Rome Shuttle Limousine will be 35€ from Ciampino to your hotel in Rome if you don't want to use Terravision.
http://www.romeshuttlelimousine.com/CiampinoE.htm

kybourbon as usual you are the best :-)

Mom, there are later flights than the 6:00 pm I searched. I think the last for both airlines was 8:00 pm or so. What airline is your LAX-Heathrow flight?

I was just looking Jean myself :-)

I am flying Airfrance. It has a strong ontime last time I checked.

LAX to LHR.

I think the 8:00 pm would work...but would that be easier then taking the chunnel? At that point if I was "on time" I might be almost there no?

choices..choices ...

&quot;<i>but would that be easier then taking the Eurostar (I refuse to use &quot;Chunnel&quot; :) )?</i>&quot;

You could sit at the airport, have a nice meal, do some shopping -- OR -- you can schelpp across all of London w/ long walks w/ your bags to/through three train stations, and a cab ride.

I wouldn't want to go from Heathrow to the Eurostar right after flying from LAX (my airport too). It'll be 10:40 pm on your body clock when you arrive.

So much easier (and I assume faster) just to take another flight.

BTW, I went further into the Brussels Airlines booking, and the taxes brought the total fare to about equal the British Airways fare. So, $215 total for you and your daughter. You'll probably arrive at Terminal 2, and the BA flight would be out of Terminal 4 or 5. I'm guessing 30 minutes tops to transfer terminals, but perhaps someone with more recent experience could chime in. I doubt you'd have to check in 2 hours prior to an inter-Europe flight, but perhaps again someone else can advise.

FYI, the last Eurostar train to Brussels on 9/26/08 appears to depart at 7:34 pm and arrive at about 10:30 pm which is about the same time the 8:00 pm BA flight arrives.

Oh Janisj,

You must cringe :-). I think both you and Jean make valid points. I think I will make the flight arrangments.

BMI also has a direct flight - it is slightly less money. I need to go back and make sure it is out of LHR.

I may have access to a few of LHR's airport clubs. That might help pass the time.

there is a 6:25 BMI flight and then an 8:15 one. I wonder if we miss the flight how accomadating they would be to put us on the 8:15 pm?

I have zero experience with BMI.

Yes, check the airport for BMI.

I'd book the later flight. If all goes well, you could check in early and see if there's availability on an earlier flight. But, if you book the early flight and miss it, what would you do if there were no seats available on the later flight?

Dear Mom:

I don't understand why you've picked Baden Baden for 4 days with all the scenic and historic places you could take your daughter in Germany? Why not go from Holland to the Rhine/Mosel area and take flight from Frankfurt Hahn to Brindisi as kybourbon has suggested? (it makes the itinerary a whole lot easier).

I still think you underestimate your exhaustion level when you arrive in London. You will not sleep very well the night before your flight - and you may not sleep on the plane at all. You have 5 weeks for heaven's sake! Going on to Brugges the first day is just a recipe for starting the trip sick. Staying in London one night would be a great way to use your Hilton/Starwood points.

I should expand: what I meant about Baden Baden is I don't think it has much to appeal to an 11 year old - the appeal is for middle aged or older folks, and there's no history. The Rhine/Mosel has castles, scenery and boat trips, which I think are a lot more exciting and interesting for an 11 year old.

lovisa - all excellent points.

I should clarify - the only reason I wanted to go to Brugge on the first night was to get dd in a place for three nights without travel. I am seeing that the best thing is to most likely spend the night in London.

I will have to re-think Baden - Baden.

I am flying out of there on Oct. 4. We have our tickets.

I was so excited to have the first part of our trip &quot;firmed up&quot; and now I see it is full of holes.

I think you are feeling rushed because you've committed to the 3 week language class.

Could you possibly cut it down to two weeks? If language classes are 4 hours/day, I think that's pretty intense for an 11 year old. Perhaps you could make your focus history instead of language.

Also, Italian is offered at a lot of community colleges. You are presumably from the L.A. area. Italian is offered at Glendale College, Valley College, Santa Monica College, Riverside College and Mt. San Antonio College that I know of, and I'm sure there are others. If you and you daughter took a summer school class, you could get some foundation and gauge whether your daughter is ready for an intense class.

lovisa - great suggestion. DD and I talked a great deal about this and have decided to do 2 weeks of the language school as opposed to 3. If we love it we will go back.

I really think you are on the money with this.

We are from Orange County -- she has been doing Rosetta &lt;sp&gt; Stone and we had a tutor coming to the house (but that did not work out - delightful woman but not a great teacher for an eleven year old).

I found a number of courses we can take here though.

So we will do two weeks and then travel after... for 17 days.

I'm glad you're scaling back on the language lessons, I think you'll feel more relaxed.

I note that in Orange County both Fullerton College, www.fullcoll.edu ,and Saddleback College, www.saddleback.edu , are offering Elementary Italian classes this summer. They are 5 unit courses, and the cost is around $20/unit plus miscellaneous fees. I know our local community colleges allow high school students to take classes, don't know if there is an age floor.

I have a comment on just one little detail that's being discussed.

I fly Seattle to London &amp; NO way would I want to have to deal with a long train ride after getting off a 9 hour overnight flight. I think I might have mentioned this in an earlier post of yours somewhere along the planning. Anyways, that sounds just awful to me.

Either connect by plane for Brugge, or spend the night in London before continuing on. You have such a luxurious amount of time for this trip overall, I don't understanding rushing into this awful start that I think you first day will be, if you keep it as planned.

kindly, Suze

Suze,

It is a lack of experience in travel over all I think. I have traveled to Europe, but only once. I have been to Thailand but other then that all my travel has been within a 5-6 hour flight window.

My thought process was to get dd to a place where she would not have to move again for 3 nights in order to help keep the one nighters sparse or never.

I think that perhaps due to the fact that it is a large window I am struggling even more. If I had 14 days or less it is easier for me at times to narrow it down. (not always).

I have decided to spend the night in London.

Thank you for your thoughts. You have a lot more experience with europe travel then I do, and that is why I am posting :-).

Dawn

Hi there Dawn, just saw your thread and I agree with Suze (as usual).

Staying overnight before travelling on is certainly what I would do. A hot shower, a simple dinner, a good nights sleep another morning hot shower, breakfast and clean clothes will make your travel to Brugge so much nicer and more comfortable.

Dawn--I will be the voice of dissent here:D I would take a flight that first evening and be done with traveling for a bit. We did that with our kids and were glad we did. We flew from Seattle to London, then flew on to Edinburgh. Much easier to just have it over with, IMO. And kids as you know are so resilient.