Help! last minute trip

1. If you're talking about London to Paris on Dec 14, the best way is likely flying. Eurostar train at this late date is likely to cost you close to $800 for the 3 of you. If money is not an issue I personally would prefer the train.

1. I'm not clear on why you are flying into London to get to Paris. Why not just fly directly to Paris? I find the Eurostar to be the most efficient way to get from central London to Paris but assuming that you are flying into Heathrow, you will not be in central London so you should just continue on straight to Paris by airplane. Just be sure to leave plenty of time between flights because the flights will be on different tickets and be mindful or the different luggage rules for transAtlantic flights and flights within Europe and avoid flying to Beauvais to get to Paris. My guess is that it will cost about US$600 for three one way tickets bought today from Heathrow to Paris. Eurostar will be around US$900 and you will have to get to central London from the airport.

2. How many days are you planning to head into Paris? That will determine the best suggestion for mass transit while in Paris. Your hotel is in the suburbs and the trip into Paris will be between 45 and 60 minutes on the RER A suburban commuter line. Getting around Paris is relatively easy on the metro or bus system. You can use the www.ratp.fr/en or download their app for mass transit directions.

3. There is so much to see and do in Italy that without an idea of what interests you, I can't suggest a place but if you are thinking about going to Rome, which is pretty "central" in Italy, I suggest flying from Paris.

Your trip would have been a perfect one for an open jaw ticket and you may want to consider that or future trips so that you can avoid back tracking. Have a great time

Next time fly open jaw -- we have been doing this for nearly 30 years and it saves money and backtracking; the cost is the average of the round trip to the two cities. There is no scenerio where the savings on a good round trip ticket to London will save you money much less time on a trip you want to take to Paris, Italy and Spain. Last year we flew into Paris and out of Madrid; the year before we flew into Rome, to Paris and then out of Amsterdam. It is easy to book and makes travel so much nicer.

For shoes -- choose as the main shoe good sturdy boots that people already have and know they can walk in all day. I personally have merrell insulated slip on shoes and another pair of rain/snow proof leather boots which is what I would take on this trip. Wear the heaviest pair on the plane. It is a mistake to buy new shoes this close to a trip unless you actually have nothing wearable in rainy chilly weather already.

for the trip from Paris to Italy -- fly Easyjet or Vueling. You will have to check the bag, so be sure to buy bag check when you book. The carry ons allowed on these flights (only one) are smaller than your wheelies. We check our airline carryon and carry a large messenger bag.

We always take silk long underwear as the base layer. Paris is likely to be cold and so be sure one of the layers under your lighter weight rain coat or rain jacket is something like a cashmere sweater. They don't take much room but add a lot of warmth. Don't worry too much about packing every last thing -- if you forget something you can always pick it up there. My husband is an inveterate under packer. We did one trip of three months where he had to buy slacks, sweater and jacket for the cold and then shorts and lightweight shirts for the heat -- we just donated the extra stuff before flying back.

Use the moneybelt as a body safe in transit where pick pocket risks are high -- stow valuables in a room safe when you arrive somewhere. I am not sure why passports belong in a ziplock bag -- I'd have them accessible for the flight but securely stowed and in the moneybelt on the way from the station or airport to the hotel. With 3 people I would be taking taxis from the airports -- more secure, easier and with 3 people they don't cost that much more. e.g. in Rome it would cost about 45 Euro to take the train from the airport to town -- a taxi is about 3 Euro more. (actually the 6 year old would ride the Termini Express free with you -- so 30 by train there) In Paris it would cost about 30 Euro to take the train from the airport to town -- it would cost about 20 Euro more to take a cab (or about 30 from Orly).

Have a great trip.

My transport recommendation is the same as it was on your first post. See www.skyscanner.com and get flights locked in soon for any hope of a good price during the holidays. You could try a search from Paris to "Italy," to find the cheapest airport, if you're not yet set on a destination, but Milan, Pisa, and Rome are likely suspects.

If you still need hotels for Italy and London, then that's also a priority to work on next, probably using a site like booking.com to find room availability on your dates.

Most sightseeing doesn't need to be reserved or decided ahead. It will be easier if you have Rick Steves's guidebooks in hand for each city, at least before you leave home. There are no particular apps that you need; bus and metro in each city do have web sites, and probably also apps, but the map information available in stations is usually enough to plan your sightseeing route.

