AsiaTraveler

The thing about Priceline is that the only GUARANTEE a two person room. However, in many US hotels, it would not be that difficult to get a room that would sleep 4.

The method would probably go something like this: Check on Better Bidding or Bidding for Travel on what hotels are typically won within that zone. Check to see what kinds of rooms those hotels have, and then decide if you are comfortable gambling. Ahead of time and/or at check in, request a double double room and hope for the best. Probably would keep the "extra" people away from the desk at check in, though.

Or you could just use Hotwire, where you can select up to four people, even though the prices are a little higher.

Where in California are you going? I would NOT try the Priceline route in a place like San Francisco where it is more likely that hotels will have small rooms with only one bed. Other areas, I might consider it.

mrsjon01

I've done Premier Inn in the UK twice and had great experiences both times. It's an inexpensive brand but was totally ok. We had one double bed, a roll away, and a mattress on the floor. Not the Four Seasons but it was fine. Also I've found that some smaller properties or independent hotels are more likely to accommodate a quad booking, especially in Germany and Scandinavia. Hope that helps.

mechteach

So this is not exactly in answer to your question, but I just wanted to throw this in there for consideration.

Assuming that you are American, have you lived in Europe before? The reason that I ask is that we were in a similar situation ~2 years ago (with kids of almost the same age). We had the opportunity to move to London for a year+, and I was excited about all of the places we could travel. (We had traveled around Europe extensively previously, but had never *lived* there.)

Once we were in the UK, though, I ended up really ramping back our travel plans. I loved all of the trips that we did take, and how cheap and easy it was to get to some super cool places, but it turned out that I loved being a resident of London much more. I can recreate all of the trips we took in some fashion or another now (we're back in the US), but I can't recreate the amazing feeling of really living in London. Frankfurt and London aren't exactly the same, but Frankfurt is, of course, very cool as well.

Just something to keep in mind if you are booking a lot of nonrefundable hotels, tickets, etc.!

daregale

With a lot of the airbnb rentals, owners are renting illegally, either out of ignorance that it isn't allowed, or trying to fly under the radar. New York City is notorious for that, and buyers really need to beware and do their homework.

The Deal Mommy

For families, esp in Europe, I suggest Endlessvacationrentals dot com. They are the rental arm of rci timeshares. I have used them numerous times and post about the on my blog. Using them for Ireland and Austria this year, and Tenerife last.

Helsinki Flyer

Don´t forget the campsites, where you can bring a tent (not many of those), rent a mobile home or a bungalow/house for usually less money that hotels would charge. They´re everywhere in Europe and kids usually love them. They have outdoor pools, sometimes indoors too, friends to play sports with, usually no driving allowed inside the campsite, day & evening programme for kids and adults too. Cooking is possible, bbq outside etc, saves a lot of money on food costs. They´re not trashy at all, most of them are for regukar people, nothing like the trailer parks you have in the US.

try checking like www.landal.com, www.eurocamp.co.uk, www.vacansoleil.com

horseymen

I know we're big on not cross-posting, so I figured I'd piggy back off of this.

I'll try to keep this short since I can write a novel on a two sentence question.

First time to Europe this summer with wife, me - and twin three year old girls - flying into Frankfurt. Get in at 9am (which is 3am Texas time). First time ever dealing with language barriers, cultural barriers, etc..

We are going for 37 days - so my goal is to have probably 4 1-week stays in major areas.. say Paris, Rome.. places like that - and use our apartment/timeshare/condo as our exploration point for that area.

Any thoughts/recommendations for that first couple of days while dealing with jet lag/culture shock/first time language barriers? Wife and I are both on the introverted scale, so the idea of our FIRST night in a new land in a hostel isn't super-appealing, but almost every hotel rolls for around $175USD (and we'd need two rooms - as that's just our habit/routine) - but I'm having Frankfurt Germany hotel price sticker shock.

