Macy U.

I've never been to Europe before and I'm trying to plan a trip to Italy this fall (Sept or Oct, for about 10 days). The main cities I want to see are Venice and Rome. I'm planning on going with 3 other friends and we are all in our early/mid 20s. <BR><BR>My question is: Should I join a tour that will take me to these cities and show me the sites? If yes, what tour company (I've looked at many and aside from Contiki, it looks like the avg. age group for most of them might be too old for us) would you recommend? Are these escorted tours worth the price? Or do you think it would be better for us to explore on our own?

deb

Macy, please don't join a tour, I would guess the average age of the ones I have seen are people in their 60's. They get up early to get on a tour bus and you guys should be out having fun the night before, not getting up at 6 to leave for the next stop. Italy is very easy to get around in and I would suggest adding Florence to your itinerary since there are alot of young people that go there. Venice tends to be a little quieter but is my favorite place. e-mail me at [email protected] if you want more info, I am in europe now so only check e-mail every few days but i will be happy to help you out.

elaine

Macy, at your age, and with four of you I can't see why you would need a tour, and you don't mention any special circumstances. As long as one or more of you are willing to do some research and planning, or agreeable to having one person do it, you can even with a budget in mind easily plan a 10 day trip.<BR><BR>Don't wait much longer to book hotels though. Many popular hotels are small, and book up months in advance.<BR><BR>Suggestions on planning a trip can be found at www.tips4trips.com/ and<BR>www.twenj.net<BR><BR>When you start to plan, ask yourselves what interests each of you: Do you like art museums? Historical sites? Churches? Architecture? Gardens? Hiking? What two or three things have you always dreamed of seeing? Which appeals to you for this trip: leisurely strolling and relaxing or more task-oriented sightseeing? <BR><BR>More questions<BR>How do you feel about public transportation (trains, buses) vs driving? Driving can be more cost effective for a group, but not necessarily, and driving in unfamiliar territory can be much more stressful.<BR><BR>Do you and your friends like to plan ahead, or decide things more spontaneously? How might you and your friends tend to react when things go wrong, for example if you miss your train, or the hotel doesn’t have a room for you, or you get lost on the road? Do you all tend to have compatible habits regarding getting up early in the morning or staying up late at night, spending freely vs frugally, etc. Are you all people who will express feelings and work out a compromise, or are some of you whiney or silent-sufferers? Are you willing to go off on your own for a day or an afternoon while the others do something else?<BR><BR>What do you all like in restaurants: what kinds of food, what kinds of ambience and service, what kinds of prices? How do you all feel about drinking wine with meals vs not, splitting restaurant bills into even shares vs itemizing them, eating a lot vs eating a little, etc. <BR><BR>I have trip files on the cities you mention; if you'd like to see them, email me. Good luck<BR> <BR>

Vita

Everyone has their own preferences, but there's no reason why you couldn't do the trip on your own, and personally, I think you'll have more fun. I did a solo trip to Italy last year and I'm in my late twenties. I've been to Rome and Florence, but not Venice. Any of the major cities (Rome, Florence, Venice) are very navigable on foot or by public transportation.<BR><BR>In terms of price, with a tour you'll be paying for more than you might be interested in doing/seeing and you won't be able to choose your accomodations. Therefore, you might be paying for a higher end hotel when you just want a place to crash, or you could be staying near the Vatican on the other side of the river when you might prefer the city center. Just examples.

Nancy

Great advice so far. Of course don't put yourselves in lock-step at your ages! You should be enjoying your youth and winging it in Europe. The most I would do is make hotel reservations, and enjoy your freedom. You can be old biddies playing cards on a tour bus later on, for now Enjoy!

Vita

One more thing, Macy. Go to the bookstore and peruse some travel guides for Italy. For your age group, I think Let's Go might work well. I've used their hotel recommendations for Rome, Florence and London and were very happy with them. Time Out might also be a good one for Rome although they might not have one for Venice. Have a ball!

havefun

Agree on use your judgment. If you're more comfortable with a tour then that's fine. I think you could do fine on your own (either driving or on trains). Rome and Venice are great, but personal favorite is Florence and Siena (and the other small towns in Tuscany). Think you would have a great time exploring alot of the smaller towns. The larger cities such as Rome don't show as much of the local character as they are big cities.

Hugh

Macy<BR>Just spent my honeymoon on our first trip to Italy 4/29 to 5/15. Without doubt, can the tour go on your own. <BR>We made reservations in Rome and Venice on the internet, and left a week in between open. I drove an Audi TT out of Rome and we hit Spoleto-Assisi-Sienna-Florence-Pisa-CinqueTerre-Santa Margarita-Como-Milan and Turned the car in Venice.. After two days there we trained back to Rome and flew out.<BR>We were lucky, so you just couldn't have as good a time as we did, but we had no problems with anything. Driving is easy (be aggressive) and fun. While we did go to several places in Sienna and Como before we found a vacancy, the hotels we found were overall more appealing and much less expensive than the reservations we made in Rome and Venice. No worries,good food,good wine.

kelly

I've done 2 Contiki tours and had a blast on both of them. I made friendships with people that I still stay in contact with. Both tours I was on had people from 18 and up. For a first time to Europe it was a good experience. This September I am tackling Italy on my own, and it's because of my experiences with Contiki that I feel sure of myself. Don't dismiss something you've never done before!!

