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Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

1st trip 'abroad' in 21 yrs. Help pls ?

29 replies

medianewbie · 07/02/2023 13:46

Last got on a plane in 2001.
Kids, 18 & 15 have never been outside UK. I am ambulant disabled (crutches). Kids have ASD. Not much money.
However I've been offered a budget of £2-3k (with some specifics) to take us on a European trip, (to inc Malta - told you it was specific!). So, I've ordered passports but got a bit scared now ...

Is this possible? I've got dreams of inter-railing / hostelling for a week, down thru Germany & Italy, then a long wkend in Malta then fly home *Scotland). I've no idea how I'd plan it, or if I'd really need 4x that much £.

Any suggestions please ?

OP posts:
YesitsBess · 07/02/2023 13:52

Moving away from the specifics for a moment, what kind of things do you think could work for you all and do you have any definite yes and no activities?

For example do you like cities or countryside, beaches or architecture, museums or funfairs?

What is realistic in terms of you being on your feet time-wise, do the kids have any specific routines/triggers that need consideration?

This info might help us help you plan. How exciting!

HannibalHeyes · 07/02/2023 14:34

A first look at the Interrail website would suggest 2 Youth passes and one Adult pass for use 7 days in 1 month would come out at €880 altogether. So you need to add your travel to your start point in Europe, and your travel to Malta (which isn't included on Interrail), and back home , on to that.

5 days in 1 month would be €646, so saving €234 but requiring careful planning.

You'd have to choose where you want to visit, and probably book hostels in advance to make sure they are available.

Just based on starting in Hamburg as a random arrival station - Berlin - Munich - Venice - Rome, that would be easily doable for €646. I tried adding in Prague on their interactive map, but it wanted to charge more (I'm not sure why).

There's also the option of getting sleeper trains, but these will cost extra (although saving a night's accommodation), and probably wouldn't be appropriate for that sort of itinerary.

Original poster
medianewbie · 07/02/2023 15:10

@YesitsBess thank you for replying.
We'd like to go to cities for museums then 4-7 days in Malta. Happy to train or fly to Germany, say, then Venice (if affordable!?) Rome, down to Sicily, boat across to Malta then beach/snorkeling there for Dd. Can be away for upto 14 days if £ allows but 10 days probably more realistic. THANK YOU for being excited for us. I burst onto tears at the opportunity then had a wee sniffle at how daunted I feel but I'd really like to show the kids that we CAN do it.

OP posts:
YesitsBess · 07/02/2023 15:18

You absolutely can! Let me get my thinking cap on...

Original poster
medianewbie · 07/02/2023 15:18

@HannibalHeyes oh, Thank You! that's a real 'start'. I hoped trains might be quite flexible, though we'd need to book sleepers / hostels so can't completely 'wing it'. I did wonder about AirBnB as another option but we've never done that either (straight from the C18th, us!)

OP posts:
YesitsBess · 07/02/2023 15:24

Dates? Are you limited to school hols? Preferred month?

Original poster
medianewbie · 07/02/2023 15:27

We can travel anytime in July.

OP posts:
HannibalHeyes · 07/02/2023 15:28

It does depend on when you're going. In the school holidays it's obviously going to be harder to just wing it, but I'd still reckon that you could probably do most of it like that. You can even do any reservations the day before and see if seats are available then.

It's been a long time, so I don't know what the hostel situation is likely to be, but you could always phone ahead to some wherever you're planning to go next to see if there's anywhere, and make a decision then.

As long as you have enough cash for an emergency cheap hotel I don't see why you shouldn't be able to do it like that.

If the worst comes to the worst, then you hop on a train to a different destination and don't get to stay in your original place.

Havanananana · 07/02/2023 15:39

Re: Interrail.

You don't need to fly to Europe in order to get there from the UK for a low price.
Interrail pass holders can buy discounted tickets for Eurostar trains - e.g. London to Paris costs €30 and London - Amsterdam costs €35. Of course, if you can fly from Scotland to, say Paris, for less than the cost of the Scotland-London-Paris rail tickets, then that would be a cheaper option.

For everything you ever wanted to know about Interrail (and train travel in general in Europe) go to the excellent website of The Man In Seat 61 - www.seat61.com/how-to-use-an-interrail-pass.htm

gogohmm · 07/02/2023 15:39

I would look at flying to Germany choose somewhere you can fly direct to. Train down through Italy, hop over to Sicily then ferry to Malta, fly home from Malta. Sounds an amazing trip. Catania where the ferry to Malta goes to is right by mount etna, stay a night at Taormina if you can, it's lovely

gogohmm · 07/02/2023 15:40

Do check if it's worth doing the interail or just book the tickets individually, Italian trains are cheap

Original poster
medianewbie · 07/02/2023 16:38

We could fly to Europe from Edinburgh or Newcastle (but it would take us 2 hrs to get to either). Or we could train down to London & fly / train from there. Channel tunnel might be fun (Ds is a train spotter). Dd will be less keen on the schlepping round museums half of the hol so I'd like to have a more luxurious end in Malta if we can. A few days all inc in a nice hotel would be a dream but thats prob my whole budget & more just there. I am nervous about it but when I looked for 'cheap packages' they were not very cheap plus you had to fly both ways. We'd like to arrive in Malta by ferry & fly home if possible.

