Ginanoelle, No one's upset.

Whether you plan it yourself, join a tour group. There's no right or wrong answers, just different people's ideas, input, and preferences being expressed.

My suggestion would be this... instead of planning for many more years, waiting around and saving for the perfect trip, and especially since it's your first time and you're along, just go to Europe for 2 weeks. Go to 2 places like Paris/Venice or London/Amsterdam.

That's how I "learned" to travel. Especially when you are solo. You need to build up your travel 'chops'. If you did a more reasonable (less ambitious) itinerary it'd be a lot easier to plan and pay for.

I like suze's advice. Maybe you're piling too many expectations on this one trip and are paralyzed at the thought you won't do it right.

In your case, go to Dublin and one other city, preferably in a non-English-speaking country, just to get your feet wet. Take an inexpensive flight to the second city and then fly home from there.

I'm excited for you. You can do this.

Hi G,

>I realize this is 7 countries, but advise on how long I should take in each .Is 4-5 days good and not be exhausted??<

Do you think that you could be on the go for 35 days and not be exhausted?

Hi again, I used Ron to make sure I understood how much time to spend here and there, best way to get there and what to expect. Also to help with schedules on trains and time management, apt rentals as well. One day I spent hours emailing him with questions and he answered right after I asked. I just know after I felt I was very prepared for our trip . Priceless!

sundried and Palenque, do you two know what Italian slang uses zeppelin to mean? it's pretty funny and makes me think it might be a good play on the former Fodors member's screen name.

Gina, we really would like to know what made you decide that of all the places in Europe you could go, those places you named were your choices. Could you list them with a sentence about what appeals to you in each place?

As for travel, I think you might find using the trains most appealing to you, as it would allow you to experience the sights of a lot of Europe while traveling through it. And getting used to the people who are also travelers. I also found that taking night trains a couple of times seemed truly exciting, as I would wake up from time to time when the train stopped in the night, and I would peer out the window and see a name on a sign, like "Ventimiglia" and think how strange and mysterious it was. (Of course, Ventimiglia isn't really strange and mysterious, but it certainly fed my imagination.)

I would suggest that you might want to limit time in Switzerland just from a money perspective. It is a very expensive country. And you apparently just want to see it, not visit some particular place. You can see a lot of beautiful scenery from the train, and maybe just stop for a day or two in some town on
your way through the country to somewhere else.

As for Ireland, before you go find out where in Ireland your ancestors come from, and visit that area.

Char, let's keep it clean, not mean.

sundried and Palenque, do you two know what Italian slang uses zeppelin to mean? it's pretty funny and makes me think it might be a good play on the former Fodors member's screen name>

No I do not but would be curious to know! Thanks.

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