First Trip to Europe!

Old Nov 27th, 2015, 11:20 PM
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First Trip to Europe!

Hi! My husband and I are planning our first trip to Europe we received plane tickets as a wedding gift (Got married in August) to Europe and back, but so far that's all we have booked. We are a young couple 24 & 28 and neither have ever been, although my husband has German roots so we are pretty excited! I would love suggestions and advice as we plan our trip. This is kind of an itinerary we have as of right now. He likes history stuff, cars, beer, good food and I like art, good food, shopping, wine. We will have a rental car in Germany, but otherwise we will just use public transportation in the other countries. We land in Rome and depart from London. I'm debating the Italy part of our trip right now we have May 1-4th in Rome and a night in Venice (5-6th) I'm wondering if we would be able to add on Florence and subject a day from Rome or if that would make things to crazy. Or if we should subtract a day from Rome and add to Venice. As far as Germany goes we are leaning towards the Munich/Southern Germany areas, but are still in planning stages and trying to figure everything out. We go the beginning of May. Have first class tickets so we plan to sleep on the plane ride to Europe so we can just go as soon as we land in Rome. I'm trying to stick to around $100-150/night for hotels (I figure we won't be in the hotel that much, just need something safe, clean, and offers a good breakfast would be a big plus as that's one meal we wouldn't have to pay for.) Thinking about having one nice meal a day and then a less expensive one for the other meal. I know we want to see the sistine chapel, and then the Efile Towel and that sort of thing. Thanks in Advance! -Hannah

Depart Denver 10:25a.m. (4/30) Arrive Rome 8:10a.m. (5/1)
*We have first class tickets on the plane from Denver to Rome so we will sleep on the plane and be ready to do things when we land on 5/1 in Rome at 8am.

Rome (4 days)
Hotel:
Check in: May 1st
Check Out: May 4th
Train: Depart Rome

Venice (1)
Train: Arrive Venice
Hotel:
Check In: May 4th
Check Out: May 5th
Flight: Depart Venice (5/5)

Germany (5)
Flight: Arrive Munich, Germany (5/5)
Rental Car: 5-10TH
Hotel:
Check In: May 5th
Check Out: May 10th
Flight: Depart Munich (5/10)

Paris (2)
Flight: Arrive Paris (5/10)
Hotel:
Check In: May 10th
Check Out: May 12th
Flight: Depart Munich (5/10)


London (3)
Flight: Arrive London (5/12)
Hotel:
Check In: May 12th
Check Out: May 15th
Depart London 9:30a.m. (5/15) Arriving Denver 5:15p.m. (5/15)
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 11:38 PM
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You'll need to do a bit of digging to meet your hotel budget for the centre of Rome in May, but it can be done, and b&bs might be a better bet than a hotel. A good resource for searching is booking.com, where you can read lots of reviews for hotels and b&bs in your price category. Even in early May it is possible to get a mini-heat wave, so I recommend booking some place with air conditioning.

Don't know what a "good breakfast" means to you, but Italians tend not to eat breakfast, and even expensive hotels seldom offer more than yoghurt, cereal, cold cuts and pastries. As for your other meals, it's not necessary to go to "nicer" restaurants to find delicious food in Rome, or pay more money to get it. Many of the best foods of Rome, including Roman pizza, are found in very simple neighbourhood places. Venice is more challenging, and paying more there is sometimes necessary to get a better meal, so I would recommend going cheap in Rome and saving your euros for a nicer meal in Venice.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 01:01 AM
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Hi
congrats for your wedding.

Unless you want to really see that much in such timing, I'd drop one or two destinations.

You spend too little time in Venice, Paris and London.
I'd spend at least 2 days in Venice, and Paris and London deserve at least as much time as Rome (4-5 days min).

In Rome, I'd recommend going to the therms of Caracala - superb, it was MY highlight of our trip there recently.

Germany is much cheaper than France and Italy in terms of hotels.

From Munich you can envision Garmish Partnkirchen, and Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein castles. You husband might want to visit Dachau, but I found it underwhelming - too lcean actually...

In Paris I always recommend 'Montmartre mon amour' close to Sacré Coeur for honeymooners - nobody followed my advice up to here )

Mfg
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 01:17 AM
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Don't forget when you look at your timing to take into consideration time to go to trainstation/airports, wait for the train/flight, disembark/deplane, take a taxi/metro/feet to go to hotel, check in, go to your room, empty some of your luggage, make your luggage when departing, check out, go to trainstation etc.

Quite often moving from a city to another will eat at least half a day.

So when you spend one night in a city, you have most of the time half a day - an evening ? in that city.

