1st Anniversary in Europe

It sounds like your airline tickets are a done deal...correct?

I think you are trying to fit in too much. If you didn't have a friend you are planning to visit in the Swiss Alps I would suggest skipping that. If you have to go to Switzerland, you might want to skip Paris. You don't know how much it pains me to say that, as I love Paris. Two nights in London is not much time. I would suggest spending 4 days in London (you may be jetlagged), then fly to Switzerland. From there you can train to Venice. You could add your extra day to Florence/Tuscany, as 2 days there is not much time. End up in Rome for your 4 days there.

I do not think it is too early to look for hotels. The good (economical) ones book up early. We are going to be in Italy/Germany for 4 weeks in September and I already have everything booked. I was not able to get the place in Vernazza I wanted, and that was months ago.

Another idea, sticking with your original idea of traveling by train, would be to keep Paris on the list and drop either Florence or Venice. You already have quite a bit of time in Italy, and Paris is so romantic. . . .

The connection between London and Paris by train is fast, easy and very pleasant; you can get good fares by booking in advance, espeically if you qualify for youth fares (under 26).

Then you have a pretty straightforward route by train from London to Rome, which I understand from your post you have already booked for your flights.

London is probably more expensive than th eother places you list so limiting your stay there will keep costs down.

Maybe 3 nights each in London, Paris, and Florence or Venice; and 4 each in the Swiss Alps and Rome?

Between Venice and Florence I personally would pick Venice, because it is a magical place unlike any other. But you'll get just as many opinions saying Florence.

Hi guys! Quick correction I have not redeemed our tickets yet. We just reached the necessary miles amount to purchase and plan to redeem this week. We can easily cut out London and just fly into Paris and still leave out of Rome.

And still use train to get eveywhere. Euro rail right? I'm seeing mixed info about getting in advance or when we arrive...

Yes, in that case I would suggest dropping London.

In that case you don't have to choose between Venice and Florence.

You can get good fares from Paris to a major hub in Switzerland by buying tickets in advance---buy from the French rail site, not RailEurope.

You can also get special advance fares from Zürich into Italy---at least as far as Milan. These are on the Swiss rail site, www.sbb.ch

However, it is too early to buy any of these for September travel.

For Italy, you can't buy on the Trenitalia website to take advantage of the advance-purchase fares, so it's fine to wait and buy your tickets there as you go. That gives you maximum flexibility.

If you haven't purchased your frequent flier miles tickets yet,you'd better get busy. Those tickets are available 330 days in advance and they get snatched up VERY quickly, particularly these days when the number of available flights is less. And reasonably priced hotel rooms go fast as well, so hop to it!

Yeah I was worried about the flight booking but I checked again this mornin and the non-stop flight we're thinking about are pretty empty! I hope we can get the exit row seats!

Since you have not gotten your tickets yet I agree with the suggestion to fly into Paris and home from Rome. Leave London for another time.

Thanks for your recommendations!! Awesome we just redeemed our tix. Fly into Paris and fly out of Rome! I got flagged by TSA during the booking process and had to call and confirm my identity! Seems like they asked everything but my blood type hehhe Craziness but at least we can really start planning now!!!

I'm so excited that I'm almost in shock that we're going!!

I've been fascinated with Italy's cooking and bike tours so we just started looking into that fun stuff! Your feedback is always helpful!

Got a lonely planet French phrase book and hope I can learn the important stuff in time!