Eliz1031

Hello all! I am from the Philippines and I am planning a trip to Europe for my 25th wedding anniversary which falls right smack in summer season (ie peak period!). This will be our first time to Europe. We are overwhelmed with choices.

1. Travel period is 3 weeks up to 1 month, at most.
2. Our anniversary is on June 26 and I would like to be in a specific city on this particular day of the itinerary. Any suggestions on what is the best place to commemorate this special day? Is there a Catholic church where we can have a brief renewal of vows or special blessing at moment's notice?
3. I would like to follow my own lazy itinerary, and not join a Trafalgar-type whirlwind tour of 20 cities in 30 days, at the end of which we might need another vacation to relax after the hectic schedule of such tours!
4. Given the above, what places are must-see? If you ask about our personal preferences, I will mention Santorini, Rome, Tuscany, Provence, Paris, Barcelona, London, Edinburgh, Geneva, and maybe Croatia and Sweden.
5. I've heard my friends recommend a cruise around Europe. The big advantage supposedly is that you have more control over your expenses. Any comments on taking a cruise?
6. Our trip budget is $8,000.

Thank you in advance for your inputs!

sap

That trip budget doesn't include airfare, does it?

adrienne

2. I'm sure you will not be able to find a priest to renew your vows without any notice. I think it would be unrealistic to expect to find a priest sitting around a church doing nothing. It would also be easier to renew your vows in a country where you speak the language and can communicate your needs. If you're serious about this then choose a church and arrange a time in advance for your anniversary vow renewal.

5. I would imagine that you would have LESS control over expenses on a cruise than you would have traveling independently. I don't see any advantage to taking a cruise. Do you like cruises where you're on the ship most of the time and spend little time in port? I doubt you would be able to book a cruise and airfare plus additional spending money for 2 people for $8,000.

You really haven't said what your interests are other than renewing your wedding vows so it's rather difficult to advise you.

Eliz1031

Sap - yes the budget includes airfare. Is the amount unrealistic? For accommodations, I am looking at nice B&B's or other apartment rentals which are cheaper than usual hotels. Maybe I can raise this to $10,000 or 12,000.

Adrienne - perhaps a formal renewal of vows is impossible at short notice. But I remember friends saying that they went to this church in France where they were able to get a blessing from the priest and a certificate from the church. (I should look up those friends and get the name of the church!) Something similar is quite enough for me. Could we maybe talk to the priest after he says Mass and ask for a special blessing? I do not know if the churches allow this there.

Thank you for pointing out that more information is needed. My husband & I like to eat and would love to experience local cuisine. We love natural landscapes so we'd like to see mountains, lakes, beaches, etc. Like I mentioned previously, we'd like a "lazy" itinerary, going around on our own schedule. This is our anniversary, so I'd like romantic highlights. No extreme sports activities for us, please. We are in our early 50s.

My husband can ride a bicycle, but I can't (thanks to a childhood trauma). Will this be a problem in some places?

Hope this is more helpful.

mamcalice

I think your itinerary (or list of countries to visit) is a bit long for the time available and your budget. How about picking 3 adjacent countries such as France, Spain and Italy or England, France and Italy and working on an itinerary to visit locations in those countries. For instance, you could visit London, Paris, Provence and Rome (or Paris, Barcelona, Tuscany and Rome).

You shouldn't need to ride a bicycle in any of the places you plan to visit.

You like natural landscapes but want to visit cities. Do you like museums, lots of walking etc.? Narrow your choices a bit and fill us in a bit on why you chose the locations you mention. It will be easier for us to provide suggestions.

Gretchen

I think the Greece portion might be the stretch, as much as I LOVE Greece. And most assuredly Sweden!
I would select several "biggies" for you in western Europe, and possibly England. England will add a pretty big expense, I think.
Then connect the dots and make your itinerary. We took our children on a 3 week trip to Europe years ago and landed in Luxembourg (cheap airfare via Icelandic), and went to Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and finally up through France to Paris--to celebrate OUR 20th anniversary. That is just one example of myriad.
For a 4 week Greek trip I started in Paris, Germany, Yugoslavia, Greece,Italy and back to Paris. Open jaw trips were difficult to do in those days.
I think as others have said, you need to refine the places, and allow enough time in them to really really enjoy them, and then build the itinerary as you subtract travel days, etc.

travelerjan

I think your amount may be unrealistic, even if you can narrow down the countries you wish to see to THREE maximum. Have you done any research at all?? I just now went to KAYAK.com -- a website that searches all the online websites for websites, agencies, consolidators etc. I put in MANILA & PARIS... and because most flights/prices are not yet set for next June, I put in Sept 15- Oct 15. Which would be one date in the heavier travel season, one date, a bit off-season.

