suze

My biggest worry for them is getting decent hotels reserved at decent prices at this late date.

I would drop *everything else* in the planning process and see if you can find --- 4 nights Rome, 3 nights Venice & 4 nights Paris... ASAP.

IF you find hotels they can afford in a central location (this is especially important when you haven't planned in advance for sight-seeing) then I firmly believe they can work out the rest after arrival in Europe.

There are tourist information booths at most train stations, you can purchase tickets for those popular train routes simply a day or so in advance, hotel front desks can assist you to arrange a 1/2 day city tour, you can read a guidebook on the plane ride over, etc. etc.

I'm telling you... HOTELS is where it's at!

Then on to packing light (next important lesson when you are moving around a lot).

yk

This just doesn't sound plausible.

This is your parents' dream trip, they've been thinking about it for a year.

And yet, 1 week before they depart, they have no clue whatsoever.

When did they buy their plane tickets? What have they been doing between then and now?

You mentioned $1200 budget for hotel. This is just <b>unrealistic</b>. At the current exchange rate, that comes out to &euro;80 per night for 10 nights.

They are visiting the most expensive cities in Europe, and for &euro;80/night, they'll either end up in hotels far away from the center, or in some fleabag 1* hotels that nobody wants to stay at. And forget Venice.

Again, please take this advice seriously - ask them to reschedule this trip until Oct/Nov.

iris1745

Hi mia; If it's hotels as Suze suggests, try booking.com All kinds of hotels available at many different prices. ENJOY Iris P.S. You could also go to tripadvisor.com and go to each city. They then allow you to insert dates and what you want to pay. You may be able to stay with-in your budget that way.

laurie_ann

If it is hostels then www.hostels.com has a good search engine and booking tool. I agree, get centrally located hostels in max. three cities so you have nights covered to sleep and make other arrangements as you go.

suze

I had missed that budget amount. Ouch. Do they understand the type of hotel they will be able to book at the last minute for 80 euro?

iris1745

Mia; Go to tripadvisor.com You can do this trip, but you will have to set your sights higher. I think you can do hotels for $1500. When I checked Rome on tripadvisor, it brought up the number 5 rated hotel in Rome at 297 euros for three nights. [the site that tripadvisor then used, was 'booking.com'] Don't get discouraged--you can do this. Most important thing is location for your folks. Once you decide on a hotel, post it and go on to the next city. In the mean time people will help you decide on location, good or bad on your first Irisselection.

iris1745

Mia; In Venice, on trip advisor, the 29th rated hotel out of 387. The Villa Igea at 115euro, with breakfast. Postings on tripadvisor site were very good. Iris

R_U_Nutz

Sorry to sound like a negative Nancy but if these people can't handle the logistics of their own itinerary, how on earth will they cope once they arrive on foreign soil? Are they aware of the value of the US dollar vs the euro? Have they budgeted for food and other incidentals? What about trip insurance?

I don't believe these folks are suited for independent travel. They'd be better off on an escorted coach tour.

dmlove

I just opened hotels.com, and plugged in Venice and Roma and $130 budget. Venice is much harder than Rome, but there is one fairly well-reviewed hotel listed. Rome has quite a few (the Melia roma Aurelia Antica, for example, rated 4.2 on hotels.com (39 reviews) at $88 a night (no kidding).

I also thought this would be impossible, and still think this couple is more suited to a tour than to independent travel, but I also think now that they can make their budget if their expectations aren't &quot;the Ritz&quot;.

MFNYC

Go to venere.com, plug in the cities and dates and see what's available.

Definitely limit this to 2 or 3 cities. If they can make it just paris and rome, they can certainly do some day trips if they want to see otehr places. Too much travelling around wastes valuable time between the actual transportation and re-settling into hotels.

They should also consider flying between the 2 countries once they settle on itinerary.

MFNYC

Also keep in mind that you should really find hotels with a/c.

yk

iris1745 - I know you mean well, but the hotels you've listed... They are 100-115 euros/night. Per the OP, their hotel budget is USD1200 for 10 nights. Again, that equals to <b>&euro; 80</b> per night.

