them, or on your own. Kind of a middle option. We used them when we went to Scotland. We loved the hotels they used, and even got upgraded at one point for free, and the rental care was nicer than we expected as well. Using them we knew we'd be in Edinburgh for 2 nights, then in the Highlands for 3 nights, then back in Edinburgh for one night, and we planned our outings around that. But if we woke up and didn't feel like doing whatever we planned or had a new idea we could follow it. They have ones for Europe that combine different countries/cities. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 One thing I'll throw in if you do plan your own trip - buy museum tickets online. Wow, you save a ton of time!!!! And, at least in Amsterdam, kids were free at all the major museums, so things like The Holland Pass/ I Amsterdam Pass weren't worth it for me. Definitely check ahead for free kid stuff (at museums under 17 was free, everywhere else 13+ is adult). And, a travel agent might be a great compromise between planning yourself and a tour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I love planning my own trips -- you can learn so much by planning. But, imo, starting off planning by using the Internet is confusing. There is too much info, and it is hard to know whether or not reviews are unbiased. But using a good, standard guidebook, like a Fodor or Frommer's, is a great help. Ime, the hotel recommendations are accurate, and the suggested itineraries really work. Itineraries usually have a choice of one day, two day, etc, with or without children, places to eat on the way, transportation, and so on. Better than running around yourself in six different directions. But customizable in a way that packaged tours often are not. The DK guidebooks are not as good on hotels recs, IMO, but excellent on tours, because they have little 3D pix of many museums and other sites. I usually use one Fodor/Frommer's and one DK to plan a trip. Meals on packaged tours can be a nightmare. The paid for meals may offer a limited choice, or no choice, of menu items. Soggy salads might be waiting on your plates when you arrive, lol. And lunch may mean that the entire tour is let off in one area, so people end up in long lines at the nearest restaurant. Once, when I was traveling with my father, he got a private guide and limo. I wanted to go to small villages outside of Budapest to see tiny, room sized churches. The guide was excellent, well educated, filled us in on a lot of history. So guides can be helpful. But packaged guided tours may not hire the best guides. The guides can be people who work for the company, travel a lot, but do not actually live in the place you are visiting. They may hire local guides on occasion, but you can do that too by going on a local tour bus or walking tour. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellydon Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 Thanks all after reading all the replies, we've decided to forgo the group trip and plan something on our own. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellydon Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 One thing I'll throw in if you do plan your own trip - buy museum tickets online. Wow, you save a ton of time!!!! And, at least in Amsterdam, kids were free at all the major museums, so things like The Holland Pass/ I Amsterdam Pass weren't worth it for me. Definitely check ahead for free kid stuff (at museums under 17 was free, everywhere else 13+ is adult). And, a travel agent might be a great compromise between planning yourself and a tour. Great tip!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Thanks all after reading all the replies, we've decided to forgo the group trip and plan something on our own. Have fun planning! Check out a travel bookstore if there is one near you. They have maps and specialized books that never make it to the big bookstores. Many countries also have tourist authorities with U.S. offices -- loads of free advice. One time when I went to Turkey, the tourist bureau in NYC practically planned my trip, with hotel advice, car rental info, not to miss sites, and so on. You get expert advice and don't pay anything. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 My mother and her husband did a Rick Steve's tour of England and had a great time. They got placed in less common places to stay and it made their trip easy. Like the others, I would be reluctant to do that with a family. If *I* had that much money to spend ($20K for a family of 4) and wanted an easy, amazing vacation, I'd take a cruise that had ports of call at all the places. They have mediterranean cruises like that, St. Petersburg cruises, etc. Or there are tours through universities and with well-known photographers where you get guides and hit your field of interest. I *think* Dr. Carol Reynolds (of Discovering Music) leads some tours like that. I get ads for them from universities. (Reformation tours, Bible history tours, etc.) You could also consider doing mainly England, which might be more comfortable to you if you don't speak another language. Then you could just go through the Chunnel and do a day or two in Europe. While in England you could find itineraries for author tours, etc. The Jane Austen org there probably has itineraries. That's what I want to do with dd someday. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I wouldn't do it. I'd rather be able to plan it out myself, including things like shopping for groceries in local markets instead of JUST eating out the whole time (I get sick of eating out even when the food is good), and having opportunities to just spend a day resting when we need to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellydon Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 My mother and her husband did a Rick Steve's tour of England and had a great time. They got placed in less common places to stay and it made their trip easy. Like the others, I would be reluctant to do that with a family. If *I* had that much money to spend ($20K for a family of 4) and wanted an easy, amazing vacation, I'd take a cruise that had ports of call at all the places. They have mediterranean cruises like that, St. Petersburg cruises, etc. Or there are tours through universities and with well-known photographers where you get guides and hit your field of interest. I *think* Dr. Carol Reynolds (of Discovering Music) leads some tours like that. I get ads for them from universities. (Reformation tours, Bible history tours, etc.) You could also consider doing mainly England, which might be more comfortable to you if you don't speak another language. Then you could just go through the Chunnel and do a day or two in Europe. While in England you could find itineraries for author tours, etc. The Jane Austen org there probably has itineraries. That's what I want to do with dd someday. :D None of us speak another language, but we still want to do Italy (Rome!) Greece, Greek islands, along with England and France. I would LOVE to add Ireland and Scotland, but that would probably be asking too much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Depends on what I'm doing. For visiting a lot of destinations, I probably would go with a tour. But planning a lot of travel details isn't my thing. For spending more time in one place or a few places, I'd do my own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 If you really don't want the burden of planning your own trip, we have some friends who recently went to Europe (a family) who felt the same way. They didn't join a tour group, but they hired a travel agent to plan their whole trip for them. It was just a local travel agent. So, all transportation and lodging was taken care of for them, as well as some tickets to special events, and probably lots of good recommendations and advice for the individual cities. So, the major stuff was taken care of, but they still had a lot of flexibility to plan their days within the cities. