If you're planning on taking a trip to Europe, you have a few options to make this happen. You could go through a tour company, who puts together your itinerary and even has a tour guide. Everything is arranged by them in advance, such as the plane flight, what sights you will see, where you will go and how much time you will have at each place. The only problem with this is that your family may not want to see The Gothic Cathedral in Germany, or visit an Eastern European country on your way to Switzerland from the Netherlands. If you organize the trip yourself, there will be more involved in your planning. However, you can decide how long to stay each place, and only go places you and your family wish to go. This article will show you organize a trip to Europe.
Instructions
1. Have everyone traveling on this trip apply for a passport. This is the first and most important step. Without this, you aren't going to be able to go to Europe. You must apply in person at any of the passport acceptance locations, which can be found on the United States Department of State website, listed in the resources.
2. Get together with the family or group, and discuss options for the trip. Talk about how long everyone is able to go, and what the budget is like. Figure out places you would like to see and what countries you will visit. Get an idea of everyone's health status and age to discover whether there are any limitations you should be aware of. For example, you don't want to schedule an all day beer session at Oktoberfest in Germany if you are traveling with young children and no one could watch them during this time.
3. Map out the different countries and places. You may find a common theme of one or two countries, and many of the same interests in places to visit. You can then narrow down the choices and decide on what countries to visit and what places to see. When making this decision, plan on no more than one or two countries in a week. Plan one major event each day, or maybe two small ones. Once you go beyond this, you risk being overwhelmed and not having time to enjoy things.
4. Make up a tentative plan of the course of events. Determine a starting place that you will fly into and a place you will leave from, such as flying into Munich, Germany and leaving from Zurich, Switzerland. Figure out what things you want to see starting with Munich and ending in Zurich. Determine how long you will spend at each location, and in each country.
5. Book your plane tickets. You can use a site called Yahoo! Farechase (site listed in the resources) that will give you the best prices for many airlines located on the internet. Once you find your fight, you are directed to the airline or site such as Expedia to directly book the flight. Try to take nonstop flights. This will lessen your time in the air and traveling, and will also decrease the chance of your luggage getting lost.
6. Decide on your mode of transportation once you arrive. It is generally easiest to travel by train through Europe. If you rent a car, you have to worry about directions to get from one place to the next, reading road signs in a foreign language, and the cost of gas. If you go by train, you can actually go onto the Rail Europe website (listed in the resources) and map out what trains you will need to take at each place along the way, and obtain a rail pass in advance. You can even book specific tickets (although you may want to wait until the day of at the train station, since your times may change).
7. Book sleeping accommodations for each part of your trip. Try to stay the least amount of places possible, since this requires moving all of your things to the new location. For example, if you are going to visit Switzerland and spend three days in the Alps at different locations, you could choose a hotel at the base of the Alps, such as in Interlaken, and just take day trips up to your destination by train each day. Your things can stay put in one place while you enjoy the scenery. You can use Yahoo! Farechase to find the best prices on hotels as well.
8. Determine if you need tickets in advance for any of the attractions you will visit. You may get a discount for buying tickets ahead of time to an attraction, but then if you change the days, you could end up having to pay penalties or have to buy a new ticket. Consider this when making the decision.
9. Once you arrive in Europe, plan to be the 'tour guide.' Since you made all the plans and have all the itineraries, you're going to need to know when to go where, and make sure it happens. You'll have to make sure no one misses the flight, the train, the show. Be sure to have all the information you need, including phone numbers of the hotels, the rental car pickup location and drop off location, the train station and other important details. If you would get delayed or lost, you may need to call them for help. It wouldn't hurt to know a bit of the local language as well.
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