All those travel days add up, and they not only eat up your pleasure-time, they are fatiguing. Remem

Thanks in advance for any help and insight you may be able to provide. I am taking my first trip to Europe with my girlfriend (she has never been either) and needed some advice. The trip starts the thrid week in August of 2013. I am flying into Amsterdam to meet some friends for a bachelor party so that is where my trip starts. After 2 days with them, my girlfriend flys in to meet me. I expect we will spend an additional 2 days there for her and hopefully that will be enough since I should have my bearings airline tickets to greece in the city to help. We will have 21 days from when she touches down. From there, here is what we were thinking:
She originally really wanted airline tickets to greece to visit Rome and I wanted to see Barcelona and Madrid. With the time restraint and traveling airline tickets to greece in August (heat) we decided it would be best to save that for the next trip.
I just got some updates from my friends bachelor group and we are going to be going the last week in August so it changes things just a little in that now I am considering taking out Belgium and cutting Venice down to 2 days so that I can visit Rome for 3 days. I am from Texas so a little heat should not bother me. So the updated trip would look like this:
I'd chop off Berlin for sure, that doesn't flow. Bruges is nice, but Brussels airline tickets to greece ?! I wouldn't go out of my way to get to Bruges. No reason to really go to Brussels (IMHO). I'd likely cut off London as well go from there...If you are going to Munich (from Venice or vice versa)it would be silly to skip Vienna.
This is what I would do - Amsterdam - Prague - Venice airline tickets to greece - Vienna - Munich - cruise up the Mosel, perhaps hit Strasburg Champagne meander over to Paris depart from there... Still too much, but it is much more compact...
I do not understand this type of itinerary airline tickets to greece where you hop all over to major cities and spend 2 or 3 days at each. I would plan at least 5 days each for Paris, London, and Rome. And, I would try to include the best of parts of Europe other than major big cities.
I agree that the above itinerary is two separate trips. You are all over the place and only have 3 weeks. For over a decade, I did 11 weeks straight in Europe, almost annually, and didn't even do that many varied places in one trip. That was back in my university days and a few years after. I've been doing Europe, almost annually, since 1973.
Take a look at this classic movie on Youtube and you'll understand what I mean. This is one of my all time favorite classic movies which came out around my freshman airline tickets to greece year in high school, but I still laugh hysterically when I watch it.
Look into travel schedules between the cities - maybe allocate one full day to go from Rome to Paris if you are flying low-cost. The schedules are usually "uncomfortable" - our flight from Rome to Paris was at 6 o clock in the morning, which meant taking a taxi from Rome to the airport around 4 in the morning (too tired to do anything else that day). Paris is so spread out it will take time to get from the airport to your lodgings.
grendel - I don't disagree, I have flown to Paris, Amsterdam etc. for essentially a long weekend...but it is not ideal it is even less ideal for someone who is visiting for the first time, particularly when they have sufficient time to see a lot w/out spending a fortune airline tickets to greece on travel /or getting from point a to z. Another + is that you should be able to upgrade the places you stay, if you eliminate about half of your travel expense(s).
I'd kill another city and make the route more sequential. airline tickets to greece For me the easy one to kill is Berlin, it's a bit off the beaten path and apart from a pretty good museum is of little interest unless you are embraced by The Wall and WW2.
Well I prefer your second itinerary , skipping Belguim is a good idea ( yes, I have been to both Brussels and Bruges and they are skippable in my opinion, plus you are going to Venice anyways so really will be visiting the granddaddy of all canal cites right there, Brugges is mostly chocolate and lace shops , plus the small canals) You are already visiting Germany so can do the beer thing there ( Belguim does have good beer).
I think for 21 days though I would be happier with 4 stops max, we did 26 days this summer and visited 6 places( amsterdam, Paris, Nice, Barcelona, Tossa De Mar, back to Paris) and it still felt like a lot of moving about, airline tickets to greece and I have been to Europe before so was comfortable with most aspects of how to figure out trains , transport to airports etc.
I would do Amsterdam( well you have a reason to) then train to Paris( 4-5 days), then fly to Prague( 3-4 days) and then Fly to Venice( 2-3 days) Rome( 4-5 days) , sort of a north, east, and south Europeon whirlwind.. but whatever you do, if money is an issue, purchase your plane and train tickets WELL in advance, most go on sale 90-120 days out , a bit more for flights, as cheaper tickets always sell out first. Also, when using a cheapo airline be aware of which airports they use, some use airports that are very inconenvient to city they ( for Paris Ryanair uses Beavais, which is 90 kms from city and not an easy transfer) Look at Easyjet or Vueling.
