This is Mainly about purchasing train tickets but any other advice/ recommendation/ suggestions are more than welcome.

I am planning our first trip to Italy for my wife and I (actually Europe for that matter). We have the flight to Rome, apartments in Rome, Florence and Venice, have the Vaporetto pass for Venice and the flight from Venice to home. In purchasing the train tickets i'm trying to figure out if there is a difference between Eurail and RailEurope. Are these just two different companies selling the same product? There are price differences but I can't figure out why.

My only other quandary is transfers to Termini from the apartment we have in Trastevere. We will be in Italy for two weeks and I can't get my wife to stop packing for the "what ifs", so we will have at least one suitcase to roll around. Are these acceptable for the buses? Or is there a better way to transfer??

Thanks -

You can buy train tickets at the station while you are in Italy.

www.trenitalia.com is the website which you can peruse to get an idea of prices, frequency of trains and time of travel.

You could always take a taxi to Termini from the apartment. I am sure by the time you are leaving Rome you will be able to make an intelligent decision of how to travel to the train station.

If you are in the US it is highly unlikely you will be able to purchase tickets on the Trenitalia website due to various issues, however you should get an idea of the price there before buying on another site.
I just recently purchased my tickets on www.italiarail.com and I've heard www.raileurope.com is also a good site.

You do not want to purchase anything from Eurail (not even sure what that is) or Rail Europe. You'll pay a hefty markupplus shipping fee. Your options are to purchase in advance from the Trenitalia website or buy the tickets on the spot when you arrive. Train tickets in Italy are cheap.

As for the suitcase, hauling suitcases on a bus or tram is a huge PITA. Your wife should read some of the packing threads here on Fodors and limit what she takes. If you pack wisely, you shouldn't need more than a 22" rollaboard for two weeks. Seriously. Pack the suitcase, then lift it up over your head a half-dozen times, take it out and drag it around a few blocks on a bumpy street, and carry it up and down a few flights of stairs. If it's not easy to do that, you've packed too much.

Both Eurail and Rail Europe are ticket resellers and their fares are higher than tickets bought at the station because they charge extra for their services. You'll do much better simply buying your tickets when you get to Italy. You can buy both Rome-Florence and Florence-Venice when you arrive in Rome. The station ticket machines have an English option and accept North American credit cards. For timetables and fares go here: http://tinyurl.com/3eeyzn. Use Italian spellings: Roma, Firenze, Venezia Santa Lucia.

They are different companies, so don't necessarily have the same prices on things. You cn see they have different websites.

I believe Eurail is actually a subsidiary of the marketing company that makes the Eurail railpass, of course, or they couldn't use that name. I think Raileurope is owned by SNCF and Swiss Rail, maybe some others.

Trenitalia is the Italian train company, but their website doesn't usually process US credit cards. Use Trenitalia's website to see which trains and prices and then buy once you are in Italy.

You do not want to go from the airport to Termini if you are staying in Trastevere. From the airport, instead of taking the Leonardo Express to Termini, take the local FM1 aka FR1 train to Trastevere train station (might depend on where your actual apartment is though). This train departs the airport every 15 minutes and travel time to Trastevere is 26 minutes (8€). To see the schedules for this train on Trenitalia, enter Fiumicino aeroporto and Roma Trastevere. At the Trastevere station, you can bus/taxi/tram the rest of the way depending on where you are staying.

You can plot your route from Trastevere station to your apartment on the Rome transportation website ATAC. You can select different options (bus/tram etc.) and it will give you a map with bus #'s, directions, times, etc.
http://www.atac.roma.it/?lingua=ENG

Thanks for the replies.
I went on Trenitalia and compared to Eurail and RailEurope and it was cheaper. But by buying them on line it sounds like all I'm saving is time? We'll have enough of that since we get there first thing in the morning. Of course now that brought up another question, the difference in traveling 1st or 2nd class, other than the price. If leg-room factors in I may opt for 1st being 6'5". Any help there?
And I'll have to work on my wife on the packing issue, you know who's going to get stuck with the bag.

Yeah, my husband thinks it would be great if we could go carry on because he knows he'll also get stuck with the bags. But with my shoes, hair dryer, straightener, make-up, warm clothes, cool clothes (and of course the shoes and coats to go with each) guide books and various and sundry other necessities, I haven't got a hope in you know what of carry on. It's hard work looking perty, especially with all those gorgeous Italians zipping around on Vespas. But I'll try to take out at least one pair of shoes if that'll make it easier for my Romeo!

