I would focus on one or two cities at most for 14 days. As many have already pointed out you only have 9-10 days of actual sightseeing. Walking and taking photos is pretty exhausting. I prefer to have a good time and maybe not to see everything but have a pleasant memory of the trip. You can always always come back.

The number of cities you visit is important to decide up front. How much moving around are you comfortable with? It's time-consuming and expensive to travel around, obviously.

I do not want to spend less than 3 nights in a city. I prefer 5. So for us, 3 cities in that amount of time would work.

I toured Italy with DD, after she'd studied there and knew her way around (which made our travel much more efficient), and we stayed in 5 cities for 3 nights each: Rome, Florence, Venice, Santa Marghuerita Ligure, and Nice.

It also depends on mixing big cities with smaller ones.

I think it's important to look at the proposed cities and identify what YOU ant to see/do in a couple of them. Then you can figure out how long it will take to see those sights. If you - have 4 days worth of sights and only 2 days in the city then you know you need to rethink.

IMHO London Paris and Rome each need at least 4 nights (3 full days) at a minimum (I would vote for 5 nights - but that won;t work in your limited time line.)

I have taken the advice of flying into one city and out of another to avoid backtracking. Flights into Paris are priced at $612/person. Flights out of Dublin to Austin are $450/person. I also agree the minus the day at either end to fly to and from that leaves me with 12 days split between Paris, London, and Dublin. The flight suggestion will cut out quite a bit of in country traveling. I will put together a list of sights we want to visit and have you all take a look to see how much time should be allotted to each place. I believe travel between Paris and London is only 3 1/2 hours on the Eurostar so London to Dublin will be the most travel intensive day. Any more helpful hints for this crazed planner?!

Great News!

Flights are very frequent between London and Dublin. If you book early on BA you can get great deals into or out of London City Airport which is very convenient. Also check out Aer Lingus.

Use www.eurostar.com and book as early as you can to get the best prices between London and Paris.

London and Paris are much bigger than Dublin so allocate your time accordingly.

Happy planning!

The travel time ends up being about the same between London and Paris...and London and Dublin. The flight is only 1 hour but all the wasted time at the airport and getting to the airport makes it about the same as the Eurostar all in.

>>I believe travel between Paris and London is only 3 1/2 hours on the Eurostar so London to Dublin will be the most travel intensive day. Any more helpful hints for this crazed planner?<<

Actually the Eurostar only takes a little over 2 hours and there is a time change so you actually gain an hour. But it still eats up half a day. You need to check out, travel to Gare du Nord, check in 45 minutes before the train, the train ride, then travel from St Pancras to your London Hotel and check it. Shoots half a day.

Flying to Dublin - You need to check out, travel to LHR or whichever airport you use, check in 2 hours ahead of the flight,The flight, then travel from DUB to your Dublin hotel and check it. Shoots 3/4 a day. a day.

>I have taken the advice of flying into one city and out of another to avoid backtracking. Flights into Paris are priced at $612/person. Flights out of Dublin to Austin are $450/person>

Are you saying this is the open jaw ticket you can actually book? I'm not exactly understanding your terminology. It isn't individual flights--it is an itinerary you book all at once. And maybe that is what you are saying--just trying to be clear. You probably want to book into Dublin and out of Paris--at least I would.

Open-jaw tickets are not two one ways. Are you sure you've looked at the right kind of tickets? They're called multi-city, and they're not individual one-way tickets, which are always more expensive than open-jaw.

@ days in Rome,2 days in Paris....do yourselves a favor and concentrate on Dublin/London or London/Paris.etc. You will be happy to not be so rushed and stressed!

You must check for multi-destination flights only.

And doing London, then Paris, then Dublin makes no sense.

If you are going to those 3 places go to Dublin, then fly to London and take the train to Paris.

The flight you book would be Austin to Dublin and Paris to Austin. The Dublin to London flight would be separate - assuming are spending some days in Dublin. If not spending some days there - simply don;t fly to Dublin at all.

Hi randomhope,

I decided to do my own search for multi-city tickets AUS - DUB and CDG - AUS, in January [not sure when your trip is]

I put the dates into the cheap flights website, and via OPODO, they came up with a return fare of £582 pp - about U$940 at current exchange rates.

have a play with the websites and see what you can find for your travel dates. it should come up as a return fare, not two singles, if you're doing it right.