Hello,
Going to Europe for the first time from the states.
The current plan is arriving May 4th in Rome, then to Venice May 8th, and then to Paris May 10th and leaving the 15th from CDG.

There will be 2 of us M/F traveling. I'm interested in low cost airlines at least from Venice to Paris but unaware of how much luggage we will have. Do you recommend getting tickets and what is the cost is we have too much luggage?
If you were going to go between these three places and you have limited time do you think that a train from Rome to Venice and then a flight from Venice to Paris is a time/cost effective approach?

I'm also looking for hotels that are good for a budget and close to a metro. Our price range is around $80 max a day. Due to the luggage situation I don't believe we can stay in a hostel but let me know if this is false.

I appreciate any help you can provide.

That's a very low budget (only 59€) for major cities especially booking this late. Most convents will cost more than that for two people.

Does M/F mean a male and female?

Yes it does mean Male and Female. Doing research I have found cheap airfare from ryanair from Rome to Venice. Still searching to see how far away each airport is and figuring out the fees to know if its better than going by train. What do you recommend as the lowest expected price for hotels.

one piece of advice.....

never take more than you can carry.

airlines that offer cheap airline tickets often make money thru excess baggage. for checking in bags worth of 15kg alone will cost you around 10 - 20eu.

the estimated train ride would be :

Train Firenze to Rome - 27,50
Train Venice to Firenze - 23,50

If you decide to ride a plane. you will probably land at marco polo airport. from there, it would be cheap for u to ride an ATVO fly bus to the main city of venice. although it wont be as scenic, it'll definitely be worth your 3 euros.

as for a place to stay, under your current budget, i would say that youth hostels would be your best bet.

Ryan Air doesn't fly into Marco Polo. They fly into Treviso which is about an hour bud ride from Venice. I would train which would cost 56€ 2nd cl on the fast trains (AV or ES) and would take 4 1/2 hours. It would take longer than that to fly after you figure getting to Ciampino from Rome (30-45 minutes about 10€ on Terravision bus)and from Treviso to Venice (30-60 minutes - cost?). Once you add in the strict check-in times and flight time, it's less hassle to hop the train.

Terravision:
http://www.terravision.eu/rome_ciampino.html

Here's a list of convents in Rome and one in Venice. Keep in mind that Santa Susanna has not updated prices so they will be a bit higher.
http://www.santasusanna.org/comingToRome/convents.html

You can also check monasterystays.com as they have a large list of convents, but since they are a booking agent, the mark up is 10-15€ per night. Still you can find some cheap convents on their site and the map search is helpful to get a since of locations. The hopsites.it website listed on Santa Susanna's webpage used to be very helpful, but has been taken over by a booking service. I'm not sure if it's associated with the convents or not, but you could try using their site for info and prices. Many convents don't take credit cards and will require a deposit by Western Union or some other means which isn't cheap from the US. Some convents will trust you and not require a downpayment.

bookmarking

For an eleven day trip, you should plan on taking only carry on luggage. And that would not preclude staying in cheap hostels.

Definately take the train from Rome to Venice - it's a reasonably scenic trip, and faster than flying.

These are great tips! Thank you for the help. If we had two carry on bags is there a place to store luggage in the hostels or convents to make sure things don't come up missing?

Most convents have private rooms and many have private baths. You will have a key to your room just like at any hotel.

I suggest staying at hostel archi rossi in rome.
it very nice, safe, and affordable.

http://www.hostelarchirossi.com/?lan=eng

most hostels have personal lockers, so dont worry ^^

Hi ST,

I suggest flying www.myair.com from Venice VCE to Paris ORY. Ryaniar goes from Treviso to Beauvais.

I have just spent time in Paris and Rome and was able to rent apartments for 65 and 60 euros per night respectively. Admittedly it was on the tail end of the low season. I use www.homelidays.com to find apartments and have used them on a couple of occasions and have had no problems at all. I suggest you have a look there as you might be surprised what may be available.

My travel buddy and I also discussed the options of train or cheap air travel. We opted for easyjet and Ryanair but sometimes I think by the time you have to be at the airport an hour or two before your flight and then the time to get to the airport etc etc etc maybe the train could be a better option. Something to think about.

I haven't read all responses but be aware that with convents a lot of them have curfews which could cramp a young persons style.

We started to consider taking the overnight train from Venice to Paris and trying to book on trenitalia. We are trying to book the May 10th overnight train. It leaves as 19:57. However whenever trying to book it the last page gives a message "The train, journey section or category solution requested are unavailable for the date selected. Please enter different data. (Error 2060)" Would this mean they are sold out or is it too early to book? Thank you for the help.

you can also check out www.eurocheapo.com for cheap hotels