Best regards.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 03:19 AM
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I think you have too much plane travel going on in this itinerary. Planes can be delayed, you will have to arrange for transportation to/from the airports and I can only speak for Rome but I recommend hiring a reputable driver ahead of time to pick you up from the airport.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 03:31 AM
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Agree you have too many destinations and not enough time in Paris (for sure), maybe too much in Rome, not enough in Venice if you are going there. Even with German roots, Munich may be the outlier, but that is for you to decide. Or it may be London. You are young--you'll go back again.
Do you already have the tickets? I also hate to tell you but even with first class seats, sleeping well may or may not happen.
As someone else mentioned, every time you move you lose a lot of time--fully a half day.
Don't fall for the ad above, in case it doesn't get removed.
Breakfast in Europe is continental--that's where the name came from!! LOL You will pay for larger b'fasts. And you need to learn the norms of eating--for example in Paris if you stand at a counter and have your coffee and croissant it is cheaper than sitting at a table--and if you sit at a table on the terrasse, it is even more.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 03:35 AM
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Just some random thoughts

1) Don't add Florence
2) Do go for 2 nights in Venice, it will up you costs a bit but if you book early you can still find cheaper rooms. The place gets very busy at midday when the numpties off the ships come through so you want two evenings and two early mornings to enjoy the place
3) Cars, I'd look at Stuttgart and the two car factories you can visit, Porsche and Merc. If cars interest you then visiting the factories should be high on your agenda. Munich is just so-so and is high on American's radar because there is a big base there, so everyone knows it, not that it is worth the time.
4) Beer, don't worry you can get German Beer everywhere in Germany, look out for the smaller breweries and the white beer.

Eating, to keep your costs down, do what the locals do, so in Italy during the week you'll see 3 course meals at 12:30 for E13, if you insist on eating as you do in USA then you will pay hoggins more.

Check flights against trains, often trains are faster as you straight to the centre of places. bahn.de will give you a good idea on timings and rome2rio show you the alternatives.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 04:30 AM
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Unfortunately you are trying to fit too many different places in your short time frame. There is a big difference between 'slow travel' (not everyone's style and absolutely no reason for you to travel this way) and hopping around so much that your ratio of transit to sightseeing is wrong. Especially flying between places - think about how long it will take to get from the hotel to the airport, go through security, wait for the flight, fly, go through passport control in the next country, find transportation to the next hotel, wait for it, get there, etc. etc. etc. You get the idea.

If you take trains that's a bit less trouble as you don't need to get to the train station as far before the train as you do with an airport before the flight, and train stations are in the city centers so that hour (or more) at each end of the trip is also eliminated. So at the very least I would take the train from Paris to London.

I would also eliminate one country. Germany is the most logical for most people to eliminate on a first trip to Europe, but if for personal reasons you really want to go to Germany, then consider eliminating Paris. You can have it as your next destination to dream about.

Your hotel budget of $100-150 a night for cities in May will be tough. First you have to figure the exchange rate. Even with the currently good exchange rate $100 is only €94 or £66. In Rome I can recommend Hotel Floris but in May it's €139 so the top of your range. But wonderful hotel, great location and amazing breakfast (including omelets, etc.). I would snatch that one up as they book up fast. There are a number of places in Paris that are decent in your price range but most won't include breakfast. For London you will need to up your price range. I usually stay in Travelodge Waterloo - I've found that to be the best price for someplace clean and well located. Too bad you can't trade your first class flights for coach - coach sucks but with the amount you'd probably have saved you could have afforded some great hotels and meals.

But have fun whatever you decide to do.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 04:36 AM
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I'm afraid you've miscounted your days in several places - you just don;t have as much time as you think since you are triple counting some days and not allowing time to get from one place to another. For instance you have May 4 listed as a sightseeing day in Rome, travel from Rome to Venice and then sightseeing in Venice. The fast train from Rome to Venice is about 4 hours so you need to allow at least 5.5 hours from one hotel to the next - making your time in either city very limited. If you look you will see you are counting other days multiple days too. (To get any time in Venice you will need to take a very early train out of Rome to get even a late lunch and afternoon in Venice.)

Remember it takes 2 nights in a city to get a full day of sightseeing there.

So what you have is a VERY fast-faced trip (except for Bavaria) with you rushing from one place to another and spending a lot of times just sitting on trains and waiting around train stations.

You already have too many place on your plate - trying to stuff Florence in as well will only make it more unmanageable. As it is you have only part of a day in Venice.

What you need to do is lay this trip out day by day listing for each where you will wake up, what travel you will do that day and where you will sleep. For train times go to bahn.de and determine exactly how long the trips will take - then add on at least 45 minutes at each end to get out of the hotel, travel to the train station, get yourself to the correct platform and the reverse at the other end.

