Extended travel through Europe with young kids - what do I need to know?

We're thinking about selling up everything and heading over to Europe with the idea being that we will be away for three to six months - play it by ear once we get there on timing. My DH can work anywhere he has internet and so he will work part time to partially fund our living expenses. We will base ourselves somewhere for a few weeks, and then have three and four day "weekends" going somewhere else so maybe a base around Lyon and then take the train to Prague for the "weekend".

Has anyone travelled long term (not necessarily Europe) with little kids? My girls are 6, 5 and almost 1. I'm worried about keeping them happy while we want to see what we want to see. Miss 6 and 5 are old enough for trade offs - you girls be good and patient for an hour while we check out this old church and we'll take you to get an ice cream, play on the park etc. Miss almost 1 not so much!!

Does anyone know car seat restrictions for kids in the UK and throughout Europe (probably different from country to country I imagine). We're probably going to buy a car while we're over there so I don't feel quite so trapped.

Any and all comments gratefully received. Thanks

My Brother and SIL travelled in Europe for 3 months 2 years ago and while they didn't travel with kids they leased a smallish diesel car for the period they were over there. This was the cheapest option for them and the lease option was better than a hire. Might be worth looking into that instead of buying a car.

You can get a long term car lease for a brand new car instead of buying. It's much easier and it includes comprehensive, no excess insurance. The cost comes to about what you would lose on depreciation. You just need to go directly through the company - we used Peugeot but Renault and Citroen do them too. Someone rear ended our car and they arranged a rental car for us until it was fixed.

Visa? Me and my boys have EU passports so we can stay as long as we like and so can DH because he is married to me but we still had to register with our local marie.
We took a long term lease on a property and then used it as a base. So we had a home of sorts and home town where we could get to know the locals and the boys made friends with the kids from the town.

that's interesting about the car lease - wouldn't have thought of it and will definitely look into it.

My DH has an EU passport and because of that we can get one for the girls. Have to look into whether or not I qualify for one as his spouse, or if he's one step too removed ITMS. Did you look for the property when you get there Zazou, or did you arrange it from home?

I arranged it from Australia and paid for 5 months upfront.
If you want to save some money you could rent a place in the Alps over the summer. Lots of ski accommodation is empty over summer so they let it at a discount.

thanks

For France try googling immobilier and the town of your choice. In Italian it is immobiliare.
Lots of companies will have an English version of their site especially if they are in a touristed town/area.

Do you speak a European language? If not my advice is to enroll yourself ASAP in a language class or at least buy a learn from the CD course/book.

I lived in Europe on and off for 6 years pre DS. However I would advise if you are planning on doing extended weekends that you get a base centrally. Somewhere close to an airport that has flights to destinations you are interested in. Switzerland was my favourite place to be based as English is widely spoken if you don't have a second language, Geneva and Zurich airports are great and its an 'easy' drive to east and west Europe. The public transport is also amazing and you get 4 cultures in one country.

I would also check with the visas, while most places were fine with me popping in and out for a weekend, some places you need to plan a bit in advance.

Sounds like amazing fun!

We have done 6-8 week European stints with the kids and each time we have leased a car also - through Peugot and Renault. Much cheaper option then hiring, the car is brand new straight off the show room floor so the chances of having mechanical issues are almost nil. We were also able to organise car seats through them as well which at the end you had to purchase.

From memory their car seat requirements were slightly different to ours, but mind you this was a couple of years ago. Their car seats look completely different and ours are not compatible with their cars - they are installed differently so you can't simply take yours over.

Last time we went to Europe the kids were 1, 4 and 6. They were all easily amused and travelled well. DVD player for the car is essential.

How exciting!!

The plan as its evolving is that we will spend a couple of weeks around central London and "do" there, and then drive around the UK. Then we'll base ourselves we're thinking around Lyon for a month - easy gateway via train to pretty much everywhere. DD2 is a seriously dreadful flyer (who knows what DD3 will be like) and so for that reason we will predominantly stick with either driving or train travel. Then thinking either around Florence (I've always wanted to spend extended time in Italy) or somewhere else - just not sure of the somewhere yet ! Seems that its also morphing into a month or two in the US on the way home too - combined work visit to "the office" for my DH and holiday. I'm insisting on at least a week somewhere like Hawaii on the way home with a whole lot of childcare options ;-)

Sorry - should have asked before . . .