Best prices for round-trip about $1,000 per. And travel between 3 countries would likely cost you another $1,000 each,minimum. So that's $4,000 gone.

Now, for lodgings, figure 30 days @ minimum $150 per day ( = 115 Euros) ... the places you name, except for Croatia. are ALL high-rent spots!! ... and that's another $4,500 gone. So your initial figure $8,000 is already used up and you're $500 in the hole ... but wait!! you haven't eaten!! Or paid local transportation, or admissions, or possible car rentals, or day- tour fees -- the list goes on.

I think you have the possibility of a Dream Trip, and I salute you for celebrating a milestone in your marriage in this wonderful way. But I think you might have to sit down with a travel expert and see what kind of "Independent travel package" can be worked out. NOT a tour where you would be herded like sheep. No -- a package that would include the major transportation links between 3 countries, and small budget hotels in the 2 or 3 stops in each country.

NOTE #1: for budget reasons, you should ask to exclude "transfers" in such a plan. These "transfers" essentially are costly arrangements to have a car meet you at a train or airport and drive you to a hotel. If you are fit enough to step onto a bus and/or wave your arm to hail a taxi, you can "transfer" yourself BY yourself at a fraction of the cost.

NOTE #2: You might have to selectively "edit out" many hotels suggested, because travel people need to make a living, and they will only suggest hotels that have rates high enough that they're willing to pay a commission. But you could still use such a person for the overall transportation booking, and hotels that strike you as a good value.

Such a "do-able" trip of 3+ weeks might be: LONDON & day trips (1 week).. Eurostar to PARIS (4 days) ... Train to PROVENCE (4 days)... train/plane to North Italy/Tuscany (5 days)... train to ROME (5 days). You could look for an "open-jaw" ticket that would go into one major capital and out of another.

About santorini... sweden etc -- forget it, unless you have a flying carpet somewhere!

JoyC

I think $10,000-$12,000 will be OK including airfare. I met a Filipino some months ago in Italy and he mentioned that if not for the cost of airfare from Philippines, which was ~$1400-$1500 per person, he would go to Italy more often to visit family.So if you take out $3,000 for both of you, you still have $9,000 for accommodations, food, attractions and some inland transportation.I think that's fine for 3-4 weeks although you have to be frugal especially in regards to eating out.

<i>Something similar is quite enough for me. Could we maybe talk to the priest after he says Mass and ask for a special blessing? </i>
Do you speak French? or Italian? or Spanish? If not, how are you going to communicate this to him?

Lastly, Provence and Tuscany are huge areas. If you are not renting a car, you are limited on the villages you can see that has a bus system that will take you from one area to another.

Also remember 3-4 weeks is not a lot of time visiting several countries. You lose a day here and then for traveling, so keep that in consideration.

I would say go for it.....England (London,forget Edinburgh), then TGV to Belgium (Brussels, Brugge), then train to France (Paris, a bit of Provence like Aix) and then you have to choose whether to go to Spain or Italy as they are on opposite side of France. That's about what you can do in your time frame if you really want a "lazy" itinerary. (Although I personally think its quite rush, but you wanted to visit several countries).

Good Luck!

adrienne

I haven't been to Greece, Sweden, or Spain so I will only comment on the other locations you mention. It looks like you want small towns, strolling around, cafes, etc. rather than large cities.

Given that, I think you should choose Provence which will give you lots of charming small towns with varied natural landscape. You will have water and mountains within a short distance of each other. To allow for a bit of city life you can begin and end in Barcelona and Paris.

I would definitely contact the people you know who renewed their vows with no advance notice. I would also bring a copy of your marriage certificate with a translation to the languages of the countries you'll visit.

sap

Yes, $10,000 to $12,000 is more like it and feasible if you rent apartments where you can prep your own food at least part of the time.

It's great that you have so much time to play around with. You say you want to travel more slowly and I would therefore suggest that you take those 3-4 weeks and stick to no more than 3-6 regions in one country or two adjacent countries, spending four days to a week in each. Many apartments/gites in popular areas only rent for one week in high season anyway. If you pick good towns and villages as bases from which to do daytrips, you can come back to your "home" town each evening to wander around and feel almost like a local after a few days. This, of course, necessitates a car outside the larger cities. We've definitely discovered we prefer to travel this way and I like the flexibility, freedom and relaxing pace it offers.

