Jessiedeexx

LGNUTAH : Haha you MUST be the only one who thinks my plan sounds great.

I revised my trip to not include London.

http://www.eurotrip.com/trip/amsterd...e-minus-london

Unfortunately on the site you can't really do day trips or half days so the tirano is not actually a day.. it's just a train change to get on the route for the BE Express, as well as Chur. So only one night will be used for that leg of the trip and I'm still deciding on the place to stay on that leg.

But does it look better?

I dont really want to fly anywhere unless I absolutely have to. The airport ( all of my bags will be carry on regardless ) just seems like a whole lot of hassle to get to and from, and on and off ect.

cferrb

Do you have a particular reason for wanting to go to Sorrento? If not, I would suggest using that time in Rome, or stopping in Florence on the way to Rome and taking a day there.

cathies

Jessie, I'm so glad that you listened to what everyone had to say. Dropping London will make a big difference. I'm so glad you are going to spend more times in Paris. Your itinerary still a bit too rushed for me, but as I said earlier, you are much younger and probably won't get as tired as I do when I travel. Use the long train days to catch up on some rest and give your tired legs a day off.

Paris - Rome is probably the one thing I would change and I would find a cheap flight and fly that leg. Otherwise I agree with you that trains are better.

My only other request is that you don't make a judgment about Venice when you go there as one day isn't really going to do it justice.

Well done again for listening to the advice of seasoned travellers (not me in particular!!).

freberta

Jessiedeexx: you have another supporter here. When I was 20, I spent 2 months traveling by train throughout Europe with my college friend who had spent the academic year in Florence. With a 2-month Eurail pass and a one-week Britrail pass, we hit 13 countries, often spending a night or two in every city we passed through. It was sort of like speed dating. When you're young and have lots of energy, why not? We constantly were on the go and we wanted to see as much as we could in the 2-month period. Now, 30+ years later, I tend to take things a bit slower, but that's because I have a good idea what I want to see and do on my vacations. All it takes is a lot of reading and planning before you go. Good luck!

Jessiedeexx

As many great things I've heard about Florence, It's not a must see type of thing. I have all cities mostly on my trip and Pompeii as well as Capri both really interest me. Plus it throws a coastal city in the mix ( that's not Venice ). The "3rd" day of stay in Sorrento will actually be spent going back to Rome, going to where we're staying and hopefully eating dinner on the town. I only really plan on staying 2 nights in Sorrento so I'll have 3 full days plus a half a day in Rome.

I was either going to spend 2 days in corsica or in sorrento and after deciding it'd probably be way easier to go to the amalfi coast, I decided that.

I hate that you can't write captions for the map, it would be way easier to explain stuff like that.

Jessiedeexx

FreBerta : THANK YOU! haha. It's seeming to be quite a problem though so it's good that I have the extra 3 days to spread it out a little bit more. I'm afraid that planning this trip is going to ruin my relationship haha. Everything is so complicated. Did you enjoy your time while you were there? I'm sure I can do the pace but will it be worth it in the end. I was kind of trying to make my first trip just tastes of every city so I know where I really want to focus on when I come back. I don't need to see everything there is to see, or do everything. But I want to keep it flexible regardless that way if I fall in love with a city I do have the option of staying there.

Cathies: Why do you think I should fly? Are the overnight trains that bad? I have a rope lock for my backpack and I plan on hoping right on a train from rome to naples ( to sorrento ) as soon as we get in. Wouldn't it cost me more and be a bigger hassle to drive to both airports then back to the train station just to save an extra 2 hours in paris?

And as far as Venice we might decide to stay a little longer
there. I'm still deciding between if we're doing just the BE express or just the local trains on the BE express route so we can stay in one of the towns. If worst comes to worst and we love venice we'll just do the scenic train all in one day once we get to chur we'll just hop on a train to amsterdam. No playing in the mountains =)

And I'm a sponge! I love to learn and I'm trying to learn as much as possible.

