KAM, I'm going to throw in my vote and say stay the first night in Milan. You never know what other airline headaches might be in store (sorry, but better to be prepared.) I have another idea - why not take the train from Milan to Verona the next morning and pick up the car in Verona? It's about a 90 minute fast train into Verona; figure about 60 minutes to take car of car pickup at the outside (you want take your time over this, familiarizing yourself with the car before you take off) and then only the shortest of hops from Verona to Garda. Just a suggestion, all the best to you both.