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 If you really don't want the burden of planning your own trip, we have some friends who recently went to Europe (a family) who felt the same way. They didn't join a tour group, but they hired a travel agent to plan their whole trip for them. It was just a local travel agent. So, all transportation and lodging was taken care of for them, as well as some tickets to special events, and probably lots of good recommendations and advice for the individual cities. So, the major stuff was taken care of, but they still had a lot of flexibility to plan their days within the cities.Great idea. I haven't used agents in a long time, but they can be wonderful, with the most up to date info. And hotels don't want any bad stuff to get back to an agent, so they take good care of you. How does pricing work with travel agents? I don't remember paying anything. I do remember changing plans, extending a stay in one city. One call to the agent, and it was fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 This includes flights, hotel, and breakfasts daily and is $1,699, for TWELVE nights, going from London to Paris to Amsterdam to Rome. I can't imagine paying $5,000 per person! http://www.go-today.com/stw/STWProduct.aspx?Theme=GT&ProductCode=UK-LONPARAMSROM2X3&marketpromo=GTEU1015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Great idea. I haven't used agents in a long time, but they can be wonderful, with the most up to date info. And hotels don't want any bad stuff to get back to an agent, so they take good care of you. How does pricing work with travel agents? I don't remember paying anything. I do remember changing plans, extending a stay in one city. One call to the agent, and it was fixed. I wonder! I don't know how pricing works. Somehow they must get a commission, or how would they make money? Maybe they have agreements with certain hotels, etc., and if they make a reservation with them they get a commission from the hotel? In any case, I assume it's more expensive to do it this way rather than doing it on your own, but I can't imagine it being more expensive than the cost of a tour group. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 We have done it on our own, very loosely. It was really scary ahead of time the first time, but it worked out great and wasn,t scary once we arrived and saw what it was like. From home, we read some guidebooks at the library, chose some goals and a strategy, bought one or two guides to bring with us which contained hotel info, bought maps, listened to some pimsleur language tapes, decided roughly on a route, and arranged flights, rental car, and first and last night hotel reservations. Once there, we used a combination of local tourist info, online info, and the guidebooks to decide on a hotel each night, once we knew which town we would be in. We weren,t in high season and stayed in small towns with small hotels, mostly, so this worked fine. It allowed us to work around the weather, local conditions like road work, the wishes of the children (that was fun please can,t we do it again tomorrow), and local advice. We used a combination of map and gps to get around. The maps turned out to be important for giving ourselves some idea of where in Europe we were. Our goals and strategies have varied from trip to trip. The first time, the goal was to let oldest try his Spanish and to show husband and children how much fun Europe can be. I had a short list of things to see - a cathedral, a castle, a vineyard, some Roman ruins, a cafe, a market, the Med. Sea. To that, we added a few thing more specific to the area, a specific museum, for example, with oldest,s interests in mind. We found, using the guide book, a nice example of a castle and ruins and a cathedral, to keep in mind in case we didn,t run across one. Our strategy was to eat our way down our route, going from cafe to cafe, eating bread, cheese, unlimited pastries, icecream, and orangina, not overdoing the site-seeing, making sure to build lots of fun family memories, and not trying to be educational. I figured just being in a foreign country where everything looked and sounded different ( or amazingly alike) was plenty educational enough. (This strategy worked brilliantly and our now-adult children are still talking about that trip.) We chose other goals and strategies for other trips. Deciding this beforehand makes it easier to make trip decisions. It helps keep you from being disappointed in the trip afterwards. Have fun! Nan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellydon Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 I've been looking at the Rick Steves site. It looks amazing, but the group tours are going to be a minimum of $5K a person. Good thing I have years to plan this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*lifeoftheparty* Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I've been looking at the Rick Steves site. It looks amazing, but the group tours are going to be a minimum of $5K a person. Good thing I have years to plan this! You could just use his trips/iteniraries to plan your own trip :) I don't know if you saw it- but his travel company has travel consultions for a small fee... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I've been looking at the Rick Steves site. It looks amazing, but the group tours are going to be a minimum of $5K a person. Good thing I have years to plan this! Most people who recommend Rick Steves are talking about using his guidebooks to plan your own trip, at least in my experience. Almost 20 years ago, we used his guidebook to Britain and the three-week itinerary he lists in there to plan a 17-day trip to England, Scotland, and Wales. We have since used his guidebooks to plan trips to France, Amsterdam, Florence, Spain, Ireland, and (for 2016) Denmark. I also highly recommend his book Europe through the Back Door for general travel tips and philosophy. Even though we now follow the thumbprint method of travel, his guidebooks are a key part of our trip planning process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 None of us speak another language, but we still want to do Italy (Rome!) Greece, Greek islands, along with England and France. I would LOVE to add Ireland and Scotland, but that would probably be asking too much You'll do great without knowing another language. Learn the polite words for where ever you go...please and thank you with a smile go a long way! We had our sons learn a handful of polite words and how to count to ten in every language we encountered. Also a fun project. Once you are there, let the other language roll off you. I've seen people (and been one of them) that fought to make sense of the language they didn't know the first few hours after getting off the plane. It's like spinning your wheels in the mud--lots of effort with little results. Let it flow off you, enjoy the rhythms and sounds. I don't know how to describe it exactly--I just know it's better when I do. We've traveled a lot in Europe. I heartily suggest the Rick Steves books. He was like the fifth member of our group. :) I love reading his books and planning trips using them. His best advice--remember you can't do it all. Plan to go back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.