Back to the OP, you wrote:

<i>They got their airfare pretty cheap for under 2000 roundway for both of them taxes in. Mom is hoping to spend 1200 on hotels-to bring them up to 3200. &lt;snip&gt; ... their budget is like 3500 plus the cost of food and expenses, entrance fees</i>

Does this $3500 include transportation? Have you factored in the cost of train tickets for them to travel from Rome via Florence/Venice all the way to Paris???

yk

dmlove - The Meli&aacute; Roma Aurelia Antica hotel is located miles outside of the city of Rome.

Like I said earlier, for &euro;80/night, they'll either end up in hotels far away from the center, or in some fleabag 1* hotels that nobody wants to stay at.

dmlove

At least it has air conditioning!

(I personally think it is always worth it to spend a little more to stay in the center of town, but if budget is more important than time, and it's on a a decent public transportation line, maybe it's not such a bad idea).

josephina

Mia: I am SERIOUSLY concerned here. I was worried when I read &quot;We have still not booked hotels...&quot; for an August holiday, and then when I read the budget, I just inhaled. I'm still holding my breath.

Serious question--not mean, not trying to be humerous, not uncharitable, not unkind in ANY way--have you OR your parents considered the exchange rate? It's bad. I mean REALLY BAD. And no country is cheap right now. A 1200 budget for two in Euros for ten days of lodging and transportation (we're not counting food!) would have been a stretch.

I agree with all who say that you have two basic choices:

1) they hook up with some Priceline sort of tour offering or
2) rebook at a time when they have figured out how to do what they need to do financially.

I DO believe they can travel at a low cost. I do not believe that at their ages they can do so &quot;on the fly.&quot;

zeppole

&gt;&gt;The Meli&aacute; Roma Aurelia Antica hotel is located miles outside of the city of Rome.&lt;&lt;

Yes, but all roads lead to Roma and there is probably a bus.

Like the rest of you, I fear there won't be a happy ending to this story -- unless we hear the tickets are being rebooked for Christmas break -- but I suspect the traveler's have a different idea of seeing the sights than the rest of us might.

Open air tour bus around Rome. Maybe seeing the Sistine chapel. Then on to Venice. A trip down the Grand Canal. Staying in Mestre will be fine for that.

Dinner by the lake in Lucerne?

Off to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower. Why not stay in La Defense? (Rates should be quite low there.)

One thing they can't afford is London, and I wouldn't recommend stopping Firenze and dealing with left luggage in the heat, unless it's to spend the night.

The real worries in my mind are:

Obtaining air conditioned hotel rooms and air-conditioned trains.

bratsandbeer

How about you talk to your parents and they decide exactly what cities they will actually plan to go to.
Then let everyone on this posting know the itinerary and we can all dig in and try to find hotels at prices they can afford. B&amp;bs are most often cheaper and nicer.
We stay mostly at b&amp;bs.

Oh and I love Mcdonalds at the bottom of the Spanish steps in Rome. So you don't have to have mega meals - the salads are good.

Another question - this seems to be what your mom wants - what does your dad with asthma think about all of this? Wondering if he is like my husband and would just as soon leave me go with someone else while he stays home and enjoys his peace and quiet. Maybe you need to take mom on this whirlwind. Just trying to be realistic and practical.

TDudette

I agree that your folks need to get a room toot sweet (thanks Sue Grafton). Call an agent (or AmEx) OR, call an international hotel chain and work with them. They might be able to get some flexibility if they stick with one hotel chain.
When hub and I &quot;did&quot; our first 10 days in Italy, I followed a tour book time table: 4 days Rome, 3 days Florence and 2 days Venice and wished we'd had longer in Venice.
How they are going to get Paris in as well is tough! I'm agreeing with Suze's suggested itinerary and just take a day tour to Florence.
Even if your folks are in tip top health, traveling across time zones is tiring and one eats up time getting from one place to another. I for one would love to know how this all works out!

jamikins

I really think they should try Suze's itinerary...or 5 days in Rome and 5 days in Paris...that would be ideal.

As for hotels, wow, you are definitely going to have a problem finding something decent for 80 euro a night. I dont know what prices are for Aug but try this:

Paris: http://www.hotel-saintjacques.com/en/confort_en.htm

or www.eurocheapo.com

dmlove

<i>Oh and I love Mcdonalds at the bottom of the Spanish steps in Rome</i>

Which is, I believe, the biggest McDonald's in the world, and was one featured on a Travel Channel show about unique McDonald's.