Multi country trip
 

My sister and her DH are wanting to visit London, Paris, Venice and Barcelona in a two week period. Flying in to London, taking the train to paris, and then flying to Venice then Barcelona and home via Barcelona. Is this biting off too much or is it doable in that time?

Have they ever been to any of those cities? Two week including travel time?

14 days minus all the travel means they would have approx 9-9.5 days free to see/do. Not much for 4 very major cities.

It would appear your friends travel like you do, hit the ground running! No time to relax and enjoy the experience.

It's doable, but I wouldn't say it's enjoyable and certainly not for everyone.

If they want to see only a tiny bit of the city culture in those very specific cities, it is physically possible. They can say they have been there!

IMHO, they spend a lot of time and money moving about while completely missing out on major sights, unique places and experiences that are very close to those cities. However, it comes down to a personal choice of how to spend time and travel money, and what they enjoy while traveling.

Well for starters, they are not going to visit those countries, only 4 cities in those countries. Kind of like visiting Canada, the USA, Mexico and Brazil say in two weeks. Sound good to you?

Assuming someone said they wanted to visit Toronto, New York, Mexico City and Rio in 2 weeks, what would your reaction be to their idea?

To me it isn't just a question of not enough time in each city, but not enough time for even one country.

If they want to see only a tiny bit of the city culture in those very specific cities, it is physically possible. They can say they have been there!

IMHO, they spend a lot of time and money moving about while completely missing out on major sights, unique places and experiences that are very close to those cities. However, it comes down to a personal choice of how to spend time and travel money, and what they enjoy while traveling.

Three days in Venice is enough but three days would not be enough for me in any of the other cities. They should sit down and make a list of sights/things to do in each city and it will soon become apparent if this is enough time for them.

Lots of people go to major cities for a couple of days and they are fine with that. Cruise passengers get less than a day in each location and are content. It all depends on what your sister and husband want from their trip.

These are four fabulous cities but each of the deserves more than 2-3 days. I wouldn't try this marathon unless your sister and her husband have been to some or all of these cities before. I would choose 2 or at most 3. But this isn't my trip and maybe they aren't interested in actually experiencing the cities and cultures.

Their thinking was that this is their last trip overseas, and wanted to see as much as possible. Thanks for your input, everyone. I will pass the word. Having been to Paris twice myself, I know I have only scratched its surface.

There comes a time for a last trip for each of us. Your never know when, for whatever reason, a trip ends up being your last. I would still pick the two places highest in my dream list and spend time really enjoying those. We do that every trip, hoping for the chance to see other places on the list, but taking time to thoroughly enjoy the place we choose each time.

Even if it is their last trip, the last trip shouldn't be the one where you shortchange yourself and sacrifice quality for quantity.

The last trip will be a cruise. Charon will ferry them across the River Styx.

Peter!

Why is this the last trip? Are they really old? If so, the itinerary is fairly nuts.

Are they young and thinking of having kids? Considering that families vacation all the time, why would hobbits preclude their ability to travel - get airline miles, get points cards, get cash back cards, save and they can go abroad again.

They should never say never. I took my "last" trip two years ago at 80. As a matter of fact I did a trip report titled, "Nukesafes' Last Harrah", at the time.

We leave for Paris again in less than two weeks.

:-)

nukesafe, you're my kind of guy! I'm saving cruising for when I get old--78 this summer and have a trip to Britain in the works. Haven't been to Spain yet, or Scandinavia, or Russia, or South America for that matter.

You go, Girl! :-)