jwgolf

Thanks again for all of the helpful advice... The departure date and flight information is set in stone but the arrival date and city are still up in the air.

Departure: SFO to London, Sunday August 14, 2011. Preferably something that departs from SFO in the early-mid afternoon and gets into London Monday morning. I'd prefer non-stop or 1-stop but wouldn't be opposed to 2 if the deal was phenomenal.

Arrival: ??? to San Diego, thinking of departing either Thursday August 25 or Friday August 26.


There's one other thing that I was looking for advice on. How do most of you pay for things along your trip? The easy thing to do seems like bringing cash however it's probably not the wisest idea to be traveling around Europe with a lot of cash. If you do have cash, do you exchange for the currency of each country you go to?

jwgolf

Also I should mention that the arrival city could just as easily be San Francisco since it's so easy to get a cheap Southwest flight from SFO to San Diego. So if the return to SFO was a lot cheaper I'd probably just do that.

StuDudley

>>How do most of you pay for things along your trip? <,

We make two trips to Europe every year - for about 1 month each. I land with about $300 worth of Euros (if you live in San Francisco or near, the main BofA has a currency exchange counter). When I get to Europe, I charge everything on my Capital One CC (0 currency converseion fees), and use my ATM card to get cash.

Stu Dudley

StuDudley

PS

You will need to call your CC company & tell them you will be in Europe from Aug 14 to 26.

Stu Dudley

cheryllj

You get cash from an ATM. That's both the easiest and cheapest way, much better than carrying tons of cash and exchanging at poor rates.

You want to start in SFO and end in San Diego? That isn't open jaw, that's two separate flights entirely. I'm not sure how that would affect pricing though.

cheryllj

ps - It doesn't appear to affect pricing much at all, surprisingly.

Gardyloo

You need to decide where you want to come back from, and let that drive the airfare question, rather than vice-versa.

At that time of year, most round trips from Calif. to London are in the $1250 range. Returning from someplace like Paris adds around $100 to the fare; returning from farther away, or airports with fewer flights, might be more. Other cities might be a little less if their dominant airlines have generally lower fares (e.g. Zurich and Swiss International) but when you add the cost of getting to, say, Zurich if you weren't going there anyway, then that savings is negated.

The same goes for one-way flights or the train from someplace in Europe back to, say, London for the return. The additional cost of a supplemental flight (not to mention the hassle) might not save you any money - and surely won't save you any time - compared to flying transatlantic from there and connecting back to Calif. So decide where you'd like to end the trip and then go fishing for airfares.

As for the money question, just take your ATM card and use cash machines. You'll pay a little extra for the ATM fees, but it won't cost you as much as the discount you'll pay for currency exchange at a bank in the US. That way you won't have to worry about Pounds and Euros in advance, just hit the ATM when you need more. There are plentiful ATMs in European airports and everywhere on the street.

If as a CA resident you happen to use the B of A, note that B of A has agreements with several European banks (e.g. Barclay's) where ATM fees are waived.

suze

re money question.
Primarily I use my ATM card and withdraw local currency (pounds, euro, swiss franc) every few days (to avoid carrying a wad of cash around on your person. I carry $300 or so in USD as a back up. Some people use a money belt for this. Yes you'd need to exchange it into the currency of the country you are in. I also have two credit cards to pay the hotel bill and any unexpected or large expenses that arise.

charnees

It appears you will only be traveling for 14 days!! You can't do much of Europe in that time. I would suggest London, train to Paris, then plane to Rome. that gives you only three nights each in London and Paris, and four in Rome. You will just get a taste of each city, but in future years you can go back and do more.

14th -- leave SFO
15th - arrive London jetlagged
16th - London
17th - London
18th - train to Paris
19th - Paris
20th - Paris
21st - plane to Rome
22nd - Rome
23rd - Rome
24th - Rome
25th - return to US

StuDudley

>> that gives you only three nights each in London and Paris, and four in Rome<<

Which gives you 2 1/4 days in London, 2 1/4 days in Paris, and 3 1/4 days in Rome.

Don't do it!!! Eliminate some travel time.

Stu Dudley

Aramis

Jw;

I'll spit these out as I find them. Yell STOP when you want more details or to redirect me. Direct flights unless noted

SFO - LON Aug 14 FCO - SAN (via IAD) Aug 25 $1405
Similar prices out of other Italian airports

Aramis

SFO - LON Aug 14 PAR - SAN (via SFO) Aug 25, $1369
BRU or LUX - SFO are about $15 more through ORD or IAH

Aramis

It seems you can do pretty much what routing you want for about $1400, so ignore the advice to pick your return airport first and take what pricing that gives for your plan.

I don't really think you will see much cheaper fares for August, considering the open jaw routing and a West Coast departure.

So, get creative; SFO into London and Venice back to SAN? Or Brussels, Paris, Luxembourg, Rome to SAN?

