4 college girls will be going to London for 4 days during December then we want to take the train to both Spain and Italy and spend 4 days in each country. Can you recommend which city in these countries might be best? We don't need a lot of sight seeing necessarily but would love to get the flavor of the country and mingle with other young adults. Also, we could use any recommendation for a youth hostel or "cheap sleep". Thanks! Gina

In 1994 I travelled - alone - to Venice for the first time. Don't miss it. It was magical. And in December you going to miss the swarms of tourists. I stayed at a nunnery a few doors down from a mega hostel that rented out beds only to women. I'm sorry I can't the name.

My friend and I just returned from 2 months in Europe. We spent time in both Spain and Italy. We stayed in hostels/pensiones. In Spain we would recommend either Madrid or Barcelona. Madrid is well known for its party scene. There are great sights in both. In most of Spain clubs open at 11pm and close at 7am!! It's really quite the party. In Madrid we stayed at Hostal Greco. The owners speak only Spanish but are very helpful. The room (double) was spotless and had a private bath, TV and phone. It cost 5500pts/night total. ($36) In Barcelona we stayed at Hostal De Ribagorza. This was not as nice as Hostal Greco but centrally located and just as cheap. You may even be able to spend 2 nights in each city. As for Italy, it is a toss up between Venice and Florence. We loved both. There is more sightseeing in Florence. Venice is beautiful with all the canals, gondolas, and bridges. We stayed at Domus Civica in Venice. This was very cheap and definately has double rooms. They do have a strict 11:30 curfew. This is reasonable as the nightlife is not like Spain. In Florence we stayed in Soggiorno Magliani owned by a mother and daughter. It was clean but small. If you have any other questions feel free to write. Have fun!

<BR>Gina, if your itinerary is not set in stone, may I make a suggestion. You're going to spend a lot of time on the train, getting to each destination cnsidering the location of the countries you've chosen, and passing up alot of other more convenient, and just as exciting, possiblities. <BR>Could you consider France, then Spain, in place of Italy?? Or skip Spain and go down thru Belgium, France, Switzerland??? <BR>While the trains are wonderful, very efficient, and a separate adventure themselves, you're going to be spending alot of time on them. Just a thought

<BR>As Ms Zappala says, you'll be on trains a good deal. This leads me to suggest night travel, and choice of cities not too far from one another: perhaps Barcelona and Venice. Fares are shown under "point to point" on http://www.eurail.com, but you may well get reductions by buying young people's tickets or a railcard. A couchette is a berth in a six-berth compartment, with mixed sexes, so that you travel in day clothes, and costs a 25 dollars supplement per night, whereas a second class sleeper is a berth in a 3-berth compartment, with your own washbasin and passengers separated by sex, sand costs a 60 dollar supplement. To spend a night ona normal train seat is a mistake: you arrive too tired to get much value out of the next day's visits. <BR> <BR>Train times are in the Thomas Cook European Timewtable, which may be in the reference library of a city near you. London Waterloo 1523 (earlier Sundays), Paris North 1923, Paris Austerlitz 2047, Barcelona Sants 0900 (no couchettes). Or cheaper London 1623, Paris North 2023, Austerlitz 2144, change at Port Bou on the Pyrenees 0825 to 0900, Barcelona Sants 1115. <BR> <BR>Barcelona Sants three times a week 2020 (no couchettes), Milan Central change 0900 to 0905 (if you make it), Venice 1155. Or, cheaper, Barcelona Sants 2000, Cerbere change 2230 to 2355, Nice arrive 0755. Day in Nice, then Nice 2035, Venice 0709. <BR> <BR>Venice Santa Lucia 2005, Paris Gare de Lyons 0825, Paris Nord 0943, London 1143. <BR> <BR>Clearly, by using different trains from and to London you can add to time in Paris. Also, this is the anticlockwise trip: you can do much the same clockwise. And you can see a great Italian city and spend less time travelling if you stay in Milan, not in Venice. <BR> <BR>I'm pretty sure that there are now return flights London (Stanstead or Luton) to Nice at 164 dollars. If so, you might cut costs and travel time if you fly London to Nice, then by overnight tain Nice to the Pyrenees, morning train to Barcelona, expensive overnight train Barcelona to Milan and morning train Milan to Venice, night train Venice to Nice, and fly Nice to London. <BR> <BR>Please write again if I can help further. Welcome to Europe. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London <BR>

<BR>As Ms Zappala says, you'll be on trains a good deal. This leads me to suggest night travel, and choice of cities not too far from one another: perhaps Barcelona and Venice. Fares are shown under "point to point" on http://www.eurail.com, but you may well get reductions by buying young people's tickets or a railcard. A couchette is a berth in a six-berth compartment, with mixed sexes, so that you travel in day clothes, and costs a 25 dollars supplement per night, whereas a second class sleeper is a berth in a 3-berth compartment, with your own washbasin and passengers separated by sex, sand costs a 60 dollar supplement. To spend a night ona normal train seat is a mistake: you arrive too tired to get much value out of the next day's visits. <BR> <BR>Train times are in the Thomas Cook European Timewtable, which may be in the reference library of a city near you. London Waterloo 1523 (earlier Sundays), Paris North 1923, Paris Austerlitz 2047, Barcelona Sants 0900 (no couchettes). Or cheaper London 1623, Paris North 2023, Austerlitz 2144, change at Port Bou on the Pyrenees 0825 to 0900, Barcelona Sants 1115. <BR> <BR>Barcelona Sants three times a week 2020 (no couchettes), Milan Central change 0900 to 0905 (if you make it), Venice 1155. Or, cheaper, Barcelona Sants 2000, Cerbere change 2230 to 2355, Nice arrive 0755. Day in Nice, then Nice 2035, Venice 0709. <BR> <BR>Venice Santa Lucia 2005, Paris Gare de Lyons 0825, Paris Nord 0943, London 1143. <BR> <BR>Clearly, by using different trains from and to London you can add to time in Paris. Also, this is the anticlockwise trip: you can do much the same clockwise. And you can see a great Italian city and spend less time travelling if you stay in Milan, not in Venice. <BR> <BR>I'm pretty sure that there are now return flights London (Stanstead or Luton) to Nice at 164 dollars. If so, you might cut costs and travel time if you fly London to Nice, then by overnight tain Nice to the Pyrenees, morning train to Barcelona, expensive overnight train Barcelona to Milan and morning train Milan to Venice, night train Venice to Nice, and fly Nice to London. <BR> <BR>Please write again if I can help further. Welcome to Europe. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London <BR>