Europe Virgin Seeks Plethora of Information

I think you have certainly come to the right place to help you on your great adventure!!! Start with Rick Steve's Book Europe thru the Back Door which has lots of great advice. You initial plan seems good to me to start in London then to the continent. Do not buy one way tickets, book multi city tickets such as into London and home from Rome. you can take grain from London to Paris then fly to Rome and home from there. Also look at this forum for ideas about packing, transportation, money saving advice etc. I would write down questions you two have, then search here or internet for answers. You can learn so much from travelers.here who have learned a lot and recovered from their mistakes and I am certainly one of them. I have learned so much thru experience and a lot of help from this forum. You will.also. what a great idea for the two of you. I personally do not see the need for a travel agent with all the help out on the internet. Also you may make a few mistakes when traveling but it is not the end of the world but part of the adventure and experience.

Should I go to a travel agent?

Probably not, but if you have never done any travel planning it might be an idea to consider

Is it better to start/end in one place over another?

Given the time of year and your choices, I would start in Italy and work my way north

Once we fly there, are trains the best way to get from country to country?

Paris/London is easy by train and traveling among your Italian destination is best done by train.
The Paris/Italy is probably better to fly.

For best results on your other questions relating to 'budget' your providing a numeric value of what you can spend makes it easier to provide useful advice. None of your destinations are known for being 'cheap'.

For lodging booking.com is a good place to do research, and it's usually best to book directly with the lodging itself.

For flights you can do research at skyscanner.com. In your case you would want to select the 'multi-city' option to fly into Rome and home from London.

What is a 'few days' ? Best to count how many nights you will spend somewhere when planning.

Kristy and daughter, welcome to the forum. Lucky you to be traveling to Europe.

It looks like to you have two weeks in Europe? If so, I think you are trying to see too much. You can easily spend two weeks in London and Paris with day trips to surrounding areas. Take the EuroStar between both.
OR spend two weeks in Italy, flying into Venice and out of Rome because flights are easier. Take the train between your three cities and day trips to villages.
Every time you move from one city to another it costs you at least 1/2 day of time and sightseeing

Read Rick Steves guide books as starters for information. Ask lots of questions on the forum and use the search feature and Explore Europe tab for more info.

After you decide what you want to see most, lots of us are budget travelers and can help you find hotels and things to see.
Kathy

PS I'm prejudiced against travel agents. In this day and age, you can find and book everything on the computer yourself. It just takes research and friends to help you. That's why we're here.
Bon Voyage! or Buon Viaggio!

Welcome to the forum!
As Gail said, boy have you ever landed in the right place! Everything you need to plan your great adventure can be found with help from the nice folks right here plus a good guidebook (or two, or three...). No, you do not need an agent. To be perfectly honest, too many of them haven't traveled much further than their keyboards.

You've gotten a head start knowing where it is you'd like to go. Budget? You will be traveling during high season when accommodation prices can be their most pricey BUT you're another step ahead being willing to look at hostels (many have private rooms), and you might look at monastery accommodations too; you'll get some recommendations for some of those from posters here who've done them. Hostels? https://www.hostelworld.com is a great place to start. You do need to pay attention to where the individual properties are located so that you're closer to the things you want to see versus away. (Rome: Take a look at The Beehive; been a top hostel property for years, it's conveniently located, offers private rooms and social gatherings, and is rated "Superb" on Hostelworld. It does book up quickly so if you find openings for your dates, jump on them unless you see something else you'd prefer: https://www.the-beehive.com)

Another tip right off the bat is that all of the cities you list are very walkable so you don't need to spend lots of $ to get around, and they're best seen from one's feet anyway! London and Paris are more spread out than the 3 Italian locations so you'll likely want to take the occasional Tube, Metro or bus ride. Yes, high-speed Trenitalia or Italo trains between Venice, Florence and Rome (some nice price breaks can be landed if booked in advance) and plane from Paris to Venice. Also to book ahead: Eurostar train from London to Paris.

Where you do NOT want to skimp on is your sightseeing! DO spend for the things that will make this trip all that you wish for it to be! There are oodles of great things that are free, such as many museums in London and endless glorious churches in Rome, but I'm sure you have a wish list of other treasures that involve tickets/reservations? That's a little bit down the road at this point but if you share what those are, we can help with the official resources for ticketing and maybe a worthwhile tour or two. Just a start? Now go get those guidebooks; your public library should be an economical place to take a look at some before purchasing one to take along. You're going to have so much fun!!!

Some excellent advice so far. You really dont need a travel agent for independent land travel in Europe. Google Flights for air tickets and booking.com for accommodations are very good resources. The Man in Seat 61 website can teach you all there is to know about European train travel.

But the first thing you need to do is plan your itinerary. How many days (nights) in total. How many in each place? And do those 2 reconcile? Reading the various sections of this site is a good first step. I'd start with the Travel Tips, and the Trip Planning section. Get a few guidebooks, including the RS Europe Through the Back Door. Watch some of the RS videos that are applicable including his planning guides. And as your planning progresses, come back here to ask more specific questions.

Try to get as much time as possible for your trip-leaving on a Sat and returning on a Sun will add two additional days. I think you can do these 5 cities in that amount of time. Absolutely fly open jaw-in and out of different countries.

Hi, Kristy, if it's at all possible for you to take 3 weeks, that would be ideal. You could spend 10 nights in Italy, and 4 nights each in London and Paris. That gives you 2-3 extra days to travel between the three. If you don't have 3 weeks, maybe shoot for 18 days?

Either way, I would look at flying into Rome; spending what time you have in italy there and where ever else you choose, then travel to Paris (flying there is your best option unless you want to spend 11-12 hours on a train), spend your time there, then take the Eurostar to London and finish your trip there, flying home from London.

Or reverse that. I don't think, weatherwise, it really matters where you are over a 2-3 week period. In a way, it might be better to start in London so you don't have a language barrier right off the bat, and London is really easy to make your way through. It's also very expensive as others have noted, but there are cheaper places to stay. I would recommend Premier Inn, which is a UK-based chain of hotels and they are located all over London. They are clean, comfortable and relatively inexpensive. Keep in mind that the earlier you book, the cheaper the rates will be.

Don't be afraid to come back and ask questions. I guarantee that trying to go through all these responses (including mine) will be overwhelming, so take it easy and take one step at a time. But do think about your budget. Figure out how much you want to spend overall, and how many places you can conceivably go to in the time you have. As I mentioned getting from Italy to Paris will take some time unless you fly, but flying can be expensive.

One good way to check flights is through Google, which has a site dedicated to looking for flights and giving you prices. You don't book them on Google; it's just for looking. https://www.google.com/travel/flights You can check foreign flights there, too. I just looked at Venice flights to Paris, and they range from $500 to $800+, so they can be expensive. Trains would be cheaper, but again, you're looking at an 11 to 12 hour train ride. You might consider leaving Italy for a later trip, and maybe choosing something closer like Amsterdam, or Munich and so on.

Just keep in mind it's your trip so you can to decide what you want to do.