Hello all, we've been planning my trip for the better part of a year, and have learned such an accumulation of knowledge from this site and some RS books I bought. Me and my girlfriend are flying into Rome on May 29th and out of Paris on the 13th of July - and we have a rough plan of where we want to go in between:
Rome - 5 days (including travel recoup)
Florence - 2 days
Venice - 3 days
Munich - 4 days (daytrip to Neuschwanstein)
Salzburg and/or Hallstatt - 2 days
Vienna - 3 days
Prague - 4 days
Krakow - 3 days
Warsaw - 3 days
Berlin - 3 days
Benleux - 4 days
Paris - 4 days
We've already booked our accommodations for the first three cities, and are going sans rail pass due to a combination of Eastern European/Italian rail travel and some thrifty use of Lander tickets in Germany/Austria. Overall it would have been pretty darn close to breaking even. With that, we really have two questions:
We're both really set on seeing Krakow and Warsaw, but how can we make it work with the least amount of traveling between Vienna, Prague, Krakow and Warsaw and then on to Berlin? We were thinking either doing them in that order with a night train between Warsaw and Berlin, but that Prague to Krakow trip seems quite long - any tips?
With four or five days available between Berlin and Paris, what would people recommend?
We keep fretting about the ability to get a hostel room with 3-5 days notice, especially in Vienna/Salzburg with Euro2008 in town. Is there anyone with experience who can relate and share their experiences?
We just signed up for your Schwab Checking account, thanks to all for that gem of a find!
Thanks again to all!
Brian and Becky