Julia Elzie

Hi! I wouldn't be so quick to discount doing a tour. I am in my early 30's and have done a lot of traveling and even lived in Germany by myself. I did a week-long escorted tour to Ireland last spring and there were lots of younger people on my tour - young married couples, a young career woman. There were lots of opportunities to go out in the evening after the older folks had settled in for the evening. Most of the older people were really active, well-traveled, articulate people, and they were great. Our tour guide had lots of great suggestions for good pubs, restaurants, music. Personally, I think that tours are a great way to get a quick overview of a country to find out where I'd like to spend more time in the future.<BR> However, you can get independent packages with hotels, airfare, train passes and day tours to Rome, Florence, Venice for very reasonable prices in the fall, too. With these packages, you have a bit of structure, but also lots of independence, too. Have fun!

Marie

Hey Macy, this is the time in your lives when you are building your own adult personalities. I know too many women who have never ventured out on their own and live boxed-in, picky lives. A tour may be fine, but don't you want to start building your own independence and wherewithall? It gives you confidence to plan and then take your own trip. Start now.

Sherri Kardell

Hi Macy if you want to see specific sights you might want to consider doing some day tours. In Rome check out www.threeamigos.com they do small tours of specific sights.In Florence check out artviva.com for day tours of museums and day trips to Tuscany. Otherwise go solo just hire some one for a few hours to see sights you've always wanted to see. I have used both of these and was happy with them. I suggest you do some reserch and have a plan of what you want to see. You may not see all of it; but from my experience if you don't plan you will miss out on alot.<BR>La Dolce Italy!<BR>Sherri Kardell

karen

There are pros and cons to both ways of traveling. Pros of a tour -- you never have to worry about where you will stay,language problems, transportation -- getting on the wrong train etc;how much it will cost -usually the value is very good and you cannot purchase individually what they do in bulk, they usually have guides to give you more insight into what you are seeing. Cons -- you give up some freedom -- may go places you are not interested in and may not spend enough time in places you are interested in.<BR><BR>You can plan a trip yourself -- just do the research -- but in places like Rome I think local tours are helpful if you are not on an organized tour. They help the places come to life.<BR><BR>If you are primarily staying in the large cities, I would book places to stay ahead of time -- you can wing it in the country side as long as you realize the hassles of not getting someplace early enough and having the rooms booked up. In England we spent hours looking for a place to stay because the town was all booked up when we got there. We finally found a place at 8:00 that night and were so grateful for it. It was way away from where we wanted to be though.<BR><BR>We are going in September and doing the cities on our own but have a walking tour set up for the countryside -- need to walk off some of the food!

Karen

Macy: I'm not ready for the nursing home yet and went to France on a Tauck tour! It was great and I am not a "tour"person but thought planning such a trip was more than I wanted to tackle. We learned much more than we would on our own and still had a lot of free time. The tour company made a great suggestion of extending the stay on our own in Paris which we did. By that time, we knew our way around and enjoyed the last 3 or so days on our own. We went to Ireland on our own and had no problem driving and planning everything but, if you are on the neurotic side like I am, the first trip to Europe may be less stressful on a tour.

Wayne

Looks as if the majority is in favor of going it alone, but just to be sure I'll put in my two cents' worth. The greatest thing about a tour is that you don't have to do anything but show up. The worst thing about a tour is that you don't have to do anything but show up. <BR><BR>On the other hand, if you travel independently and do as Elaine advised, that is, some or all of you study and do some planning, then you are forced to do some advance work, learn a little bit ahead of time, and will gain a lot more (in my opinion) from your subsequent independent travel. Going without a formal tour has all the other aspects of flexibility that make this kind of travel so desirable, and only a few of the drawbacks---all of which can be minimized by doing your homework ahead of time.<BR><BR>So go on your own---I honestly believe you'll learn more, and you'll have more fun coping with each day's challenges than you would have if someone were holding your hand. Good luck.

Tom

Don't do a tour! You'll spend your days insulated within a gaggle of other American tourists following a guide holding up a pinwheels or colored streamers. Everytime I saw a group being herded around on someone else's clock - whether in Venice or Rome - it made me glad we did a little homework and went it alone. <BR><BR>You can always get a local guide to take you through the major sites (Vatican, Colosseum, etc.).

Terry

OK Macy think about it, aren't you a little tired at being led around and told what to do, what time to get up in the morning, where to eat, how long to look at something, where to walk, etc.?<BR>Welcome to the tour scene.<BR>At least one of your group must be savvy enough to research and plan a simple trip on your own.<BR>Nurture your imagination.

Carin

Don't do a tour! Read all of the above posts again out loud! Have fun!

Vita

Another idea, Macy. If you're caught between wanting the structure of a tour and a little independence, you could try an independent trip with some booked day tours. Enjoy Rome (www.enjoyrome.com) is a good tour group that offers discounts for people under 26. I did their evening tour my first night in Rome because it was my first solo trip and I wanted the security of a group my first night there. They offer different tours that you might want to look at.

Liz

I took a tour with 3 friends (all in our 20'2) for my first trip to Europe. While I enjoyed it, I would have gotten more out of it if we had not gone on a tour. Most of the other people were older but very nice & active. The problem is the regiment - you have to wake up early, no deviation from schedule, you eat most meals together, often in your hotel. One thing liked was the tour guide. You can hire local guides for city tours. since then, I have taken several trips on my own & loved it. There is so much information out there, you can plan a great trip. To me, that's half the fun!