Also you hotel budget is definitely in the budget category and it may not be easy to find pleasant places in a central location (important to avoid spending a lot of time traveling around with in cities) for that amount.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 04:54 AM
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I think you'll really enjoy that first class travel, and I cannot stress enough that you can find lovely b&bs and delicious food and drink in your price range -- certainly for Italy and Germany, and even Paris if you are clever. However, I would do some real research ahead of time about good places to eat on a budget, and not go to tourist places advertising cheap fixed meals.

Another point about Munich is that there is a BMW museum there plus loads to see and do. I am an American (living in Italy) and I spent 5 interesting days in Munich (I like history stuff, and there is much to enjoy in May). I had no idea there was a military base there. Learn something every day.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 05:21 AM
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Hi Sandra

There were military bases everywhere - a lot of US in Bavaria, UK in the north, Belgian and France in the middle.

I spent 7 months in a military base next to Koeln - belgian army. And 10 days in Kassel, on duty to guard a nuclear army depot.

We were supposed to defend Germany against an attack from the 'Reds. Even if some Germans saw us as an occupation army.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 05:35 AM
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Eliminate Paris? REALLY!! LOL Eliminate London AND also save a lot of money--getting there and staying there. Paris is much more budget friendly.

Don't misunderstand--first class air is wonderful--but also "exciting" and you want to take all the perks that go with it--hence NOT going to sleep!! Remember (and from Denver it is even moreso), set your watch ahead to Rome time and realize that your flight is about 8 total hours (can't vouch that my math from Denver is correct--but hope you get the idea).
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 06:33 AM
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>>>Rome (4 days)
Hotel:
Check in: May 1st
Check Out: May 4th
Train: Depart Rome>>Eliminate Paris? REALLY!! LOL Eliminate London
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 06:37 AM
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I DID ask if the tickets were bought. I hope not. AND first class may be changeable.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 07:06 AM
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"Eliminate Paris? REALLY!! LOL Eliminate London AND also save a lot of money--getting there and staying there. Paris is much more budget friendly."

They are flying out of London. London does NOT have to be expensive. The B&B I use, walking distance from the British Museum, is only just outside their budget and includes breakfast. The big museums are free. Excellent sandwiches (Pret) and ethnic restaurants are not expensive.

I would eliminate Paris and definitely add time to Venice, which needs at least three nights.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 08:00 AM
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pariswat,

I did know there were many American military bases in Germany. The US occupied half the country! But I was reaction to the assertion that Munich "is high on American's radar because there is a big base there, so everyone knows it." I didn't know there is a big US military base in Munich, and I doubt it is the reason most Americans think of going there. More likely they've heard of Oktoberfest and beer gardens.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 08:07 AM
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Regarding removing Paris or London from the itinerary, it's possible to leave Paris the afternoon before one's flight home and go directly to the London airport to spend the final night, and save touring London for some other trip. Lots of people would prefer that.

As for how much time one spends in Venice, loads of people go to Venice for a day and love it. There is no objective measure of how much time to spend in Venice. Just people trying to push their travel priorities onto somebody else.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 08:13 AM
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Also, what is this pretense of telling other people that they are going to be so excited and interested in the 1st class hot towels they won't be able to sleep? That's YOU, not them. Folks, what goes in your world is not the whole world. (Maybe some people should just travel less and get to know more people in the real world.)
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 08:26 AM
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Do you envision this being your only trip to Europe? I know lots of people your age try to do something along these lines prior to really settling in to career and family. You don't need to answer that question in a public forum, but it is something you need to think about as you make your plans.

If indeed, you are thinking that this will be your only opportunity in the next 25-30 years, then try to cram it all in. In that case, I'd take a night away from Germany and a night away from Rome. Add in a night in Venice. Don't even think about adding Florence.

If you think you could return in the next couple years, eliminate Germany and devote an entire two week trip to it in a couple years. This trip spend your time in the larger cities where you can rely on public transportation rather than driving. Driving on the autobahns is easy, but it is the small towns with their roundabouts, the confusing (to Americans) road signs, and the very difficult parking considerations that can lead to some extremely tense moments and dynamics in the car.

Don't think standard hotels because these are the same all over the world anyway. Instead look for gasthauses, B&Bs, small family hotels, pensiones etc. You'll get a much better deal for your money and you'll have a much more memorable experience.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 08:41 AM
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"Just people trying to push their travel priorities onto somebody else."

Rubbish. The OP asked for "suggestions and advice". That's what she's getting, her choice to take it or leave it. Not much point in a forum if we all just agreed with the first post.
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