One other thought. Your friend is flying Dublin to Paris just to meet you and catch a train to Italy. Have you considered having her fly directly to Italy and meet you there? (Ryanair flies Dublin to Bologna---different airport, but you could meet in town at the train station.)

Per the above suggestions - PLEASE do some more thinking and i nvestigation of this before you rush out and spend any more money.

People have lots of ideas that can help you make this trip more enjoyable - and waste les time/money on transit.

Have you sat down and done a day by day itinerary? With realistic travel times, including cheking in and out of hotels, making your way to the train station, etc? You still seem to keep trying to stuff more locations in (and Sorrento really has nothing much to see in March). If you just want to see Pompeii I would do it as a long day trip from Rome - saving all the time and money of switching hotels yet again. As it is you have only 1 or 2 nights - which means 1 real day sightseeing - anywhere.

And you must realize that you can still get bad weather this time of year - that can delay transit - and getting around in Germany, France and Italy north of Rome.

And the idea of having your friend meet you in Italy is a great one - saving time and money treking to and fro Paris. Or - if you must see Paris - look at low cost flights between 3 cities and forget the interminable training to and fro (believe me sitting on a train for 10 hours is NOT how you want to spend a whole day in europe).

<It also said that if you want passes, a 2-country(Fance-Italy) one would be best (I don't know if this allows you to go through Switzerland, though)>

Enzian, yes the France-Italy pass does allow you to go via Switzerland but only on the overnight Artesia trains and not on any other trains. Artesia trains, Paris to Venice for example are run by French and Italian railways and you only need a pass for these two countries to use them. Go in the day you'd have to pay a fairly hefty extra price for the Swiss portion with this pass. Of course the quickest Paris-Italy day route is via only France and Italy - to Milan, not going thru Suisse at all.

PalenqueBob---what is that latter route? All the schedules I looked at from Paris to Milan went either through Bern and Brig, or Geneva and Brig---no way to avoid Switzerland.

And even with a multi-country pass that includes Switzerland, there may be extra charges---last time my sister's family had a 2-country pass (France and Switzerland), and they were charged extra for the line from Brig going east---it must be a private railway there. (Berner Oberland Bahn?) It was 30 euro extra for the three of them to ride 15 minutes to Betten.

I always recommend BudgetEuropeTravel.com for train schedule and fare questions. You can call their 800 number and they are very knowledgeable and extremely helpful in determining a workable plan, and can sell tickets to you with just a small S&H fee added on. I'd definitely check with them before purchasing any railpass.

Have fun with your daughter. It will be the trip of a lifetime for you both. Congratulations for putting it together for her graduation.
>-

Thank you all so much for making me slow down and pare this trip down to a more reasonable schedule.

What I was trying to do was hit all of the places my daughter said she HAD to see. She maintains that she does not care about the breakneck speed, but I am making an executive decision. Mom is too old for this.

Air from Paris to Florence makes sense, I will be doing more research to see if that will work best for us. Sorrento is thrown out of the mix. Paris HAS to stay.

I will do some more tinkering on the train pass thing, I think I am just really confused at this point, but I better get it hammered out now instead of later.

I called the experts at BudgetEuropeTravel, and they are sending me the guide AND the train schedule that they normally only send if you purchase rail tickets from them. They were very helpful and I would recommend them to anyone else as confused as I am.

I am checking out the hotel, B&B, and convent recommendations you have given me, and will fill you in when I get it all planned.

Thanks again!

One little detail question: do you really have to go to CDG to meet your friend? It will take you away from spending precious time in Paris sightseeing that eveing. Could she just meet you somewhere in the city? Just a thought.
>-

It appears that we will be staying at a hotel close to the airport. By the time her plane gets in at 8:20 PM, my daughter and I will likely just be starting to head to the hotel. She can meet us there.

We will be heading out of CDG the next day on a really cheap (9.99 E)MYAIR flight to Bologna. I have also checked point to point tickets and have found that yes, they are a better option for us other than Eurail passes.

This is why this board is so great, it forces one to take a hard look at what is planned and then see what is really feasible.

You are well on your way to getting a good travel plan together. My daughter studied in Florence last semester, and she really liked visiting Bologna a few times.

Search this forum and ask specific city questions as you go, like hotels in Rome, etc. After determining my destination plan and my 'must-see' list, I have relied on fodorites' advice in going to Europe three times myself, and have not been disappointed with any recommendations I've received here.

Your plan to fly into Frankfurt and home from Rome is a good way to maximize your vacation time.

Have fun planning!
>-

Just a note to say that, IMO, this thread is a reflection of what this board is all about: A novice traveler who wants to do it all given excellent advice to slow down and smell the Italian/French roses! And then she does the wise thing and listens to experience.

You guys are the best!
Linda

Yep, I agree.

I guess my biggest problem was wanting to give my daughter the trip of a lifetime. Of course, it will be an exciting trip for me as well, as I have not been to Europe either. I need to balance the wanting her to have a good time, and me needing to be the voice of reason as well.

Reading these boards gives one an enormous amount of information, but until one really figures out what is possible, it can get overwhelming.

Hi T,

Much better itinerary.

>I guess my biggest problem was wanting to give my daughter the trip of a lifetime. <

Let her save that for the honeymoon.

"I guess my biggest problem was wanting to give my daughter the trip of a lifetime."

That's not a problem, it's any mother's dream. Go for it! No matter the cities you visit, the hotels, restaurants,etc., it will certainly be a trip you will both always treasure.
>-

Ira,

She says she is never getting married! LOL!

I agree with everyone that it's great you have cut down your itinerary. My one question is, why are you staying by the airport in Paris? Paris is beautiful at night. You don't want to have to go back to a hotel by the airport! Please reconsider this...

I wondered the same thing. If possible, couldn't your friend take a cab to your Paris hotel? After landing at 8:20, by the time she arrived you and your daughter could have had a nice dinner in Paris. And there is <i>nothing</i> to do around the airport!

If you do stay at CDG, try bidding for the Sheraton on Priceline. My sister got it in September for 110 euros. It's the only hotel right in the airport terminal.

Trust me when I say that this trip will be the beginning of many to Europe for your daughter. I am so glad that others recommended the cheap airfares-take the time to enjoy some of these cities and arrive in the new one without being exhausted. Use that time and money on a great dinner together.Besides-if they are late due to weather or mechanical, you have lost a whole evening waiting around.My daughter and I travel alot overseas and in Paris we LOVE Hotel Monge(check out on tripadvisor.com) and in Rome we LOVE Hotel Aberdeen. Both are in great locations,very clean, wonderful and helpful staff and usually under 95 euros at that time of the year.Enjoy the journey!

My daughter and I will be staying at the airport our last evening in Paris. My friend comes in on the 8:20 flight from Dublin. She can make her way to the airport hotel on her own, my daughter and I will meet her there after our last evening in Paris.

Trust me, we plan to take full advantage of our last evening in Paris!

Can anyone give me a good idea on what to do with our luggage after we check out of the Hotel du champ de mars? We will be running around all day and don't want to worry about dragging our stuff with us. Suppose we could just have them store it at the hotel for a fee?

&gt;&gt;Can anyone give me a good idea on what to do with our luggage &lt;&lt;

We've left our luggage at the hotel many times. They've never charged us for this service. They usually have a closet to stash it in.

Stu Dudley