Since I suppose you will be spending a ffew days in Florence before moving to Venice, booking the seats a you arrive in Florence will be enough. Usually booking the seats one day in advance is more than enough, just to be sure that you happen to be on an "unusual" day, fbook a few days in advance.<BR>Book your tickets directly at the train station, either from the clerk (make sure you are on the booking line: "biglietti per i giorni successivi") or, even more easily, from one of the machines you can find at the station (you can pay cash, with an ATM card or with a credit card). Booking from a travel agency will not be cheaper, on the other hand sometimes travel agencies ask a commision on the train tickets and some other times there have been problems with the seats booked through the travel agencies.<BR>Two last things: if you are travelling with at least two friends you can get a 30% discount on every train, including Eurostar, just ask for it at the window as you buy the ticket (the machines automatically apply the discount as you type the number of travellers, but travel agents sometimes do not even know about this offer) and BRING YOUR OWN FOOD!

Thank you Alice. I'm actually only going to be in Florence for one day, so if that's not enough time, what's my next best option? And thanks for the hint about the discount, but I'm going on my homeymoon so it will only be the two of us!

Oh, but Alice, I am very interested in the 30 percent discount! You said that it was applicable if you are traveling with 2 friends (a group of 3). How about a family of 4 traveling together? WOuld the discount apply to us? Thanks.

Susan,<BR>The discount applies to three or more traveling together. Our family of four received the discount.<BR><BR>Msg. for Alice Twain, <BR><BR>The problems with the air conditioning on Italian trains wasn't caused by leaving the compartment doors open. The trouble was mechanical, as evidenced by train personnel working with the electrical panel on the train. Also, on the trains we rode, when the air was working properly the car was air conditioned both inside the compartment as well as in the corridor. Dee

Have been in Italy 3 times this year and traveled exclusively by train. The eurostar is faster and 2nd class is terrific. A little less leg room but you get to mix and mingle with the local Italians. What more could you want.

Laura<BR><BR>Your next best options willl be traying to book your ticket from the trenitalia site (www.trenitalia.it), which seems to work poorly for on-line booking (you gan get your tickets from any ticket selling machine in any Italian train station). As an alternative, you can book your tickets from any travel agent. This might cost you slightly more due to commissions, but the difference in price should not be huge.<BR><BR>Susan<BR><BR>This offer applies to any group of travellers composed by 3 or more people. At leat that is how it worked last year when I last used it. For larger groups (20 or more people) there are further advantages.<BR><BR>Dee<BR>If your problems with air conditioning are due to the air conditioning being broken, you can ask a 20% refund on the ticket price.

Hi, as far as refunds go..<BR><BR>last October (2001) our train from Milan to Florence left an hour late and within 5 minutes of the train leaving Milan we had been given forms to claim for a refund.<BR>We filled them in, giving our home addresses in the UK. The refunds (50%) turned up in April. <BR>