First, pick up guidebooks from the library for the countries that interest you (no sense buying them at this stage in the game). Then you can decide what really grabs you and -- if you're serious about that fabulously "lazy" itinerary, then narrow down your choices to the 3-6 regions of one country or adjacent countries on which to focus. After that, you can spend all the time you want researching the specifics for your region online, picking your home bases and scouring sites like Fodor's for info before buying the exact guidebooks you know you'll need.

As an example, for our next trip in June, we're renting an apartment in Paris for a week, followed by one-week rentals in Provence and Dordogne, with a four-night B&B stay in the Lot area to split up the Provence & Dordogne legs. (I'm having a hard time keeping our projected budget to $15,000-$20,000 for three people, but I plan to do a lot of sightseeing.)

In a nutshell, the style of travel you describe ideally means sticking to one country for 3-4 weeks, renting a car and just exploring. (I do spend months creating personalized itineraries, but my husband usually takes one glance at them before tossing them in the backseat and starting the car - somehow we manage to strike a decent balance between our two methods of operation.)

Happy Planning!

PalenQ

marking for later comment

franco

Great advice by travelerjan on travel budget - it's definitely not doable with your $ 8,000. And even if you can make that 10,000, it will be a tight budget, so... my advice is you stick to Greece, for the whole 4 weeks! Greece has so many interesting, beautiful and relaxing places that you could easily spend 8 weeks there, as well - and it's the only cheap country on your list! In Greece, with your (raised!) budget, you can still feel like being on a holiday. Everywhere else, I'm afraid counting coins might spoil the experience.

Raven01

Just wanted to chime in on the budget. I've got an $8,000 budget USD for 2 adults for a 2.5 week trip. That includes airfare from the USA, food, sites, etc - basically everything except souvenirs. We aren't foodies, however, so our food budget is pretty basic ($40 per person per day) and does not account for alcohol, as we are not big drinkers.

Transfers in Europe between countries, IMO, can be much less than $1,000 per person, but that requires planning. London to Paris was about $60 per person on Eurostar for us - but I got the cheap rate because I had my dates set. Flexibility will definitely cost more. If you pick 3 cities and book transfers between, I think you will be less than $500 per person. But you will have to book early, jump on the early cheap rates, and have set dates.

So in sum I think a budget of a bit more than $8,000 for 3 weeks is doable, but you will be skimping on some things that, for a 25th anniversary trip, you might not want to. $10,000 - $12,000 USD is more reasonable, I believe, if you want more fancy dinners, really nice hotels, etc.

nytraveler

Taking a cruise ensures that you see the lest possible while spending a lot. Ports are often far from the cities they serve - and you waste valuable hours trekking back and forth - also you miss having evenings in the cities - which can be some of the most charming - if not romantic times.

I know you want to see everything but you really re going to have to focus is yu want more than a tour of train stations and airports. For 3 weeks II reco no more than 6 cities (cities - not countries) and for a month no more than 4. Thsi will give you time to see more than that top 2 sights in each place, get a flavor of what the place/culture is rally like - and will be much easier on the budget that a huge amount of moving around.

We have done quite a few 3 week road trips anchored by a major city at each end ( for instance, Rome to Paris) stopping at several places on the way. This lets you devote 5 days or so for major cities and perhaps 3 to smaller ones, while giving you the freedom to tour the countryside and stop in small towns on the way from one place to another (we never do more than 4 hours driving in one day). You can do similar by train if you prefer= and get a taste of a couple of world capitals as well as different types of culture (latin in Italy, Germany in Ger or Switz, then French).

You can, of course, try to visit 15 places - but I think you will find you have memories of vry little.

Eliz1031

Thank you all so much for your comments. Most of you brought me back down to earth. I will take your advice to choose at most 4-6 cities in adjoining countries. Now the difficult task of choosing the cities. As JoyC mentioned, airfare from Manila to Europe is expensive, so it's difficult to plan for a yearly trip to go & see the places that were missed.

I usually plan our family trips on my own, but this coming trip to Europe is proving to be a big challenge for me. However, if I focus my efforts on the few chosen cities, then things could start to get easier, I hope!

Adrienne, my mistake, the church is in Barcelona and it is Our Lady of Monserrat. You are absolutely spot-on about bringing a copy of our marriage certificate.