OP posts:
Original poster
medianewbie · 08/02/2023 08:56

@YesitsBess so I suppose I'm trying to have 2 mini breaks joined up - 1 museum / train / hostel, in Germany/ North Italy. One fancier Hotel/ pool/ snorkeling type which must be in Malta. I assumed that it would be cheaper to put them together in one southbound journey , but I'm open to doing the Museum bit in July & the Malta minibreak in Sept (if cheaper & cooler! then).

OP posts:
BarbaraofSeville · 08/02/2023 11:27

I think to be honest, it would be a lot simpler to separate the two holidays and you'll probably enjoy them more.

You can fill plenty of time in Germany with museums and trains and there's plenty of airlines flying cheaply to Malta, so unless you have a lot of time and money and like the act of travel, it seems a bit mad to take days to get to Malta via Germany and Italy when you can fly there in a couple of hours.

Malta isn't particularly good for beaches by the way. But there is good snorkelling, but it's often off bathing platforms, with ladders into the sea, of which there are many. Snorkelling is probably best done on Gozo, or a day trip to Comino tbh. Do you have relatives there, who are paying for the trip? Otherwise it really is rather random!

MaverickGooseGoose · 08/02/2023 13:18

Are you including spending money in the the 3k?

Are you paying for accommodation in Malta or family there - just guessing from the specifics?

It's a very tight budget.

crackofdoom · 08/02/2023 13:28

We're Interrailing for 2 weeks at Easter, and all travel and accommodation is going to he around £1500 for 3- but that does include the fact that DS2 is under 12, so gets a free pass!

Our route is Brussels- Innsbruck- Venice- Rome- Genova- Nice- Paris.

I have managed to find us accommodation for an average of £50 per night (Innsbruck by far the most expensive 🙄) with a combination of AirBnB and Booking.com. Although every place except for Innsbruck is quiiiiite a long way out of the centre! 😬

Hostels do sound like a good idea, but in reality I found that family rooms in hostels would come in at about double our budget. They're not that cheap!

If you do go for Interrailing, be aware that the very first thing you must do after buying your Interrail pass is to book your Eurostar reservations- there's a quota, and if you can't get out of the UK you're a bit stuffed!

crackofdoom · 08/02/2023 13:33

Oh, and take with a pinch of salt what a lot of Mumsnetters tell you you can and can't get for your budget. Some people have never been poor- and it shows! 😆

54isanopendoor · 08/02/2023 14:36

AH! @crackofdoom that gives me hope, thank you! (can I maybe pm you for a bit more details of how you worked out your route?) x

Yes, it is 'all in' £3K (max).
Yes, it MUST inc Malta as it's a provision in my Grandmother's will that I must use it for a trip for me & kids to Malta. Yes we have distant family there but not that I could stay with so we will be self funding all the way. I know the best thing is to probably get an all inc package deal for a week in Malta but my Grandmother was extremely money conscious & would expect me to squeeze every penny value from it plus she travelled by boat in / out of Valetta in WW2 as a child & said it was 'the only way to first see Malta'.

motherofkevinnotperry · 08/02/2023 14:40

Special assistant at airports gets anyone anywhere. I use it for my ASD DC and it's brilliant!

welshweasel · 08/02/2023 14:41

Malta and Gozo are amazing, why don't you just go there? Cheap flights then a few days in Gozo and a few in Malta. Snorkelling, swimming, boat trips, SUP, citadel in gozo, tour of Valletta, it will be fabulous. We spend a couple of weeks in gozo every July and it's very easy to travel and pretty reasonably priced.

crackofdoom · 08/02/2023 15:17

No worries OP! I can talk to you here about how I worked the journey out...it might help others.
Also....I just googled ferries etc...and it turns out the man in Seat 61 has a whole page on how to get to Malta by train and ferry from London! (Can't do links on my phone for some weird reason). But basically, there is an overnight sleeper train that goes the length of Italy from.Milan or Rome to Sicily...and from there you can get the ferry to Malta!!

crackofdoom · 08/02/2023 15:29

Oh, also there are sleeper trains from Stuttgart/ Munich to Venice, and I think Munich to Rome too. But be warned- the Interrail reservations sell out quickly- I wasn't able to secure couchettes for us at Easter, and I was trying in January ☹

54isanopendoor · 08/02/2023 16:26

@crackofdoom Wow -really?! Right I'm off to look properly at Man in Seat 61. Thank you x

I'm trying to combine the two minibreaks to keep both young people happy.
Plus to arrive by sea to keep Grans memory happy :)

Wiennetta · 09/02/2023 08:19

Germany and Italy and Malta does seem like a lot in a couple of weeks or less.

If it was me, I’d fly to Italy and then explore there for a week, then ferry to Malta and stay there. You could fly to say Venice, couple of days there, go to Rome for a few days, then get the sleeper train to Sicily. You say that DS likes trains - the sleeper goes on a ferry so it’s all part of the experience. Few days in Sicily then ferry to Malta. It’s still a lot to cover, but the trains within Italy wouldn’t be that expensive so your main travel costs would be the flights.

As you’re in Scotland, see if you can go before the English school holidays from and English airport - Newcastle if it’s the best - as it’ll be cheaper. Are you aware of sky scanner? It’ll help you find the cheapest flights! Play around with departure and arrival airports, dates etc.

To save money, it might be worth focusing on bigger cities where you’ll get more range of hotels etc. Air BnB worth looking at too.

Hope you have fund, sounds like it’ll be an amazing trip.

nowtygaffer · 09/02/2023 09:00

Italy is really easy to do by train. I wouldn't bother with interail ticket, you can book everything on trainline like you do here. I'd start North, probably Venice then work your way down to Rome.