4 months in Europe, with extended stays in Barcelona, Paris, London, Florence

For Umbria, look at Spello. We spent two weeks there and found it a perfect base for visiting other towns. Spello also has many excellent restaurants for a town of it’s size. There are parking lots surrounding this hilltown.

Just to be sure that you have the Schengen down perfectly, I just want to remind viewers that all your France, Italy and Spain time (in other words all of it except for the UK time) needs to total no more than 90 days (in any 180) rather than what some people think is 3 months. It is 90 days, including arrival days and departure days from the Schengen area.

Going by boat from New York to Southampton was something I did frequently as a child. My grandparents used to use the original Queen Mary and I have made several trips on the original Queen Elizabeth (as well as many other boats). I loved it, and when you travel the Irish Sea it should be relatively calm. I have seen it vertical.

Is this your first European trip?

Are you familiar with the political upheaval in Barcelona?

This plan will get you around Europe in 90 days, however it does mean moving on every 3-5 days.

Day
1. EUROSTAR from London to Paris (6N)
2. Sainte-Chapelle / Cluny Museum or Panthéon / Luxembourg Gardens / Musee d'Orsay (Closes late Thu at 9.45pm)
3. Arc de Triomphe / Palais Garnier Opera / Tuileries Gardens (Orangerie) / Louvre Museum (Closes late Wed,Fri at 9.45pm)
4. Notre-Dame de Paris / Picasso Museum / Place des Vosges / Centre Pompidou (Closes late at 10pm - ex Tue)
5. Day to Versailles
6. Eiffel Tower / Sacré-Coeur & Montmartre / Evening Seine Cruise
7. THALYS to Ghent (4N)
8. Day to Bruges
9. Day to Antwerp
10. Day to Brussels
11. THALYS to Amsterdam (4N)
12. Amsterdam
13. Day to Haarlem & The Hague
14. Amsterdam
15. Train to Berlin (5N)
16. Berlin
17. Berlin
18. Berlin
19. Berlin
20. Train to Prague (4N)
21. Prague
22. Prague
23. Prague
24. Train to Vienna (4N)
25. Vienna
26. Vienna
27. Vienna
28. Train to Budapest (5N)
29. Budapest
30. Budapest
31. Budapest
32. Budapest
33. Train to Munich (4N)
34. Munich
35. Munich
36. Day to Neuschwanstein
37. Train to Salzburg (3N)
38. Salzburg
39. Salzburg
40. Train to Luzern (3N)
41. Day to Pilatus
42. Day to Zurich
43. Train to Lauterbrunnen (4N)
44. Day to Wengen
45. Lauterbrunnen
46. Day to Murren
47. Train to Lausanne (4N)
48. Day to Bern
49. Day to Geneva
50. Day to Montreux
51. Train to Milan (3N)
52. Milan
53. Day to Lake Como
54. Train to Venice (3N)
55. Venice
56. Venice
57. Train to Florence-Tuscany (7N)
58. Florence
59. Day to Pisa
60. Day to Siena
61. Day to Chianti
62. Day to Lucca
63. Florence
64. Train to Sorrento (4N)
65. Day to Capri
66. Day to Pompeii
67. Day to Positano
68. Train to Rome (4N)
69. Rome
70. Rome
71. Rome
72. Fly to Madrid (5N)
73. Madrid
74. Day to Toledo
75. Madrid
76. Day to Segovia
77. Train to Seville (5N)
78. Seville
79. Day to Cordoba & Mezquita
80. Seville
81. Day to Jerez or Cadiz
82. Train to Granada (3N)
83. Visit Alhambra
84. Granada
85. Fly to Barcelona (5N)
86. Barcelona
87. Barcelona
88. Barcelona
89. Barcelona
90. DEPART from Barcelona

In the absence of special plans (language class, extended cooking class, etc.), if I were to spend 3 or 4 weeks in a single city, I'd want it to be a rather large one with lots to keep me busy. I would not want to be trekking to the train station or bus station 5 days a week in order to take day-trips--some of which would probably mean trips of 4 hours or more, round trip. Three of your four cities meet my personal size requirement; Florence does not. Even for the remaining cities, a decision to stay in the same hotel for so long may prove frustrating as you continue your planning and find that some of the sights that interest you most are really beyond day-trip distance or mean longer train time than would be necessary if you peeled off about a week and spent it in another location. It's not just a matter of a lot of time spent on the train; it means the time left in a day to be used for sightseeing at your destination will in some cases be rather inadequate. The "better" the destination, the bigger this problem will be.

