After I returned from Australia and New Zealand a few weeks ago, a blog reader emailed me a question: Which is better for kids, Europe or Australia? She had been planning on taking her kids to Europe, but after reading about me raving about Australia and New Zealand, she was having second thoughts.
It’s a hard question to answer. Both have advantages, and the right answer will be different for every family.
Why Not Both?
For many miles and points hobbyists, the answer is both! Why not, right? Europe this year, Australia in a year or two.
Of course, that’s the ideal situation. We should all be lucky enough to have enough miles, points and cash to travel wherever our hearts desire every year.
But for most families, the reality is that we have one or two adults earning miles and points but four or more people spending them. Our miles and money don’t stretch as far as single adults or DINKs.
Using miles to Europe and Australia isn’t cheap. The price is usually 20k- 40k each way. Multiply that for a family of five and we’re talking about a major points expenditure.
The Case for and Against Europe with Kids
Europe usually costs less in miles and cash to get to than Australia. Flights are shorter than flights to Australia. Families can easily visit multiple cities or countries during one trip with short flights or train trips. Kids can be exposed to different languages and cultures while seeing buildings that are older than anything in the United States.
However, dealing with a language barrier and jetlag at the same time is difficult for parents and children. And, some of the ancient cathedrals and castles parents want to see are not as entertaining for younger kids.
In addition, many high schools and colleges offer student trips to Europe, so your kids will likely have multiple chances to visit Europe when they’re older.
The Case for and Against Australia with Kids
Australia has animals and buildings you can’t see anywhere else in the world. Koalas, kangaroos, deadly snakes, the Sydney Opera House…the country is unique and adventurous!
If English if your primary language, your family won’t have difficulty speaking with the locals in Australia or New Zealand.
For Americans, Australia is the road-less traveled. I know many people who have traveled to Europe, but hardly anyone who has made the trek down to Australia.
But unfortunately, the flights are very long. Even though my family survived a 17-hour non-stop flight from Dallas to Sydney, long flights can be stressful to some families.
Also, Australia is a huge country, and it’s harder to visit in a shorter amount of time due to distances between cities.
What’s Best for the Parents?
For my family’s big trip this summer, we went back and forth between France and Australia/New Zealand. My husband and I honeymooned in France and haven’t been back in 15 years. My kids would have loved visiting Disneyland Paris, the Eiffel Tower and many other sites.
However, our decision really came down to what was best for us, the parents. We wanted to go somewhere we hadn’t been before, and New Zealand had been beckoning my husband for years. Our kids would have been fine with either Europe or Australia, but we went with what was best for us, and our kids did fine.
Ultimately, I would like to visit Europe with my kids. But, I’m not worried about them never seeing Europe. Even if we don’t visit France as a family, I’m confident my kids will go at some point in their lifetimes.
Are you considering a trip to Europe or Australia/New Zealand with your kids? Or another international destination? What factors are swaying your decision?
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Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
We are taking the kids to Italy for spring break next year. So I say Europe.
@Natasha I love Italy! I want to take my whole family there. I’m sure you’re counting down the days until spring break.
My answer would be “both” but I’d ask the reader if their kids have ever been on a flight for more than 4 hours. If they haven’t, then I would suggest Europe first. Dropping a 15-hour flight on kids as their first long flight and the associated jet lag might not be the best experience. IMHO the European “language barrier” is a non-issue. Why? English is the common denominator language amongst the various nationalities and they use it to communicate with each other. It’s the standard for any company that does business across borders and kids have been learning it in school for decades. Most people in tourist areas will speak English and it is fairly common outside those areas. I’ve been over there dozens of times on business and family trips. The only time I’ve encountered a barrier was occasionally in a rural area with an older person – even then, we still figured out how to communicate with each other (and frankly, that’s fun and memorable).
If language is still a concern, the reader should check out Ireland and the UK. Plenty of cool stuff to see there and the flights are shorter from the US…and sometimes cheaper depending on the mileage program used.
@Erik You make some great points! The funny thing about my recent trip down under is that I experienced way less jet lag than I did on any of my trips to Europe, despite the longer flight time. I’m sure there were a lot of factors that went into that.
The way we did it, we experienced no jet lag on our trip. We travelled in November when the time time difference in New Zealand is 21 hours from the west coast but effectively it feels like only three (same as Hawaii certain times of the year). Then after adjusting to that, we flew to Sydney which was another two hours and spent a few days and then to Cairnes which was another one hour. Doing it this way we never had problems sleeping or feeling tired in the day. Coming back to the States I did feel it for sure though.
Europe always takes me a few day (and sleepless nights) to adjust).
I was mostly thinking that if the kids have taken only short domestic hops, the experience of being confined on a 15 hr. flight might be too big of a jump. Call me sensitive, but I’d hate to be the parent getting cold stares from fellow passengers because my kid had a prolonged uncontrollable meltdown halfway thru a very long flight.
Jet lag was a secondary consideration. Our pre-tween kids have experienced 3 trips that each had about 24 hours of travel time (door-to-door including flight duration and connecting layovers from the Midwest). We’ve flown twice to Australia and once to SE Asia, sitting in economy on the domestic segments and in business over the Pacific. I agree that the jet lag arriving in Australia is different than Europe – you land in the morning and each time we’ve been able to do a full day and make it thru dinner. The effect is felt when you wake up early i.e. 6AM for the next couple of days until your body adjusts. We’ve learned to mitigate that problem by selecting our first few nights at a location that we can explore immediately on our own without waiting for something to open. For example, a beach, hiking trails, or a scenic drive.
@Erik That’s smart to have activities lined up that you can start early in the morning. I think we were all up by 5 a.m. after our first night in Sydney and thankfully our tour was picking us up at 6:45 a.m. so we didn’t have to wait too long. We would have gone crazy if we had to wait until 10 to get going.
We did Australia and New Zealand with our kids (ages 6 and 10) last Novemeber and I absolutely think it was the right decision for us at this time. We do hope to hit Europe with them as well in the future but I think a lot of the allure of Europe can be the history and museums which just aren’t as fun for kids in general. Although maybe that’s because I’ve only travelled to Europe as an adult without kids – I’m sure there are plenty of fun things to do with kids as well. We did love all the family friendly option in Queenstown, Sydney, and Cairns on our trip.
@Wendy It sounds like you had a fantastic time! It was the right decision for us, too.