I am wondering since my husband and I have never travelled to Europe, is going it alone and not being part of a tour the best route? Will it be too overwhelming and difficult to arrange for novices like ourselves. I don't like the restrictions and structure of a tour AND I don't want to be seen from a mile away as "a tourist".

I need advice on where to begin my planning from all of you seasoned travellers out there.

Italy is my one true dream destination so I really need help!

Thanks.

You can definitely do it by yourselves! And planning is half the fun.

Decide where you want to go, how many days you have, what kind of budget you have to work with, and get a book or two on where you are going. Then, when you get a better sense of what exactly you want to see/do, you can look up more specific information on this site (using the "search" function to start, and then posting questions as they come up).

People on this particular board offer so much good information...you picked a good place to start.

Littlebella:

You already have a number of messages out there asking for recommendations for inexpensive lodgings. Quite a few people have taken the trouble to answer them.

My conclusion is the following:

Either:
a) You are incredibly naive.
or:
b) You are a troll.

LittleBella, I will give you the benefit of the doubt at this point.

You posted two other threads. One about inexpensive B&B's. The other about 10 days in Italy and what would you do.

I will, at this point, assume that you have not read the directions and rules that Fodor's posted.

So, if you do not know how to find your other post (which have answers to your questions) type your name (which is LittleBella) in the searchbox and and click search.

You will then see your other post etc.

BTW, I am sure you can count on "being seen from a mile away as a tourist". And so what? You will be a tourist.

Well... that was friendly.

I am just throwing some thoughts out there and I am looking at both the tour and non-tour approach. To one who has never travelled abroad, the whole thing can be a bit daunting. If that makes me naive then so be it.

To anyone with some good tips on where to start, it would be (and has been)greatly appreciated.

first get a guide book and decide where in Italy you want to be. After you decide, you can find out which hotels and B&Bs are to your liking. Many books out there to guide you. Here in the search engine you can, for example, type in Venice and the posts will come up. There's enough info on Italy here to be a book.

LittleBella: you still have to give a bit more concrete information so that you can be helped. If Italy is your "one true dream", then you MUST have some idea of what you are dreaming of seeing. Are you interested in the cities, the museums, riding a gondola down the Grand Canal,etc, or are you looking to wander the back roads of Tuscany? You need to help out here. This relates to your question about where to begin your planning. You're not going to get a lot of encouragment for tours on this board so if you seriously want to consider a tour as well as travel on your own, you need to get to a travel agent and pick up lots of brochures from different tour companies and see what they have to offer. You most certainly can do on your own as have millions of others but again, you are the best judge of your own "style" and comfort level. There is more information on this board than you can possible read and absorb, so do some homework and come back with questions that are a bit more specific.

Hello LittleBella, if you will click on your name in the search box here on Fodor's you will find your other questions.

And you will find my response to you that took time to compose and type.

Yes indeed, I was "friendly".

And you did thank everyone for their answers.

And now you are starting all over again with questions. What gives?

Again, I suggested if you do not know how to pull up your other post I told you how you can do that. Unfriendly. Think not.

Go to Italy with the attitude you are showing here and I am sure we will be reading a trip report how "unfriendly" the Italians were to you.

No more answers or comments from me. Think you are a troll. But if not, then I gently suggest that you learn how to use the Fodor's Board.

Best wishes to you in your travels to Italy.

Do you like adventure and taking risks or do you want to see sights and museums and that's it? Cities or countryside? Do one of you drive? Is the other one a good navigator? I like adventure and experiences so I don't overplan but I always overpack So I book the first place to stay on arrival and if we move around we wing it. This does not work for everyone but we have managed to find some delightful, unusual, sweet, generous, charming people and plush, comfortable, bare bones,"real deals", tacky, "they must have something better than this" places to stay. We have taken trains, we have rented cars and gotten so lost and ended up in a place so remote we stopped to listen to the silence and saw the milky way in all its glory because we were miles away from any light.
Decide the kind of trip you want. What is your ideal trip? It doesn't have to be the next trip but something you can work toward. When I was 18 I bought a 1 way ticket to Europe and went. As I was trudging across a Greek isle beach with my backpack so heavy that one of the "guys" took pity on me and offered to carry it I vowed I would return but with a husband and 16 suitcases. Now my feeling is, the husband is OK but not all those @#$#%$%$## suitcases! Travel will change you but first you have to get your feet wet.

It really depends where you want to go. If you want to go to a limited number of places, and you want to concentrate on major tourist destinations (e.g. Florence, Venice, Rome), and you want to travel by train, I don't think it will be difficult at all to do it on your own, even if you don't speak any Italian and are an inexperienced traveler. However, if you'd like to get off the beaten track and visit smaller towns, especially remote mountainous areas in the south, it could be difficult, in fact extremely difficult if you can't speak and understand Italian well enough to communicate moderately well, with reasonable effort on both sides, or if (like me) you are afraid to drive in a strange place and on narrow mountainous roads.

Your choice doesn't have to be an absolute either/or. Sometimes it works out well to do a combination of tour and independent travel--take a tour for the parts of the trip that would be difficult for you to do on your own, either because you don't want to have to drive, or because you'd have too a hard time communicating, and travel independently before and/or after the tour in places that are really easily to manage on your own.

I don't mind being recognized as a tourist. I feel fortunate to be able to be a tourist and I enjoy the role, and in Italy, especially, people tend to like foreign visitors. I also don't like to be seen as a tourist from a half mile away, but that doesn't mean that I'm embarrassed to be a foreigner or an American--I'd just rather not "wear a sign."

What are your tentative plans?

Since you describe yourself as a novice, I highly recommend reading Rick Steves' "Europe through the back door." It has tons of excellent advice for the novice traveler to Europe. After that, decide where you want to go and do research on that destination. That is half the fun.

No, you don't need a tour group. Any reasonably intelligent person with a little confidence can manager his/her own trip to Europe just fine.

First, I'd go to a travel agency or go online and get tour company brochures.
www.trafalgartours.com
www.globus.com
www.goaheadvacations.com
etc.

Then I'd start by looking at their itineraries and begin outlining the routes, cities, and sights that the tours cover - these will generally be the most popular, sought-after places and sights that you probably 'dream' of when you think of Italy.

Typically, you could base yourself in the "big three" - Rome, Florence and Venice. These are linked by the train system and you could easily spend 4-5 days in each. In addition, you could add a day-trip to one or all cities, or you could keep it simple your first time.

Next you need hotels. So come here and use the Search box: Rome and hotel, Florence and hotel, Venice and hotel. Read, read read the threads.

Also, use www.romeby.com, www.florenceby.com and www.veniceby.com, and also www.venere.com and identify hotels in your price range, desired location and that have photos that appeal to you. Do specific searches for those hotels to see if there are comments. Go to www.tripadvisor.com and also search those hotels for comments.

Now you have laid the groundwork - get a guide book or two and start figuring out what other sights, museums, parks, shops, etc seem interesting and add to your list of 'sightseeing'. Note their open/close days and hours, and their locations, so you can start grouping them in a logical fashion.

Find out about local transportation and the train system.

Whew. Your trip is 70-80% planned. It takes work and time, but it will be YOUR plan.