For example, although Girona is a viable day-trip from Barcelona, Girona is a nice place to spend some time and is closer than Barcelona to popular places like Figueres, Cadaques, and Besalu. I opted to spend time in both Girona and Barcelona to reduce time spent on trains. Evenings in Girona were very pleasant, and I didn't need to worry about getting back to the train station for the trip back to Barcelona.

This is a matter of personal preference. What you're considering is definitely not wrong, and it will probably be a great trip. However, for what I assume is a first trip to each of these countries, I would prefer more base cities, and I suggest that you at least investigate one of the areas you want to visit to see how the sights that excite you most align with where you plan to stay. Look at train travel times on the Deutsche Bahn website to be sure you've got a good understanding of what you're setting yourself up for, and don't forget that in a large city, you may need to spend 30 minutes or so just getting to and from the train the train station.

You really should not think of this as a trip to England, France, Italy and Spain. It would be more accurate to say that you will be visiting SE England, the Ile de France, eastern Catalunya and Tuscany.

Would you spend 3-4 weeks in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami? Or Toronto, New York, LA and Mexico City? Europe is pretty big, Spain and France are the two largest countries. France is only 3% smaller than Texas and Spain is 3/4 its size. The total area of Italy is smaller, but because it's more "long and narrow" major cities are pretty far apart. You can do some day trips but you won't see much of a country. There are high-speed trains that make overnights to other major cities possible, but the trains are very expensive unless you buy tickets months in advance. For instance, the cheapest tickets from Florence to Rome are about €20, so €80 for a couple round-trip. Full fare comes to €188.

Here are some of the choices I'd probably make, if I could take such a trip. First, because of the summer heat, I'd put Italy at the beginning of the trip and Spain at the end, then France and UK in the middle. Though I'd opt for a leased car for Italy (4-5 weeks), then Catalonia (3-4 weeks it will be hot, but not as bad as Italy), and rural France (1-2 weeks), then ditch it and settle down in Paris (including July 14), train to London (3 weeks max). I could happily spend 4 weeks in Paris. But even though I love Barcelona, 4 weeks is an awful lot and you'll experience Catalonia, but not quite Spain. Nor would Florence be my choice for Italy which can feel terribly overrun by tourists even in May, more so later on. Without a leased car, I'd stay in Bologna (great train connections for day and overnight trips). With a car I'd stay somewhere on the "edge" of Tuscany and Umbria.

I would not recommend five days in Barcelona. You can see the city sights in 2-3 days as well as Monserrat.

In fact, I would spend more time in Madrid with the surrounding cities than Barcelona.

Two or three days enough for Barcelona including Montserrat? I say, "No way". I spent nine days in the city, not including Montserrat or my trips to Girona, Cadaques, Besalu and Sitges.

You know your travel style best, but if it were me, I would want two weeks in each base, eithe perhaps some shorter trips in between. I travel for 99+ days each summer (Schengen and non-Schengen), and except for a few cities (Roma, Paris, London), a week is enough in any one city for me.

I'll toss in my two-cents here as my husband and I regularly spend a month or more in one place. For some people this would make them crazy but, for us, it is wonderful! We can take our time, see what we want to see at a leisurely pace, and have the time to explore places that we find out about the longer we are there - it's amazing how many things we find that are not in the guidebooks!
We have spent a month or more in both Paris and London so I can vouch for the fact that you will not want for things to do in these cities as well as things on the outskirts...there is plenty! We have also done this in Prague, Switzerland (a small village near Lake Geneva), rural Norway, a small city in southern France, and other locations around the world. I've been to Florence and Barcelona and would not hesitate to spend a month in either city. It isn't just about seeing the sights, it's about experiences too; meeting people, frequenting the same restaurants so you get to know the owners, meeting the neighbors, etc. There are so many things to participate in that you should definitely take advantage of.
It sometimes takes us a few days to slow down and find our rhythm without feeling like we have to see as much as possible every day but, once we do, we thoroughly enjoy ourselves.
We don't rent apartments but home exchange. It frees up our cash to do everything we want to do rather than spending our money on lodging. It isn't for everyone but we love stepping into someone else's life and "living" in a place for a while.

4 months? Familiarize yourselves with the 1985 Schengen Agreement particularly the 90/180 rule.

