Honeymoon to London - Paris - Rome
 

Hey All,
Me and my Fiance are planning a 10 day trip to Europe. We are flying from Chicago to London staying 3 days, then taking Eurostar from London to Paris staying 3 days and taking Eurostar back to London, and finally flying from London to Rome staying 3 days and flying back to Chicago. It's a little ambitious, but we are young and on a very tight budget. I've been scouaring the internet for good cheap hotels and was hoping for suggestions on resonable hotels, where to eat on a budget, and if walking tours are really worth the money i.e. Icon, London wlaking tours, context rome. Hotels we are looking at include:
London : Crestfield Hotel
Comfort Tower of London
Paris: Hotel Wilson
Kyraid XVIII
Rome: Hotel Lirico
Welcome Home Residences

Also, we will be relying heavily on public transportation do any of you have suggestions for commuting from these cities ariports to there respective city centers?
I appreciate any help and/or advice you may be able to throw my way because I have been relying heavily on Tripadvisor.com and virtualtourist.com

P.S. > Me and my finace have never flown before - Not even kidding (so airport sggestions i.e. international flying suggestions would also help)

Thank you

Hi G,

Your fiance and you will not be on a honeymoon, you are planning an expedition.

With only 10 days, I suggest that you choose 2 of the 3 cities, better yet, one country.

((I))

Congratulations on your wedding - now for a reality check. A <i>little</i> ambitious is an understatement. I 100% agree w/ Ira. All three cities are wonderful - but all three in 10 days is a killer. One day is probably totally lost to jet lag and one is lost to packing and flying home. Plus you lose 3/4 a day every time you move from one city to another.

Plus all the moving around costs a lot more than just doing one city/area.

I'd probably choose either London or Paris (plus maybe a couple of days in a nice contry inn) Or at very most 5 days in London and 4 in Paris (or vice versa)

I believe you are correct it is an expedition , but my fear was What if this is the only chance we get to go to Europe? We have everything booked now but the Hotels. We (rather I) wanted to see and do as much as we possible could in the limited amount of time we had under the assumption that if we liked what we saw and had to do so we could take out time the next go around.

PS,

You can fly from Paris Orly to Rome Ciampino. You don't have to go back to London.

See www.whichbudget.com

meant to say &quot;if we had the money to do so we could take our time the next go around.&quot;

I agree with Ira - don't backtrack to London - see if you can swtich your tickets. Check out easyjet.com - super cheap flights within Europe. You'll be so tired running around (plus jetlag) you won't have time to enjoy!! Or - forget Paris this time &amp; just go to Rome. You will have more time later on another trip to see everything else.

Unfortunately, you are not alone. Many first time travelers &quot;<i>want to see and do as much as possible in the limited amount of time</i>&quot; The problem is this schedule means you really aren't going to see/do all that much.

Exactly what all is booked? Intra-Europe flights and Eurostar? If so you are sort of stuck. Sorry to say you are spending a LOT of money on un-necessary travel (why back and forth to London to get to Rome for instance? )

And where are you flying home from -- Rome or London?

Hi

Sounds like a hectic honeymoon...sure you will have time for other important things :S- Paris and Rome are two of the most amazing cities in Europe. My wife and I just spent a week in Paris and it was great. We went to Rome last year and we stayed 5-6 days there. I know it is tempting to cover as much as poosible in one trip but it is better to try to focus on a city or two if you ask me. I just hope that you won't come back and all you remember is being on the move, on flights etc.

I have posted a trip report with pictures and links from our trip to Rome last year on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy.htm ((Y)) Maybe you can find some useful information there. I will also post the trip report from Paris pretty soon on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com

Good lick with the wedding and the honeymoon planning :d

Regards
Gard
Stavanger, Norway

I was considering skipping Paris, but the idea of traveling on the Eurostar and making it to Paris in 2 1/2 hours seemed to great an adventure to pass up. Again, we have never flown so I may be bitting off more then I can chew but I think we can do it and have a bit of fun running &quot;the amazing race&quot; &gt; Haha JJ!

Also Flying home from Rome!

You haven't even flown before. I'm not trying to be rude - but you have no idea how time consuming getting out to the airport., security etc is. You are traveling that far to basically spend 2.5 days in each city.

London/Paris and even the Eurostar make sense - but adding Rome to the mix simply doesn't.

OK - then why not skip Paris? Paris is the one city I would definitely want to include - but you just don't have time to go back and forth to Paris.

Or you could skip London - fly into London and immediately head on to Paris. Then travel to Rome and home from there.

In Paris check out Hotel Diana - good clean hotel in the Latin Quarter - pretty cheap, less than 90E per night.

Thank you AngelaS for the Hotel recomendation! &gt; Guys/Gals I am in pretty deep, but again it's hard to tell a guy that thinks he is always right that he may in fact be wrong. I may pull out on Paris (seeing as we would only be about $250), but again I believe that it can be done and would be enjoyable.