For future trips, I second the open jaw recommendation. We did just that on our recent trip. I second the skyscanner recommendation as well - I was unaware of it until after I bought our tickets. Have you bought your tickets yet?

I would not worry about a first trip to Europe in winter. As long as you are prepared for the weather, which it appears that you are planning to (if not already there), you should be good. Bear in mind that a really bad luck weather could hit you even with planning but hopefully it won't :-)

You might also want to use your Spain friend as a sounding board. Surely he/she will know a bit about Europe to be able to help.

One thing you really should not mess up with (like I did!) - make sure you take a bunch of Euros with you or an ATM card that will work over there.

We have never been to Italy, but we were in the planning stages earlier this year for a trip that never materialized. We were planning two days in Rome, two in Florence and two in Venice.

Porcupyn

ndelarosa,

comments.

i fly solo so im more mobile and can make quicker decisions to do what i want when i want and not affect others.

i plan my trips more so that i dont have to worry about some of your questions.

1. will the best way to get there be taking another flight or by train?
   A. I would say that unless you have your Eurostar tickets now, i would check on the prices when you plan on arriving and see how those numbers sit with your wallet. Then i would check on flights to Paris from whatever london airport you will be arriving. This is just my opinion and how i do things, since you will already be at an airport, i dont see why not use it and fly out of it to Paris. But i would see how the Eurostar is occupancy wise and then compare costs and times.

2. has anyone used the visitacity.com website to plan for trips or should I just plan sightseeings in a different way?
   A. No.

3. what would be the best way for us to move around in paris? any good apps that you recommend?
   A. I had purchased a Bosch Paris map and used that for my planning. Its laminated and i had marked, using a red marker, on the map the places i wanted to do/see things so they. The map also showed the METRO stops and it had a small metro map too. I personally liked using the METRO and no issues or problems using it.

4. We are thinking in staying in Paris for 1 week then go to Italy for 1 week Dec.20-27. So what is the best way to get there? best central place to go and stay?
   A. Take a look at seat61.com for some train info. bahn.de will also give you an idea on times and stops you are facing if you go by train. just off the top of my head, i would say flying would be the fastest. NOte that around Christmas i would assume that many airports and train stations are going to be mad houses. But im just guessing.

5. from Italy the idea is to go to Spain Dec. 27-Jan 2. We'll be staying with a friend. Planning is going to Barcelona.
   Now from Spain we have to go back to London to catch flight back home. Was thinking on leaving Spain on the 2nd to London so we can stay until the 6th which is when our flight is scheduled to go home.
   A. OK.

happy trails.

@ ndelarosa: Don't forget to call your bank and credit card companies and inform them that you will be traveling.

"@ ndelarosa: Don't forget to call your bank and credit card companies and inform them that you will be traveling."

And don't forget - in such matters, Murphy reigns. The day before we left, I called Barclays to activate my Arrival Plus credit card for travel. I had recently received an 'upgraded' version of their credit card with the chip-and-pin technology - what I failed to realize was that I had not independently activated the new credit card (even though I still think that I had done it). But even then, I would still have thought that calling the agent and providing her with all the card info including the security code off the back of it should have ensured me of smooth sailing. NOT! The card did not work anywhere (and as I had not realized that I might have failed to activate it, I did not even try to use the previous version of the card though I had taken it with me).

Fortunately for me, I had with me a Chase Sapphire (with chip-and-pin technology) and a Capital One (old swipe technology), both of which worked flawlessly. Else, given that I had taken no Euros on me, the (relatively) boatload of USDs would have been worth not much. A lesson I learned the hard way for future travel.

Porcupyn

Thank you everybody! finally I am done with all my work stuff and can concentrate in this trip. Leaving in two days and feel so unprepared (Type A person here).

Thanks for the tip: Already called bank. Will put phone on airplane mode so I don't have to suspend phone plan.

Will look into flying out of London. Now how long would I need to be able to take the next flight out? do I need to change terminals?

This trip is difficult because I do not have any specific plans at all. Just know I come back home on the 6th. Then someone said today... oh you are so close to Greece... oh no!! lol

I really appreciate everyone's comments!!