Would driving an hour somewhere out of Frankfurt help with the price? If so, which way? I'd imagine I'd want to stay somewhere for a couple of days just to get acclimated with things a bit before making our first journey/venture. We'll be there 37 days, so I don't feel rushed to start the first minute we're there - and our traveling style is a bit "dip your toes in the water" as opposed to rush to the "rush to the theme park the first day and GO GO GO style." - we travel about 10-12 weeks a year, and now that I've learned the miles game, I suspect it won't be our last trip to Europe either.

Eclipsepearl

IMHO, staying in Frankfurt is a complete waste. There's nothing to do or see. I used to work there and live about 2 hours away. I was sent to FRA 21 times my first year flying so I've spent a lot of time there. Absolutely no logic in staying there, especially if it won't save you any money.

I'm not aware of any hostels but there are quite a few "Zimmerfreis" which may more comfortably house a family than having two, separate hotel rooms. Connecting rooms are hard to find in Europe.

Heidelberg or Baden-Baden aren't far away, much nicer and there are things to do and see. You're arriving in the morning so you have plenty of time to get somewhere else. Where are you headed next?

For jet lag, just throw yourselves into the routine when you get there. Shift on to a day/night schedule immediately but be flexible. I aim for bedtime between 8pm and midnight, depending on the direction. I don't allow anyone out of bed before 5am and set the alarm for 10am. That's pretty generous!

As bedtime approaches, turn off all screens; T.V., computer, smartphone... They give off a light that suppresses Melatonin, which you don't want. Keep lights on low or off. Go through bedtime routine.

Any night awakenings, beware. Keep the lights low and immediately send child back to bed after needs met. Be aware that your stomachs have to readjust too and I find this more difficult than sleep, especially with children. If they're hungry, they simply won't nod off, so be prepared. Have a snack on the ready. Make it something not too sugary, greasy or salty. Something bready like a soft pretzel (easy to get in Germany) is good. I would even skip teeth brushing this one, exceptional time, so that we wouldn't be flipping on any bright lights.

I usually let mine nap in the car or bus on the way home and then keep them up till bedtime. If you do let them nap, don't do it too late in the day and get them up!!! Do NOT let them oversleep. I know families who take weeks getting over jet lag, often less than our 9 hour difference, just because the parents claim their children "need their sleep". This isn't necessarily true and when I've called them in the afternoon, and their children are sill in bed, a week after their return, I know they're in for a tough adjustment!

Daytime, get out and about. Baden-Baden is especially good because you can go to Caracalla. Swimming is excellent for jet lag. But just be out in public, away from beds and with non-jetlagged people. If it's sunny, that will work too.

Luxemburg is about 2 hours from Frankfurt, if you're headed to Paris right away.

Another idea is to get down to Rust, Germany and visit Europapark the next day. It's a bit further but the next day, you could spend at the park and the girls will be over their jet lag quickly that way. We prefer Europapark over Disney any day! This is also en route if you plan on visiting Switzerland. 2 1/2 hours but it's a straight shot down the Autobahn.

http://www.europapark.de/lang-en/Hom...angchange=true

As far as language is concerned, everyone speaks at least passable English in Germany. The only exceptions would be newer immigrants who speak their own language and German. Younger people are more likely to speak it than older ones, who are simply out of practice. In countries where I don't speak the language, I always ask first and try to ask an "isolated" person, not a group. Sometimes, people don't want others to hear how they speak English so it's better if you ask, say, a lady walking her dog than a bunch of coworkers walking to lunch.

I took Melatonin as a Flight Attendant, working mainly long haul transatlantics and transpacifics. I didn't give it my children until they were older. Not sure if you want to go this route. It's not a drug strictly speaking, since we all have melatonin already, but I've never seen it sold in Europe. I buy mine in the U.S. so think about this before leaving.

If you're renting a car, be sure to take your own car seat. The selection in Germany is not great and it's an especially bad idea to rent car seats from the rental car companies here. I drive around with American car seats without a hitch in Germany and France (and Italy, Switzerland, etc.) and I'm not a tourist. At police checks, I have been waved through without problems.

