Tickets are purchased!!

You made the right decision as you need at least one week to see some of the great cities of Italia. Spending the majority of time in London/Paris gives you the chance to see these great cities w/o being rushed. Weather and the number of tourist should be fine.

How exciting... I think you made the right decision with a 13year old. Save Italy for another trip. Lots to do in Paris and she will get more of a feeling of the Parisian lifestyle than if you just do the typical touristy stuff and rush on to another country. More time to hang out in cafes and watch the fashion parade of the stylish French!

It definitely sounds like you did the right thing. I know London is very expensive and Paris isn't cheap. But sense you have a friend to stay with in London as a home base, and can travel around there a couple of days, then off to Dublin sounds great. Paris is a beautiful city, and you will enjoy it. Don't forget to go to the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, and a walk along the Seine. Notre Dame of course is beautiful. But as the other person said, it is just fun to relax, watch the people, eat the fabulous food and go to the cafe's. Don't forget about Monte Marte and Sacre Cour, there is a beautiful view of Paris from this hill. Take care and have a wonderful trip.

Congrats!

Congratulations! But how do you ferry from London to Dublin in two days? I would skip Dublin. If you want to see something besides London and Paris, take a day trip from London to a smaller town or the countryside. The choices are endless. I think you will enjoy a break from the cities. Dublin isn't even that great of a city -- it pales in comparison to London and Paris. But whatever you do -- have a great trip!

Thanks everyone- Dublin is for my daughter, she is keen to go to Ireland. We will be at loose ends while my friend works for the first couple of days after we get there, and we are going to wait for him to show us around. The hardest part of the planning seems to be the logistics- I have to remember that travel time is going to eat into our vacation.

Yay! Well done.

It sounds great except as I recall the ferry to Dublin will take a full day going and a full day returning, so unless you have four days for that part of the trip you might check out cheap flights from London. Hopefully you'll also be able to get outside of London and see some of the English villages and countryside. Isn't it a great feeling once you've bought your tickets?! Have fun!

How exciting, especially for your daughter. I would second the recommendation of looking into a flight to Dublin rather than the ferry. The ferry ride will eat up lots of precious time that you are short of (not just the ferry ride, but also getting to the ferry). Definitely look into possible inexpensive flights to Dublin rather than ferry. Once you get back, you'll have the Italy trip planning to look forward to.
Have fun!

There is a fast ferry to Dun Laoghaire but I agree with others, you will spend way too long getting to the ferry from London. I am usually anti Dublin for limited time in Eire, but in this case it makes sense. You can use the DART to get out of the city a bit too. Your daughter will probably enjoy Grafton street, book of Kells, etc... Might be worth checking out what is playing at the Abbey.

Ditto on taking a ferry to Dublin & back is Not reasonable. Start working on a flight plan now. I'd suggest Ryan Air (www.ryanair.com) which has 6 flights a day to Dublin from Stansted airport. The fares start out low and increase as the plane fills up. I just checked some dates in April & you and your daughter can still do the trip for under £ 100 total. Take only a small carry-on bag.... they charge a lot extra for checked luggage.

Wooo! How exciting for you and your daughter. I was going to ask why you were planning on the ferry but I see others have told you otherwise. My daughter wants to go somewhere in Ireland for a long weekend this summer while we're in England, so I'd love to hear how your trip went.

I hear all of you about the time it will take, and thank you. I appreciate the time you all take here to reply to us newbies. The reason for the train and ferry - I love the journey as well as the destination....does that make sense? I know it's going to take longer, but I think some down time, just looking out at the water, and the countryside when we are riding the train is going to a great chance for us to go over what our plans are and just soak in the fact that we are in Europe, and talk about it. Having 17 days there is something I am grateful for, but I know it's still going to be alot of running around. I would love to stay for a month. Hopefully after this my daughter will have her horizons broadened, and want to go to Europe as much as possible. At any rate, it will be better than the 7 day trip with her french class that brought all this about- seemed to be silly to spend 2500 dollars on a trip that included 2 days Amsterdam, 2 Paris and 2 Brussels. She would have been so rushed. Thank goodness for my husband who insisted that if I wasn't going to let her go on the class trip, I would have to take her- ha ha....my evil plan worked....

Kathleen -- By all means take the train and ferry to Dublin if you have time. You've described exactly how that mode of travel feels to me. It's a beautiful trip and your daughter gets the added bonus of seeing a bit of Wales, too. Maybe you could fly back to London if time is short. I took my daughter to Europe when she was 13 -- she's 18 now and we're taking our fourth trip this summer! I don't know which of us has the travel bug worse, but I'm not complaining -- and I treasure the memories we have. Have a wonderful time!