Help with Europe itinerary for 30 days

Old Jun 24th, 2009, 07:19 AM
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Help with Europe itinerary for 30 days

I am planning a trip to europe this summer..I need help/suggestions with my itinerary
I plan to use rail/flights


20 August – Arrive in Zurich around 1.30 pm and leave to Lucerne in the evening
21 August – Sight-seeing in Lucerne (Mt Titlus)
22 August - Sight-seeing in Lucerne and go to Interlaken in the eve by scenic train
23 August - Sight-seeing in Interlaken (Jungfraou)
24 August – Sight-seeing in Interlaken (Schilthorn)
25 August - Take scenic train to Montreaux, and then in the night catch train to Salzburg to reach 26’th morning
26 August - Sight-seeing in Salzburg (relax and city tour)
27 August - Sight-seeing in Innsbruck (day trip from Salzburg)
28 August - Sight-seeing in Salzburg (Halsatt)
29 -See Danube valley and reach Vienna, Austria

30 August - Sight-seeing in Vienna
31 August - Sight-seeing in Vienna
1 September - Travel from Vienna to Prague, Sight-seeing in Prague
2 September - Sight-seeing in Prague
3 September - Fly to Athens, Sight-seeing in Athens
4 September - Sight-seeing in Athens
5 Sept - Athens
6 September - Fly to Rome and Sight-seeing in Rome
7 September - Sight-seeing in Rome
8 Sept - rome and leave by overnight train to Venice
9 September - Sight seeing in Venice and fly to Paris
10 September - Sight-seeing in Paris (relax a bit )
11September - Sight-seeing in Paris
12 September - Sight-seeing in Paris (day trip to Versailles)
13 September - Sight-seeing in Paris
14 September - Travel from Paris to London
15 September - Sight-seeing in London
16 September - Sight-seeing in London
17 September – Fly from London to Sydney to reach Sydney on 19 September
Anamika is offline  
Old Jun 24th, 2009, 08:04 AM
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Please say you are not serious.....
Viajero2 is offline  
Old Jun 24th, 2009, 08:18 AM
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This is a joke, I hope.
StCirq is offline  
Old Jun 24th, 2009, 08:28 AM
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getting any good air miles?
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 08:33 AM
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you are either 17 or crazzzzyyyyy...
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 08:35 AM
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Cut in half and then come back--this is an expedition.
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 08:59 AM
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Come on folks - i do not think that the itinerary is a joke and if i did i would use kinder language than the first 4 respondees did.

Too many times i've seen a new poster post something only to have the Fodoroligarchs make such comments - the person then goes away.

The itinerary is ambitious but it is like ones i've done many many times.

Please do not enforce your method of travel on others - you can disagree but don't use such terms as you are crazy, it's gotta be a joke, etc.

OP - You itinerary is very doable IMO and IME - saying that after many many trips of similar moving around.

Gee folks - lighten up and make you point without being rude.
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 09:01 AM
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really only the Athens excursion to me does not make sense - the rest is very doable and IMO not all that hurried.
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 09:02 AM
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This is NOT a vacation.

This is an extended tour of the train stations and airports of Europe.

You are going to at least twice as many places as can be resonably done in the time involved. You simply won't see much of anything in most places - and if there are any problems - delayed flight or train strike - your itinerary - and reservations - will be useless.

I've been to europe more than 70 times - between vacation and business - and have taken quite a few 3 week (22 day) road trips. A reasonable trip for 22 days would be Rome, Florence (2 day trips to Tuscan villages), Lucerne, Strasbourg and Paris. And that worked only becasue we had been to Paris twice before - and spent only 2 days picking up some new places.

You need to get a good map, consult a reliable train site (bahn.de is the best for schedules all over europe) and then figure out what you want to see/do and how long it will take in one or two sample cities (try Rome and London). Look at a guidebook to determine how long it takes to see someting (the Tower of London takes a half day not a half hour) and then figure transit in betwen places.

Unless you just want to check off items on a list this trip is simply a disaster.
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 10:37 AM
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Surprisingly to me, I lean a bit more toward Palenque on this. Your itinerary is HIGHLY ambitious and will be exhausting, but it actually has a decent time in each place as a European sampler trip. I'm assuming you're a young (low-mid 20s, at most) Aussie and I know a lot of Aussies travel to Europe on such ambitious see-every-site-possible itineraries.

That said, I think you should flip some things around because it will make your journeys potentially easier. If you start in Prague, go to Vienna, do your Swiss exploration, then to Venice, then Rome, then Paris, then London. This means you don't start near(ish) Venice, go far north of it, fly all the way back to Rome, then to Venice etc.

Skip Athens altogether because it's out of the way and you're not missing much (ooh! Acropolis; ok time to go). You can add those days to Prague (too little) and Rome.
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 10:38 AM
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Aw, heck. Meant "decent amount of time."
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 11:57 AM
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OK--let me get serious and cut this down.
First, you only have 26 niters to sleep in Europe. I see a max of 8 destinations in that time. They are:
Luzern or BO--not both
Salzburg
Vienna
Prague[fly to Rome]
Rome
Venice
Paris
London

That is all you should attempt and even then it is too many BIG cites. You are missing some of my favorite destinations in Europe---Tuscany, the lakes, rural Bavaria etc. I hope this helps.
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 11:58 AM
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Viajero 2 - could have you not said this without being so so rude?

