btownedge

Currently planning an anniversary trip for Fall '06 to Europe. Here's the framework of the trip so far. Fly into London (US) land on Friday, Sept 14. Tuesday, Sept 26 depart Rome (via plane) to Bucharest. Sunday, October 1st depart Bucharest (via plane) to London and make connecting flight from London back to US.

So, we basically have from Friday Sept 14 until Tuesday, Sept 26 (11 nights) to get from London to Rome, and would like to see the following (this is our first time to Europe):

London
Paris
Swiss Alps (not necesarrily to climb them, just want to see them).
Venice
Rome

All the travel will be by rail. Here's the first draft itenary.

London (3 nights)
Paris (3 nights)
Swiss Alps (not sure where?) 1 night
Venice (1 night)
Rome (3 nights)
Bucharest (to visit, stay with friends) 5 nights

Any thoughts / suggestions on the itenerary, or tips for the rail travel (I know I need a Eurostar Chunnel ticket for London to Paris and probably a 5 day, 3 country Eurorail pass to get from Paris down to Rome).

enzian

Can you squeeze in one more night in Venice? You'll wish you had. . .

barbmike

Here are my suggestions:

1. Eliminate the Swiss Alps
2. Fly from Paris to Venice on Ryan Air or MyAir and stay 2 nights OR
3. Fly from Paris to Florence (Easy Jet to Pisa) and stay 2 nights.
Have a nice trip!!! Mike

btownedge

it would be possible for 2 nights in Venice if we either shortened up Rome by a night or took off the night for the Swiss Alps. That's really where the flexibility comes into play. I'm not sure we need a night in Switzerland, I basically just want to take the opportunity to stop and catch the view on our way to Venice. But of the 5 places, the Alps are probably the lowest priority.

Also, our actual anniversary is on Wednesday, Sept 20th and we'll be in Paris that night - so if you know of any special restaurants or places to celebrate an anniversary, I'm all ears.

enzian

I love the Alps, and can understand why you would want to see them (we spend 2 weeks there at a time). The problem with planning your trip around one night there is that it could well be cloudy or rainy on that particular day, and you wouildn't actually see anything! So I suggest you skip that and either fly from Paris to Venice, or take the night train.

caroline_edinburgh

IMO that is far too much to fit in. With 11 nights, at a maximum I'd do 3 of those cities, with 3 nights in London & 4 in each of the others.

eigasuki

It depends on your attitude and your stamina I think. If you like trains and consider that seeing the countryside from the train is interesting in itself, as I do, this is doable.

I did something similar in the opposite direction and thought it was a wonderful way to see lots in a limited time, though I had longer in London. I basically spent a day travelling from Venice to a lovely little town Poschiavo in the Engadine, via Milan and next day travelled from there on the Glacier Express. I crossed the stunning Bernina Pass and spent a few hours in St Moritz, just to say I was there and then to Zurich where I caught a night train to Paris.

Of course I wished I could have spent more time in each place but I feel I got to see more of Europe than if I'd stayed in fewer places for longer. It's amazing what you can see in a couple of days, especially if you're organised. I'd advise being able to spend at least a whole day in Venice so that probably means two nights.

ira

Hi BT,

>London (3 nights)
Paris (3 nights)
Swiss Alps (not sure where?) 1 night
Venice (1 night)
Rome (3 nights)<

I also suggest flying www.myair.com from Paris Orly to Venice VCE, adding a night to Venice, and skipping the Alps.

They will be there on another visit.

Have a nice trip.

Have you considered flying Venice/ Bucharest, Bucharest/Rome and flying home from Rome?

It will save you a day.

See www.whichbudget.com

btownedge

thanks for your responses so far. Enzian, I hadn't really considered the 'bad weather' or 'cloudy skies', but that would be a pretty big let down - definately worth considering. We're probably leaning more that way at this time and doing 3 nights in London, Paris and Rome and 2 nights in Venice.

I also had heard about the low cost of flying on a couple of those low budget airlines. I checked the Paris to Venice flight and it was only $39 Euros - that's amazing. However, if we eliminated that train route (giving up the countryside views from the train), we would no longer need the Eurorail pass (could just do a point to point from Venice to Rome), which would then increase the Eurostar tickets from London to Paris from $79 to over $200 a piece (off setting the savings on the Paris-Venice flight). There's also the extra night expense, if we didn't do the night train.

So many moving parts.... I guess I'll have to spreadsheet this thing to figure out all the options and expenses.

Ira, we were able to get round trip flights from the US to London for free (from our Credit card miles) which is why the itenerary starts and ends in London. But the way I was able to work the flights, we are able to fly home from Bucharest to London and London back to the US in the same day (3 hour layover in London).

btownedge

anyone have any ideas or thoughts regarding celebrating an anniversary in Paris. It'll be our last night in Paris and want to take advantage of the timing of this special occassion.

jessicabohn

I've noticed that Ira and Rex (apparently long time posters) recommend Myair quite frequently. I did a search and although there are two good comments posted here about MyAir, most of the other comments out there are negative. Check out this site and tell me whether you think this is valid...



"Police investigating the collapse of Italian airline Volare arrested six former company executives on Wednesday, accusing them of diverting funds to set up a new airline. Volare collapsed under heavy losses and debt just before last Christmas, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. The various charges are false accounting, fraudulent bankruptcy, bankruptcy in relation to the diversion of funds...A legal source said the warrant for the arrests specified that the new airline was low-cost carrier MyAir.com, founded by some of Volare's former managers." There is more on this site http://www.theairlinenews.com/Archive/a20050428.html

The article is from April 2005, however, but the only people I have seen any posts from include 2 positive reviews and 2 very negative reviews, stating they have too few planes and left the passengers stuck with 8 -12 hour delays. I am curious how this will work out, because I still don't know who to choose (Ryanair with their 'way-out-there' airports and consistent reports of delays...or Myair with their strangely absent history.) Perhaps the train. Let me know anything you find. Thanks!!!

WillTravel

Most of Ryanair's flights are on-time or early (about 90% the last time I checked). Another large percentage are slightly delayed. A very few are cancelled or significantly delayed.

enzian

Another thing to consider is that those super-low airfares often have added costs, which don't show up until later. I don't know this from personal experience; I just have read this here and on the RS board. Someone else might be able to weigh in on this one. Also, there is the cost of getting to and from those remote airports. With the train, you start and end right in the city center (although for Paris it might be any of several stations).

enzian

You might post a separate inquiry about the anniversary dinner in Paris. I'm sure you'll get lots of responses if you put the right title on it. Here, your question is buried, and I at least am no help on that one.

ira

Hi BT,

>our actual anniversary is on Wednesday, Sept 20th and we'll be in Paris that night - so if you know of any special restaurants or places to celebrate an anniversary, I'm all ears.

What's your budget?
What are you looking for in the way of ambience?
What kind of food - fish, flesh, fowl, veggies?
How close to your hotel?