Taking small trips is always a pleasure, however I also don't find traveling with children that unpleasant, we with my stepdaughter and some of her friends have taken various trips by car and they were fun, the children always find games to play to pass the time time, however I see that you have excellent objectives, also because as it says here you have to work to live and not live to work even if sometimes you can't do otherwise. As far as Europe is concerned, the beauty of it is that you can change various nations because they are all close.