phandtf

This is sort of a follow up to a previous post. My husband and I are being given 2 Delta buddy passes next week. We can go first class on these. Yeah! (We helped out a girl whose sister works for Delta...and this is her thanks to us). We will be flying out of Las Vegas. On these passes, we must choose our destinations, before we are issued the passes, but can change the dates anytime thereafter. We can fly to 2 different destinations. In other words, we can fly to Paris for example and then later on to one more destination and then home. I know some of you recommended Asia or Australia because of the first class perk, but we are fairly settled on Europe. We are in our early 50's and this is our first and probably will be our only trip abroad. We would like to take 2 weeks. So, we are thinking of Paris and perhaps somewhere in Italy, or Barcelona. I know, we are typical tourists, but hey, we are "first-timers", so what else would we be? Anyway, again, we can fly home from there, we don't have to return to the original destination. Also, we are thinking of next April for this trip. I want to start planning and reserving soon. So, all my well traveled friends, give me some help here. Italy? Spain? Whatever? Thanks.

suze

One idea... fly into Paris, overnight train to Venice in private sleeper cabin, day train to Florence or maybe Rome, fly out. 4-5 days each place.

Nice pace, not too difficult to plan, heavenly destinations.

Natalia

How nice, what a great opportunity for you, I am glad that a good deed turned into another good deed for you.

I would fly into Paris, stay a few days,
train down to Nice, stay one or two days,
train to Florence for a few days, train to Venice for a few days,
then down to Rome and stay there until you fly out.
This way you will get a few days in each place and have a nice overview of what we have all been writing about with such enthusiasm. Stay in inexpensive places and then maybe you can add a day or two if needed. There are alot of good budget hotels and budget cafes.
Have a wonderful time.

Gardyloo

If I understand, you're able to fly (FC!) to one city, then to another (FC again?) then home. So if you want to have two widely-separated places you can do this without worrying about trains or other surface transport. Is this right?

If so, and given it's April you're contemplating, then I suppose staying south rather than north makes sense. So my recommendation would be to fly to Barcelona, then rent a car and explore Catalonia, on both the Spanish and French sides of the border, maybe even a little into the Pyrenees weather permitting. In early spring this will be delicious country, and a great intro to Europe. Return to Barcelona, drop the car, and fly to Venice. Spend a couple of days in the city, then rent a car and tour around the Adriatic coast - the Veneto, Ravenna, follow your nose - Tuscany or Florence if you feel ambitious, or if you want to stop and soak in some relaxation time, find someplace to hang out for 3 or 4 days and walk and do daytrips, eat good food, drink cheap wine, boy, can we come along?

You may need to train it to/from Milan for a direct flight, unless your tickets allow connections. Either way, have a ball!

Rich

So much depends on your interests, but if it was my first trip, I'd go to London and return from Paris. . or the other way around. Starting in London has the advantages of no language issues . . (well . . not many)

Between day trips out of London then Paris, two weeks is not a lot of time to see much more.

Whatever you do . . enjoy the trip!

AAFrequentFlyer

Gardyloo,
Unless Delta will put them on a partner airline on the same pass, your plan would not work, as Delta does not fly from Barcelona to Venice.
I could be totally wrong, but I believe what's meant by one stopover allowed, is that they could stop in let's say Atlanta or Cincinnati(Delta's hubs) for few days and then go on to their final destination. I do believe though, that an open jaw would be allowed, so for example they could do something like this:
Las Vegas-Atlanta(stopover for few days)-Paris-rent a car, take a train or even fly a budget airline to let's say Rome, and then fly back from Rome to Las vegas.
I'm pretty sure a buddy pass is not allowed on partner airlines, but again I could be wrong.
I hope you have a wonderful trip, and let me say this April is a perfect month for southern Europe or even Paris. Barcelona is a wonderful city, so are the cities in Italy, Paris for obvious reasons, but my favorite is still London.

phandtf

All good suggestions, thanks so much. I realize that 2 weeks isn't long enough to explore even one city, but I want to get a taste of as much as we can. What we are thinking is this, tell me what you think. We fly to Paris, spend 3 days. Take an evening train to London, (get a little rest, (about 3 hours right?) spend 3 days in London. Train back to Paris and spend another day. Fly to Barcelona for 3 days, and then home. What do you think?

AAFrequentFlyer

It sounds great, except, why waste time and money to train back to Paris? Stay 4 days in Paris, take a train to London, stay 3-4 days, and fly to Barcelona from London for the rest of your vacation.

AAFrequentFlyer

I forgot to mention, that it's actually cheaper to fly from Paris to London, then to take the EuroStar. It could be quite a bit cheaper, depending on when you book.

rhkkmk

i do not think your tickets will allow you to fly between european cities as delta does not do this unless you can use them on air france their partner???

i would start in london, train to paris/amsterdam, or brussels and then fly to barcelona or go by train and fly home from there

keep everything going in the same line, don't double back....start easy with english speaking and get used to european ways and then get progressively more difficult....

Gardyloo

AAFF - Yeah, I assumed (there I go again) that the ticket the way she described it would allow flying on codeshare partners (of which Air France and Alitalia are a couple) and wouldn't just be a simple open-jaw.

Regardless, I think a Barcelona/Catalonia/Adriatic itinerary is ideal for April. Save London and Paris for another time - both destinations are easily reached on discount tickets from most gateways, whereas places like Barcelona or Venice (or Athens for that matter) are harder and more expensive to get to.

LVSue

I don't think the fact that you can make two layovers helps in Europe. The only way it might help if you had relatives on the East Coast, you could visit them for a couple of days before leaving.

I think, for first-time travelers, I would fly into London, fly or chunnel to Paris and fly home. You might consider renting an apartment in both places for a week in each. I think you'd have a great time.

If you can't tell by my name, I would be happy to talk to you about your proposed trip and give you any help I could. Email me at [email protected].

jsmith

phandtf, everyone is speculating what you can or cannot do which is not very helpful to you.

Before you go any further, clarify with Delta or your friend's sister exactly what you can do with the buddy passes. Ask them if you can go Las Vegas, Paris, Rome, Las Vegas. Or substitute two other desirable locations for Paris and/or Rome (London, Barcelona, Vienna, etc) in your question to them.

Once you confirm the limits of the passes, I suggest you spend a little time with the "destination" section of this site. Then ask advice on this board.

Good luck.