louise1928

In reference to my friends first visit to Europe from USA.

My friend and her boyfriend spent $700.00 on Eurotickets from Paris to Italy...They stayed in Italy for 3 days, and when it was time to return, they were charged an additional $85.00 per person. When she first planned this trip, she said they were spending a few days in Paris, Italy, Spain, and maybe the French Riviera. I asked her was she sure they had enough time to visit all those places in 9 days??? I told her to make sure she checks the distances between each place and how much time it would take. When she returned last week, she said they were only able to visit Italy(rome) for 3 days. The train ride was 16 hours from Paris to Italy...They purchased the tickets based on visiting at least 3 other cities.

Now, if they had already paid ($700.00) for the Eurotickets (they purchased them from Rick Steves), why did they have to pay an additional $85.00????

She said something to do with the time change. Also, isn't $700.00 a bit much for travel from one city to another by train??? Thats the price of two airline tickets.

What should they have done differently, and perhaps saved a ton of money????

Flyboy

Two words: Discount Airline. They not only lost a lot of money on their choice, but they lost a lot of time. That is a very precious commodity in a situation such as the one you describe.

m_kingdom

The money's spent now, it's gone, it's over, forget it!

ira

Hi louise,

>What should they have done differently, and perhaps saved a ton of money?<

Registered here and asked for a critique of their itinerary.

The additional $85 was probably for reservations of some sort. The railpass does not guarantee reservations or sleeping accomodations.

m_kingdom

We can all be clever with hindsight, on the anniversary of the war with Iraq I wonder what could've been avoided.....

wesley

WHO CARES?

This ain't the Apprentice, louise. I can't imagine too many people here having nothing better to do than analyze what coulda, woulda, shoulda, mighta been (except for m_kingdom). People spend money stupidly all the time. That's their prerogative. Why should we try to figure out why and at the request of a third party, no less? Mind your own business. This is one of the dumbest threads I've ever seen on fodors.

Sue_xx_yy

If by Eurotickets you mean rail passes, whether they are worth it is a matter of opinion. They were a convenience, possible peace of mind, and while many would not put that high a price on those things, it seems your friends did. It isn't for me to insist what their priorities should be.

At a guess, the extra $85 was probably for reservations, required on certain trains and not covered by the passes.

rex

Is this the same friend who despaired not being able to find "pancakes and bacon" for breakfast in Paris?

I think your question is useful, in the context that it might alert some other inexperienced travelers about how NOT to put together a trip to Europe.

I cannot how count how many times I have advised here that rail passes purchased from RailEurope - - especially as a first step in planning the trip! - - is a terribly bad idea.

Best wishes,

Rex

janeg

Why are most of you being so nasty? Why not just tell her (nicely) how she could have done better so she can next time?
Some folks are getting awfully rude around here lately. If you think something is the dumbest thing you ever saw, how about just moving on to another post?
Meanness is about the worst trait humans have come up with.

Cobos

I'll chime in as well.... Yes considering the relatively long distance of Roma-Paris I would in first look at budget airfares..and second as it seemed the trip was simply a single return trip Paris-Rome I would have bought a simple ticket not any pass solution. And I prefeer to travel by train than airport, I like that you end up right in the city with less changes to get where you want to. But a railpass assumes you are doing a lot of travel, not simply doing 1 return trip

Cobos

Chatters

The only dumb thing posted on this thread is the post that states this is a dumb question....yes, it is water under the bridge, but, the dumbest thing would be not to examine if/how this could had been avoided.

Agree w/Ira: without a doubt, this forum saves countless people $$$ and agravation daily. Tell your friends to post next time

louise1928

Thanks for all your replies,

My friend said she will definitely visit this board when planning her next trip to Hawaii. I told her how useful it is, especially having people like yourselves to offer good insight. I showed her this board on Friday, and she was amazed at how much information is here.....

Patrick

Well, beyond the lack of a reason to discuss what they should have done, you've already mentioned a major thing. They didn't follow their plan at all. This is no different that if they bought plane tickets to go to three cities and didn't use them as they didn't end up going to those cities. Or making reservations, prepaying hotels, and not being able to get a refund when they didn't go. They obviously like winging it, so maybe next time they shouldn't do much advance planning or buying tickets or reservations ahead.