Why don't you inquire how much the change fees would be? It doesn't hurt to ask.

I say get a new agent....what a great ticket...somewhere you don't even want to do? Something off with this one

Wow. Given the fact that you've made the commitment, I think you must simply embrace the madness and go with the flow! I would pack super light, choose not more than 2 "must do's" in each place (maybe a couple more for Paris), and fill the rest of the agenda with casual strolling, dining, etc. I always enjoy the experience of traveling by train and don't treat it as time I'm "missing out" -- but airline travel is often a different animal! But perhaps there is a way to inject some excitement/enjoyment into the travel process itself.

@KT Travel - price difference is minimal, less than a hundred, it's the change fee that I'm not very fond of- $200 each way for each passenger.

@Lois2 - I guess it it also our fault - we sounded so eager to do a Eurotrip that covers a number of countries- and I think our TA wanted to deliver on that. We told him we want to go travel to Europe at the cheapest possible option. He mentioned there's deal going on right now but it's from Ca to Lisbon - so no problem. The idea of being in Lisbon is not a big problem as we thought as long as we are in the mainland, we're good. Then he asked us where we wanted to go - I mentioned I want to see London, Paris and Rome, while my husband wants to go to Amsterdam. TA mentioned he's not seeing any good price between AMS/FCO in his booking system - but he said Brussels is a good price. So we said - okay let's go with that. FCO to Heathrow sounded costly so he said if you want to do a stopover in Athens and then just fly ATH to STN then you can get it cheaper. So okay, we said we'll do that.

So during the conversation with TA - everything sounded so positive and promising and I know he was trying hard to deliver what we wanted. We said anything that would cost us no more than $2000 - and he got an itinerary for $1400. Looks great!

It is only after we paid and all that I was starting to have doubts if we can actually pull this off. Buyer's remorse I guess.

@wayfinder45 - "embrace the madness and go with the flow" ... That's probably going to be my motto for the next 5 months... :)Thank you!

MsWorthy,

I would look on the bright side and treat the trip as a fantastic lark.

Fortunately, because it is winter, you can pack a minimum of clothes and travel very light. Since you live in Canada, maybe you already have several full sets of lightweight of long underwear. All you need is is that plus some basic black clothes and waterproof outerwear. Now you are good to go-

How to plan this trip?

Feb 8 arrive in Lisbon --- book a hotel near the chiado and enjoy strong coffee and some easy sightseeing your first day. Try to include the Carmo convent and a stroll by the river. If you have the energy and the weather is nice, head up to the Alfama. The next day, be sure to see the monastery in Belem, rain or shine. Fit in anything else that sounds interesting to you.

Feb 10 arrive in Paris
Feb 14 -- after lunch, head up to Amsterdam for a 2 nights

Feb 16 arrive in Rome (departing from Brussels) -- think really hard about whether you want the standard tourist tour of entering the Vatican and the ancient monuments or whether you would be okay with seeing many of these places from the outside (or only entering half of them -- like seeing the inside of St Peter's but not the vatican museum.

Consider whether food tours or other unique tours would be more up your alley. Or maybe a mix of shopping + historic cafe hopping + a historic walking tour. Maybe a visit to the Borghese would be your one big art WOW and save the rest for a future visit.

You are not going to ace Rome even if you stay for 2 weeks, so cherry pick some fun excursions and

Feb 19 arrive in Athens --- yes to the Acropolis + the acropolis museum and a walk through the agora. THIS JUSTIFIES THE ENTIRE TRIP: IT IS WORTH IT TO HAVE FLOWN ALL THOSE MILES JUST TO SEE THIS

Feb 21 arrive in London -- take the same attitude as Rome

Feb 24 back to Lisbon

Feb 25 on our way back to Canada


Have a great glam trip. Don't push yourself. Don't catch a cole. If nothing else, have some great lunches and delicious wine. Bring something really interesting to read in the airports.

Also not smart to have approached our TA with no actual plan other than "Hey, we have some extra cash, I think we can go to Europe." And just like that $1400 gone and now a trip to plan!!! OOhhh I can just feel the rush..Ha!

Funny!

wayfinder and I were posting at the same time.

There is really noting wrong with dipping into a city while traveling, knowing that you cannot see more than a tiny bit.

In many ways that is far better than the delusion that some people have that if they go for six days or 14 days that this was a "complete" experience of Paris or Athens or Rome blah blah.

People have a mythical psychological comfort zone that 4 days in London or Paris "feels right" (or for Rome or Lisbon blah blah) and the get really uncomfortable when they learn that other people wing around Europe and spend less time in each city.

If you want to spend money to get out of the deal you bought for February, then do it! But if you want to go with what you purchased, then you would not be the first person to have a lot of fun doing a trip like that. (And you can read the trip reports of other people who took more "sensible" formulaic trips and see for yourself that they made a total botch of it.)