Ang and Zazou - with the car lease thingy did you arrange that from home before you arrived, or did you just walk into a dealership and say hey I want a short term car lease?

You have to book it about a month in advance.

If you're planning on lots of rail travel maybe look at the Eurail pass.

Sounds so exciting!

Organise it before you leave online. You get to pick your car etc and they are brand new - it's quite fun actually.

oh my goodness. I've just done a bit of researching and done a price comparison of hiring a car as opposed to the lease option on a brand new one. Almost double!!!! Thank you so much Ang and Zazou for this info - I'd say its invaluable but I can actually assign about $4,000 worth of value :p

Just subbing, will pop in here tomorrow when I'm on the computer and download all my info on you :)

The only thing you can't pick is colour, but we have always made that it into a great guessing game about who will get the colour right - kids love it :D and we had many an animated conversation on the plane about whose colour choice would win!

It sounds very exciting, and I really hope we can take the family travelling like that one day!

I would think twice about having a base and doing long 'weekend' trips from there, unless you have long term accommodation in your base, and a lot more stuff than you plan to take with you for the long weekends. But if you just have what you can take on the plane, and don't acquire heaps more there, you may as well load all your stuff in the car and do a slow circle, stopping in each place for several days, and you cut out masses of boring travel time which lands you back at the same place again. Europe may have lots of countries, but it isn't really that small, and it can take a long time - a full day or more of travel, to get from one place to another, eg, Lyon to Barcelona, Lyon to Prague. Motorways and train lines in Europe are not always scenic and interesting, and I think with kids I would be aiming to minimise the number of long travel days.

GO GO GO!!!! I LOVE EUROPE!!! We backpacked around for 7 months and had an amzing time!!!

Like Pholi said, I would also think twice about having a base and just travel. If it were me, I would buy (you can buy them really cheap in the UK) a camper van and use that. We stayed at caravan/motorhome/camping sites all the way through Europe. They are amazing and huge! They have swimming pools, a restaurant, a bar, tour desk etc at all of them. We quite often bumped into families camping while we were travelling. One family had been on the road for 12 months! They would set up, stay for about a week and then go to the next place. These camp grounds also have large chalets for rent so if you get sick of the motorhome you can always check into one of those for a night or two without breaking the bank!

We plan to do another massive trip around Europe when we have a few kiddies, it such an amazing experience.

If you have any specific questions then feel free to ask, between the travel we did and working in the travel industry if I dont know the answer then I can ask a collegue for you :)

Thanks so much for the offer Amy. I will definitely take you up on it when questions come up.

As for the not having a base bit, its just not feasible for us. My DH is going to have to work a good three days a week, so being constantly on the road would be a nightmare. Plus one of my kids in particular really needs stability and so unless she knows we're "living" somewhere I think she might struggle. We're going to be spending the first month travelling around in any event with DH taking a month off work, so we can certainly change our plans if that all goes swimmingly and internet doesn't turn into an issue, but for now I think we need to go with the stability aspect. I'm also a serious homebody, and TBH the thought of three small and oh so very active children constantly on the move makes me feel a little ill ;-)

Hahaha I can understand that! I always felt a little 'honeless' hahaha but it was good fun. I think if they were a bit older it wouldn't be so bad but I def see your point. I also meant to say Peugeot leasing is definitely the way to go, so much cheaper!!!

Actually just been looking at a few websites for second hand motorhome sort of things and none of them (so far anyway!) have five designated seats so we'd be a bit stuffed with that anyway. I guess they're out there somewhere but not sure we'd want to pay for them ;-)

My eldest (6 yrs) asked me a couple of days ago what happens if the plane coming home arrives at night time. Asked her what she meant and she said that seeing as we are selling our house before we go, if the plane comes home at night does that mean we have to sleep in the car??? poor little love. Think I need to do some reassuring that being homeless doesn't necessarily mean on the streets!

You can get a rebate on the VAT on any goods bought within 3 months of your departure if you show them you are a tourist (non-EU passport) on departure so save receipts.