Also if anyone can help me figure out how much money over the rail pass it's going to cost me in other train "fees" ( like reservations ect ) These train websites being in a different language ( even when it's written in english ) are killing me. It's soo confusing. The way my boyfriend is working it out ( which idk if it's right ) is that if we get a eurorail pass that it would cost more for a ticket ( not ticket but reservation fee and everything ) with the eurorail pass then it would if we were to buy a regular ticket. That can't be right.. can it???

Thanks so much for all the advice. It's helping so much, I really appreciate it.

cathies

Hi, I guess I just thought that Paris-Rome is a long time on a train - how long does it take? You might be right though about it not saving much time.

Venice is beautiful, but you really do need to be able to stroll along and take your time. I can't imagine rushing through it. I think you will end up feeling impatient and cross. Example - the ferries that run instead of a metro take their time and the stops take longer as passengers disembark. That's fine as long as you an chill out and enjoy the beauty of the city. If you can stay in Venice a little longer, I don't think you will be sorry.

Jessiedeexx

You leave france around 730pm and arrive in Rome at around 9:30am the next day. And it costs $48 for a 6 person couchette with the eurorail pass.

Do you have to pay a reservation fee with almost ALL the trains between major cities? Or will it make any of the trains free cause I'm not seeing any of that happen, haha.

Woyzeck

The night train to Rome entails a trip from Paris to Dijon. The night train departs ca. 9PM and arrives around 10AM. Total travel time including the trip from Paris to Rome is 14.5 hrs. The night train would be a must if you are not willing to fly. There is nothing wrong with a night train per se, don't be scared away from that experience (plus it saves you a night's lodging expense).

A very inexpensive flight should be available from Paris and would only take a couple of hours.

I can't help too much with the fees/reservations. In Germany, I believe reservations cost 5 Euro, but I also know that there are supplemental fees for certain kinds of trains that can add several Euros to a leg.

Woyzeck

I believe reservations on MANY trains (but not all) are optional. If you skip the reservation, you may have to scrounge around for a seat (or may be stuck with no seat altogether, or a seat in the smoking section, etc). And if someone has the seat reserved, of course they would make you move.

On regional trains, there may not be any reservations, as all seats are at large. On the faster trains (ICE in Germany, TGV in France) I believe reservations would be required - but please someone correct me if I'm wrong.

If you want to avoid as many fees and reservations as possible, travel with the slower regional trains. The downside is that you will spend even more time on a train.

T4TX

something to consider, perhaps? for $206


British Airways
Flight 8110
Departs: 7:05a
Amsterdam- Schiphol (AMS)
Arrives: 7:15a
Gatwick (LGW)
Coach | Boeing 737-400 (Narrow-body Jet) | 1h 10m
Layover in London, United Kingdom (LGW) for 10h 35m
British Airways
Flight 2612 Departs: 5:50p
Gatwick (LGW) Arrives: 9:30p
Naples (NAP)

You could then go south to north on your journey

just something to consider

cheers

Maudie

We travelled from Tirano to Pontresina on the regular train - it was an amazing ride, loved it! Spent 4 days there then travelled onto Zurich. Might be worth a look if you decide to stay over. DD has just spent 9 months travelling in Europe, she used trains, buses and air and ,as mentioned above, booked most of her accommodation on Hostelworld. She thought it was a good site as the hostels and cheaper hotels are given a star rating supposedly by people that have stayed in them - she didn't have any disasters. Best wishes with your plans.

