My girlfriends and I all in the fifties would like to go to Europe sometime this year....since this is going to be our first trip to E would like to have some leads on where to go to get some first hand info on guided tours....if you interested in sharing your awesome experiences w/guided tours please do so.......our dream is to go to London,France,Italy and maybe Spain??? We have only 2 weeks to do all of this traveling I don't even know if this will be enough time.

No better resource for you than the free European Planning & Rail Guide - contains tons of info on rail and other subjects - itineraries, rail maps, using trains - free atwww.budgeteuropetravel.com)
I originally heard about it from Frommer's Budget Travel magazine as a few years ago it was one of their 100 useful resources in their list.

Well I would start by going to the websites for some of the tour companies - Cosmos, Globus, Go Ahead Vacations, Insight, Rick Steves....order their brochures and then find the tour that seems right for you. I think a tour is a good idea for a first trip to Europe - you can probably cover more ground and see more of the major attractions than if you go on your own (esp. since you want to visit several countries). I'm sure there is a web site somewhere that people give feedback on turs they have taken so that could help you with your choice. Have a great trip! SueC1

Hi ii,

>our dream is to go to London,France,Italy and maybe Spain??? We have only 2 weeks...<

Are you sure you want an "If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium" tour?

14 days is little enough to see 4 cities, let alone 4 countries.

You could have a lovely visit to London and vicinity, and Paris and vicinity; or Venice, Florence and Rome; or Paris and another city.

You could do this on your own, save money, and not have to get up for a 7:00 AM bus.

I agree w/Ira, unless you want to have nothing to do w/planning your trip as well as being restricted by a tight schedule then by all means go the cattle herding, er..tour route. You may have a difficult time getting much input on this board however, as most travelers on here, tend to be do-it-yourselfers. London/Paris is doable. Italy, doable. Spain w/a touch of France, doable. Paris & Benelux, doable. I think your first step may be to decide on your destination choice, or at the very least narrow them down a bit.

Tks many tks for all your responses...PalQ and Suec1 you gave me a bunch of info to start.....ira you are absolutely right 2 weeks is not enough....but this trip is going to give us just a little flavor of E..... later on we plan to go back only to one country at the time and spent alot more time.