Realize that you can only stay in the Schengen zone for 90 days within a 180 day period. Once you enter a Schengen country, that 90 day clock begins. So think about that when you're planning your QM2 travel itinerary.

If you're returning on the QM2 on September 15, for example, and don't want to have to keep track of the # of days you're in the Schengen zone, you could wait until exactly 90 days before September 15 to enter a Schengen country. That might make things easier for you. If not, keep track of the days you're in Schengen nations.

Thank you for your responses. Here are some answers and comments, in no particular order.

I have actually taken an ocean liner before - when I was a child my family took La France to London and back. I have vague memories - mostly the smell of croissants.

I appreciate the extended, detailed itinerary that was suggested, and may use it as a guideline, although, again, we want to stay in fewer places. We are looking for depth, not breadth. There is an idea known as Slow Travel that we are planning on following. It suits us. I do not want to be in a new hotel every few days for 3 months straight. I’d much rather rent an apartment for 2, 3 or four weeks, settle in and explore.

This brings me to the last comment - I am so heartened to hear that this is something you enjoy - some people don’t understand my desired travel style and I was beginning to have doubts about it.

So aside from my stays in London, Paris, and Barcelona, where would you recommend as a good rural area to stay for a week? Somewhere we could easily access Florence, and towns across Tuscany? A spot in Provence you’d recommend? Or a quaint town in the Alps? I’m trying to stay away from expended stays in Switzerland, as it is so expensive.

Update: We arrive in Southampton on May 24, and we leave Southampton on September 3. So it’s easier now to break up our time in schengen area with UK as bookends.

Sounds good!

You do know that you don't have to spend your 90 days in one continuous stay?

Don't forget that both you arrival day in the Schengen Zone and your departure day count.

Hi,

Great that you have this time, ca 4 months. I have made trip outline plans for 105 days or so, which includes the UK. What about Poland, the Czechia, Hungary and Austria? I would suggest including these countries in your travel plans.

So asking for a rural place to stay. I'd suggest Tuscany. Lucca is close to both Florence and Pisa and is a lovely town. Fairly convenient to maybe go to Cinque Terre etc. Is it only for a week though? What about Collioure in the South of France. It would be a nice stopover between Barcelona and Paris

We tend to spend 5 to 10 nights in larger cities and still not run out of things to do. For what it's worth here is a list of where we've been for how long and where I'd like to spend a week or more that I haven't been. So taking you at your word as a fellow slow traveller here is my personal list of home bases for a week or more:

London (one week each on three separate trips). Given the art museums, churches, history museums, and the plethora of possible day trips, I could be happy for a month in London.

Paris (one week each on two separate trips). Another city I could spend a month in.

Amsterdam (one week once). Provided you take full advantage of the easy day trips, this is a two to three week city.

Vienna (one week once). A great art museum town but otherwise not my cup of tea. Two weeks would have been nice.

Prague (10 days once). There are a few day trips and a surprisingly engaging smaller sites. Two weeks.

Rome (one week once, three days once). I'd recommend as much as a month with daytrips.

Florence (one weeks each three times). I'd happily spend a month on art museums and day trips here.

Immediate plans with tickets bought:

One week Barcelona. We will have time for about half what we would like to do.

One week Madrid. This will be museums and three day trips.

One week Seville. This will be about half day trips.

Wish list:

One week Berlin, two weeks rural Tuscany from one to two baes; one week hiking from a central base or one a route with luggage transfer in any of several places in England, Switzerland, Northern Italy, German Alps, French Alps; one week narrow boating in England; one week boating on Loch Ness in Scotland; one week Istanbul; two weeks southern Italy driving from one or two bases; one week Budapest; one week Venice; one week Lisbon.

I envy you your time and choices. I suggest checking out many travel guides from the library to aid in choosing what is most appealing to you.

I would consider stopping a couple nights in smaller places between each large city destination. That won't wear you out and will add some variety and green.

I would prefer a month in Provence and a month in Saxony over one in London and one in Paris. I guess I don’t need all that big city stimulation.

Denmark allows 90 additional days after 90 Schengen days spent elsewhere (180 consecutive Schengen days total) if that helps out. You would have to fly nonstop from Denmark to the UK at the end since interim countries won’t recognize Danish law. I know this option exists but never read anyone who has taken advantage.

