I give up! Going to Europe next year arriving in London August 26 and departing London October 29th 2 full months!(1st class tickets with miles from NYC). We only have one week accounted for Sept 29-Oct. 6th in Austria. We are filling in the rest of the time at this point. We want to see Paris, Rome, Northern Italy, Trying to include Greek Islands in some way. We are all over Europe at this point! Could anyone please give me suggestions on the best way to get from country to country. Hubby really likes trains, but can't seem to figure out the best prices and where to get them. I know we will have to take at least overnight train, but have been on so many web-sites that give so many different opinions on the best and cheapest way to buy tickets. All we know is we want to go first class no matter what. Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

great web sites for train info and also about passes which may be of use to you if traveling enough and especially if going first class, which my years of travel on European trains makes me adamantly recommend for the average traveler on the trip of a lifetime. Not that 2nd class is so bad but first class much much more relaxed - often lots of empty seats IME to spread out on and much easier IME if hauling luggage around - I usually have an empty seat nearby to plop my luggage rather than fending for room in much more crowded typically 2nd class cars where overhead luggage racks may already be stuffed full. In any case if taking the train travel light - lots of stairs, etc to go up and down in stations and narrow aisles to traipse thru. Good rail sites - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.bahn.de - the Germany railways web site that has schedules for trains all over Europe and is the easiest such site I have seen to use. Great for planning.

It appears there is a need for a planning process above all. If you start planning by connecting segments together, you will likely to be frustrated. For a trip this long, you will unlike to cobble together a satisfactory itinerary. My recommendation is instead of

Segment details -> adding together to create a full itinerary.

start from the overall design:

Conceptual goals outline (what countries, top few reasons why you chose) -> options (SEVERAL itineraries to satisfy the goals) -> look up specific ways to implement itineraries.

Each time you look at an itinerary, you will gain more insight into what are achievable, what cannot be done, what costs too much to help you improve your next itinerary option.

Start with a map. Next get some guidebooks, either from the library or the bookstore. I like the DK ones; lots of pictures to stimulate my imagination. And borrow or buy some videos. You've got plenty of time to research this so you actually know where you're going and what's to see there.

If you want to include the Greek Islands, you will almost certainly need to do some flying. Otherwise the trains are great. Nothing like sitting in spacious comfort next to a big window watching the scenery slide by. But you do need to pack lightly and be able to tote your bags.

thanks for suggestions! I know the first thing I have to do is LEARN to pack light! Not that good at it! Do you think one bag + a napsack would be ok? The bag is not carry on size, but not huge either. I even keep my camera in the napsack and bring extra small purse for dining etc. We have traveled alot, but this is the longest and the first time by train, usually rent a car. We figured we could rent a car in some of the cities we want to travel to the countyside for a day or two. Any suggestions on the best way to see 3-4 of the Greek Islands? Can't tell you how much I appreciate everyones input. I'll keep you advised as we go along.

One bag with strong wheels plus a small backpack to use as a day pack/airline carry-on would work well.

It's easy to travel between Greek Islands in the same group (e.g. Cyclades or Dodecanese) by ferry. Travelling between groups sometimes requires returning to Athens for flights or long ferry rides. <i>Greek Island Hopping</i>, a Thomas Cook publication, is a good guide for this sort of trip. Suggest you travel the Greek Islands before the end of September, while weather and ferry connections are still good.

You also need to learn how to do LAUNDRY

I would start with a FLIGHT after London a d wind your wAy north via train after that. Something like:
London (a week?), FLY to Rome, train to Venice/n. Italy, train to Austria, train to Paris, train to London. To include Greece, do it as an internal RT flight from any of the cities where you can get a cheap RT (maybe from Rome or Venice).

Re luggage: Pack a large suitcase us a knapsack and climb 3 flights plus lifting overhead here inUS. That will guide you in how much to pack.

My general rule is to work north to south in the fall, south to north in the spring -- for the best weather.

You've already got your round-trip tickets into and out of London. But you didn't list the UK or London as one of your interests. Ideally you'd do an open jaws trip, into one city, out of another at the end of your trip. In your case, maybe into Vienna or Munich, out of Rome or Athens. This saves time and money backtracking. If you decide you want to do this, you may be able to change your tickets for not too large a fee.

yes open jaw would be optimal - work your way to Greece and return to U.S. from there - if London tickets are locked in stone you can still fly a discount airline Athens to London.

I wouldn't recommend saving the Greek Islands for late October unless you like it <i>very</i> quiet. The end of September is generally considered the close of the tourist season, and most shops, restaurants, and hotels catering for tourists will have closed. Ferries will be operating on winter timetables, and weather is likely to be too cool for beaches and outdoor cafes. There are places that stay open year-round for the island residents, of course, and some people don't mind eating in smoke-filled restaurants. ;-)

Thanks for all your input, Mimar, the tickets are locked into London in and out. We used airmiles and it saved us thousands of dollars for first class tickets! We intended to do London at the end of the trip for about a week, so we wouldn't be rushing from one place to another before leaving for home. I am interested in seeing a lot of Italy. Have been to Sicily and would like to see Amafi coast, Rome and northern Italy (venice, pisa etc). If anyone has any itinary ideas for Italy that would be great! IMO we should save Greece for another time (due to time and money), but hubby wants to see as much as possible while we are there. Any suggestions on how to travel from one country to another would be appreicated. So far, we have figured the Global train pass for 2 months with either 10 or 15 days looks the best. If someone has a better thought it would be great! The traveling from one place to another is turning out to be very expensive. Other times we have gone to Europe we always traveled by car from place to place, but never have done so many countries in such a long time. Any information that anyone can give would be appreciated.

Look forward to hearing any ideas!

Flying from Greece to Italy or vv isn't expensive at all if you book in advance.
Easyjet has very very good rates, so does Aegean Airlines. As for Aegean Airlines it is bit early yet, but sign up with them, so that you can receive all their offers through email. Have paid for RT flight from 90 - 120 Euro, taking the overnight ferry would have been much more expensive..
Once in Athens you could explore the Mainland first with a car ( visit Delphi, Olympia, Nafplio ( with Mycenae and Epidaurus) and then drop it off in Athens and ferry to the greek islands ( Cyclades: Naxos,Paros, Syros etc)
Another alternative would be to keep the car and visit Zakynthos, Kefalonia and Lefkas ( Ionian Islands) while you are in the Peloponnese.

Clausar great suggestion! Will go on both airline sites to check prices and sign up for emails. That's really cheap! Thanks again.