Hi CWyrick,

Maybe you need the help of a business traveler.

For London, read through this link, but ignore the specific recommendations for places to eat (unless they are near your hotels) and just look for value pubs

http://www.moneysavinglondon.com/Tra...in-London.html

Also, Indian food is very good in London. Try it at a place that isn't expensive.

For Paris, when you go past the windows of the bakeries and food shops, if you see delicious looking food, GRAB IT. That means a croissant stuffed with goodies, or pastries, or a crepe. Get the stuff on your way to sightseeing, even if it means putting some stuff in your pockets or totes to eat later in the park. When you need to sit down in a restaurant, look for a couscous place or a Vietnamese place. If you can afford to spend more, any Parisian restaurant has a menu outside or will show you one.

For Rome, there is an excellent famous pizza-by-the-slice place near the entrance to the Vatican museums called Pizzarium. Look it up before you go. Even if you aren't hungry, grab some food for later. (Pack some plastic bags -- I mean it -- so you can carry food). If you pass open air markets, buy fruit. Otherwise, Roman restaurants have menus outside or they will show you one if you ask before you sit down. Only go in where you can afford the meal (take those extra steps if you must, even if you are tired). BE AWARE that a Roman restaurant will always charge you for service and maybe bread service. And ALWAYS check your bill. Food is good in Italy, so you can get by with cheap places.

I haven't been in Prague but I hear it is very touristy. So try not to eat or drink near the big tourist attractions.

Hope you have a great trip. Don't buy food in train stations or airports if you can avoid it. It's too expensive. Try to walk away from the tourist areas and find simple places to eat where you see ordinary locals eating. Pick up food before you get there. Carry your own empty water bottle.

Don't worry too much if you spend a little extra money. It will be worth the having a few tuna dinners when you get home.

These posters are all correct. You said, "I know we are doing a lot in one trip." The problem is that you are not doing a lot in one trip, but you are doing a lot of going from place to place.

I know this is not the advice you are seeking, but it is the best I can give.

Is there anything at all that you can change? Are you flying home from Prague or back through London? If you can get refunds on the hotels (and you should still be able to do that) and make any airline changes, so you can skip at least one country and add that time to one of the others, it would be wise to do so.

Some possible things to try:
1. Land in London and go straight to Paris if you can change your train times and make the connection. Basically, skip London. Add all the time to Paris.

2. Skip Paris and fly to Rome from London. Add a day to London and a day to Rome. See if you can change the flight from Paris to Rome and make it London to Rome. See if the train can be cancelled.

3. Skip Rome. Add a day to Paris and fly to Prague from Paris if you can change the flight from Rome to Prague and make it Paris to Prague.

4. Skip Prague. See if you can change flights from Rome to Prague and make it Rome to London if that is where you are flying out from or fly home from Rome if you can make that change.

Be creative and see if you can rescue this.

Jesus people leave the poor person alone! They asked for rough estimate on costs, not a rant on how little time they are going to spend in each city or your opinions on which city they should stay in and/or skip. Be thankful THEY ARE GOING AT ALL, since the amount of Americans that have even been out of the country, let alone overseas is dismally low! Ok, with that said, except for Prague, the other three cities are some of the most expensive cities on this planet. With the understanding that your hotels are already covered, and if not, then you are going to figure at least $100 per city per night, I base everything on the Mcdonald's and Beer Price scale. In London, you can get a Big Mac Meal for £4 but then you must figure the exchange rate of at least 1.6 and so all of a sudden that mean is $6.40. However, a beer in London is dare I say it very inexpensive. London also has in its favor the fact that all (cept the very specialized museums) are FREE! The castles and other sites, however are outrageously expensive. Paris, VERY VERY expensive to drink, with an average beer being around €6-7 and of course the exchange rate of at least 1.3 brings that price to close to $8-$9! The Big Mac Meal in Paris is also expensive at close to €6, but WHY would you ever eat at one, when you can get some of the best food you have ever had, and any restaurant in the city and most Plat Du Jours offer three courses, and a bottle of wine for less than €25 per person! All of the Museums in Paris charge, and if you had more time I'd recommend the Paris Card (or whatever it is called) and tell you to go crazy, but the whole experience of Paris is walking around and/or sitting on the Champs Elysees people watching, and that like Notre Dame, and the Tuilleries are FREE! Rome, lets just say its comparable to Paris in respect to prices to drink and eat. But like Paris, some of the best sights are just walking around exploring the city such as Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps, and Vatican City. Prague, is by far the cheapest of them all, with both food and beer prices being less than you'd find in most major cities in the US. However, it has been the darling of Europe for a while so prices are/have been increasing every year. I hope this information helps you and good luck on your whirlwind trip!

bravo, Jmanthetravelman.

