Have you snagged a bargain fllight that goes in to Milan & out of Rome?? Otherwise, why Milan for just a few hours? Unless you desperately want to go shoe-shopping or something, I would have said, look at an "open-jaw" ticket and fly IN to Athens and OUT of Rome. But I'll bet you already have purchased your tickets. Those are my thoughts .. but probably not of much use if you have already committed money down.

At that time of year, I do hope your Greece accommodation is in Athens, because with the weather, the usual summer places will be closed down and gloomy.

Thanks Travelerjan, yes we did snag a bargain flight which flys into Milan and out of Rome.

I am yet to find out where exactly our accomodation is in Greece but I am hoping the same! Not too worried though, there are ways to get around these things. We live in the tropics everyday and when our trip comes around our summer will be at its peak so we will be keen to experience the cooler climate, my only concern is the wind and rain.

You might want to know that Aegean Airlines periodically offers discount airfare between Milan and Athens as well as between Athens and Rome, so if you are able to catch a sale for Jan. and Feb. you will save a significant amount of money. Right now I'm seeing €110 one way Jan. 28 from Milan to Athens but there's a good possibility that this will drop between now and then. Athens>Rome on Feb. 4 is €83.

http://www.aegeanair.com/default.aspx

Sign up for the Aegean email newsletter and they'll notify you automatically of any upcoming sales.

Same applies to flights between Venice and Athens.

Brotherleelove2004 - you are a star! thank you!! that's great news to us.

My only comment is that your time in Rome is very short. I would skip Venice and spend more time in Rome.

kfusto - you're right, that was my concern also.. perhaps the only way around this is to forfeit pompei as I really want to get to Venice for the Carnevale, it looks like an amazing festival and one we don't see often down here.