Is this itinerary too ambitious?

You are going places where I have little to offer, so I will write a line or two on the safety remark. I wont argue or offer meaningless comparisons, but with the possibility of a very few destinations Europe is as safe today as it was 10 years ago. A few countries are safe regardless of most any benchmark. So, I would encourage you to not consider this your last trip. I am over 55 and I still have a dozen adventures waiting for me. I suggest when you return from this trip you begin looking for the next trip, and I bet you find a lot of places that call to your interests and are well within your comfort zone.

I'm 65 and wouldn't have a problem with the basic pace of your trip. My preference, however, is not to hopscotch around to the degree you are planning. In this case, what would tire me out would be the flights. Fly to Europe and spend 4 days in Brussels, then hustle to the airport for a flight to Vienna. Spend 4 days in Vienna, then hustle to the airport for a flight to Zurich. Then probably less than a week later there's another flight. I wouldn't like that at all.

Unless your ear condition makes it inadvisable, I'd look into taking the train from Vienna to Chur. There are departures every 2 hours in the morning and early afternoon that will get you to Chur in less than 7-1/2 hours with just 1 or 2 changes. That's probably a bit more time than you'd need for a flight to Zurich followed by a train, but it would be simpler and (for me) less stressful.

You could discuss with your doctor the possibility of carrying antibiotics with you in case you pick up a respiratory infection while on the road.

A few thoughts on your post....
If you have to ask here your itinerary is probably too ambitious.

I don't know your exact itinerary but something Ed ( a well respected forum member who hasn't posted lately) used to say, Don't have more than one mode of transportation in a day. Flying somewhere to take a train the same day is inefficient.

If you have ear trouble on planes I wouldn't have booked more flights while in Europe. Having taught SCUBA for many years I am well informed on ear/pressure maladies. My best advice is when you take your decongestant and/or analgesic, time it so it is most effective (an hour or two prior) for your landing.

Just my personal preference but you haven't mentioned Italy or much of France? How can you not include Italy?

Having traveled your option 1 , I suggest unconsider option 2 as a preferred itinerary, which i have also done. Suggest u try to incl Brugge in your itin as it is a train ride away and fabulous.
All the best .

Yep, your itinerary is a little too aggressive.
I would have little interest in spending 4 nights in Brussels. I'd like to see Bruges and then go over to Amsterdam via train, however. Then fly down to Vienna--one of my favorite cities.
Why don't you spend more time in Austria going over to Salzburg and down to Innsbruck? You could also stop over in Hallstadt which is on a beautiful mountain lake. You can get your mountain vistas in--and Austria's much cheaper and easier to travel through than going all the way to Switzerland. You might have time to take a train from Innsbruck to Venice for a change of scenery.
Or, you could easily get to Bratislava and Budapest out of Vienna.
You just have so many great options on travel that flow easier than your original itinerary.

Would you consider using a ferry from Caen (or one of the other nearby ports) to Portsmouth? Would save you backtracking to Paris for the Eurostar and would get you closer to Oxford without having to go to London. You could still take the Eurostar back to Brussels and catch up with London then (if you wanted). This may give you an extra day (or less) to add somewhere else.

The last poster can keep his opinion of our President elect to himself.

Cynthia,
I like your itinerary, and don't think it is too ambitious. However, why are you going to Vienna? I know you have already booked it, but I would have stuck to a more geographic close itinerary.

You will love Normandy, the people there are very friendly and love Americans.
For Britain, suggest visiting Bath, Stratford on Avon, Oxford and a day in the small towns of the Cotswolds.

Woinparis, my thoughts exactly.

I do think your iternary is too extensive. I would vote for train when you can. On our last rip, we flew from Munich to Berlin to try and avoid a 6 hr train ride and gain that time in Berlin. We ended up more exhausted by having to get to airport early , etc. Train would have been scenic and restful.

Re: safety concerns and our election - while i agree we should try and keep politics off this site- it is interesting that we Americans look at the safety of areas in Europe as a concern in response to the European political climate but don't think about how the safety in our own country is perceived by Europeans. AND that is worth a separate discussion.

I really appreciate all of your suggestions. You've provided me with a number of workable alternatives to an itinerary that could benefit from a bit of streamlining. Thank you all for taking the time to share your expertise.

Cynthia,
When finalizing your plans please keep this in mind. It almost always takes longer to go from Point A to Point B than anticipated. You've probably experienced this before. Since this may be your last trip you want it to be memorable. And what you want are memories of places, people, activities, and such --- not just a blur of train stations and airports. Don't mean to rain on your parade or be disagreeable with those who favor and can handle whirlwind trips, but sometimes less is actually more. Just something to consider.

My reply was deleted when I asked the webmaster to police this site and delete negative comments to our presidential election. I guess he/she just cleaned the others comments.

Cynthia,

I too suffer from barotrauma.

You may not have considered this but...you might have to.

The tunnel for the Eurostar is 34 miles long and takes around 30 minutes from end to end.

The Berenia express has a change in altitude and 55 tunnels.

When I travel, my Dr has me take a vertigo medication and before landing an antihistamine. He also gives me an antibiotic to take with me.

You may want to check in with your dentist for a full set of x-rays to see if you have a root infection that has not manifested.

I'm close to 70, and travel to Europe yearly. Don't make yourselves old before your time.

Hi,

Chronologically, you two are tens years behind me. If the ear problem is reoccurring, I would skip the flying option, or use it once , ie Brussels to Vienna, depending on the time factor. If I were doing that route, I would take the train to Düsseldorf, stay the night, take the day train to Munich, change to Vienna. There is also the night train option, Düsseldorf-Munich, which I've done. How are you returning to Brussels to fly out? Depending on the time, you may have to skip part of the planned itinerary.

I wonder about going to the Alps in spring, if the places you're considering are indeed in the Alps. Unless there's a lot of late snow, it will be after ski season but too early for hiking with many trails either snowbound or muddy with the spring thaw. That's usually the time of year cable cars and suchlike shut down for maintenance.

A month is a long time to string together multiple short destinations. Even with a car, changing locations every night or two can be draining. I find it easier to stay in one place, even if it adds an hour or two of driving time. With 30 days, I'd try to plan 5-6 places to stay 4-5 nights with unavoidable 1-2 nighters in-between.

It does seem to be that you are returning to places you've visited in the past . . . Italy, Brussels, Normandy. Why not explore new places. Budapest or Prague by train from Vienna, either could fill 4-5 days. Why are you spending 4 nights in Brussels, where you've already been? Amsterdam is not an easy day trip - it's a 3 hour train ride from Brussels - the only 2 hour ride (per bahn.de) in the morning leaves after 9.30 and requires a change in Antwerp. If you want to see Amsterdam, just go there from the Brussels airport (there are trains from the airport to Antwerp, then change to Amsterdam) and spend your 4 nights there, then take the train back to Brussels for your flight (would have been better not to have locked into the Vienna flight ).