It's your vacation so I will make no more comments on what your plans are.
as to costs,well all I can offer is a website fro Prague a city I visit frequently (in fact there again in 10 days time)
http://www.expats.cz/prague/article/...ost-of-living/
this link will give you some ideas on cost,hope it is of use to you.

let me know where you are staying in Prague and maybe I can reccommend some places nearby that won't blow the budget but compared to the other cities you are visiting Prague will most likely be the cheapest for food and drink.

Make sure you access some good guidebooks - I have been planning a 3 week trip in December and have had to pay particular attention to the days that various museums and galleries are closed, so that we make sure we use our time well, and don't have the disappointment of walking up to some museum doors to find them bolted, and no further opportunity to visit during our stay - it seems to me that Paris might present this problem, and that Mondays and Tuesdays seem to be the most frequent closures (presumably because weekends are frantic and the catch-up and maintenance work's got to get done sometime!)

Bendigo amkes a good point.I Pargeu many places are closed on Mondays.
http://www.prague.net/itineraries-in-prague
this link should give you a fair bit of info on what you can see and do in the time you have in Prague.

To see lots of touristy things quickly, I would look into Grayline-style bus trips in the various cities -- especially things that will drive you around London or Paris or etc. for two or three hours at night. I often do those on my first night in a new place to get a sense of distances and layout anyway. It's a good way to cover a lot of ground.

I wonder if the OP is arriving in London AT NIGHT, gets a night's sleep, and has the next day how anyone can say they will still be jet-lagged.

One other thought - since you have so little time in each place.

Do check carefully the closing days for the places you want to see. Many sights close one day per week and you don;t want it to be the only day you are there.

Also check opening hours. Some places may have shorter hours since you are no longer in summer high season. Also do realize that you are quite far north and days will tend to be quite short - esp for London and Paris.

I have to agree with everyone who is saying to pare down your trip...honestly, I'm doing a similar trip (that is, 4 main locations) next summer, but it'll be over three weeks, and even that will be cramped.

I honestly think you will find that you won't have enough time to fully enjoy any of the places you are going to if you have only such a short time in each place. Even in the best of circumstances, one or two days is not enough for such big, fascinating cities. You may not realize it, but travel is exhausting, even when you're not constantly on the move, which you will be. You'll be jet-lagged to start with, and low on sleep through the duration of your trip, if you really hop around from place to place so quickly.

I'm not sure if you're taking suggestions, but honestly, if I had only 8 days, I'd just make it a Paris trip this time. Paris is an amazing, beautiful and fascinating city with amazing food and there is tons to do there alone to fill up 8 days.

I'm only saying this to you because I would hate for anyone to be disappointed in their first trip to Europe! Please take my advice and that of other posters here and pick one, MAYBE two cities tops for your eight-day trip.

<<Be thankful THEY ARE GOING AT ALL, since the amount of Americans that have even been out of the country, let alone overseas is dismally low!>>

And how many of that small percentage of Americans plan a completely ridiculous trip to Europe and come back thinking it was a waste of time and money and never go back again because of their own lack of knowledge and insight? Plenty. You can read about their experiences often enough right here on Fodors.

