Hello,
I'm new to the forum. I have a friend who teaches in Italy each summer and I have the chance to go over and visit. I will be going in June and staying for a week. Her apartment is in Florence. I've never flown overseas before so if you could recommend the best airline, I would appreciate it. I'll be flying out of Savannah, GA. I know I'll have connections but its worth it to me not to have to drive to Atlanta.

Also, this may be a stupid question but like I said I haven't been overseas before. If I have to connect in a non-english speaking country, will I be able to find my way around in the airport?

Thanks!

Let me answer your second question first:

You are going to have no problem whatsoever finding your way around foreign airports.

As for your first question, I don't live in GA, so I can't begin to answer your question. I can only say there are about 12 ways to skin this particular cat, and choosing between all the options and tradeoffs (land in Pisa or Rome? Change in DC or Newark? Switch in London or Paris?) might best be handled by a travel agent -- even though I've got the greatest respect for the flight mavens here on Fodor!

Much of your dilemma will depend on how much money you are willing to spend. There are a number of ways to get to Florence, and often another connection is involved within Europe. Price is often the deciding factor.

Right now the airport in Florence is closed, so the closest airport to Florence is Pisa, about an hour away.

From your message, I assume you will have to transfer within the US to an overseas flight, that Savannah does not offer flights directly to Europe.

To reach Pisa, you will have to transfer again somewhere in Europe--possibilities include Rome, Milan, Paris, London, Frankfurt on any number of different airlines.

You might opt to fly into Rome and then travel by train to Florence. The trip by train from Rome's airport to Florence can be done in about 3 hours, which includes getting out of Rome airport, into Rome, onto train to Florence.

Most European airports have dual language signage--English and the home country's language.

There are shuttle services to Atlanta. I live outside of Chattanooga, TN and we usually use the shuttle to Atlanta from there. I have never flown out of or into Savannah so I can't help you there but you'll be fine in foreign airports. They are used to international traffic and English is a second language to much of the world. Italy is great and you will love it. Relax and try to get some sleep on the plane. When you are wide awake, get up and walk around to avoid the effects of jet-lag. Have the time of your life.

Baldworth

The Florence airport is reopening in about a week, and most airlines will be back at FLR by early May. Sicne your trip is in June, FLR is available.

Now, there's no non-stop flight from SAV to Europe, and there's no non-stop from US to Florence, you have to make two stops if you want to fly out of SAV and into FLR. Your two-stop routing can be on a variety of airlines.

Now, if you want to eliminate one of the legs, you can fly out of ATL. A variety of airlines fly from there to Europe, and then you connect to FLR.

Or you can fly into Rome and train up to Florence. A variety of airlines can get you from SAV to Rome, via ATL, JFK, IAD, EWR, etc.

Or you can fly Delta non-stop Atlanta to Rome. But they you have long ground transfer on each end.

Just out of curiousity...are you married to a soldier? I saw your name and noticed that.

If so, check with the base people because even retirees get some serious flight deals.

When I was going into my JAG process, one of the selling points to me was the discounted travel for friends and family.

You can hop transports over.

Hi, yes I am married to a soldier. I will definitely check on base - I hadn't thought about that!

Thank you for all of the suggestions. Looks like I have lots of options. Are there any airlines that are better/worse as far as leg room, etc. for the trip? I'll be flying economy for sure. Army income and first class don't really work together too well!

I have horrific knees from my collegiate playing days (yep, the doc says I am 32 going on 55 with my knees) and I had zero problems on my travels with American. Best leg room I have had.

Addressing your question about connecting, this may seem like overly simplistic advice, but I'll throw it out there anyway, I remember the first time I went to Italy, clueless at 19 (and five years later, just as clueless), I had a hard time figuring out what city people were referring to, because I didn't remember that they call their cities something slightly different from what we call them. For example, it took a little while to figure out that Firenze meant Florence and Munchen meant Munich, Wien meant Vienna, and Osterreich meant Austria, etc. So, if you're connecting somewhere, make sure you know things like that beforehand--although I'm sure you're put-together enough to already know that.

You might try checking flights on orbitz.com or travelocity.com just to see flight options and prices. If your dates in June are flexable, choose the "flexable dates" option when setting your criteria on travelocity.com. This will show you the best price/date options for the entire month.

