Four Lessons from our Family’s First Europe Trip

My family recently cashed in a decade’s worth of credit card points to take only our second plane trip together—and our first ever to Europe.

At first, Italy was the dream. My wife has read and watched Eat, Pray, Love, so it seemed fitting. But a few minutes of research convinced us otherwise. Everything is far apart, and the stairs alone would have turned my kids into 1980s crash-test dummies. I may be able to climb like a mountain goat with bags strapped on like Sir Edmund Hillary’s Sherpas, but my kids? Not so much.

So, we turned to our trusty AI sidekick, ChatGPT (who named herself “Casey”), for advice. Casey suggested the top five kid-friendly cities worldwide, with London and Paris claiming the top two spots. They’re connected by a high-speed train through a tunnel (cool factor: high), and one of them has Disneyland. Decision made.

We chose mid-September—after the kids had settled into school—armed with the knowledge that Europeans do not share our devotion to air conditioning. 

Along the way, I picked up some valuable lessons:

1. Overnight flights are cheaper for a reason. My kids don’t sleep in cars, and it turns out they don’t sleep on planes either. The overnight Toronto–London flight left us exhausted, and our Westminster Abbey and London Eye tickets became nap fodder.
2. Pack smart. European Ubers and planes fit fewer bodies per square inch. “XL” still means someone holds a bag on their lap. Airlines also charge for everything. A sneeze? That’ll be five bucks.
3. Simplicity saves. Not everything needs to be fancy. We mastered the Metro, and my kids actually loved French McDonald’s. The exchange rate? Brutal.
4. Ages matter. At 8, 10, and 12, our kids were the perfect age to balance our must-sees—like the Crown Jewels and the Louvre—with theirs—like Euro Disney and Harry Potter Studios. Credit card bills come and go, but these memories will last forever.

 

Jeremy McCall is a married father of 3, a social services case manager, and known as “The Dadfather”, being the founder and Past President of Dad Club London.