NeedMoreCowbell

I have never travelled to Europe.
I'm taking DW and 3 Swiftie daughters on a trip to Europe next year to see Taylor in Warsaw on 8/2. I have the following, partially (really just the flight to & from London on B6) booked, itinerary; as I have next to no experience in Europe I'm sweating at the thought of booking these European airline tickets. Would greatly appreciate any advice on this tentative plan:

7/23/24: BUF -> JFK -> LGW via B6 (arriving 7/24/24; this flight is booked)
7/24/24: London
7/25/24: London
7/26/24: Eurostar Train from London St Pancras Int'l -> Paris Gare du Nord (not booked yet, seems like a fun way to get to Paris)
7/27/24 to 7/29/24: Paris
7/30/24: CDG -> WAW (not booked yet, very reasonably priced flight to Warsaw from Paris on this day via Air France)
7/31/24 to 8/4/24: Warsaw (TS concert tickets are purchased)
8/5/24: WAW -> LRH (not booked yet, very reasonably priced flight to London from Warsaw on this day via British Airways)
8/6/24: London
8/7/24: LGW -> JFK -> BUF (via B6, booked)

Questions:
Any major flaws in this plan? Should I be looking to fly back into London to LGW since that's how we're flying back home a couple days later or is that no big deal?
Air France & British Airways are completely new to me, any issues with booking with them directly?
Should I bother signing up everyone in my family to their ff programs?
Besides making sure we all have passports, anything else I should do to ensure a safe and stress-free trip?
I haven't booked any car rentals in any of these cities. Can I get by without a car in all 3?
I haven't booked any accommodations yet, was waiting until airfare was all booked.
Any general advice for a Europe newbie? I speak a little bit of (high school) French and a little bit of (family) Polish.

Thank you for any advice!

Mwenenzi

Q1 Would book flight back to any LON airport as staying overnight. Note for EU low cost carriers read the rules. They do not operate like USA airlines. Check the local transport options to/from the airports~hotel
Q2 Better to book direct than some random OTA, Beware of EU low cost carriers. BA and AF are better options
Q3 What ffp's are in now?. Air France is Skyteam (DL etc) BA is Oneworld (AA, AS and others). Not worth joining a new ffp for 1 flight.
Q4 Make sure you have adequate travel insurance, including medical & med evacuation.
Q5 Cars in EU cities are a *big* liability. Take public transport or taxi/uber like all the locals do. EU cities were designed/built 100's of years ago before cars were invented.
Q6 You may find accommodation in WAW difficult & expensive. Book now. Will be many others doing the same.
Q7 Take it slow & careful. Some places are know for pick pockets. Leave valuables at home. You will stand out as a new (USA) visitors from 100 yards.

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=c%3Ablu...=bm&PW=3&DU=mi

CDTraveler

You do not want a car in London. Between the traffic, serious lack of parking, and congestion charges, a car for a short stay in London is more trouble than it is worth. Get each member of the family an Oyster card, good on the buses and tube system. You can order them online to have in hand when you arrive in London, and fill them to any denomination you choose. That way your daughters, if they're old enough, can do some teen things, while you and spouse sight-see to your taste.

Booking hotel rooms for a party of 5 in London can be a challenge, as most hotel rooms in Europe are much smaller than Americans are used to. Even splitting 2 and 3, finding a triple room could be a challenge. Our last trip to London we, teen son and myself, stayed in a college dorm across the street from the Tate Modern, booked via http://universityrooms.com. We had separate rooms in a suite, and he could hang out with other students in the common areas while I did other things. Not fancy, but very convenient set-up, great location.

NeedMoreCowbell

Re: Q1: why book flight back to LGW, just so we're geographically closer for our departure a couple days later, or is there some other reason?
Thank you for the other advice. I did get travel insurance through AAA and I think not renting a car is wise, and kind of a relief to not have to think about that.

Mwenenzi

I did revise my reply to Q1.
Are trains to LHR & LGW from/to central London. What will you do on the day before back to USA? I have stayed at an LGW airport hotel. Not the most inspiring of London suburbs.
Going back to LGW may result in less moving of luggage around. [Only take 50% of the clothes~shoes the non male members of your family think they absolutely need - travelling lite is good]

NeedMoreCowbell

I have zero plans for any of the 3 cities beyond the Taylor Swift concert on 8/2.

