My hubby and I are in the planning stages for our next European adventure. Here's what we have so far:
- Fly to London (stay 4 nights) - Fly London to Florence, head straight to Siena (5 nights - for our one year anniversary - we were married in Siena last Spring). We'll rent a car and see various hill towns in the area. - Move to Florence, spend 5 nights. Will be day-tripping from here, to both Venice and Rome (Venice 1 day, Rome 2 days). We're home-basing out of here because we don't want to move around too much.
- BIG BLANK! Where do we go now?! We have about 8 days to fill ... do we head to southern France? See a little southern Germany? I've been having thoughts today of flying over to Barcelona, and then heading north up through France ...
- our last stop is Brugge, Belgium, for a few days. We are taking a train the morning of our flight from Brussels to Paris (flying home from Paris, obviously). We don't want to visit Paris this time, in case you're wondering ...
So that is what we have so far! But what should we do with the in-between days?! We don't want to spend a whole lot of time traveling in between and we obviously don't want to spend a silly amount on train/plane tix. We're big on the budget airlines, if they'll get us around quick enough.
Any suggestions??
What are some selling features on Barcelona? To be honest, I don't know much about Spain ...
Why not add two more nights to Siena and do daytrip to Florence? This will give you one week in Siena, opening up the option to rent a vacation rental.
Now, I'd choose either Venice or Rome for the following five nights. Let me see, this leaves 6 more days to fill? I'd then pick one more location (Provence perhaps?) and head straight to Paris.
London (4 nights) Siena (7 nights) Rome (5 nights) Provence (7-8 nights) Paris (1 night)
Chrissy--I'm with Kathy on this one. You will be run ragged and spend more time in train stations and on trains than actually visiting Rome and Venice! I think I would choose Venice and its environs over Rome, but I think that will depend on where your interests lie.
How lucky you are to have a long stretch of time to spend in Europe. Enjoy.
Posts: 1815 | Location: Berkeley, CA | Registered: 22 March 2005
I quite like train rides though, so I really don't have a problem with them. I slap on my iPod and enjoy the ride. I often find that it's during those train rides in foreign countries that I'm most inspired.
It was during a train ride in southern France last year when I was inspired to start my own business when I got home. And that's just what I did! (I started a small company that specializes in creating unique, custom invitations and annoucements, focusing on destination weddings!).
So I really do like train rides - they're very inspirational for me!
Originally posted by juliaO: Why not add two more nights to Siena and do daytrip to Florence? This will give you one week in Siena, opening up the option to rent a vacation rental.
Now, I'd choose either Venice or Rome for the following five nights. Let me see, this leaves 6 more days to fill? I'd then pick one more location (Provence perhaps?) and head straight to Paris.
London (4 nights) Siena (7 nights) Rome (5 nights) Provence (7-8 nights) Paris (1 night)
We actually have an apartment rented for Siena, so no worries about a rental! And we were just in Provence last Spring, so we might not want to spend too much more time there again so soon (it's nice to see new places). And Paris ... well, after being there 4 times over the past 5 years, we've opted to skip it entirely this time and instead spend our time in Belgium (the high speed doesn't take long to get from Brussels to CDG Paris).
As for Rome ... well, we were thinking about staying there, but we don't really want to deal with it this time. We've never been - and we can't seem to find decent accommodations in our budget-range - so we thought we'd just day trip from Florence - it's only 90 minutes! Venice is just far too expensive - and doesn't really appeal to us enough to spend a whole lot of time there.
So it's really just that week in the middle of the trip that we need to figure out. It's so hard - there are so many great places to see!!!
We seem to be striking out on offering any kind of useful help...
But I do have a very special B&B in Bruges to recommend and also some photos posted here.
And one other idea. It sounds like you "know" Provence and also Paris and want to have some new adventures. Do you want to explore any other areas of France? We enjoyed Burgundy very much, and this is a very beautiful and centrally-located place to stay. Maybe just right for some almost-newlyweds...
How about coming up the western Riviera coast, but instead of heading into France, head through Liguria and Piemonte? A few days in between the Ligurian olive plantations and the Piemontese hazelnut and wine fields, with lots of new, beautiful towns to see. From there, either go up through Lyon through France to Belgium or through Switzerland.
Originally posted by kaydee: We seem to be striking out on offering any kind of useful help...
But I do have a very special B&B in Bruges to recommend and also some photos posted here.
And one other idea. It sounds like you "know" Provence and also Paris and want to have some new adventures. Do you want to explore any other areas of France? We enjoyed Burgundy very much, and this is a very beautiful and centrally-located place to stay. Maybe just right for some almost-newlyweds...
Kathy
Oh, please don't get me wrong - it's ALL useful!! I'm just being indecisive, that's all! I totally appreciate all of this!
Have you looked into the discount airlines' (Ryanair and Easyjet) schedules? That's often how my family and I decide where to go during the months I live in Europe.
I almost always fly in and out of CDG and I'm way too paranoid to not stay in Paris the night before my flight. So Paris to me is like a favorite dessert - a perfect ending to a long trip.