Congratulations, good for you guys! We are about your same age, for what that might be worth.
My husband and I have made 2 lengthy trips abroad and here is what I can speak about.
Barcelona and Prague are both undeniably beautiful but are suffering from visitor fatigue.
Barcelona is famous for many things, but for my husband and I, we weren’t interested in the club scene or the beach scene. The Sagrada Familia is worth going to Barcelona alone for, make SURE you get your tickets in advance. We were there in the build up to the vote and felt perfectly safe and a witness to history.
We visited Barcelona and drove up to Figueres for 2 nights to see the Dali museums and 6 days total was plenty for us for that area.
Driving in Spain and France was easy peasy and if you shop around and book ahead very economical. We had a mini, more spacious than expected, and used our credit card coverage as insurance and it is actually THE ONLY way to get 100% coverage with zero deductible. Read the fine print repeatedly. It was about $100 a week plus tolls and fuel which is more expensive than here. I sought out lodging with free safe parking and had good luck with it.
On our Spain trip we rented a car for 4 weeks and visited Granada, Seville, Toledo, Avila and Madrid.
WE LOVED Seville and Madrid.
I would use Madrid as a base.
Madrid did not disappoint, the museums were magnificent and you will need more time than you think for them. We didn’t visit the Basque Country or anything north of Madrid, but we will.., On the Spain trip we drove down the Mediterranean coast from Figueres to Tarifa, it turns out the roads aren’t actually on THE coast and it was a dull 16 hour drive, so I don’t recommend THAT. We skipped over Valencia because you can’t do everything. We always use Airbnb’s and we always stay in the old part of town. It’s made it very affordable for us to travel.
London lodging and transportation can be expensive but most of the museums are free. If you have the time, which it sounds like you do, then I would stay in the more suburban, little villages areas around London, save money and bus/underground/train in to the city and have a good look around the country.
Paris has been going through hard times the last decade, I have been a few times and would recommend staying inside the iconic and most beautiful arrondissements and pay a little more to be close inside the city, then be able to walk a lot. It’s awsome to get out of Paris and to drive through the Loire and Dorgdone, just magical and beautiful.
Central and Eastern Europe are incredibly economical and less visited. Anywhere without the euro tends to be a bargain, except the UK and the northern countries.
I want to recommend Krakow Poland, a smaller University city and staying in the Jewish quarter and Budapest Hungary in the central part of the city on either side of the river. They are a couple of terrific and very inexpensive European cities to visit. Ahhh Budapest. Czech Republic was wonderful but Prague just had too many visitors and we were there in shoulder season.
The idea of moving around every 2 or 3 or 4 days is not the way to travel in my book. We always talk about “When we come back... “or “Next time when we visit.,,” wether or not we will be able to go again, because you can’t do everything and still have it be enjoyable.
I haven’t been to Italy, yet.
I get fatigued and homesick after 6 weeks and it’s not as fun for me. One thing I want to stress is the importance of purchasing tickets in advance for trains, big sites or anything really important to you because you could easily not get in. I have missed out on the catacombs in Paris repeatedly just being a bonehead, I still can’t believe it. Maybe next time? As The Dude says, “But, that’s just my opinion, man.”

Thank you to everyone for all the information. I appreciate the time some have taken to communicate such thoughtful advice.

What’s a convenient, safe, hopefully charming close-to-London suburb we might consider staying in?

The schengen issue is handled. Our trip is now a total of 104 days, and we will be spending many more than 14 of those days the in the UK.

The biggest problem is trying to figure a way not to be in Spain or Italy in the hottest months, because a June - Early September trip means 1. Summer heat and 2. Summer crowds. I don’t see a way around it.

The Dolomites in northern Italy and the stretch of northern Spain between the Basque Country and Galicia are places that usually do not get very hot weather.

If doing multi entries into the Schengen zone make sure you keep track of the entry stamps and you might tag the most recent stamp with a sticky note for the benefit of the exit immigration officer. I encountered a slight problem with that last year. We had been in the zone in early March briefly for a couple days and then reentered in later September for a couple weeks. On exiting from a small French airport, the immigration officer quickly found the entry stamp in March and began to question me about the length of my stay. He is now talking to me in very limited English and paging through my passport for the second time. I try to tell him that we had entered about two weeks early and his comment was , "No stamp !!" About two thirds of my passport pages are filled. He finally found it on the third time through the pages but was not happy. I now put a small sticky label on my current entry stamp.

Hi,

Setting your trip length at 104 days is very doable, giving you ample time to see the visit the sights, have down time, etc. I suggest more of a French itinerary.