As for money, with a an ATM card on the Cirrus, Plus, or any other major major network, you can access money from ATM's and banks as easily as at home, and there are just as many of them. We take over whatever spare cash we have form the last trip (minimal - har har har) and just visit the first ATM in the airport. A couple hundred in cash for each of us for the day to day stuff (replenish as needed) and we use our credit cards for the big stuff like hotels, meals, etc.. The exchange rate is equivalent to what you would get by changing the money at home, maybe better, and you don't have to worry about carrying large sums of cash. You might want to check with your bank to make sure that the money you want to access is in your primary account on your card. you only get access to one account, not several. Take a phone number in case there is a problem.

Aramis

And plan the trip you want - not what people tell you you should do. No one knows you, your personal circumstances, or your hopes for trip like you do.

charnees

I also will say plan the trip you want. But do it informed by what people are saying here. if you still want to do more than three cities, fine. But now you know what the reality of that kind of itinerary will be.

CaliNurse

If it is at all useful, dont forget about the inexpensive European airlines for once you are there. The info may be useful if you find a cheap flight (eg easyjet or ryanair) to a hub city.
See whichbudget.com.
I "efel you rpain" as have been flabbergasted by the USA-Europe RT fares for the upcoming year in late Spring and Summer.

StuDudley

>>I also will say plan the trip you want. But do it informed by what people are saying here.<<

Yep - I remember & enjoyed very little on my first trip to Europe in '77. It went about like this:

- Copenhagen visiting relatives.
- Train to Amsterdam - arrive at 9PM & a quick dinner. Stay 2 nights
- 1 full day in Amsterdam
- train to Cologne - arrive about 3PM. 1/4 day in Cologne. Stay overnight
- pick up car in Cologne & drive to the Mosel. Arrive around noon. 1/2 day in the Mosel
- Drive the the Rhine. 1 day in the Rhine
- as we were leaving the Rhine, my mother & sister begged for another day in the Rhine & not in the car. Stayed another day in the Rhine (I was traveling with my wife also)
- Drove to Bavaria - arrived arout 9PM. I recall that this was a thoroughly wasted day in the car - with mother & sister smoking in the back seat (dad died of lung cancer ???).
- Drove to Lucerne & arrived around 2PM on a Saturday - just as all the shops were closing till Monday. Intended to stay 2 nights. Mother & sister "bailed" on us - could not take the pace anymore. They caught a flight to London (sister was a flight attendant)- continued on our 1 night 2 night pace.

In '80, we returned to Amsterdam & spent 4 nights there, then on to the Mosel for 3 nights, then..... I remembered very little of the '77 trip, so we "re-did" most of it.

Now, since '99 when we retired so we could travel more, a typical vacation schedule for a year is 2 weeks in 1 spot, then 2 weeks in another spot for our June trip. In Sept, it is 2 weeks in 1 location & 2 weeks in a second location. Twice we've stayed 4 weeks in 1 spot (Provence & Dordogne)

As we progressed from 1 or 2 night stays in one place, to 2 to 4 week stays in 1 place, we enjoyed Europe a lot more - obviously. I try to always steer people away from the mistakes we made on our first 5 or so trips to Europe.
- Rule 1 - less is more
- Rule 2 - high temps in large cities like Paris or Rome are exhausting. I can walk all day while in Paris or Rome in October, but not in August when it is usually hot.
- Rule 3 - be aware of where you are on Sundays & Monday mornings - when many shops close. Also on Sat afternoon in some cities.
- Rule 4 - reduce travel time. Keep your touring "radius" small.

I had no clue about how to explore Europe in '77 - but I do now !!! If Fodors had been around in '76, my first trip would have been a lot more enjoyable (assuming that I would have followed the advice of more experienced travelers).

Stu Dudley

Gardyloo

<b>jwgolf</b> has not made an appearance since this first and only post. Perhaps some feedback from the OP is in order.

ssachida

Actually, he did respond on the next day, Nov 30th. Which means that he's been away for 1.5 days. Let's give him a break

tedgale

I've never paid a fee or penalty for "open jaws". Of course, that may be related to the fact we are traveling off-season, not in August.

Our preferred airlines for open jaws are KLM and Air France.

On Air France it is sometimes CHEAPER to fly Canada-Paris and (say) Marseille-Paris-Canada or Rome-Paris-Canada than to do a simple Canada-Paris return tkt.

In other words, the extra flight is not only free, it reduces your tkt price!

If economy is your priority, you MIGHT find it is cheapest to fly via Amsterdam to London and on your return from Italy via AMS to SFO.

Note that AF and KLM are virtually the same company so you might fly outbound on KLM via AMS to LHR and inbound on AF from CDG to SFO.

To maximize my choices, I usually do my research on the KLM site: they do not discriminate between AF and KLM routings. AF always tries to send me on AF, via Paris, regardless of my final destination.