Kathy, I loved the château you linked to though they are a bit more expensive than my favorite B & B in Burgundy (a restored 13th century château). We request for a room that has a fireplace and a huge tub in the bathroom, which IMHO, is one of the most romantic spots on earth!
I really should send in a review for Ecutigny and Talaud . I'm always nervous that Ecutigny might finally get sold...The place won't be the same without Françoise whose home-made Foie Gras melts in your mouth and Patrick who makes the world's best chocolate cake ever.
May 17: fly Vancouver to London May 18-22: Sleep London May 22-26: Sleep Siena May 27-29: Sleep Florence (1 or 2 day trips to Rome) May 30: Sleep Pisa May 31-June 2: Sleep Barcelona June 3-4: Sleep Arles June 5: Sleep Carcassonne June 6-8: Sleep London June 9-10: Sleep Paris June 11: fly Paris to Vancouver
Normally we don't move around this much ... so I hope it's not too exhausting!
We hadn't planned on going back to London at the end of our trip, but we're planning on meeting up with some friends there (so how can we not go?!). It's going to be so great!
Two months from today I'll be in London (my first time there!) ... yipee!
If Venice dosn't appeal to you I say don't go! To each his/her Own.I can't stand Rome. I would also cut out Provence as it seems you had your fill recently.I would stick to one country and spend maybe two weeks in one place and at least half that time close to your base,which means to me within walking/biking/15 minutes drive of home,this gives you a chance to feel more like a "local".RR
May 17: fly Vancouver to London 5 nights London Fly to Italy 5 nights Siena 3 nights Florence 1 night Pisa Fly to Spain 3 nights Barcelona 2 nights Arles 1 night Carcassonne Fly to England 3 nights London Fly to Paris 2 nights Paris June 11: fly Paris to Vancouver
I think you are moving around too much. Here are my thoughts:
- Drop the return to London (see your friends another time) and spend 5 nights in Paris at the end.
- Skip France and gives those nights to Spain - stay in Barcelona for 6 nights. Or at least 3 nights in Barcelona, 3 nights in one place in France.
- Take the nights from Florence and put them with Siena.
Thanks for the feedback; input is always appreciated. We do have our motives for each leg though ... please do let me explain!
- Drop the return to London (see your friends another time) and spend 5 nights in Paris at the end. One of my friends is in a band that is almost constantly touring ... and it just so happens that he'll be touring in London when we'll be there, so there's no way I can pass up seeing him there! It's next to impossible to even get him on the phone - let alone see him - as his schedule is so crazy. So there's just no way I can pass it up. And meeting up in London will just be so cool ... not to mention the backstage access at the concert.
- Skip France and gives those nights to Spain - stay in Barcelona for 6 nights. Or at least 3 nights in Barcelona, 3 nights in one place in France. I don't think I can give up France ... I love it too much! As for Barcelona, I'm not that excited about going there - so I don't think I'd want to spend an entire 6 nights there. I just want a little taste of the city, to see if I like it. If I do, I'll definitely return!
- Take the nights from Florence and put them with Siena. We were in Siena for over a week last year but we only spent one day in Florence. We want to see a bit more of Florence, as well as go on a day trip (maybe two) to Rome - and the high speed trains leave Florence, so it's just more convenient for day trips.
I know, we will be moving around a bit, but hey - why not do it while we're still young, right? I'm sure we'll have many, many trips when we're older when we just stay in one or two places!
Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts.
I gather, since you are in the 'early' stage of planning, that you have not looked at flight schedules. You may be very surprised at the amount of time you are going to loose traveling/waiting at airports/checking into accommodation etc.
It isn't too clear why you are going back and forth to London. Taking Barcelona out of the equation, fly into Rome and visit in this order Rome/Siena/Florence/Paris/London then fly home out of London.
I think this will more than adequately fill your three weeks.
Sheena
Posts: 2263 | Location: West Vancouver, B.C. Canada | Registered: 28 February 2004
Okay, I get it - you are young and want to be in many places and like packing and unpacking and packing and unpacking - but how about moving the two London visits together? Fly straight to Italy, spend a week in London during the time your friend is there. You are going to "waste" a lot of time doing that return trip to London.
I suppose I should have mentioned that our flights are already booked - we're flying into London and out of Paris ... so there's no going back! And we have our European flights (London to Florence, Pisa to Barcelona, Carcassonne to London booked too).
We don't normally move around this much. This will definitely be the most moving we've done around on a trip; I was a bit hesitant about it, but I'm trying to be positive and think that it's going to be a GREAT experience. We're going to make the most of it and have a great time, even if it involves spending a little bit of time in airports, etc. It's all part of the experience, if you ask me.
That said, I hope I haven't offended anyone. I'm getting a bit of a vibe (from the last post) that I'm not really welcome here, in a forum of slow travellers. That makes me very sad. I appreciate the feedback and suggestions I get here, very much so.
(sigh)
That said, I know we're going to have a wonderful trip - no matter what! To each his/her own, right?
Topic Closed
I really should send in a review for 