If you go as soon as you can to Spain, Barcelona/Costa Brava might not be too hot in early June. Or set your sights for more northern climes, there's lots to enjoy everywhere. Vienna is conveniently located between Saltzburg, Prague and Budapest. Or Belgium/Netherlands.

How wonderful that you have the opportunity to have an extended stay in Europe! I totally agree with the notion of spending a lot of time in each location. It's the only way to really learn about a place and it's more relaxing that picking up and moving every few days. Everyone has their own preferred travel style; please don't ever have doubts about yours!

I second Chani's idea of Vienna. Salzburg, Graz, Brno, Budapest, Bratislava are "relatively" close for day trips or overnight stays. I'm sure someone can suggest smaller towns that should be picturesque. Have fun.

I am going to save this post. Great information and ideas from everyone.

Cities that I have used for extended two week stays and as bases for easy day trips (in parentheses):
1. Paris (Chartres, Reims, Chateau country, Versailles)
2. Madrid (Avila, Segovia, Toledo, El Escorial)
3. Munich (Innsbruck, Salzburg, Garmish-Partenkirchen, Regensburg, Nuremberg, Wurzburg)
4. Vienna (Salzburg, Budapest, Melk, Krems and Wachau Valley)
5. Rome (Florence, Pisa, Assisi, Orvieto, Lucca)

The MOST surprising base city was Madrid. I wasn't expecting that. For a huge city, it seemed very laid back to me.

I like your slow travel idea, but I would choose more bases because unless you want to spend many days just wandering, most places aren't really good for a three week stay.

London, might would be good for three weeks if you took lots of day trips. Seven days in London plus: Bath, Salisbury, Oxford, Stratford Upon Avon, Cambridge, Dover, Canterbury, Bletchley Park, Hampton Court, Winchester, Plymouth, and Portsmouth would be 19 nights if you did all of those day trips and more if you stayed overnight for some of them. But, British trains aren't cheap, and daytripping that often sounds exhausting rather than leisurely. I'd stay two weeks in London including a day trip every senond to third day.

You will need to spend more time than two weeks outside The Scehgien Zone though. Consider a few days in two or more of Bath, Chester, York, or Edinburgh.

Paris, like London could be stretched to three weeks but is probably better with just two.

Barcelona does not have s many day trip possibilities or as may museums. There's tons of moderista architecture though. You might give it a week and a half.

There are several good day trips from Madrid and several really fine museums. So perhaps a week and a half in Madrid.

Seville too has good day trip possibilities. Perhaps a week there?

I've happily spend a week in Florence twice, but we day trips both times and we really love Renaissance art. I'd be happy two weeks there, you might not. Day trips include Siena, Lucca, Pisa, Arrezzo, Cortona. High speed rail makes Bonolgia a possibility. If you stay overnight San Giminango would work.

I recommend a few days in Venice and couple weeks in Rome.

Other places I'd consider two weeks in include: Amsterdam (mostly for the endless day trip possibilities by train; Vienna (mostly for the museums and palaces though there are a few possible day trips.

For a long week consider Prague, Budapest, and Berlin.

A possibility to stretch out your time in each city would be to take a day long cooking class in each of Paris, Rome, Florence, and Barcelona. Taking a few half day walking tours or in depth art museum tours would help too.

In between your longer stays consider a couple two or three night stops in smaller places.

Thank you again to everyone for your suggestions.

I have more (!) questions.

How necessary is it to make lodging reservations for every day, ahead of time? I know this is a very broad question, but i'm trying to see how possible it is to NOT PLAN EVERYTHING within an inch of my life. For instance, if we stay in our hub cities for 2-3 weeks, and then take a week to travel to the next, could I consider having those portions of my trip be more spontaneous? Is it possible to drive through a town, love it, and stop there for the night without pre-planning? I am remembering trips with my parents, both of whom were very at home in Europe, and we rarely had made a reservation. That was over 30 years ago, though, so maybe its just not possible anymore. If i attempt this, am i risking the possibility of staying in the train station overnight? I'd love any feedback.

I have seen the suggestion of using Vienna as a hub city, but could Budapest replace Vienna and still give us plenty of places to see within a couple hours drive?

Thanks again for all your ideas.

I plan my trips (currently 3 to 4-1/2 months) as I go and cannot imagine planning such a long trip fully ahead of time. The issue is: What is the minimum advance time you need to find minimally acceptable lodgings (including price)?