freberta

I loved traveling that way. In fact, before I left, I gave my parents an "itinerary" that I made up in about 5 minutes. After Venice, we were going to Spain. However, as my friend and I were sitting at a outdoor cafe nursing our drink for about 5 hours, we decided we didn't want to go to Spain because it required us to make a reservation for the train. So, instead we decided to go to Vienna. In those days (1977), there were no phone cards, cell phones, internet, etc., so our parents had no idea where we were. We only checked in twice over the course of 2 months and sent postcards home every other day. And no credit cards either. The freedom we had was great to go wherever we wanted. And I agree, you may not get a real feel for a city, but you get a taste. Your head may swirl a bit, but you'll love it. And the train rides were great -- a time to relax. My friend and I made friends with people on the trains (she spoke Italian fluently and I speak some French), both Europeans and other Americans who were traveling. Again, have fun!

kraines

I agree with some of the above posters; you are doing too much in your alloted time frame. The first time that we went to Europe we tried to do that and ended up exhausted and really ready to just crash. Now I go and stay in one place for a couple of weeks and just explore the area(s) Makes for a much more relaxing trip and I feel that I get to experience more. I also prefer renting homes or an apartment. A great way to make you feel like a native, even for just a short while.

AlessandraZoe

Hi again, Jessiedeexx,

I am delighted to see you ditched London. With that gone, I repeat: you are young, so travel at blur speed if that's what you want.

I do so want you to experience Venice, though. I know, selfish of me! Cathies made a good point about Venice--the canal transportation, vaporettos, chug along at snail speed with the embark/disembark process. Even the "express" vaporetto is not the same as a quick metro hop. So that's another reason why you should just alot a few more hours there.

You don't need DAYS there, though. Within the scope of your "blur" tour, I think 36 hrs would be enough, and actually, depending on when you arrive, 24 hours is possible!

I am so excited for you.

Palenque

The Youth railpasses IMO are a great bargain for such long-distance trains - even if you must pay a seat reservation fee - 3 euros in France and a few 10 euro extra fees in Italy. Anyway you ask a lot of rail questions and for those relatively clueless on European trains i always highlight these fine sites: www.ricksteves.com; www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com - download the latter's free and excellent IMO European Planning & Rail Guide that will answer many of your questions. And be sure to get a copy of Let'sGo Europe to take along - unparalleled coverage of hostels and low-budget hotels - zillions of ones mentioned for every large city.

Palenque

And when i was your age as well as many other Fodorites they say they also did a fast-moving itinerary - old foggies like to spend a week in each town but younger folk are more up to being on the move.

lovisa

2 Further suggestions:

Ditch Brussels. If Florence is not a must see, certainly Brussels is not a must see. Send that night elsewhere.

You are going a long way out of your way for both Venice and the Bernina Express train ride. You indicate you might not spend the night in Venice, or only 1 night. The Berner Express route takes a lot of extra time. Rather than a ride though the mountains on a train, it's much better to be in the mountains and out and about. I would take the train straight from Rome to Interlacken in the Berner Oberland and spend time in the mountains. On the most direct trains, changing in Milan, and again in Spiez, it's only 6:38 hours. You can check Swiss train times at:

http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/en?

Even if you decide to go to Venice, I still would just go to the Berner Oberland rather than taking the extra time to ride the Bernina Express.

You are looking at 16 hours to ride a train from Paris to Naples. That's a long time even if you sleep for part of it. If you decide to take a budget airline after all, you will have to check a bag or backpack unless all your luggage weighs less than 8 kilos, and meets the airlines size limitations.

In general, the last 3 days or so of your trip mean an awful lot of time spend on trains. It will take you at least 10 hours to get from Switzerland to Amsterdam on a train.

nytraveler

Have you gone to bahn.de to check out the schedules of all the trains? It has prices only for trips starting in Germany, but is the easiest site for finding train schedules for all over europe. If you find the German version is not intuitive - I think it is - you can click on the British flag at the top to get an English version of the site.

Palenque

to access the English site of www.bahn.de - the Wundbar schedule site for all European trains as nytraveler recommends and i second you can go to www.budgeteuropetravel.com and on the home page click on the link 'All European Train Schedules" (or some such wording) and you get the English schedule page - same as hitting British flag but this home page gives several valuable tips on fully using the fantastic bahn.de site.