Itinerary Feedback (don't be too harsh!)
 

This is my itinerary for a 24 day trip this summer. Keep in mind that I wanted to do an overview of alot of places in Europe, and have been highly influenced by Rick Steves Guidebooks. Any feedback or comments or ideas would be great! Thanks! <BR> <BR>Day 1 - Fly London from Winnipeg, MB <BR>Day 2 - London <BR>Day 3 - London <BR>Day 4 - London <BR>Day 5 - Bus to Brighton - visit Relatives <BR>Day 6 - Brighton <BR>Day 7 - Brighton <BR>Day 8 - Train to Koblenz <BR>Day 9 - Koblenz - Rhine Cruise - Night in <BR> Bacharach. <BR>Day 10 - Train to Munich <BR>Day 11 - Day trip to Neutchwanstein <BR>Day 12 - Train to Salzburg - then onto Vienna <BR>Day 13 - Vienna - night train to Venice <BR>Day 14 - Venice <BR>Day 15 - Venice - Florence <BR>Day 16 - Florence - Cinque Terre (Manarola) <BR>Day 17 - Manarola <BR>Day 18 - Train to Rome <BR>Day 19 - Rome <BR>Day 20 - Rome - night train to Interlaken, SW <BR>Day 21 - Interlaken - Alps excursion <BR>Day 22 - Train to Paris <BR>Day 23 - Paris <BR>Day 24 - Paris - London - Fly home. <BR> <BR> <BR>

Florence and Paris merit more time.

Agree that Florence and Paris each deserve at least one more day, if at all possible. <BR> <BR>If you haven't bought your ticket yet, consider doing so "open jaws"; ie., fly into one city and out of another. This will save you both the time and expense of traveling back to where you started.

Looks good to me too, if you are on a limited time fram then I would take a day off of Brighton, and add a day in Paris or another day in Salzburg.

ok, you were doing OK until you hit Salzburg. You should think about spending more time there! or, decide which is more important and why - Vienna or Salzburg, and cut one of them out. (they are both great, but you leave way too little time - maybe cut out Vienna as it is a little out of the way if your next stop is Venice? <BR> <BR>you also may as well pick between Florence and Cinque Terre. You are not giving yourself enough time in either... too much running. <BR> <BR>If you pick CT, do Rome before it. If Florence, do Florence before Rome. you want to be geographically logical in your approach. <BR> <BR>also, give yourself an extra day in the Alps. if you have to take the day somewhere else, do it... <BR> <BR>and, last but not least, fly home from Paris not London. It won't cost that much extra, and in truth, the cost to get to London may be more than the little bit extra for the open jaw plane ticket. don't add stress to this trip. <BR> <BR>have fun!! <BR> <BR>

Hi <BR> <BR>I was going to mention cutting out Brighton too, but it sounds like you have a good reason to stay longer? <BR> <BR>Maybe cut some time off it, if you can...

Agree with above. Too much time in Brighton unless you're going out in East and West Sussex with your relatives. Brighton itself is pretty limited. Don't shortchange Florence. It needs another day. And, are you absolutely sure you want to go to the Cinque Terre? It's getting pretty touristy and takes up a lot of time. I would spend another day in Florence and Rome or Paris instead. Enjoy. What a luxury to have 24 days! Lucky you.

I agree with the open jaw ticket. If you can do that then I suggest putting Paris after England and before Germany and Rome at the end of your trip and adding at least one day to it, then fly out of Rome. You will save yourself a lot of travel time. Sounds like a great trip with a lot of thought to it. <BR>

Take Vienna out completely. It's a lovely city but too far out of your way to only spend a day there. Slow down a little and spend an extra day in Salzburg - you won't regret it.

You are soooo lucky to be able to do this! <BR> <BR>My guess is that you are going to be really tired by the last week of your trip. Yet that is the time period in which you have yourself doing some serious hard travel: Florence to Rome to Interlaken to Paris. Whew! <BR> <BR>I'd do one of two things. First option is flip the itinerary and put the Brighton relatives visit toward the end. You'll really feel like resting and visiting with family by then. Then off to London and home. <BR> <BR>Second option is stop the Italy part at Florence. Take some time there to do day trips and recharge your batteries, then head to Interlaken and Paris if you like. I find Rome kind of exhausting, and skipping it would allow you to put the time into Paris, for instance. <BR> <BR>I think you'll have a great time.

I see that you said "don't be too harsh" so I suspect you really aren't looking for advice and you already know the mistake you have made. You are trying to do far too much. I have a hard time following your itinerary, but if I understand correctly your visit to Salzburg is to stop on the train there on a one day trip from Munich to Vienna. What do you plan to do in Salzburg -- eat a sandwich next to the train station so you can catch your train an hour or two after you get there and then be able to tell your friends you "saw" Salzburg? What a total waste of time. And why go to Munich just to spend two nights, when you will be leaving for your only day there to go to Neuschwanstein? You're going to take a train from Rome to Interlaken overnight and arrive for one day to see the Alps. You are wrong, my dear, you will have time to see one Alp, hardly worth all that time and if you are like me and not able to sleep on night trains, you won't even be able to enjoy your one day in Switzerland. Again what's the point of going? One day in Paris? You make it sound like three, but you will arrive in the afternoon, have the next day, and they you will probably be leaving early the next -- that's really only one day any way you slice it. One day in Vienna? In my opinion you need to cut out about half of your destinations so that you can actually see something along the way. But I'm not sure that you are really looking for helpful advice, or are you?