Geihsler I know how you feel - we leave next week for our two week HM: Chicago - Paris (4 days there), then fly to Milan (eayjet), rent car, spend 5 days in Tuscany (this will be the relaxing part), then 4 days in Rome. People say that's a lot too, but if you plan your time well, I think you'll be OK - just do all your research at home before you leave!! It can be overwhelming &amp; congrats!! 8-)

I am in fact one of those guys that has an itenary and agenda for every minute/hour of the day i.e. must do this or that at such and such time, but I've been told that this is no way to spend a Honeymoon in Europe. I would like to think that I could avoid doing this on my honeymoon, but I doubt that I will be able to. I have and will countinue to research the heck out of this trip (although I should have posted here sooner rather later). Which brings up another questions how much French/Itailian should one know when going into these countries because we have heard conflicting opinions on this.

Ok (you can tell I'm bored at work, i'm sitting on this board!!) I think it can be helpful to get one of those language guide books - I think people always appreciate it when you try to speak their language. Check out the library - that's where I'm getting all of my stuff from!! but for the most part, in the bigger cities you will have no problem speaking English. But it's nice to say Buon Giorno, Ciao etc.

I have been checking out all sorts of books from the library &gt; I was considering buying one of those computer CD-ROM;s for French/Itailan or a Pocket Translator from Sharper Image. Have you looked into these?

Personally, I'm not crazy about pocket translators. I'm using a few books I got from the library - one French language book (it has various phrases, etc) &amp; an Italian one. You've got an 8 hour flight - I'll be reading mine then, try to learn at least a few phrases. On stuff like that I go really cheap &amp; just stick with the books from the library (just don't lose them over there!!)

LOL, I'm a wee bit on the side of older and about to get married (2nd time around for each of us) and London and Paris would be sooooooooo romantic!
(I'm not that old!) That way, we could walk, and cafe sit, and do a museum or two, and read, and take naps (euphemism there), dine well, ... I'm working on my old boy to do just two cities.

By the way, you might find you're able to do Europe again some day, I swear it is not all that much more expensive than say a couple of weeks at the beach. Both places, you gotta eat, you gotta have wine and cheeses (or is that just us?); the rentals can be a wash...

Congratulations...and have fun!

Paris Walks (Google to them) offers various walking tours in English for 10 euros a person, no reservation needed for most of them, and they definitely are worth the money. You will see a lot of one part of the city, and learn a lot, in about two hours. That accomplished, you can have a leisurely lunch or coffee in a cafe, sit in a park, watch people, marvel at the traffic - in other words enjoy Paris and yourselves in the best possible way. Congratulations!

I have used the PImsleur tapes for both French and Italian, and found them very helpful to speak a little bit of the language. I bought mine at Barnes &amp; Noble.

Oops! They are not tapes, but cd's.

23 years ago we had the same honeymoon. We did have a total of 14 days and we did fly between each city. Don't waste time going back to Lomdon to fly to Rome.

If you plan well you'll be able to see a fair portion of each city. Don't become discouraged by those that say this is too ambitious; it is but who knows when you'll return.

Spend time prioitizing what the two of you want to see the most and, if able, purchase any passes before you go.

Enjoy!

Thanks

Hopefully, your soon to be wife will have a similar travel style to yours. If not, you might want to see what her expectations/priorities are before you go pre-planning every second of the trip for her! I, too, would eliminate one city from your itinerary. Logistically, London or Paris. I found London to be more expensive than Paris or Rome in recent years, so you may want to take that into consideration.

If you know at least the polite greetings, please and thank you, you'll do fine in these capital cities. They are tourist meccas and you can get by with English in most places. Have a great time!

What you are planning is too much. Lose Rome from your itinery and things become quite sane. Come to London, get the train to Paris (it really does only take 2 ¼ hours) and come back on the train. Schlepping around on planes is too much grief.

As things stand you’ll be too shagged out to…well, you know.

See Rome on your anniversary!

Hi G,

Even if you have RT tickets on the Eurostar, you can cancel them for some refund.

Fly from Paris to Rome for as little at 50E pp on www.easyjet.com.

((I))

PS,

The cheapest Eurostar fares from London to Paris are the one-day RT for about $90.

You don't have to use the return ticket.

((I))

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! I got married last year and did an even more ambitious trip than you - 3 weeks travelling around Spain and Portugal.

I regret that we did it that way. First, you are going to be exhausted after the wedding. Leading up to and on your big day, you're going to be running on adrenaline, but after, it'll hit you. Trust me, I know. We were on the road every 2 days and just got a glimpse of each city we visited. When we got home, I felt like I needed a week at the beach!

Your best bet is to stick with 2 countries and stay 4-5 days in each. That way, you can get the rest you need and explore the city without having to worry about packing up, catching the train, etc.

See if you can get an open-jaw ticket into London and out of Paris or Rome. We did with British Airways and got a great deal. On their website, select multi-city.

Good luck!

Anyone wanting to spend their honeymoon in London needs their head examining :)

Teddybear - Why?