Please help with our one month Europe Itinerary!

I agree that Switzerland is feasible. However, for your initial itinerary above (that does not include Switzerland), I would suggest traveling London > Paris > Amsterdam rather than London >A'dam > Paris. It's less time on the train. Unless you have some really great airfare from Paris, you can fly to Rome from Amsterdam as easily. More so, actually.

Hi Guys Thanks for the feedback and the re-assurance. I have the three flights booked. NY to London, Paris to Rome and Venice to NY. I redeemed about $800 worth of Citi Thank you points and for all three of us it was $3300 out of pocket. So I was real happy. I've also been accumulating Hilton Honors points so I redeemed all of them for 21 nights of this trip! London Hampton Inn Croydon, Trianon Palace in Versailles and Rome Cavellieri. There werent Hilton properties available in Amsterdam or Venice so I chose the Inntel in Zaandam and the Ca Formenta in Venice which I found on expedia. I am now trying to book train transportation. I thought Eurostar allows you to book 120 days out and I tried to book the London to Amsterdam train but the website is telling me I have to wait until mid April!? What gives. I also just checked airfare from London to Amsterdam and Kayak pointed me to easyjet with $80 fares for each of us! Will the Eurostar be comparable? I would really like to see the countryside on the train but if the flight is cheaper, just might do it. Thanks again for any advice!

Congratulations for coming up with a very reasonable itinerary. Too many people want to 'see it all' and it all becomes a blur to them. Especially traveling with a young child it is good to minimize short stays. A week each in London, Paris and Rome is great. There is a lot to do in those locations, and you would even have time for day trips. You have a lot of cities, so it would be nice to see some smaller places. For example, Orvieto is an easy day trip from Rome. I assume you are flying open jaw, into London and home from Venice? You might consider flying from Paris to Venice and save Rome for last. Are you considering staying in apartments for your longer stays? You will have more room, and if you rent places with washers (I always do) you can take care of your laundry needs. That helps for packing light. I use vrbo.com and homeaway.com to find apartments.

Have you got your NYC - London and Venice - NYC airfare bought yet?

You could easily fit in Switzerland. Obviously, you'll need to take some time off from Paris, Rome or both. If want to see the mountains, I would recommend staying for at least 3 nights.

It may have only just opened since you posted but I just saw trains released on 12th July 2013 through fares from London to Amsterdam. Less than 10 seats for £84 on the 0804, only £61 on the 0858. That's from the official website. I'd jump on it if I were you.

Thanks so much Nigel But when I go to www.Eurostar.com and put in for July 12 London to Amsdam, I get: Please check the following information:
Tickets for your departure date will be available for purchase online from 13 April 2013 onward. I dont understand.

I know the problem. I punched in the 12th of June not the 12th of July as you are looking for. Nope, the 12th of June is the last day available at the moment. Sorry to get your hopes up. Look again in about 4 weeks.

As everyone else has said, your child needs a passport - no other documentation will be accepted for an international flight. In addition, to prevent child abduction and the like, the requirements for getting a child's passport are now more involved than before. Both you and your husband will have to appear in person with your son, for starters. And appointments for live passport applications can be hard to get on weekends (my sister and her husband had to wait a few weeks; luckily, they had allowed enough time). Here's the official site, so you can get started NOW: http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/minors/minors_834.html

and, although I see this is a first trip to Europe, we don't know how old your and your wife's passport are. I take it that when you are ready to return from Italy they will have time remaining on them?

Question about entry requirement for these countries. Me and my wife have US passports...I suppose that will be sufficient. But my 7 year old son does not have one. Other than his birth certificate, is there anything else we need? Many thanks again

The kid needs a passport. Look at a map to see where Croydon is. You may need to rethink how many days you need for London.

Your itinerary looks great. But as Ed said, your son needs his own passport. Best to get busy on that right away, since as peak travel season approaches, things could potentially get delayed.

Zubin go get your child a passport now, he can't fly out of States to a foriegn country without one!

OMG! I had no idea there was such a thing as a child's passport. Thank you all and thanks for the link Harold! Yup Nigel me and and the wife have plenty of time on our passports...:)

Following up on the passport for your child, just a note that both parents do not need to be physically present in the passport office. The parent who goes to get the passport must have a Form DS 3053 that has been signed by the parent who can't be there along with a copy of that parent's ID. The Form must have been notarized.

Your question about train vs. Easy Jet. When you compare, take into account: 1. possible extra fees on Easy Jet for seat ion, luggage, booking fees. 2. additional time and cost to get to/from airports to city centers. Remember you need to be at the airport earlier than at the train station, too.
3. if you're traveling with checked bags, you'll have to wait for them at your destination airport. I prefer the train because it's easier, more comfortable and less can go wrong, even if it ends up costing a few $$ more.