After being a part of this forum for a year now I know why Amanda said "don't be too harsh!" Not everyone has the luxury of traveling as much as many of you do. I'm not sure if this is true of you Amamda but for those who have not traveled as much they are not experienced in how long "things" take to do, to get to places, the delays, the unknown in Europe (or anywhere for that matter). So, when they plan a lot in an itinerary I would never be harsh because I have been blessed to be able to do some traveling. Rather, I give what advice I can as graciously as possible. This is what this travel forum is all about and please stop with your "superior attitudes" you do no one any good. <BR>This is just for anyone who acts this way-not for most of you. I am so thankful to the majority of you who ARE gracious and supportive and giving with advice, etc. <BR>Thanks for letting me vent-I just HAD to do it!! <BR>Patti

Your itinerary seems good at the beginning and then gets increasingly rushed as you go along. I would not bother to go to Florence at all if you can only go for one night, and I think Paris and Rome definitely deserve more time.

Gee, Patti, I'm not sure what you're talking about. I had not gotten around to answering Amanda's question because I really hadn't the time yet, but in reviewing what has been said here, I don't see people displaying superior attitudes or being harsh at all, although Susan seems a little bold in her presumption that Amanda doesn't really want help. Amanda asked for advice, comments, and ideas, and people are giving them to her. I agree that not everyone has the luxury of long trips, but that is precisely the point. Why should Amanda rush through everything that one should have a lot more time to experience just because she wants to do everything at once? For my first four or five trips to Europe I was only able to go for 2 weeks at a time. I limited each to a week in a city, Paris or London and a week of travel nearby, usually staying two or three nights in a couple of places, or two weeks covering just one or two countries. Now I am at last able to go for extended trips and I feel comfortable covering itineraries like Amanda's. But I believe the advice being given to Amanda is very wise and she would be smart to take it. Cut some of this out so you can really experience some of your trip, and save the rest for the future. Susan and others are right on the money when they mention those specifics like a brief stop in Salzburg between Munich and Vienna. What is the point?

Amanda: You're getting lots of good advice. Remember that "a day" isn't really a day when it's your only day because you have to get oriented, deal with language barriers, delayed hotel check-ins, etc. Also remember that European trains are notorious for being late (especially in Italy). My advice would be to drop a day from Rome and add it to Florence--the peaceful pace will allow you to wind down a little from your whirlwind tour before being bombarded by the frenzy of Rome. I also agree that Paris deserves more time. Too bad you can't divide the trip into two: one for the UK and one for the continent. Finally, REALLY look into the open jaws option. The additional cost will most likely be less than taking the chunnel back to London, getting from Waterloo to Heathrow, hauling luggage the entire way, etc. Even though the chunnel takes only 3 hours, your actual travel time to depart from London to head back to the states will add most of the day (and be exhausting). Have a WONDERFUL time!!

Patrick-yes, it was the attitude of not believing she was really asking the question. I just believe that some people really don't know that they have planned too much. I have done that myself! I still tend to want to do that. So, maybe that is why I am being a bit sensitive towards Amanda's question. Like I said, most posters have been very gracious-but it bothered me that someone would not take the question seriously. <BR>I guess I just had to vent today!! I normally do not do that. <BR> <BR>Patti

My experience. After about 8-10 days you will be exhausted and won't be able to enjoy anything. It will all become a blur. You will have to schedule a day or two to rest. Rest with your relatives if that is possible. Otherwise wouldn't spend time in Brighton. Save somthing for another trip. There is always going to be another trip that you can plan for and dream of even if you may not be able to do it for a long time. Leave something on the table so that you will realy want to do it again. I traveled by train Vienna to Munich stopped and spent all day in Salzburg. This seemed plenty of time for Salzburg as its a very small town. But I spent 2 full days in Vienna and 3 full days in Munich. It's not possible to "see" Rome in 2 days. Florence is OK for 2 days. Venice at least 1 full day. Skip your side trips and stay in your main stops. Skip interlaken--too much travel up to the alps. If I were to stop in Switzerland it would be at Luzern. Can take trip there to top of mountain(forget name) by cable car and return by ferry on lake. It's a beautiful stop to get an idea of Switzerland. Need 1-1 1/2 days. In any event you can't go everywhere at once. Choose some things to save for next time and have a nice trip.

Amanda: <BR>One more thing. Please let us how your trip turned out. Good and bad. The reason many of us share our thoughts is that we vicariosly share your excitement for your trip. So many times someone will say "I'm so excited to have reservations at XXX hotel etc and I'll be sure to give you a review when I get home. Then you never hear from them again. What happened? Maybe they died there? So when you get back take a minute to tell us how it all worked out. Pass it on. Thanks.

Hi Amanda. <BR> <BR>Everyone has lots of good advice. Me, I'd drop Italy (what?!!) yes, because it's a long, long ride from Vienna (9 hours) or 6 from Salzburg into Venice. I notice you have only 6 nights planned for Venice, Florence, Manarola, Rome - and then another long trip up to Switzerland. If you want just a taste of Italy to whet your appetite, maybe have a couple of nights in Venice and spend the balance having a more relaxed return to Paris-London, assuming an open jaws is out of the question for some reason.

Amanda, I'll add a new dimension that has barely been mentioned to the discussion for you to consider: the fatigue factor! Going at the pace of your itinerary, you're going to wear out, wear down or both well before the end of the 24 days! You won't be able to maintain the pace, especially when the apparently most active/hectic part seems to be at the end! <BR>I won't make the value judgment about what parts you should cut out. That's really your decision. But, as just about every poster has said, cut out some of the individual stops.