People come here to get the advice of knowledgable, experienced travelers. All of whom are noting that this trip is beyond insane. We have been "on the ground" in Europe countless times and know that a trip like this is a disaster - you really can't argue otherwise. Sugar-coating it isn't going to make it a good trip once they actually land in Europe and realize their plans were way off base. I don't see any value at all in being happy that they are "actually going at all." The chances that they'll be miserable every minute of this forced trek, or simply not get any benefit whatsoever out of it, are too high to give that argument any credence.

you have come here asking for help, but when the seasoned travellers speak to you you combat their answers.

for instance, you say you arrive in prague at 5PM and have that night... ok you land at 5, do customs, immigration, get a taxi, ride to your hotel, check in and bingo its perhaps 8PM or after and you still need to eat..

i realize everything is paid for.. shame

I agree that there is not need to be thankful they are going at all - since I too feel they will probaly come back disappointed, thining europe is too expensive, not worth it and that they have wster their time and money.

But we have no control over what they seem determined to do.

All we can do is try to help them prepare to deal with the problems they will face - by identifying them in advance and preparing work-arounds.

Strongly suggest that the OP have information on alternate travel arrangements in case anything falls though or is seriously delayed. Also suggest they have alternate sights picked out in cased their schedule changes and they don;t get to where they really want to be.

Also suggest they have restaurants picked out in advance - based on their plans - since they won't have a lot of time to look for places. But - be sure NOT to go into tourist places with menus in 14 languages and/or pictures of the food - or worst - some tout hauling you in. These places are typically way overpriced and generally have really awful food. Also do understand that prices in places at major attractions (Piazza Navona in Rome or Old Town Square in Prague) will have prices much higher than the same sort of place in a less touristy area - perhaps only 7 or 8 blocks away.

And, whatever you do, be sure you have complete street maps of the cities you will be going to (not large driving maps, but detailed walking maps) to avoid spending a lot of time finding your way.

At least the ranting has diminished a bit. May I remind people that they still asked only for costs, and from the way they have defended their trip, I doubt they will be unhappy with the amount of time they are going. They have 8 days, and they seem to already have a SET itinerary, so changing it is probably out of the question, so let them get a TASTE of Europe and hope they have the sense to plan another trip to visit just one, two at the most, cities next time and really do them right. I mean, we can all agree, its better than spending a week in Orlando!

What you really need to do is take credit cards that have low foreign exchange rates (credit union cards, some others) and try to get as little cash as possible in London and Prague because the money will be relatively useless anywhere else. At least in Paris you can take out some dough and use it in Rome too because Italy isn't collapsing as fast as Spain so Italy will remain Euroville for awhile.

As for meals, eating well in Italy is easy and does not have to be expensive - roughly equivalent to Outback Steakhouse with beer (but nowhere near the portion sizes). Eating a sit-down at a brasserie in Paris instead of a "ristorante" will also lower costs. NYTrav is completely correct that you will eat less expensively away from tourist hells than in the middle of them. Try U Zlatych Nuzek's restaurant on Kampa Island, not anywhere in Old Town for Prague. Similarly, eating thisclose to St Peters in the Vatican is more expensive than a similar place a few blocks away.

As for the check-in requirements on your flights - investigate that. The Intra-EU flights are not treated as US-Europe international equivalents that need 3 hour advance check-ins but they're also not treated like US domestic 1-hour advance either (I don't think).

And if you're looking to travel around Europe in the future, do NOT under any circumstances plan a similar trip. Your itinerary is completely ridiculous.

<<we can all agree, its better than spending a week in Orlando!>>

Well, I don't agree. Much as I would never plan a trip to Orlando, a week there makes a LOT more sense than this insanity.

The suggestion about being prepared with backup travel plans is a good one. A couple trips ago, we were flying to Italy for 12 days. The flight out of the states (from our home town, happily) had a mechanical issue; we were rebooked the following day, losing a day in Siena. Now, since we were packed, the house was clean and we had plenty of time, we just went back home, went out to dinner and didn't stress. Facing a travel issue will require some flexibility with plans, and with this much moving around in such a short amount of time, there's some likelihood something will come up. Lost luggage? Cancelled flight? Stolen wallet? Who knows - just have a good attitude and be willing to make a quick decision in a way to best save the rest of the vacation.

Seems the OP didn't like it here and their profile has disappeared.

I agree with StCirq, while I don't care for Orlando (yes, I have been, with and without kids) a week there is a sensible amount of time. This trip is insanity. Of course, it's possible it was a troll.