Well...we're getting a little long in the tooth. Are planning to take the QM2 to Southampton and then go on to a river cruise from Prague to Berlin. Have time in between and tthought we might squeeze in 4 or 5 days in Venice. But it seems there is no way to get from here to there other than thru Heathrow (yetch). Anybody have any ideas? (I'll also post this on the cruise board.) Many thanks.
( Choices are: Southampton to Venice or S'hmtpon to Hamburg. River trip can be either from Berlin to Prague or vice versa.)

Gatwick airport is nearer to Southampton than Heathrow and has flights to both Venice and Hamburg.

Berlin is only a 90 minute train ride from Hamburg. Hamburg has more bridges over canals than Venice, but of course it's not Venice. It is a waterfront affluent metropolitan.

It would be a bit of a trek, but you could get the train from Southampton to Bournemouth, fly Bournemouth to Brescia (they call it Verona but it isn't), then train again to Venice.

Or look at destinations you can fly to from Southampton for possible alternatives, unless your heart's set on Venice.

I'm wondering how you were planning on getting to either Prague or Berlin from Southampton without going from one of the London airports.

I am wondering how Kenderina was going to have to you travel to Gatwick. It may be closer. But how do you get there?

Anyway, you need to get creative with this sort of thing. Start by finding out where you can fly to from Venice and work backwards.

Or think of a European hub and see if you can fly there from Southampton (or Bournemouth - which, surprise, surprise, is far close than Gatwick!!!).
Ovv
Looks like you can fly with flybe from Southampton to Amsterdam and with Transavia from Amsterdam to Venice.

http://www.flybe.com
http://www.transavia.com

Hit that button by accident.

Hubs - yes - Frankfurt is the other obvious one.

Happy travels. Venice is wonderful, and lucky you doing the QM2 thing.

When I win the lotto ....

You can fly to both Venice and Hamburg from the Southampton airprt: http://www.southamptonairport.com/ They are not direct, have a stop along the way (i.e. So'ton to Paris, then Paris to Venice).

Many thanks for all the information. I will check out Gatwick. I hate to think what it will cost given the current exchange rate but will probably take a car service from Southampton. I was hoping to find a ferry from Dover to someplace in Germany.. but looks like there's no such thing. Trying to avoid Heathrow and CDG is no easy matter!

I'm not sure Gatwick is that much of an improvement over Heathrow TBH. If you cpuld find somewhere to fly to from Southampton, now that is a bearable experience.

I know, I know......but it seems all the flights from Southampton have connections in places like CDG!!
We may just have to bit the bullet for a direct flight and a little less hassle (sp.) -

Whoops.... I meant bite the bullet. At least the Gatwick airport site has lots of information on what to expect at security, etc.

In my own experience, Gatwick is much more easier to navigate and friendlier than Heathrow. Yes, it is still a big airport..but no airport in Europe is like Heathrow !! LOL