need help with my itinerary

[kaya123]

Hi everyone,
I'll be backpacking europe for about 31/2 weeks until I have to start school in spain in September. I have a bit of a complicated situation and wanted any input I could get on my itinerary. I arrive in paris on august 7th and am meeting a friend in Brussels on the 19 for 2 days and then we'll go to amsterdam together for about 4 days. My question is this: I have 13 days before I meet my friend to travel and 8 days after I leave her to travel some more.....I have a eurail pass that I bought in Los Angeles that I was planning on using to get around but could always use while I'm studying in spain. I have my heart set on seeing Italy but the rest I'm pretty flexible with. I thought I would spend 2 days in paris and then maybe fly to the UK and see Ireland or Scotland (I was advised paris in the summer is the worst time to be there). A week Scotland 5 days Ireland maybe then meet my friend do brussels and Amsterdam and then spend 8 days in italy on my own. Does this sound feesible? I've been researching flights and they don't seem that cheap from paris. Should I do a flight/train combo? I was thinking of returning to paris on my way home in december when it's less touristy. Sorry for all the questions I'm just at a loss as to how to go about this. Any input would be greatly appreciated

[Jules80]

you're probably best sticking with trains cause you're a little last minute now and flights will be expensive. if you use your eurail pass, you will get a discount on th eurostar to go to lonon. august is a nice time to see the uk. be aware that if you go to scotland, while it has been a warm summer, august can get quite cool (like below 20 deg C) esp in the evening. the rail pass is also not valid in the uk you need a britrail pass or p2p tickets. paris or rome are going to be slightly unpleasant in the august heat. that said, paris at christmas time is fantastic and definately worth seeing. so your 2 days for the moment sounds good. do the louvre (if that interests you)... i seem to rememeber there being a/c in t here! with 8 days in italy you could do 5 rome and 3 florence and get a good feel for the cities or you coul rush more and see less cause of travel time and do 4 rome, 2 florence, 1 venice. since sept is still a month away it might be worth checking for a flight to spain because i believe the train is about 20 hours ( i believe that's what my friend said rome to barcelona was).

Jules

[Eagle]

kaya123, your timing is somewhat "difficult" in terms of finding a solution so that you can both visit with your friend and see other locations (especially Italy). A different combination of open-jaw flights might have solved part of the problem. Are your flights "locked in" or can you change them? Your best bet would be to fly directly to Rome (I assume you're flying from L.A.).

If you're committed to flying to Paris, one Itinerary that might work would be to try and find a cheap flight from Paris to Rome, and leave for Rome as soon as you arrive (you'll already be at the airport). The one disadvantage of this is that you'll be dealing with jet lag, so another flight probably won't be easy to tolerate. Start your touring in Rome (perhaps 4 days), Florence (3 days), Cinque Terre (2 days, if you're interested), Venice (2 days). You might also be able to fit a few day trips in to Siena, Orvieto or wherever you like. This will allow you to have your visit to Italy, and also allow a couple of days for travel or whatever.

After Venice or Cinque Terre, start making your way towards Brussels (train?). BTW, I think the general consensus here on the Boards here is that Brugges is a much nicer stop. It should be fairly easy to time this so that you arrive at the same time as your friend.

After the visit with your friend, you could spend your last eight days in the U.K. (you should be able to get a cheap flight out of Schiipol, or take the EuroStar - your Railpass provides a discount on the fare). However, my preference would be to limit the time to the south of England (perhaps London, Bath or perhaps an overnight trip to York if you feel like it). You can always visit Ireland and Scotland on another trip. At the end of the eight days, you should be able to find a cheap flight on one of the budget airlines to get to Spain (perhaps out of Luton or Stanstead?).

With such a short time to work with, you don't want to be spending all your time travelling; trying to fit so many stops into such a large geographical area is going to wear you out. Of course, if you have unlimited travel funds to work with, anything is possible!

Anyway, that's how I'd arrange things if I was in the same situation. Good luck and happy travels!!!