Pretty much all of the hotels have hairdryers in them, so you can take that out of your luggage too!
(I'm also going to have a hard time packing for our 10 day trip in September)

I wasn't suggesting necessarily going carry-on, just a small suitcase in lieu of a steamer trunk. And actually, it's quite easy to look pretty and pack light. That said, if your husband's willing to schlep your bags, so be it. I never get why guys do that. I had a friend who did some severe damage to his back trying to get his wife's suitcase onto an Amtrak train.

Anyway, enjoy.

And while lugging a suitcase around Rome can be tough work, it is much, much harder in Venice. All the bridges have steps, and I still have unhappy memories of hauling our stuff over the Academe bridge.

Buy train tickets at the automated ticket machines at the station. It takes no more than five minutes, and the machines have an English option. Most machines accept Visa cards. We travelled second class on the trains – if the seat is too small, walk down to the buffet car and have a coffee. Most civilised!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I certainly see the jury is in favor getting the train tickets once you're there, and that works for me.

StCirq - I appreciate the insight. I'm going to try for the 22" for myself and my wife's is 26" so I think it's going to work. If she even thought of a steamer truck it would "accidentally" fall off the truck on the way to the SFO.

Interesting how many people are planning their trips a year in advance. Even though we had talked about going this year, our 25th anniversary, we kind of lost our steam do to extenuating circumstances. but we just started up again in early May and it hasn't been that bad. I think I would go crazy trying to plan this for a year from now.

If you're traveling in the summer, a big difference between 1st and 2nd class is airconditioning. Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure 2nd class has no A/C while 1st class will, especially when traveling longer distances like Rome to Florence or Florence to Venice.

You may not be able to convince your wife to pack light, but to help you with your own planning I suggest that you read the articles under the "Packing" headline on this page: http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/tips_menu.htm.

Another good site is www.onebag.com.

If you don't want to take the FM1 from the airport, book a shuttle or take a taxi. You can get a shuttle for 40€ and taxis are also the same price (set fee from airport to Rome).
http://www.romeshuttlelimousine.com/...t-transfer.php

http://www.adr.it/portal/portal/adr/...vo_in_taxi_FCO

I concur with others on the train tickets. I am a mucho planner and was frustrated when I couldn't buy my train tickets online. The Trenitalia website just wouldn't accept my credit card. But it is very easy to get tickets at the station. Just look up what the train stations are called ahead of time and it will be a breeze. We were in 2nd class and it was fine. I don't think there is the need to pay the extra for 1st class. Really get your wife to reconsider packing. We stayed in the Termini area and had 22" for each person (3) plus a couple of carry ons. I wish we just had one per person. BTW, just returned from Rome, Florence, and Venice and had a blast. Only used the taxis twice:from the airport to the hotel and then hotel to airport.

One more packing suggestion. Maybe your wife will be more willing to consider limiting herself to a carry-on-sized bag if she also takes a day pack.

All you guys have been awesome with the suggestions, Thank You!
markland - very funny; I need to meet up with your husband and buy him a "vino", I think we may have a lot in common. We'll be there Aug/Sept.

lmschmale - We are traveling from the end of August to middle of September, but I read somewhere that the leg room is better in 1st class; like I said, I'm 6'5" and that will be nice.

TimS - I just ordered a Kelty backpack for myself and hoping my wife will see the advantage when it gets here. BTW, I read the rick steve's site and told her to do the same...soon.

A couple of things that might help. Train tickets are very easy to purchase at the machines at the train station. The first screen prompts you to choose the language you want - English in your case. Then follow the prompts to purchase. We came up with a 'rule' that worked well for us. If the train trip was more than 3 hours we booked 1st class just to be a bit more comfortable. It also is often a little bit quieter in 1st class as families with children tend to purchase 2nd class. For shorter trips we booked 2nd class and it was fine.

When we went to Europe in 2008 my PACKED bag weighed 12 kilos and I did pack my own hairdryer (I hate the hotel ones), I had a couple of pairs of shoes, a jacket, plenty of clothes that could all be 'mixed and matched'. My make up and a couple of books went into hand luggage which is a smaller bag that could rest on top of the rollalong when I was pulling it along.