Well, I am going to try and secure my flight to Florence this week.

I know this sounds weird, but I am a bit afraid. I mean, I traveled to Paris by myself, and London by myself, but I am more worried about Italy. I just worry a lot about the language and get this feeling that transportation may not be as good as in London or Paris.

Am I just being paranoid?

I am trying to figure out which airport to fly into.....I will be leaving from London in mid-May and trying to decide if I should fly into Rome or Paris....the travel time by train is a 45 minute difference.

Which airport would you fly into? And why?
Also, I tried to see about getting a train ticket on trenitalia (sp?), and soooo many times were not available! Is there another train that I could take?

Thanks for all of your help!

You can't price or book tickets on Trenitalia more than 60 days in advance. If you were using April dates to get an idea of prices, they might be booked because of Easter.

I don't understand your flight question.

You could fly into Rome and take a train from there to Florence. I wouldn't even buy the train ticket ahead of time; there are so many trains from Rome to Florence every day, that when you arrive in Rome, you can take the airport train to Termini station, then just hop on the next available train to Florence.

I've travelled solo (female) to Italy three trips and didn't have any trouble.

Sorry, my questions are...

If you were traveling to Florence for the first time and traveling from London, would you fly into Rome or Pisa?

Is Trenitalia the only trains that service Florence from both Pisa and Rome?

Have you ever been somewhat nervous of traveling to a new area?

thanks everybody!

I would fly into Pisa. Also, don't worry about the language barrier. Just learn some basic phrases and you should be fine.

Tom

Trenitalia is the Italian rail company. They have many different types of trains from the fast ES or IC with few stops to the slower (and usually older)R and D trains that make multiple stops.

If you are flying a budget airline to Pisa you can probably take the Terravision bus. This is for certain budget airline customers only. The Terravision bus is also in Rome but will only take you to the Rome train station. The one at Pisa airport will take you to Florence train station.
www.terravision.it

Florence was my first solo travel venture! I think it's a perfect solo city because it's small and visitor-friendly. A bit of anxiety is normal for traveling to a new environment. Just think how empowered you will feel after experiencing success! I can't wait to try another solo experience. Paris maybe?

If the Florence airport is still closed, I'd fly into Pisa. You'll probably have choices about how to travel (bus, train, taxi, shuttle) from Pisa to Florence. Don't worry about buying a train ticket ahead of time on this route.

You probably will feel more comfortable if you pick up some basic travel Italian. That, along with a friendly face and a phrase book, should be enough.

I stayed in a convent, even though I'm not Catholic. It was comfortable, safe, and inexpensive. Type "Florence convents" (without the quotes) into the search box at the top of the page. Many messages from the archives will appear on the left-hand side of your screen.

Buon viaggio

Hi Birthdaygirlstrip, stop worrying. I found the transportation throughout Italy to be easy to navigate even though I didn't speak the language the first time I was there.

I see from your other posts that you don't have long in Europe. Since this is the case, I would fly straight into Pisa and take the train into Florence as others have suggested in your other post. There are trains that go from Pisa airport into the main Florence train station, some require a switch in trains at Pisa Central, some don't. Tickets are in the 5.10 euro range for 2nd class, and it takes about 1.5 hours.

Personally, I think it would be a shame to fly into Rome and not even glimpse at it, but others may find otherwise. However, if you find a cheapo fare from London to Rome, remember you'll have to factor in a few things:
1. Train from FCO to Termini 9.50 euros (30 minutes)
2. Train from Rome Termini to Florence SMN 29 euros (1h 45m)

If you fly into Ciampino, which is the other Rome airport, there's a bus that takes you from CIA to Termini for 8 euros (13.50 round trip). Info here http://tinyurl.com/lyb5z

As for your not being able to purchase train tickets on trenitalia yet, you may be trying to purchase tickets over 60 days from today. You can only purchase tickets if the travel will take place within 60 days. For the most part, unless you're trying to take advantage of Eurostar sales from Rome to Florence/Venice/Milan/Naples, I'd skip purchasing your tickets online and just print out train schedules that fit your plans best. Or, if you still don't know your exact plans, print every possible time combos out. It will make your last minute planning easy if you don't like waiting too long for trains.

I think you also had some answers on your other posts. To check those answers, click on your name in this post.

You're traveling to Italy, enjoy yourself. Don't stress too much and have fun. Just one word of warning, this may be the start of a beautiful addiction.

Hm...my Fodors page is not updating correctly, sounds like you've already gotten a lot of great responses.

And I relish travel to a new area. I want to see as much of the world as I possibly can, but that doesn't mean that I'm not hopelessly drawn to the same places over and over again.

Stop worrying. Everybody speaks English in Italy. More so than in Paris.

And you've asked the same question in multiple threads already, and you've gotten many responses about the difference in time of travel between Rome and Pisa to Florence.

The travel time is much shorter from Pisa, and much cheaper. There's no comparison. From Rome it's a 35-min ride on the Leonardo Express PLUS a 1:36 ride on a ES*. Total cost is close to 40 euros. Pisa is a fraction of time and cost, and you don't really need reservations ahead.