The question about arriving in town without a reservation has come up a few times in the last year. I think most of us feel that doing that during peak season can be very risky. With the internet, the world has changed. Nearly all the other travelers (your completion for hotel rooms) will have at least booked the night before--most earlier than that. And whereas you could walk into just about any tourist office back in the 1970s-1980s and have them find you a room, many no longer offer that service. (In England, some rather touristy places don't even have a tourist office--I give you Brighton just as one example.)

I know that having a car gives you some flexibility, but as someone else pointed out in an earlier thread: How much time do you want to spend during key sightseeing hours, pounding the pavement (or driving around) to find a hotel room? What you need is a detailed guidebook for each country you're going to visit. That allows you to read about the area to which you are headed a bit in advance and identify towns you think would be acceptable for overnighting. Then the night before, you look at mileages and make a decision. Unless you're planning long drives, the place you plan to stay probably won't be all that far from the pretty place you passed through on the way, so you may well be in a position to go back and spend more time there.

Even the above technique is not advisable if you want to stay in a convenient location (say, right in the historic district) in a specific town. You need to be flexible and settle for something that is "close enough". Even planning 4 or more days in advance last summer, I wasn't able to find anything remotely affordable in Arles and very nearly didn't in Avignon, either. It turned out that there was some sort of festival going on in Arles that I hadn't stumbled on in my too-cursory research. I also had a lot of difficulty finding lodgings 4 to 7 days in advance in coastal Devon and Cornwall during August. (Cornwall is extremely dicey these days; it seems to have a shortage of both hotel rooms and restaurant tables.) I ended up having to add one-night stays in a couple of (perfectly nice but unplanned) non-coastal towns so I could shift my other lodging dates to match availability.

I love your idea of staying in a place for three or four weeks. It will give you the opportunity to discover not only the major tourist sites (you can usually cover those within three or four days) but also the smaller but more authentic things along the wayside. And I am sure you will find that those are no less worth experiencing than the major sites everyone is crowding in front of.

We have actually spent two or even three weeks on a single Greek island - and loved every minute of it. Never felt we had to rush on and hop across five islands during that time like many people do. As a matter of fact, at the end of that time we had the feeling we really knew the island, we had made some friends, and we came back home not totally exhausted but wonderfully relaxed.

We try to do the same thing when we visit the U.S.. Many travelers just tick off the main attractions on their list - Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Disneyland. We try to slow down our pace and look left and right. State parks for instance - many of them are absolutely awesome, and many travelers never even know they are there, right next to their route!

So, choose well, but once you have made your decision, just be ready to enjoy what is there, including the small things others will overlook when rushing through. And I am sure there will be enough for you to enjoy wherever you go!

Congratulations on your trip! My friend Mary and I are in the advanced planning stages of a 5 month trip very similar to yours that starts in April with a flight to Pairs. And no matter what anyone says you are doing it the right way. I feel it necessary to bring, if not some balance to this thread, then some perspective of one who has lived in Europe and traveled widely there over decades.

We are, like you basing ourselves in certain areas... We have rented a house overlooking the Adriatic where it meets the Med in Puglia, Italy for a month, then after a short jaunt through Macedonia, Dubrovnik and Serbia to visit Visegrad we are off to Bulgaria where we have rented a very cool house way out in the country for another month.

These two bases will give us time and the opportunity to really get to know the locals and the surrounding areas and in the case of Bulgaria..the country at our pace on our terms.

I have been to more than 40 countries and lived in quite a few and I can tell you that LIVING in places like Cambodia (7 years) Switzerland, Paris, Egypt and others has taught me that there is no substitute for being in a place long enough to really get to know it.
I am envious that you are crossing on Cunard. We had originally planned that but they didnt have a kennel open for my pooch. There is nothing like days at sea to relax and re-orient you.

As to reservations in advance, summer can be very busy in many places. I am making a lot of advance reservations because of taking my dog. We have booked AirBnb places in Paris, Rome, Florence, Visegrad, Naples, Marina di Novalgile in Puglia, Budapest, Bulgaria and lastly Near Split in Croatia. In most places we are spending at least a week or more, in some just a few days. (Like Visegrad). (My friend Mary has never been to Europe so this is like her "Grand Tour") (With me as Tour Guide)

Dont let the shengen thing worry you to distraction just count the days. Go at your pace, do your own thing and it will all work out. Somehow it always has for me.

Take Care and Have Fun...and for goodness sake keep us updated on your progress here we'd love to hear how it all goes.

...And NEVER EVER think it will be your last time...You'll be back...trust me.