Plans coming together and plane tickets bought!!
 

Thanks to everyone for all your help in my original planning thread (seen here: http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34838765) As a result of your comments, and much thought, I was able to make some trade-offs and bring together what I think is a better itinerary :)

First, I had toyed with having it be a 5 week trip; now it's only 4. My husband will be able to take 4 weeks off work better than 5 (well, of course!).

Second, the trip is no longer starting in April and going through May. Now we'll be leaving on May 19, and returning on June 18. The hotel prices aren't any higher for this time, but the weather should be a bit warmer/nicer.

Third, the trip is no longer ending in Rome. Airfare was (surprising to me) cheaper to fly home from Venice, and luckily, we don't have one of those super-early flights! Our flight home leaves Venice at 10:50am Venetian time :)

I cut out Bruges (it will be there next time) and the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland... We didn't have much time to spend there, only 2 days, and we would have had to spend the better part of 2 other days on a train getting to and from there.

Airfare, by the way, from Des Moines-LGW, then VCE-DSM, cost $852 pp, all taxes and fees included. I think that's pretty good!

So, with all that said, here's the new plan:

London: May 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 (no hotel reserved yet; thinking of trying Priceline with another reservation as backup)
Leave for Amsterdam on the morning of the 26th, arriving around noon, via budget airline.

Amsterdam: May 26, 27, 28 (No hotel reserved yet; considering the Hotel Van de Kasteelen)
Leave for Amboise, France (train from AMS to Loire area, then get rental car), arriving around 4-5pm on the 29th.

Amboise/Loire River Valley: May 29, 30, 31
(Staying at Le Clos Amboise, classique room with shower, for 73 Euros per night! http://www.leclosamboise.com/) Leave for Paris via train on June 1st, arriving around lunchtime.

Paris: June 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, with daytrip to Champagne. (Staying at the studio apartment in the 7th arr. kept by the Relais Bosquet hotel, for 114 Euros per night - http://www.relaisbosquet.com/English/Apartment01.htm) Leave for Rome via budget airline on the 8th.

Rome: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 with possible daytrip to Orvieto. (Planning on renting an apartment for between 120-150 Euros/night and have contacted SleepinItaly about availability; now I just need to pick one to reserve - will post separate post for opinions on which to choose.)
Leave for Venice via train on the morning of the 14th, arriving by mid-afternoon.

Venice: 14, 15, 16, 17 (Staying at the Al Ponte Mocenigo for 140 Euros per night - best-loved on tripadvisor.com, the candid pics there look even better than the ones on the hotel's website. http://www.alpontemocenigo.com/en/index.htm)

Leave for the USA on June 18, departing 10:50am Venice time, arriving in Des Moines a little over 14 hours later, around 6pm.

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I'm already very excited about this trip, even though it's the better part of a year away. I know I may seem pretty anal-compulsive by reserving hotel rooms this early, but I want to make sure I don't miss out on some of these places by waiting. And with oil prices not expected to decline anytime soon, I think I did the right thing by jumping on that airfare early.

Thanks again for all the great advice you've given me... off now to hopefully beg for some more concerning Rome apartments...

Congratulation! Isn't it great when you finally book the airfare - then you know you're really going!! You are not booking hotels/apts. too soon. The best ones always book up early. Have fun filling in the details!!

I know! I'm **thrilled** that my mindset has changed from "if" I go to ... x... to "when" I go there! I went to the libary today and checked out - seriously - 14 guidebooks and a bunch of travel-related fiction, too. The librarian looked at my stack (that I almost couldn't see over - heh!) and said "So... going to Europe, huh?" It was like "how did you guess?" *giggle*

There is sometimes only one &quot;problem&quot; with booking places to stay this early (I say this from experience)...you keep reading about other people's experiences and sometimes you say to yourself, &quot;Perhaps we should be staying <b>there</b>&quot; (rather than in your original pick).

<b>Don't</b> let yourself do this because it can drive you <b>crazy</b>.

Stick with your original decisions and think about other things.

I think you were wise to book the airfare now and be done with it, regardless of what happens to the prices and I agree with booking this far out for hotels, etc. Some of us do it all the time.

I hope you have a great trip.

Nice itinerary, tara.

$852 looks pretty good for airfare.

Have a nice visit.

((I))

You did a great job in finding nice places to stay at pretty reasonable prices. (I looked at the Paris and Venice links.)

I make my reservations way in advance too just to have peace of mind.

Sounds like a very nice trip.

tara,

You are doing everything exactly right.

The new itinerary looks perfect.

Airfares could go up a LOT depending on how the Mid-East situation shakes out in the coming year. Your fare is excellent! Forget about it.

There is no harm in booking lodging early. On our last trip (June to Venice and Florence) I wanted to reserve our apts as soon as we decided to travel there (1/2 deposit was required). My dear wife kept saying &quot;you're being anal - it's nine months away!&quot;. Well, I wore her down and tried to reserve 6 months out: The Venice apartment was BOOKED for our dates - we ended up reversing the order of the cities and booking a differnt apt in Florence to get the Venice place. It's never too early, but as mentioned above, once you've booked airfare and lodging DON'T READ ABOUT NEW ONES- you'll just drive yourself crazy.

You have obviously done your homework.

Sounds like a very doable itinerary!

I've looked at the Relais Bosquet studio so many times and really hope to stay there sometime in the future, b=ut right now my DH prefers a hotel!

Wow, great job! The airfare sounds very good and your plans are coming together. You will have a wonderful year looking forward to this trip and dreaming of it on cold Des Moines days this winter.

Sounds perfect! Have a great time, and enjoy the anticipation and planning, for the next year, it's half the fun!

John

Since you are a reader, on your next trip to the library here are two suggestions (I consider them must reads) for travel to London and Rome:

London by Edward Rutherford and The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone. They are both historical fiction. London being a sweeping history of London similar to Michener. Agony and the Ecstasy is about MIchelangelo. You will look at the Sistene Chapel, St. Peter's, the Pieta and his Moses differently after reading the book.

Tara-that airfare from Des Moines with all taxes, is excellent, and your itinerary looks great.

Do look up Marianna's recent trip report on Al Ponte Mocenigo-she liked it very much, and it is in an excellent location in Santa Croce.

Thanks, everyone!! I flipped through the Fodor's Amsterdam guidebook last night, and am currently working on &quot;Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong.&quot;

jgg: Thank you for the book suggestions! I will definitely check those out next time I head to the library :)

And I will try not to look at airfare/alternate hotels... it's sometimes hard to resist the urge to track airfare, but I know it can be demoralizing when you find the same tickets for less money. Each time I feel tempted to double-back on plans that have already been solidified, I'll try to remember what each of you said, and then distract myself with planning other parts of the trip! Why waste brainpower and time searching for better plane tickets that I couldn't accept anyway when I could be researching great restaurants and off-the-beaten-path things to do? =)