travel ideas needed

Hi Anne. It would be helpful if you could give us some more information. When are you going to London? I assume you haven't booked plane tickets yet - you should decide where you want to go and start booking! Get some guidebooks and read about some things you'd all like to do and places you'd like to go. With 2 weeks, I'd suggest staying in one country and visiting 2 or 3 places (or two countries, one city per country plus daytrips).

We'll arrive in London on April 29, plan to visit friends in Cambridge for a couple of days, and return to the US from London on May 13. Probably have about 10-12 travel days - depending on the amount of time on both ends we'll spend in Cambridge. We'd love to go to Italy, but it seems a bit far for the short time we have. Maybe not? Have lots of travel books, but am trying to find some exciting ideas before I begin to plan.

If you want to go to Italy, it is certainly doable. There are many reasonably priced flights from London. I usually start my trip in London and then fly to somewhere on the continent. It sounds like you have to return to London to fly home. You could plan to fly into one city in Italy and home from another (e.g. fly into Venice and home from Rome). I've flown to Italy a number of times from London. I usually take a BA flight. While the flights on easyJet and Ryanair often appear much cheaper at first glance, once one adds on all the fees (credit card charge, admin fee, checked luggage fee, and sometimes getting to airports that are farther from the center, etc.), I often find that BA is no more expensive than the budget carriers. With 10-12 days, you certainly have enough time to see a couple of places in Italy. It is about a 2 hour flight plus your time getting to/from the airport and waiting for the flight. A couple of years ago, I had a 6:30 am flight out of Gatwick to Verona. I was checked into my hotel in Verona well before lunch time. To be fair, I did spend the night at an airport hotel.

if you've already seen what you want in UK and assuming you've been to Paris already than I would have to say Italy. With two young girls you could have a great time in Italy. You couldn't go wrong with Rome or Florence or Venice of course but the options in Italy are endless. When I was in my twenties Florence became one of my favorite places. Florence is also a good base for other day trips (or longer trips) in tuscany

And now for something completely different. Istanbul and other sites in Turkey. Meets ALL of your criteria. Did London, Istanbul, London last year over a 9 day period. British Air was my carrier but there are others. Lovely and intriguing country. You wouldn't be disappointed! I can't wait to return. If there is any interest feel free to PM.

I say either over to Amsterdam and Belgium. Or down to Portugal. Portugal is beautiful and a little off the beaten track and inexpensive.

I would also vote for Italy. Especially if you take a discount airline (EasyJet or RyanAir) there, you'll be there in a couple of hours. And of course, there are hundreds of places in Italy that satisfy the interests of you three women - history, sightseeing, cities, small towns, food!

I'd suggest Prague and Berlin. They're reasonably priced (Berlin even more so than Prague) and the day trips around them are fascinating: Terezin, Dresden, Plzen, Leipzig.

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions - its keeping me busy online reading about the various locations that have been suggested. I'd love opinions on trains vs rental cars. In the past when we've been in Europe we've always used the train. Now, however, we are talking about train fares for three adults - it seems that car rental might be cheaper. I feel like the train would be less stress, but less flexible and more expensive. Any experiences comparing the two would be welcome.

Anne... a wonderful dilema.... a trip with 2 daughters!
As for the car vs. train it is all a matter of preference and exactly where you decide to go. If you want to see mostly cities, stick with the train. If you want to visit villages and see the countryside obviously the car gives you the freedom and flexibility and it is a different kind of trip, so as far as I am concerned you really can't compare costs. Two totally different experiences.

In your travels to the UK, have you visited Ireland? It ticks all the boxes you require - new, fun, exciting, history, sightseeing, cities, small towns, food!!!!! 10-12 days would give you ample time to savour all of the above.

How about a baltic cruise? We did one last summer and it was fun. You can get them out of the UK, or take a short flight and pick it up in Oslo or Stockholm. You can hit Finland, Russia, Latvia, etc. in a short amount of time on a cruise. The Fjords are incredible as well. My other suggestion is if you do want something very different than London, Turkey or Croatia is great.

have you considered Austria? You could easily fly London to Vienna, spend a couple of days there, then train (or drive) to lots of interesting places. Salzburg, the villages and lakes of the Saltzcamagurt area, Innsbruck, Halstadtt, etc.
Ireland is also a good idea. You could rent a cottage okn the Dingle pennsulia for a a few days or even a week and still have a few days to visit Dublin or Shannon or Belfast.

If you are thinking Italy, then do it. You can probably get a cheap ticket on Ryanair or other discount airline. Venice, Florence, and Rome are certainlhy doable in that time. Other ideas might include southern Germany and Salzburg

It sure is nice to have a choice of so many great places to go. Talk about some great future memories. Don't worry about distances, as you fly by budget air carrier into your odyssey. You couldn't go wrong with any of these: Venice, Florence, Rome Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Prague Amsterdam, Paris, Belgium Munich, Innsbruck, Venice Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki
Spain and Portugal is another great trip (where I've not been.)

All of these suggestions are so exciting - wish we could travel for weeks. Have decided to fly from London to Italy and visit Venice and Florence - hoping to include the cinque terra and hill towns from Florence as a base. On our final day we need to return to Heathrow for our flight back to the US leaving Heathrow at 4:30 pm. Any advice? I'm having a bit of trouble identifying airlines that fly from Italy to Heathrow - British Air is an option but the only flights they are showing right now are absurdly expensive. Any other thoughts about our itinerary would be very welcome.

Anne Check skyscanner.com for flights on discount airlines. The prices are right. A few caveats. Make sure the airports the flights use are the common ones for the cities. Also you need to read the FINE PRINT. The base price keeps going up and up but still ends up good compared to regular air. So go to the end before you know the real price. Everything costs extra; seat assignment, early boarding, drink, snack, etc. Then luggage restrictions are tough for weight and size. If you go over, the penalties are as high as the flight! Good luck with your itinerary! Bobbie