Once all flights have been booked, hopefully by tonight, I'll focus on places to stay and things to do. Just excited to get my girls out there - finally in a position to see the world!

pseudoswede

• You have built in plenty of buffer time between stops to account for any travel delays/cancellations, so that's great.
• Always book through the airline's website. Try to credit miles to an alliance-specific airline that you are already collecting miles for.
• Research alternate flights for CDG-WAW and WAW-LHR for "just in case". Don't rule out ULCCs like easyJet, WizzAir, or Ryanair (I have no idea if they fly these city pairs).
• If at all possible, only travel with carry-ons.
• You absolutely don't need a rental car in London or Paris--unless you want to go to some far off place with no real public transportation options. Even then, think long and hard about that. I've never been to Warsaw, but I'm sure the same would apply.
• I'm pretty sure you realize that you can't see everything in London and Paris in that short of a time. As a family, make a list of your absolute must-sees, then a list of would-be-nice-to-see. Prioritize your must-sees, then move the bottom half of the must-see list to a new list called would-really-like-to-see. Look at a city map of each city and try to plot out your must-sees and would-really-like-to-see and try to find a logical geographic grouping--i.e., don't zig-zag across the whole city.
• Especially your first two days in London, find a hotel kind of centrally-located to all of your must-sees; allocate downtime at the hotel in the middle of the day (60-minute nap max). Ideally, you'll spend the morning in an area of must-sees, go back to the hotel to rest, then late afternoon/evening going to another area with must-sees. This was huge when traveling with three teens in Rome this past summer.

CDTraveler

A great way to minimize complaints from offspring: bring home guidebooks and maps, hand them out, delegate to the young certain days when they are responsible for planning activities and determining transit routes.

NeedMoreCowbell

Great tips, thank you. Re: Research alternate flights for CDG-WAW and WAW-LHR for "just in case". : To what end? There are alternate flights via WhizzAir and a couple others I've never heard of, are you saying I should have those routes in my back pocket in case of some kind of last minute issue with our flights to/from WAW? I see 17H bus rides available... I suppose that could work too in the worst case. Yikes...

Great idea - I'll be looking for guidebooks & maps from somewhere like an official tourism ministry from these cities.

Mwenenzi

For something a little different on the day before going back to USA (Aug 6) take the train LGW to Brighton (~0:40minutes)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton

pseudoswede

Yes, always have alternate methods of getting from point A to point B available if your original plans go sideways. Planes, trains, or... buses. You may need to make quick decisions on booking 5 seats on something else before they get snapped up. Additionally, I also don't travel without travel insurance. It has saved my bacon multiple times, and the reimbursements have more than covered the cost of all travel insurance policies I have bought over the past 20 years. This includes getting reimbursed for having to buy four last-minute, full-fare one-way economy tickets back home (close to $8k) due to a pilot's strike.

CDTraveler

Start with the local public library. You can sift through a bunch of books, and then figure out which ones suit your taste and budget before purchasing. It's gotten hard to get printed tourism material in advance from tourist bureaus, but you can still usually get maps at most tourist info kiosks at airports or city tourism offices.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

The plan is reasonable, except for the fact the Paris Olympics are from 26 July to 11 August 2024. You do not want to be in Paris and even if you do, finding a reasonably priced place to stay is not going to be in Paris.

Though you have already RT purchased tickets. For future planning look at open-jaw tickets. For instance, I would have flown to Paris (but not in this case), then traveled to Warsaw, then to London. That reduces the number of travel days. Though open jaw tickets are often cost a bit more than a RT it becomes a wash overall.

At this point, you might look at traveling from London to say Amsterdam on 24 July, thus bumping your schedule up by two days. See Amsterdam for a couple of days then fly to Warsaw. Finally fly to London from Warsaw on 3 Aug thus regaining the two days.

One does not need an Oyster Card for the tube if one has a contactless enabled iPhone or CC.

NeedMoreCowbell

Oh... My God.

I'm super bummed at missing out on Paris, but I don't suppose this would be an ideal time to try and get an authentic Paris experience.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

lhrsfo

Substitute Rome or perhaps Nice for Paris and you are good to go.

Also I don’t understand the hate for the likes of Ryanair and especially EasyJet. They run a more reliable schedule than most airlines and the seats are no smaller. BA etc doesn’t offer free bags and the only real difference is a free small glass of water.

For London focus on airports and the cost of getting to them. Cheapest is LCY, followed by LHR, then LGW, then STN and most expensive is LTN. Time taken to get to them from central London follows a similar pattern although that depends heavily on exactly where you are starting.