I have posted a few questions on here already about our destination and didn't get a ton of responses. DH and I are planning a trip to Europe in the spring, specifically the last two weeks of April. We have a pretty (for us!) budget. Up to 14K!! DH has never left the country and started deliberating putting money into an account just to spend for vacations after adding lots to our general savings and paying off our debts! We definitely DO NOT have to spend that much BUT we can.

First, how long is ideal? We do have three kids at home. We are planning on having the teenager at his cousins house and the two littles with my parents, though I might ask my SILs to take them for the weekend. My parents are very responsible but they are older and I'm worried about tiring them out. That's why we're going later in April so that they will have a break while the kids are in school!

We're planning on visiting his parents in Singen, Germany. We're going to get some ideas from his siblings who have all made it out to visit them so far and have had some fun adventures. DH wants to visit France as well BUT he kind of wants to visit TWO regions. He wants to visit Southern France (Cote d'Azur where I served as a missionary 25 years ago!) and would love to fit Paris in? I feel like we can FOR SURE do two locales but can we do three? So I guess that's questions number two! Additionally, I made some fun observations that you can travel by train from Southern Germany to Southern France...going through the pretty lakes area of Switzerland and Italy. Would that be worth an additional stop? Do you guys prefer staying a few days in one location? Or flitting from one to another? What's the right mix?

And then finally, what is the best strategy for getting lodging. We're watching flights and prices are all over the place. Like with all the uncertainty in Europe right now we really don't know what will happen to prices or even if we'll actually be able to go! On the other hand, lodging I just don't know how to even start! I guess with an itinerary? But maybe we should find good places to stay and then build around that? When we're in Germany we'll have free lodging.

Would love any strategies you guys can suggest. We have not done a ton of traveling together. We have done long weekends and have had one memorable couples trip to WDW. This summer as a family we traveled considerably by car and stayed a new place almost every day. We actually really enjoyed that.

Would love any thoughts you can spare!

TIA!