Planning a trip abroad for Dummies

[easypeasy]

Where does one even begin? I'd like to plan a trip for 2019. Somewhere where English is commonly spoken (while I have family members who speak other languages passably, my anxiety will kick in if I feel like *I* can't communicate!) - so France or Spain should be fine...

Some of the kids have been to Paris already, so maybe England or Spain would be best? We'd love to visit Greece, but I'm unsure about the language issue...

Anyway, I have no idea of where to really get started. I've googled, but the amount of information (much of which disagrees with each other) causes me to run away. I love information-gathering, but when it's a subject I am SO unfamiliar with, I tend to get overwhelmed.

I need a good place to start. A website that starts from the beginning? A book? Many books? Any suggestions out there?

We'd like to visit some touristy spots, but I would especially love to spend a few days in the heart of wherever we are... just wandering about the everyday, low-key... So most of the "group tours" trips I've seen really aren't an ideal fit.

Backup plan is Canada. :) I think I can get started on Canada without too much stress involved. :D Maybe we should do Canada first (again, kids have been to a couple areas in Canada, so we'll go to a province none of them have been to) - and then plan something further for the next go-round? hmmmm.

[FriedClams]

I love Rick Steves for guide books and ideas. Another idea is to Google tour companies and see what you like, then plan your own based on a general plan. It'll be cheaper by far and customizable. You can focus on places with public transport or rent a car. Then check out museums, attractions, etc and customize. I use booking.com for all my hotels and they're great. You can check locations, recommendations, etc. Easy peasy. You can also cancel a lot for free (the Ibis line in Europe has great cancellation rules) so it's fun to plan and swap stuff around.

 

Some things that is recommend in general - location over cost (while being reasonable). Time is money so an hour spent on a train for 4 people a day... It's worth the$50/night for the closer hotel. Plan breaks, gaps, and rest. We do a "what's one?" poll for every trip. "If there were one thing you'd be sad we missed - an experience/food/shop/museum etc - what is it? Those get priority. Classes are SO FUN when traveling. Our cooking class was the highlight of our Japan trip. Try it! Public transport is cheap and easy. Definitely use it whenever possible. Whenever you can, buy museum tickets online. So easy. Minimal lines. And check what a "child" or "youth" is, as most museums are free for under 17 in Europe (this makes some of those multi passes a huge rip off for children). 

[Lanny]

TripAdvisor.com is THE main travel web site.  You will find more information there than you have time to read.  You mentioned possibly France or Spain, so I would suggest limiting your investigation to those 2 countries, to try to prevent going totally insane with an avalanche of information.  Later this year, you can apply for U.S. Passports so you will be ready when that outstanding air fare bargain becomes available.  

[madteaparty]

When we took my inlaws across the pond for the first time, we also did London and then couple places in France but Italy would’ve been fine too.

i’m just in a break from couple months travel and what i’d  recomend is choose the cities first that appeal to you and you have the budget for (London expensive to do as a family for example but much to do for everyone) and then, on trip advisor, search “top 10 activities in CYZ”. Then go and find highly rated tours for those. Be aware that TripAdvisor owns viator now ( a tour company) so it will recomend those. Make sure to read reviews not the “sponsored” bit. There’s always photos. And...take everything with a grain of salt as there has been in my case one missing piece of info on almost every place ;)

I'm a fairly seasoned traveller but I’ve no shame in doing tours. It’s good to have someone take care of transport for the day and tell you what you’re looking at.

For Europe I also recommend Rick Steves and he has some podcasts as well. Not sure if you are doing”schooling” related to the travels, but we try to read a book per country and watch some great lectures.

lastly. Planning is the hardest for me. I know people enjoy it but I had such a block planning parts of my trip. Some I didn’t and just threw myself in and that is a shock to the system but only in some of the places I went. It’s okay. Everyone else is just as clueless. At least you’re out there doing things :) 

edit again:

once you pick a country, the guidebooks will have sample itineraries for the days you’re there “xyz in three/seven/14 days” or whatever. You can get most guidebooks free if you have kindle unlimited. 

[Innisfree]

I like to just go to the library and drag home a huge pile of books at first. That helps me get ideas; then I can start to think about narrowing down the choices by considering each family member's interests and priorities.

We (mostly I) have been planning our first major family trip all winter. I love travel, and love planning. So I've been hanging out browsing on the Trip Advisor forums, and reading travel guides, and generally daydreaming and surfing the internet.

It's been many years since dh and I were overseas, but we've both enjoyed trips where we pick about one city or town for each week we have available. We choose places with plenty to do, but not capital cities all the time. Smaller places can be more relaxing.

We don't even try to do everything, or plan a full itinerary ahead of time. We can see a castle one day and a Roman villa the next, spend time in a museum, but also browse in shops or markets. Day trips add variety. As long as we're in interesting places, it's all good. So, in planning, I've made sure we have ways to see things that interest each of us, but  I've left the details open for now. We'll do some things that each person cares about, and we won't see everything anywhere, but that gives us an excuse to go back someday.

[wintermom]

Canada is a great option, as it's close and relatively cheap. Montreal and Quebec City both have sections of the city that are very old (400 years old), with beautiful stone buildings, churches, restaurants and shops. It's like going to Europe without having to leave North America. Plus you'd hear and see a lot of French, but still be able to function fully in English. Outside of either city has some beautiful scenery as well.

[easypeasy]

Thank you guys!! This gave me a bite-sized, focused idea of where to begin!

I LOVE planning trips. I love planning ANYTHING. But, planning something so "foreign" (in all ways... travel time, language, culture, etc) - just puts my brain on spin cycle and I can't land anywhere to get started.

We have several major within-the-US trips planned for this year, so I'd like to do the preliminary research for this trip while I'm "in the zone." Kids and dh all have passports, but I know some will need updated (they've turned 18 since last trip), so I guess I need to figure all that out and get a timeline for that as well!