>>>Instead of answering the qiestion asked some people took it in their minds to total blow all their vaction plans out the water.I do agree the Vaction was ambitious but it is their vaction and they had already made to booking<<<

I don't see anything wrong with people advising the OP to drop some of the plans/cities. It's much better to cancel a cheap flight to Italy or Prague and lose a few dollars than run around like a chicken with it's head cut off.

One comes for advice on a trip, one risks getting more than was asked for. I think that is appropriate if the intent is to give the traveler advice that might improve the trip. But here we are preaching to the choir when the OP is long gone.

hey, drinks in Paris do not need to be expensive, ( poster who said beers were 7 euros).. one must drink what locals drink, and that is still ( although changing) wine . A pitcher of house wine is still a good deal.. and decent wine too most times!

As for OP , ,sorry she left because that just shows that she will have to learn the hard way, and yes, bet you she will come home and biTT*ch about her trip and blame it all on Euroep in general.

<than run around like a chicken with it's head cut off>

YOUR opinion.

I have read on occasion posts here when people DID do an "unacceptable" fast-paced itinerary and came back to say they loved their trip. That it was just what they wanted.

A Troll perhaps, to send everyone into a tailspin over the crazy itinerary???
They may be sitting back and laughing at the furor!

I am just going to offer one small tip that I picked up from
one of the Boards-maybe even this one. If you already own
guidebooks to each of these cities, mark the pages that you need, take the books to KINKO's, have them take the bindings off each book and make you a new spiral bound book for this trip only. That way you have a small useful guide just for this trip and it will be easy to fit in the carryon luggage.

Pat

That's a good tip, wantotogo, but not sure how it is relevant in any way to this thread, and besides, if you have a scanner you can do the same thing at home without the binding (and who needs that?). But thanks, it makes sense.

The point is, suze, this wasn't just some couple on a bus tour of Europe. It was a couple with kids planning 8 days all the heck over Europe, WAY WAY WAy WAy more then the average overplanned Fodorite who actually comes back and has enjoyed the rushed trip. This one was obviously impossible. You didn't look at the details before commenting.

Spot on Hollywoodsc! All the sincere and helpful replies aside, the OP can't possibly be both that stupid and that stubborn.

Hi CWrick,

my experience is that the longer one stays in a place, the cheaper life gets. you get to know the best cafes, bars and generally how to get around in the cheapest way. you have not given yourselves this opportunity. it will be a matter of pure luck whether you find the cheapest coffee in town or the dearest. You will need to do VERY good research before you go, using the lonely planet guide or similar which is aimed at budget travellers, and mark clearly where they say the best deals for cheap meals, the best value sight-seeing, and the cheapest bars are. also where there are supermarkets where you can buy sandwiches, bottled drinks and water, and such like.

of course your itinerary is ludicrously rushed but you know that. It IS possible to see the major sights of most of these places, but only if you don't go into most places. For example, we took our kids to Paris for a day trip once. we arrived about 10 am at L'Etoile and immediately went up the Arc de Triomphe. then we walked to the Eiffel tower [it was the day of a transport strike] and managed to get up it with little waiting - it was a few years ago. you should book in advance if you want to do this. then we got a boat down the Seine to Notre dame [the Batobus that works like a bus and is relatively cheap] and toured the Cathedral. we then walked around the left bank and had a cheap prix-fixe lunch at one of the places aimed at office workers. Then we crossed over to the right bank ,and walked up to the Pyramide and looked at the crowds queuing to get into the Louvre. Finally we walked through the Tuilleries and up the Champs elysees, arriving there at about 4pm.

but in other places this won't work. Eg you say you want to see the Vatican city in Rome - by which I understand you mean St. Peter's [which is free] and The museums - which aren't. the Basilica will take you a hour minimum, the museums most o the day. if you want to see anything else in Rome, jettison the museums, get to the Basilica by 9am and after you've finished there, get the no 40 or 65 bus [€1 each] to the Vittorio Emmanuale monument and walk to the colosseum. if you decide to splurge on an entrance ticket, this is the place to do it, but buy it at the Palatinate or forum entrances where the queues will be much shorter. then go to any of the many churches in the area, all of which are free, and all of which contain many treasures. finally walk up to the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and campo dei Fiori [free].

London is even harder as the sights are much further from each other, and public transport is more expensive. i suggest picking an area eg Westminster and concentrating on what you can do there, or going to a museum/gallery which are all free. bearing in ming the jet;ag yo may be suffering from, you probably won't have time to do much anyway.

The snag of course in this approach is that you have no time to sit and relax and just enjoy being in any of these places, and it is likely that by the end you will have no idea whether St. Peter's is in Paris or Prague.

but it's your trip - enjoy.

We typically budget €120 per day for two people.

<B>annhig</B> and <B>jum21:</B> You may have missed it since it is a looooong thread --but the OP is no more. Either CWyrick canceled her account or she was nuked by the monitors. Probably the former since she didn't like the responses.

I don't think anyone was trying to blow away the OP. Granted they asked a very specific question.

But is someone is standing on the edge of a cliff and asks if how much it will cost to buy plastic wings to fly to the bottom - the only responsible answer is - don't jump. If you know way more than the OP - and see huge problems in what they are trying to do - then telling them so is not being critical or piling on. It is being helpful - to the best of one's ability.

And if the OP had said we know we really have no time but are doing it anyway - then fine. But - it was apparent from their descriptions that they had no idea how few hours they would actually have for sightseeing in any of these places. They are set to do the Amazing Race - and don't know it. In that case -pointing it out is a kindness. Even if they can;t change it - they can be prepared to face some of the problems (a in a delayed plane or a train strike or bad weather).

You may have missed it since it is a looooong thread --but the OP is no more.

jj - i did miss that.

but saying s/he's no more? - that's a bit harsh! perhaps s/he jumped off nyt's cliff!

I know that the OP is gone but I'm wondering if the people who say this trip is impossible have ever taken such a vacation and hated it.

The summer of my freshman year of college I was spending some time in Greece. In those days TWA had a flight from Athens to JFK that stopped in Rome, Madrid and Lisbon, so on my way back to the States I booked my flight so I had one night in Rome and Madrid and three nights in Lisbon. I was in Rome and Madrid for less than 24 hours each and had a great time in each place.

Having said that I wouldn't take the above planned trip now if it were free. But I can see how a young couple would enjoy getting a glimpse of London, Paris, Rome and Prague.

"<i>but saying s/he's no more? - that's a bit harsh!</i>"

Actually I was on my best behavior - I could have said she aufed herself O:)

cwra makes a good point.

By far I am not the brightest contributor to this board but I have learned to be nonjudgmental about other peoples' itinerary choices.

There seems to be a rather broad range of preferences all of which are valid as far as I am concerned.

We have now slowed down and typically do only 4 or 5 locations in 21 days. But 20 years ago we did the following itinerary in 20 days with a 9 and 15 year old and had a great time.

Amsterdam
Rhine Valley
Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Fussen
Salzburg
Venice
Florence
Rome
Berner Oberland
Paris
return to Amsterdam for flight

To each his own.

i think once the OP realized the plan was unrealistic she bailed. i'm all about coming to this site for advice but not after everything is booked