It would be great if you could see your daughter in Rome. But… you’ll survive if you don’t. We ended up not being able to see our son when he did a semester in Singapore. We tried to tie it in with husband’s work trip to Japan but due to work/schedule limitations we ended up doing Kyoto only.
We did 5 days on the ground in Paris with the girls when one was a freshman in college and the other was a jr in HS. We’d all been there a few times, so it was just to experience the city close to Christmas.
When we do euro trips, we try for at least two weeks (we’re on the west coast and it’s two days over and one day back).
At most, one city with maybe a jaunt to someplace close for a day if I had 5 days. I can see Amsterdam or Vienna for 4 days, but visiting a region definitely needs more time.
My husband would leave Seattle on a Sunday for London and return on Thursday. I have no clue how he worked the two days he was there.
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For many years my husband flew to London for work, Monday-Thursday. He often managed to fit in a trip to see his parents in the North. His magic trick is always being able to sleep on the plane. He hits the ground running when he arrives in England. He would have all day Tuesday and Wednesday, then usually work right up until 1 pm or so for an afternoon flight home. A quick trip is doable, and definitely better if one can spring for business class tickets.
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@VaBluebird, there is a new podcast called “Paris Underground Radio” run by expats for expats- you might find some ideas for your trip there!
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@VaBluebird, also be sure that you have your original vax card, a (US) QR code handy on your phone (you can get it online-free-from the CDC; CLEAR will also generate one for you free) and this vaccine pass:
(If you are not vaccinated you can only get a QR code valid for 72 hours after a negative PCR test, so you would have to keep testing)
The pass is required for cafés, restaurants, shopping centers, planes / long trains, etc. Btw, if you are flying Air France you have to wear their masks, and they will give you 2 masks when you board (the second is for you to change into after 4 hours).
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@collegemom3717 thank you so much!
I would suggest going for as long as you like… and have the kids overlap for the 5 days that they are free. (assuming the “kids” are adults!!)
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Do you sleep on planes? That’s the question.
I’ve done long weekends (out of necessity) but much prefer the four day (leave Thursday night, arrive home Monday night) since I’m not a good airplane sleeper. Spouse can sleep anywhere- so the three day weekend works fine for his body clock!
Make sure you spend time outside once you arrive (regardless of the weather or time of day) since it seems to help with the dual whammy of exhaustion and jetlag. Make sure you don’t schedule anything complicated for your first day back at work, or at least anything where you don’t have time to proofread once you are caught up on sleep.
And no drinking (this is key!) It’s so tempting to have a glass of wine on the plane “to help you sleep” and then a few glasses while you are traveling (you aren’t driving, why not?) but I have found that even moderate drinking messes with your body (and dehydrates you without you knowing it). Ask me about Prague when beer cost 8 cents a glass and I had to get on a plane back to the US early Monday morning- UGH!!!
Someone once told me you only regret the trips you don’t take- which really changed my perspective. I’ve done a long weekend in Israel (fantastic), the Czech Republic, a crazy three day trip to Paris (hey, with so much time chewed up in transit, I only had to pay for one night in a hotel!) and various Thursday night-Monday’s for work.
All fantastic. And I learned to pack light (this from someone who used to shlep a tote bag with extra shoes, umbrella, cosmetic case, water bottle, first aid kit, two books in case I finished the first one JUST to get to work in the morning on a half hour train ride!).
Ciao!!!
@naviance The kids are still in school with different schedules (one college, one HS) which is where the problem comes in.
@blossom I love your message - you only regret the trips you don’t take is great! Like you, I don’t sleep on planes but DH is usually asleep before we even take off. For this trip I think we would have the seats that go flat or almost flat so that could be a huge help.
We have had a big complication though - Alitalia is going out of business in October. Another new company is going to take over but they may not start international flights for a few months. This means no direct flights from Miami. 
As of now I am kind of in a wait and see mode. I know I want to go even if it is only a short trip but having an extra long flight makes the short trip a lot harder.
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I can sleep on a plane. I would eat beforehand and take a later flight (after 10pm). I would have a drink (wine) after we take off and then fall asleep. No breakfast, just a cup of coffee before I land.
I would usually do economy plus on the way over and business on the way back because I would sleep on the way over and the return trip back is much longer.
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It takes me 4 days to get on a new time schedule and not feel jet lag. We did much better when staying in one location for at least 3 days to explore and relax. One day explore, next day relax, etc. That said, our shortest trip to Europe was 2 weeks.
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Update - we booked our trip! We ditched the plan of a short trip and are going for 9 days in early December. I would have liked to make it closer to 6-7 days just because I feel bad leaving S23 with my mother in law but the prices worked out the best this way. He’s not too happy he is not coming but he will live! 
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I can’t sleep on planes, but I’ve never had an issue with jet lag especially in the east to west direction. If money is no object (and given that you are flying first class - I’d say it wasn’t much of one!) I think you can even enjoy a weekend. My preference is a minimum of a week including both the weekends. I don’t think I’ve ever gone to Europe with less than two weeks. We usually are in a city for one of those weeks (sometimes with DH at a conference) and then doing countryside stuff the second week which includes hiking and taking a generally slower pace. We had a wonderful one week plus weekends trip to Jordan where we paid for a guided tour just for the two of us which worked very well. (Although we still had to leave out a couple of things I would have liked to have done.)
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