School Me on Euro Trips: Where to go and how to do it

[firered18]

Wassup NT Fam,

So I complete grad school in May 2016 and I likely will not begin working until July 2016. I have been wanting to go to Europe forever, and today I found out that my mom has always wanted to go to London and Paris. I plan to go for 2-4 weeks, and my mom wants to join for 2-3. Here are the questions I have:

Where should we book flights (Airline and airport)? We are flying out of Detroit

When should we buy tickets?

How do hotel reservations work?

Where else should I take mom?

Where should I go solo?

How much money do I need to save? I was hoping to have $5000 saved by the end of 2015

ANY input or help you can provide is appreciated! Merry Christmas!

 

[moderndarwin]

Don't go with your mom.

 

[superantigen]

You're going to need more than $5000 if you plan on living in hotels while trekking for 2-4 weeks.





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[lazyj10]

So your mom is going to join you for all but a week it seems?

I think part of this depends on what you want to accomplish. Paris and London are both big and you can certainly do day trips from wherever you're staying. I'd suggest using VRBO or Airbnb and save some money since you're not trying to have a romantic getaway.

Paris and London are both "premium" type places to fly into, so there's more tax and overall fare cost. Consider expanding your trip and seeing what major airlines have int'l flights from Detroit to one of those.

For example, we're cashing in miles on United and will fly from SFO to either Munich or Frankfurt in May...we'll hit up about 3-4 other countries though in our 3 week trip.