All those travel days add up, and they not only eat up your pleasure-time, they are fatiguing. Remember, a two-night stay equals only one full day, with the day before and the day after as travel days. When you say "two days," airline tickets to greece do you mean two full days (three nights), or one full day (two nights)?
We just spent two nights in Paris, arriving at 8:30 p.m. the first night, and leaving at 7 a.m. after the second night. Gave us only one full day. All we managed to "accomplish" was one museum and a nice dinner out. Most of the day was spent walking, figuring out the Metro and RER system again (hadn't been there for awhile), and walking, wandering, enjoying. airline tickets to greece It was a great day, and we were only there because we were flying home from Paris. Ordinarily, we would have stayed at least three nights. ANY great town in Europe deserves AT LEAST two full days visit, IMHO, which means three nights' stay.
The outlined itinerary is more like a forced march than a vacation. It needs to be cut back to about 4 places. It's not only the blur factor airline tickets to greece of racing around to too many places in too short a time; it's the needless expense of it. I will never get why people want to shell out gobs of money on transport and not really get to see much of anything.
You are mostly talking about MAJOR cities. Each has its own issurs re transportation/logistics/acclimating. airline tickets to greece 2.5 days in London, 3.5 (and one of those spent at Versailles), 2.5 days in Rome,etc . . . just VERY hectic.
I agree. It's a first visit. Plus, in the OP's original post, he mentions maybe saving Rome for the "next" trip, therefore it seemed clear to me that this was not to be the only trip, so why rush through it with lots of places crammed in? Save some places for the next trip.
"She originally really wanted airline tickets to greece to visit Rome and I wanted to see Barcelona and Madrid. With the time restraint and traveling in August (heat) we decided airline tickets to greece it would be best to save that for the next trip."
airline tickets to greece And also with all of the moving around, with the above itinerary, one has to take into account airline tickets to greece the time wasted checking into all of the accommodations. More than a few times, rooms haven't been ready when they were supposed to be which cuts into time that could be used to be out experiencing a place.
Yes, I agree that European youth would do these types of itineraries by train all the time. I was living in Europe annually, during entire summers, and had either a 2-month or 3-month Eurail pass and would meet them on trains. I was also a youth then, although an American airline tickets to greece one.
A lot of the youth who were friends of mine, in the Scandinavian country in which I lived, were also out on such itineraries, but starting from Scandinavia and on to other countries in Europe. However, they weren't starting out on those trips jet-lagged, having come out of an entirely different time zone and they were used to Europe, so not a lot of differences airline tickets to greece to get used to. They also spoke more than one language; at least my friends did as well as I did, which made things faster and easier.
airline tickets to greece To be clear - the trip as outline is physically possible. However, it will be significantly more expensive than staying in fewer places and you will be spending airline tickets to greece a very large percentge of your time in transit rather than in sightseeing or soaking up the local culture.
As for overnight trains - they are not included in train passes - you need to buy berths in compartments separately (and share with strangers) and the cost is not low. (I know people say they are saving a night hotel cost - but IMHO the train - rocking and discomfort included) are often not any less.
You need to decide airline tickets to greece what you want to see in each place and then determine how long that will take (Michelin green guide is great for this). You will find that you can't see the Tower of London in an hour - or make your way across London in 15 minutes.
I would lay out your trip by day - indicating how/when you will arrive, what you will see that day and when/how you will leave. For instance, will the trip from Paris to London come out of one of the days in Paris or one of the days in London (you have to lose half a day somewhere). Ditto for all of your other city to city transfers.
Get a map, a train schedule and the Michelin guide and figure out how much time you will have each place versus the minimum time you need. IMHO to see even the most basic sights in Rome takes 3 days (which is 4 nights).
IME it is very difficult to orientate yourself in a major city in just 2 days - and if you keep moving, the whole experience just becomes a mush of disparate experiences, none of which are particularly special. It's also quite expensive to travel like this - you never get a chance to find a nice cheap bar or cafe, or if you do, you have to leave it again. and all that travel - tiring AND expensive.
the ideal, IMO, is to mix the trip up - a city, then time in the countryside, perhaps an activity, then anot