Have a wonderful trip!

Most major airlines have 31" to 32" pitch in economy. [Pitch = distance from one point of a seat to the same point of the seat one row in front or behind.]

Some airlines have a "premium economy" product for a few hundred dollars more with wider seats and more pitch. British Airways, Virgin Atlantic & SAS have them.

And United has "economy +" seats, which are the same seat as coach, but about 4" more pitch. They are available for their "Premier" frequent flyers, or you can pay $299 to qualify to use those seats on any UA flights for a year, you and a companion.

here is a great site to help you for plane & seat selections :

http://www.seatguru.com

If cost is a factor over directness, then that will likely determine your route. As others have mentioned, your best deal might be either through Milan or Rome rather than Florence since major airports often have the better ticket prices. Of course, then you would have to weigh how the off-set cost of trains from those cities to Florence impacted the overall cost of your trip, although trains in Italy are pretty reasonable (Milan airport, for instance, is pretty far from its city center whereas Rome's main aiport has a fast train directly from the airport into the main train station where you can easily transfer to a train to Florence.

And same issue with your point of departure from the states - you have to weigh the factors of cost and convenience of flying out of Savannah or travelling to a major airport.

I would suggest playing around with various options (cities - and dates if those are flexible) to see what gets you the best cost and logistics and that exercise will begin to familiarize you with options. To do this, try using Sidestep: www.sidestep.com (you can use the search engine from their homepage but would recommend just downloading the small application onto your desktop for easy access) -- it will search about 70 travel ticket sites on the web for you and list prices from cheapest to expensive (sources range from actual airlines to Orbitz to online ticket clearing agencies). I've used Sidestep quite a bit with very good luck for airlines.

The other thing you might consider since you are planning ahead is checking flights into London as one of your options which can often be a good deal and then checking Ryan Air (www.ryanair.com) for cheap flights into Pisa (since that's as close as it flies to Florence). If you plan far enough in advance and not on a weekend you could get a flight for under $30 each way (there are strict luggage weight restrictions, however). You could potentially fly into Stansted aiport from the states or just take a shuttle from Heathrow. There are many ways to do it and you just have to start plugging in the various options and see what works best for you.

And then, whether it's worth your time to get the best cost that might mean more transfers or longer train rides.

To determine how train travel affects your cost and time, you can also check out: http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html
for train travel throughout Italy.

My biggest question is: only one week?? :+)

Oe you could pay a travel agent to do all this for you.

One week makes sense to me, given that a friend is putting you up in Firenze.

Hi M,

Get started on booking your tickets. The closer you get to June, the higher the prices are likely to be.

Check www.mobissimo.com and www.kayak.com.

Flying Savannah to Rome or Milan will save you about $150 over flying into FLR or PSA.

From Rome, you can be in Florence in about 2:30 hr after you clear Customs.

See www.trenitalia.com.

Also see Helpful Information: Italy 2
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34568596

I assume you want the best flight? The "best" airline may have great food&service but multiple stops and 5 hour long layovers.

The best flight for you is US Airways from Jacksonville, FL to Milan, Italy. There will be a 2hr layover each way in Philadelphia. $1203 includes all taxes/fees. From Milan, it's a short train ride to Florence.

If you want a non-stop flight to Milan (about $1200) or Rome (about $1400), then you'll have to get yourself to Atlanta. Either way, you'll need to either get a connecting flight or a train from Milan/Rome to Florence.

Do a "month long search" on itasoftware.com or one of the other websites suggested above for more details.

Also wanted to strongly agree about getting airline tickets ASAP, they will just keep climbing in price between now an June.

If your travel dates are flexible and you can go space available on military flights, Camp Darby at Livorno is the closest to Florence. YOu might get a flight into Vicenza (Caserma Ederle) but there will probably be more flights into Aviano AFB north east of Venice or into Sigonella NAS near Catania in Sicily.

Livorno to Florence is about an hour by bus, I'd guess... maybe quicker by train. Check the Trenitalia website.

Getting from the other places will be harder but at you can probably get a lot of help from the MWR people.

Wow, thanks so much for all of the help! I'm going to try to get the tickets booked this week - I'm still checking out all of your suggestions.

Thanks again!