45 views and not one response.... hmmmm.... ok I guess Ill start with a little more introduction...
We are from New England and avid travelers. Not typically doing tours though, we are more likley to forge our own way. But we are doing a special Multi-generational trip this time with my Dad who just turned 80. I wanted to be able to do something that both my kids could enjoy as well. This seems like a great fit. We plan to come in a few days before to enjoy Budapest and a few days to go up to Prague afterwards.
We have one daughter, 14, and one son aged 13. Both are pretty active and looking forward to meeting some new friends and exploring new places. They are both pretty mature for their ages and like to travel.
Dave & I are avid boaters as well and we like to ski. We both own our own business, so work too much and looking forward to getting some extended time away! Can't wait!
Many travelers do not go onto the Forum and many are usually the same ones and those writers do not mention children. I did a Bridges tour this summer with my travelling companion's family. If you want to find out how many other children are going to be on the tour, you can call Tauck directly. They will give you the exact breakdown of boys/girls and ages. Hope this helps.
I wish we were joining you, but we've already taken this trip. We really enjoyed it and there will be more riverboat cruises in our future. There were a lot of children on our cruise, and the young teens, like your kids, really bonded. There are only a few family cruises during the year, and the ship's crew really seemed to enjoy having the children onboard. The tour directors were great and had several surprises for the kids that aren't listed in the itinerary. Hope you have a wonderful trip!
We are so looking forward to the Tauck Bridges Blue Danube Riverboat cruise. We have two daughters who will be 11 and 7. We are also planning on spending a few days in Budapest before the trip and a few more in Munich after. Anyone else with children their ages?
We are Katie and Al from Chicagoland. We will be traveling with our gregarious 5-year-old son. I'm excited there will be a 7-y-o on the trip. My mom and stepdad (a German native) may be coming with us or meeting us after. We are pretty experienced travelers and looking forward to visiting Central Europe. If anyone has some advice on where to rent an apartment in southern Germany for a few days the following week, please let us know! Looking for somewhere non-urban with mountains and water, maybe Fussen? Looking forward to meeting everyone!
Here are the ages of our group
Gramma and Grampa--73 (I'm the gramma)
Oldest daughter and husband 48 and 50, I think
Kids are 19. 17, 15 (boy, girl,boy)
Son and wife are 46
kids are 18, 16, 13 (Maybe twelve--memory isn't what it used to be) and 10 (boy, girl, boy, girl)
Daughter and husband are
twins-boy and girl are 11, another girl 9
Looking forward to meeting you all
One of you posters did a lot of traveling. Any suggestions for things to do for a few days in Munich at the end of the trip?
Also, any suggestions for reading besides the ones Tauck suggests.
A favorite book about Central Europe--I've read it twice--"Tomorrow will be Better" by Zdena Kapral. It tell what the Czechoslovakian people went through during the war. Zdena and her husband had a chemial business in Brno. They are not Jewish. It was especially interesting for me to read about what gentiles went through during the war. Zdena was born in 1913, the same year my mom was born in Stockbridge, Wisconsin. It was interesting for me to contrast
their two lives.
Went to Munich a few years ago. Not on a tour. I find it nice when I get to a new city to take the Red (or Blue, or Yellow, etc.) on-off tour bus. It gives you a lay of the land and you can stop and visit where you want.
After seeing much of Berlin we hired a car and driver (not as expensive as you think) to take us to Potsdam. Being a history buff my goal was to visit Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern. This was where the Potsdam Conference was held in 1945 with Truman, Stalin, and Churchill (later Atlee after Churchill was removed as PM). It is no longer a private residence and is a hotel. There isn't much to see but they have preserved a few rooms where the conference took place. The conference was a followup to the Yalta Conference and specifically it was to tell Stalin about the atomic bomb. Churchill and Truman weren't sure how Stalin would react to hearing the news, but they were surprised to find out he already knew and was working on his own A-bomb.
Visiting the summer and winter palaces of Frederick the Great is also a nice touch in Potsdam. Having your own driver, and you can hire a tour guide if you wish, is nice because you can move from one place to another. There was just two of us in a Mercedes S class, but they have the capability to get a larger vehicle and take more. The good news is that no matter how many they take the price is the same...less per person.
Hi - back again - just wondering if there is anyone new out there? We are getting excited about our trip and plan to be in Budapest starting Thursday and then we just tacked on 3 nights in Prague at the end. Seems the train from Regensburg to Prague is an easy one!