AsiaTraveler

I agree with Eclipsepearl that you are probably better off getting out of Frankfurt- it was rebuilt in a completely modern, functional style after WWII, so there's very little to recommend it as a destination.

I'm wondering where you are looking for hotel rooms? I found American travel portals very unhelpful in booking hotels in Europe. Two portals I used extensively to plan a European trip were booking.com and hrs.de. They were both reputable, and we didn't have any issues with our reservations getting to the hotel in question. They tend have many more options for local chains, hotels, or pensions (Bed & Breakfasts), rather than just the big chains. A quick scan of hotels in the area (I picked a random date in late June since I didn't know your exact dates) showed a number of hotels significantly under the $175/night price point.

You will want to read the reviews rather than just the star ratings, since sometimes people mark down hotels for silly things that they would have known if they had actually read the description, rather than assuming that it will be the same as in the US. Also, if there's an amenity that you absolutely must have, you may want to verify it with the hotel- we booked a hotel outside Munich that came up in the search of hotels with A/C on one of the sites, but it definitely did not have A/C when we got there. It turned okay for us as it was still early summer.

You also mention that you always need two hotel rooms. It takes a little more doing, but in your situation, I would be looking for a two room combination, rather than 2 rooms. Smaller hotels and/or pensions may have this sort of thing, and it may be cheaper or get you more space than two rooms. For example, when I was traveling with my parents, we stayed at a pension outside Salzburg, where for the price of 2 standard rooms, we rented their suite, which had two bedrooms, a sitting area, and our own private bathroom. I found one example quickly in the Frankfurt area through the booking.com website.

But yes, any time you get can get out of the city and more into the country, you will probably save money on lodging. But a lot will depend on your plans and transportation as to whether it's worth it to do so.

horseymen

Thank you for your thoughts. We are still in the planning stages. It's like knowing you're going to an all you can eat buffet and not knowing where or what you want to start with.

Given our goals, we think we will be going to Paris and Rome as two of the major places we will be staying at.. Probably Paris first, and then Rome although I'm not really "sold" on either way we go.

The information about Jetlag is good - I appreciate it. We are a bit quirky because I work online, and for work purposes, I generally stay up until 3am - sleep until around 10/11am - wife goes to bed around midnight, and kids go to bed around 9. Wife handles the kiddos and does breakfast/shower/morning errands and by the time they're done, I'm getting up. What is interesting about that is that 3am will be the middle of their nights but about the time I'm ready to go to bed. Hopefully with daylight and maybe a nap on the airplane, I could handle at the very least a 3-4 hour drive to start getting us used to European time.

We will definitely take our carseats. We're probably ultra-conservative in the fact that we still rear-face them and plan on doing so until 4. They have each other to talk to so they don't seem to mind this.

AsiaTraveler - so far I've been looking at kayak/orbitz and then to individual websites based on what I see on there. I appreciate the booking tips!

So if a goal is to try to acclimate quickly, maybe starting in Paris given its closer proximity might be good and find an apartment for a couple of weeks starting Day 1.. definitely some good food for thought - I guess we can always nap at a rest stop (assuming they have rest stops) if I get tired. Wouldn't be the first time that's happened.

Eclipsepearl

Germany is known for its efficiency and you'll be out of the airport in no time. Basically, you could handle a 2 hour drive. Their roads are good and there are rest stops along the way.

AsiaTraveler

You're welcome. I don't remember if I tried using Kayak, but Orbitz et al definitely did not have a wide selection when I looked there 3-4 years ago, esp. outside city centers.

You mentioned in your original post that you are thinking of using a timeshare/condo for a week at a time? I hear you on the all you can eat buffet part, so I'm wondering if you're talking about using points/weeks/whatever to get a timeshare (or if that was a more general statement about having a home base apartment that you pay for)? If you're trading points/weeks/whatever for an actual timeshare, that is where I'd start- look into the availability, both in terms of locations & timing. If there's one or two places you know you want to go, get those locked in and then fill in the gaps accordingly.