ending up in London- please advise
 

Hi,
My son is attending college in London next semester. We (my 14 year old daughter, my son and myself) would like to travel in Europe the week before his school begins (end of August), then have him fly to London and us fly home (Boston). We can either go via London (to see him settled) or fly our seperate ways.

We have all already been to London and Paris, which I know is the obvious choice.
I was thinking of Italy, though I am not sure of the distance back to London.
I am open to any other suggestions. We just like to travel!
Any thoughts on an an itinerary are appreciated.I would think that we would have about 8 days available. Also, hotels for 3 in the suggested cities.
Thanks.

Hi, We are doing something similar this summer. My daughter is taking a six week course at Oxford and we will be travelling with her for about 9 days before hand. We are flying from DC area to London, then taking an inexpensive flight (Meridiana airlines) from London to Florence. Two nights in Florence and then rent a a car and spend a week in Tuscany (staying in a farmhouse apartment). We will then return to London and leave her for her course while we return to the US.
The funny thing was the round trip flight from London to Florence did not appear as an option when we tried to check RT flights from the US to Florence. I just suspected that once you get to London, you can find a low cost carrier to pretty much any place in Europe that you want. That turned out to be the case.
My advice is book round trip to London, then choose anyplace in Europe that your heart desires for a weeks getaway. Ireland, France, just about anywhere is easily accesible!
If you are interested in Tuscany, there are lots of websites that allow you to do weekly rentals...although they may be filling up for the summer.

Hi,
Thanks.
Did you book the flight from London to Florence ahead of time, or are you planning on doing it from London?
Do you know what the cost is and the lenght of the flight?

Most places in central/northern Italy are about 2 hours flying time from London, give or take.

For cheap flights check out low-cost airlines such as RyanAir and EasyJet:

http://www.ryanair.com/
http://www.easyjet.com/en/book/index.asp

With budget airlines you need to book as soon as possible.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

We have already booked this flight roundtrip from London to Florence. It should definitely be done in advance. The flight is approximately 2 hours (but with a one hour time zone change). When we booked it the cost was $359...I guess this is only "low cost" relative to transatlantic flights these days. If you are not set on a particular destination you could obviously shop for low fares take advantage of any bargains you might find.

Try whichbudget.com for low cost airlines in Europe.

Keep checking Ryan Air. Sometimes if you wait, the price will go down. If you wait too long, the flight will be booked. The more flexibility you have...the cheaper. My son and I are flying RT from SFO to London and taking a bus from Heathrow to Stansted and hopping on a flight (Ryan Air) to Rome. The cost from London to Rome for the two of us...total...was $70 OW. We're taking trains around Italy and France and then taking a ferry over to Ireland, but we may also want to take a trip back to London from Paris for a day trip on the Eurostar/Chunnel b/c I didn't realize my Egypt-obssessed child HAS to go to THE British Museum and I'd already had flights that did not allow for any London time.

Ryanair, www.ryanair.com/, fly from Stansted to Turin, Genoa, Verona, Milan, Brescia, Treviso, Trieste, Rimini, Pisa, Bologna, Ancona, Pescara, Bari, Rome, Palermo, and Cagliare

Easyjet, www.easyjet.com, fly from Stansted to Venice, Rome and Naples and from
Gatwick to Milan

Volare, http://w3.volareweb.com/en/index.html, or www.volare-airlines.com/home/index.asp, fly from Luton to Venice, Rimini, Palermo, and Cagliare

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Hi,
Thanks for the info. I will check those sites.
Spootiskerry, did you plan all of this on your own, or use a travel agent? Are all hotels pre-booked?

I studied in the UK, and returned this past April to England/France. When we travelled for 10 days after my summer session ended in London, we took the chunnel to Paris, then train to San Sebastian, Spain - then the train to Geneva, Switzerland, then to Florence and then Rome...we then flew out of Rome. This is a great itinerary, and fairly easy. I would suggest cutting out San Sebastian for times sake, it is a beautiful little beach town in northern Spain.

If you want to stay in Northern Italy, then just hit the Tuscan cities of Florence, Milan, Venice. However, it is pretty easy to fly out of Rome and cheap. We flew from Rome back to London for a few days and then to the US.

We did the trains by buying a 14 day Eurorail pass. It was the cheapest way to go, at the time.

I wouldn't worry too much about hotels, just walk to the visitors/travel information center in each city and book. That is the easiest and cheapest way to go. If you don't like to be that care-free, I would just pick up a local travel book.

PS - Don't miss the Swiss Alps! I have traveled all over the world and they cannot be rivaled! Geneva is a great place to stay - then rent a car and drive around Lake Geneva!

be careful with Ryan Air - you need to really know the baggage weight limit. My friend bought a $40.00 tix to Ireland, then realized that their baggage weight limit was extremely low - she paid $100 in excess fees (she had one medium sized back pack and purse)