Yes some tweeks like you suggest but the overall plan is viable.

I'm sorry i'm tired of folks telling other folk how dumb their itineraries are - make suggestions but show a little respect for their feelings.

Your comments are so so beyond the pale IMO
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 12:33 PM
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Anamika has no doubt been intimidated away by Fodor bullies!

good show folks!

you should be proud of yourselves.
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 12:47 PM
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Surprisingly to me, I lean a bit more toward Palenque on this.

Me too. With some tweaking, it's perfectly doable. Not a relaxing vacation, sure, but it sounds like the OP has at least done some initial research into what he or she is interested in (which is more than many others do). And not all of us travel to Europe for a relaxing vacation; some of us travel to experience as much as we can within reason, because we can't make it back very often. I did a much crazier itinerary than this when I was 19 and still had a great time (not that I'd do it again, but I didn't have your helpful selves then).

Repeatedly calling the itinerary "DUMB" or the OP crazy is just rude. There are other ways to be helpful and make a point.

Anamika, you've gotten some good advice, and I particularly like BigRuss's plan. I hope you get a great trip together and enjoy yourself.
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 01:18 PM
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What I like to do, to see if an itinerary is doable, is figure in the actual times. List realistic hours like:
check out of hotel/get to train station or airport: 2 hours
train trip/plane trip: 4 hours
arrive next city/get to hotel/check in: 2 hours
... see on that particular day there is 8 hours that you are not sight-seeing, rather going to & from places.

Your initial itinerary figures in NO time for CHANGING locations. That's a big gap in making a realistic plan.
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 01:24 PM
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Factor in losing 1/2 a day for each change of location and then determine if you have enough time. To me Paris, London, and Rome deserve at least 5 full days each...

You will increase your costs and lose out on time every time you move.

You can do this, but do you want to spend your precious vacation time seeing trains and train stations and airports or in cafes and pubs and squares enjoying the city you are in?

Happy travels!
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 01:50 PM
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palenque-- I agree, that was way rude on my part. I will check myself next time. I do still think the itineray needs work (yeah, that does sound way better...). Live and learn my friends. Thanks P.
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 02:10 PM
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I clicked on the poster's name and it looks like it's her first...don't know how much lurking she may have done. If she hasn't lurked a lot and it looks like this is her first post, I don't blame her for running for the hills. If it were me, I'd never be back.

There were some good and kind suggestions amongst all the trashing, so maybe she'll get some pointers. Hopefully, she's been busy, hasn't checked back yet and has the thick skin.
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Old Jun 24th, 2009, 09:10 PM
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Thanks Fodoroligarchs for your frank and honest opinions, a special thanks to Palenque, nytraveler, bobthenavigator, jent103 and suze for giving suggestions on how we can change our itinerary to make our trip more doable. We are a 29/30 year old couple on our first trip to Europe so all help and suggestions are very valuable and much appreciated.

The restriction is we have a non-refundable air ticket from Sydney to Zurich , flying out from London back to Sydney , so we can’t change our start or end destination. We also have non-refundable hotel accommodation in Austria for the dates marked in Salzburg and Vienna , so we can’t change that.

Please give comments on our revised itinerary (its yet slightly dumb) –

19 August – Depart from Sydney to Zurich
20 August – Arrive in Zurich around 1.30 pm and leave to Lucerne in the evening
21 August – Sight-seeing in Lucerne (Mt Titlus)
22 August - Sight-seeing in Lucerne and go to Interlaken in the eve by scenic train
23 August - Sight-seeing in Interlaken (Jungfraou)
24 August – Sight-seeing in Interlaken (Schilthorn)
25 August - Take scenic train to Montreaux, lake Geneva and then in the night catch train from Geneva to Salzburg to reach 26’th morning
26 August - Salzburg , Austria (relax and city tour)
27 August - Sight-seeing in Salzburg ( Danube valley ?)
28 August - Sight-seeing in Innsbruck (day trip from Salzburg )
29 August - Sight-seeing in Salzburg (Halsatt)
30 August - Travel to Vienna , Sight-seeing in Vienna
31 August - Sight-seeing in Vienna
1 September - Travel from Vienna to Prague
2 September - Sight-seeing in Prague
3 September - Sight-seeing in Prague and Fly to Rome either 3’rd night or 4’th morning
4 September - Sight-seeing in Rome
5 September - Sight-seeing in Rome and leave by overnight train to Venice
6 September - Sight seeing in Venice and fly to Paris
7 September - Sight-seeing in Paris
8 September - Sight-seeing in Paris
9 September - Sight-seeing in Paris (day trip to Versailles )
10 September - Sight-seeing in Paris
11 September - Travel from Paris to Scotland ( Edinburgh or Inverness – which is better ?)
12 September - Sight-seeing in Scotland
13 September - Sight-seeing in Scotland
14 September – Travel from Scotland to London
15 September - Sight-seeing in London
16 September - Sight-seeing in London
17 September – Fly from London to Sydney to reach Sydney on 19 September
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