Never, ever go to a TA unless you have a complete plan and you've pried it out yourself so you know whether the TA can get you a deal. It may be a "cheap" trip in terms of airfare, but it will be expensive in other ways.

If you pay a $200 change fee each, how many flights can you change? Is that per flight or for the whole itinerary? Personally, I wouldn't give up yet on making this a good trip.

@sandralist - Thank you so much! The info you gave me is so helpful! Starting to get back the glimmer of hope here!

We might as well use this trip as a TEASER to see what's in store for us in Europe.. And then it a few years, just go back to the places that we would like to see again!

Making a list of all the things we want to see per city.

What about Brussels? Is there a landmark by Brussels that is a must to see? Since we're going there anyway, I'll be delighted to see a huge chocolate factory for sure...

I can understand a fast trip with lots of stops. What I can't quite reconcile about this trip is all the flying. Delays can wreck this itinerary.

You don't need taxis for the trip to and from every airport, but you will need to research public transport, trains or buses, to and from each airport.

I would pick very central hotels, as well as ones that were near the airport transportation, such as metros, tubes, buses, rail lines to and from airports.

You can ask individually about each city.

MsWorthy, I think the Grand Plaza in Brussels is the prettiest square I've ever seen. I also think you are on the right track to just go with what you've paid for and make good notes of what you like best and where you want to go back to. (That didn't work too well for me on my first trip because I loved it all.)

I would go back to the TA and say you expect him to eat the change fees since he's the one that created this mess. (I can;t imagine he has ever been to europe!)

Also ask him to eat the additional airfare.

But before you let him reticket anything I would lay out the trip YOU want - even in stuck with Lisbon - you can limite the rest to London, Paris and rome. And have him lay that out and look at it. Then hit him with the he's going to pay the exxtra and hte change fees. (Telling you a hideous itinerary is moot when he's the one that created it.)

Ms Worthy,
I really like nytraveler's suggestion. A TA is supposed to provide a service and this person has done you a huge DISSERVICE. You should go back and really let him/her know about it.

$1400 round trip from Canada is not a hot deal, especially to somewhere you didn't really want to go. Check out kayak.com which is just one of several helpful flight search tools.

@tuscanlifeedit - how often do flights get delayed when travelling intra-europe? Most of the flights booked for us are under 2 hours except for the ATH to STN...

For Brussels you surely want to see the Grand Place. It is stunningly beautiful. You don't want to end up with indigestion, but sampling mussels & frites and beer in Belgium is great, as is waffles and chocolate. But unless you are huge fan of a particular Belgian artist and thus want to go to a museum, I would minimize your time in Brussels (there are other places in Belgium that are nicer) and linger in Paris for as much as is reasonable and no risk of missing your flight.

As for flight delays, it is unpredictable. You just have to roll with it.

You will do yourself a world of good and the trip will be more fun if you buy a guidebook for each of your destinations. There is a wonderful series of small guidebooks called the Everyman series. I think they would be perfect for your trip and worth every penny.

http://www.everymanslibrary.co.uk/travel.aspx

Sorry -- I meant to add linger in Paris OR Amsterdam and don't rush off to Brussels until you need to (If you still decide to go to Amsterdam. Remember it will dark short days and cold and wet in February and get only more so the further north you go.)

@sandralist - thank you so much for the tips. Yes - Husband and I are embracing the madness and keeping the itinerary as is - for now... We'll let our dreams sit for a week or two and see in a couple of months of planning and see if we are following all the flights all the way through.

We will be packing light so no more waiting for the luggages and we are just cutting down the list of landmarks we actually want to see.

For Rome - i would love to see the Vatican. The rest can be for later.

Paris - Eifel, Louvre and the Arc would be the highlights, rest some other time.

London - Big Ben, London and Buckingham?

Athens - Acropolis

Brussels - Grand Plaza

Amsterdam - Heineken and perhaps roam around the Red Light just to see what its like

Portugal - not sure yet...

When should we start booking our hotels? Is it too early to start booking now? Our flights are booked already so not sure if we should start buying metro passes early too or book hotels first..

>>London - Big Ben, London [London <i>what</i>?] and Buckingham (Palace?)?<<

Big Ben is a 5 min walk by and you will see it w/o 'planning' since it is right on the river and across the street from Westminster Abbey so you WILL see it.

I'll wait to see what you mean by 'London'

Buckingham Palace is another 'walk by'. So basically you've listed 10 minutes worth of sites in London. You have about 2.5 days so maybe get a guide book and see what else interests you.

Things like the Tower of London, the Abbey, British Museum, and a hundred other possibilities.