Hi All - There is a strike scheduled from June 23 to 30th in France - if you have flights thru there, get on the horn and get them changed! It might not effect your long haul flight in, but once your there you might not get to Budapest as inter-country flights will be effected. Also the trains are on strike there across the country so you wont even have that as an option if you get stranded in Paris.
Thanks, LeslieDavid. We will surely get to the Hofbrauhaus. The only hotel that worked for us because of having 3 grandkids along with the mom and dad and Brian and I was a Holiday Inn in southern Munich. Tauck will transfer us to the Munich airport. I've been checking trains but can't really understand the train site. I'm hoping the Tauck people will give me advice on getting from airport to hotel in the least expensive manner for the 7 of us.
Hi! We're getting psyched, looking forward to meeting everyone, and packing for our trip! Does anyone know if umbrellas are provided by Tauck when we disembark at destinations? One place in the Tauck literature seemed to imply this, but on their packing list, they suggest bringing an umbrella and rain wear.
The Tauck packing list is very generic for many tours. Not been on a river cruise but if it mentions umbrellas anywhere else, maybe they have them but I bet they are not the type you want to haul around 'just in case' I would take a small one with you
Comments
We are from New England and avid travelers. Not typically doing tours though, we are more likley to forge our own way. But we are doing a special Multi-generational trip this time with my Dad who just turned 80. I wanted to be able to do something that both my kids could enjoy as well. This seems like a great fit. We plan to come in a few days before to enjoy Budapest and a few days to go up to Prague afterwards.
We have one daughter, 14, and one son aged 13. Both are pretty active and looking forward to meeting some new friends and exploring new places. They are both pretty mature for their ages and like to travel.
Dave & I are avid boaters as well and we like to ski. We both own our own business, so work too much and looking forward to getting some extended time away! Can't wait!
Anyone else out there???
Many travelers do not go onto the Forum and many are usually the same ones and those writers do not mention children. I did a Bridges tour this summer with my travelling companion's family. If you want to find out how many other children are going to be on the tour, you can call Tauck directly. They will give you the exact breakdown of boys/girls and ages. Hope this helps.
We are so looking forward to the Tauck Bridges Blue Danube Riverboat cruise. We have two daughters who will be 11 and 7. We are also planning on spending a few days in Budapest before the trip and a few more in Munich after. Anyone else with children their ages?
Gramma and Grampa--73 (I'm the gramma)
Oldest daughter and husband 48 and 50, I think
Kids are 19. 17, 15 (boy, girl,boy)
Son and wife are 46
kids are 18, 16, 13 (Maybe twelve--memory isn't what it used to be) and 10 (boy, girl, boy, girl)
Daughter and husband are
twins-boy and girl are 11, another girl 9
Looking forward to meeting you all
One of you posters did a lot of traveling. Any suggestions for things to do for a few days in Munich at the end of the trip?
Also, any suggestions for reading besides the ones Tauck suggests.
A favorite book about Central Europe--I've read it twice--"Tomorrow will be Better" by Zdena Kapral. It tell what the Czechoslovakian people went through during the war. Zdena and her husband had a chemial business in Brno. They are not Jewish. It was especially interesting for me to read about what gentiles went through during the war. Zdena was born in 1913, the same year my mom was born in Stockbridge, Wisconsin. It was interesting for me to contrast
their two lives.
After seeing much of Berlin we hired a car and driver (not as expensive as you think) to take us to Potsdam. Being a history buff my goal was to visit Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern. This was where the Potsdam Conference was held in 1945 with Truman, Stalin, and Churchill (later Atlee after Churchill was removed as PM). It is no longer a private residence and is a hotel. There isn't much to see but they have preserved a few rooms where the conference took place. The conference was a followup to the Yalta Conference and specifically it was to tell Stalin about the atomic bomb. Churchill and Truman weren't sure how Stalin would react to hearing the news, but they were surprised to find out he already knew and was working on his own A-bomb.
Visiting the summer and winter palaces of Frederick the Great is also a nice touch in Potsdam. Having your own driver, and you can hire a tour guide if you wish, is nice because you can move from one place to another. There was just two of us in a Mercedes S class, but they have the capability to get a larger vehicle and take more. The good news is that no matter how many they take the price is the same...less per person.
Hope this helps.
So looking forward to this trip!
Leslie, Dave, Nick (13) and Katie (14)
Good luck!
Leslie
Hofbrauhaus - even the kids will get a kick out of this beer hall with live music. They can get a HUGE stein of apple juice as well