Again thanks to all who replied.

isabel

Gotta disagree with those who say you need over $10,000 for a trip like that. I am right now in Europe on a three week trip, I do one every July. We are in Croatia now in a lovely "apartment" for 55 euro, it has AC, is a five minute walk from the Diocletian Palace in Split. We spent 47 a night in Korcula and 60 in Dubrovnik - we had an apartment there with AC, TV with CNN, kitchenette, and the location was great - right in the center of the old town. I repeat 60 euro a night, double, inside a UNESCO world heritage site. Last week we were on the Amalfi Coast, we stayed in Sorrento for 79 euro a night including breakfast. The room had AC, TV, mini fridge and was huge. The breakfast was incredible. In Rome (five minute walk from Trevi Fountain) we are paying 75 euro including breakfast. So NO, you do NOT need to pay 150 euro a night or more in summer in Europe. Depends where you go of course, Sweden is expensive, so is London. But I've stayed for these prices all over Italy, Spain, France, Greece (average price for last year including Santorini was under 60 euro), Croatia, Germany (last year great B&B in Bopard for 55 euro) etc.

You also do not need $1000 to transfer from place to place in Europe. Our easy jet flight from Rome to Dubrovnik was 14 euro. Our flight back to Rome from Split is 32 euro. You need to book easy jet flights months in advance to get these prices but they are readily available. I have flown easy jet all over Europe and can't ever remember paying over 50 or 60 euro. Even when you figure in the cost of a car to the airport because the flight is so early you can't take public transportation it's still cheap. Now transportation costs do add up, but unless you are flying full cost airlines every three days or so you are not going to need $1000 for intra-Europoe transportation.

I'll be writing a trip report when we get back and will include costs. Most of my previous trip reports (half of which took place in July each year) have cost breakdowns so if you want an idea click on my name and read some of them. We are not extreme budget travelers. Every place we stay is clean, centrally located, almost all have air conditioning. They may not leave chocolates on your pillow after the turn down the sheets each night, but they are far from dumps.

ankhboy

Oh Isabel is my kind of traveller!! And I second the idea of Croatia - clean and pretty, safe and inexepensive. fly into Vienna and stay a night or two. Take the charming old streetcar around the city. With the day pass, you can get on and off. And it is a circle around the city, so you will get back to where you started!! Then fly to Zadar, Croatia for about $100 R/t max. Stay in Sukosan, about 8 km south of the airport. A charming beach community. many places clean and with private bath, a few minutes walk from the beach are 40-70 euro per night. You can walk everywhere. Swim everyday, the beaches are safe, the water is clear and clean. Take a day trip to Zadar and listen to the sea organ. take a day boat trip to the outer islands for 40 E. Cute bakeries everywhere!! Nice restaurants everywhere by the road along the water. Not expensive! Then do a week or two in Greece. Great plan!

travelerjan

I think that before we spin any more scenarios, we need to wait and hear back from Ms. Phillipines about her wish list ... She may or may not want to confine herself to one country, such as Croatia. This may be her first and only trip to Europe. She will have a different perspective from those of you who are veteran European travelers, and who confidently plan and expect to return again and again, to explore Europe's attractions in depth.

Let's wait and see what her reactions are, and if she wants to re-order her priorities.

Eliz1031

Travelerjan, you took the words right out of my mouth. This is my dilemma - which cities to choose to make this a memorable trip for an important milestone, and at the back of our heads thinking that we may not be able to make another trip back.
I appreciate Isabel's inputs, which I've also read on Arthur Frommer's books that mention affordable rentals all over Europe. And thanks for sharing about the budget airlines criss-crossing all over Europe.

PalenQ

Well IMO by all means consider taking the train for the most relaxed way IF you are going to the cities that most tourists want to go to - Rome, Venice, Amsterdam, Florence, Paris, etc - as cars are a liability in large cities - wide areas of their city centres are off-limits to private vehicles - parking can be problematic and expensive - $30/day last time in checked in Amsterdam and of course $7-8/gal fuel, often predatory toll roads and high drop off fees for not returning your car to the country in which you first picked it up.
I have traveled by railpasses for decades now annually or more so my bias is train and railpasses - but for sponteneity and wide-ranging travel they can be a great deal (if not traveling enough though they may well not be) - anyway for tons of great info to plan a European rail journey i always highlight these fab sites: www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com - download the latter's superb IMO free European Planning & Rail Guide as it offers suggested rail itineraries, rail maps and bits on each country's train system.

And if you want to mix rail and car travel look at the Rail 'n Drive passes where you pick up a rental car at a train station in a country - drive thru mellow rural areas to another train station and get back on the train to blast to a distance city - or hop any of the zillions of overnight trains that seem to connect any two cities far enough apart - save the cost of a hotel - and for couples getting a private double compartment perhaps some romance (my friends swear their oldest child was conceived in such a compartment on the Paris to Venice overnight train. Oh well use precautions i guess!