overwhelmed

For a car and drive/guide you can contact bestlimosinrome.com They can arrange a number of these things for you. Of course there are other options as far as guides go, you should check out as many as possible but they have a good review and I have had no problems arranging things with them, of course the proof will be in the pudding in 3 weeks time.

I have traveled to Europe almost yearly since 1951 and have never booked anything thru a travel agent except my airline tickets and now I do even than myself. In my opinion it is a mistake to book trains or busses and museums ahead of time. Cars, yes, paid for from the US. The tour of the Amalfi coast you could do in advance IF you know for sure what the date would be. I would be happy to give you extensive advice once you decide where and when you are going. Hotels, yes, book in advance, and I'll tell you how, but leave leaway for changes. I'm sure you will understand that I don't want to un dertake such an extended letter unless you really want the help and will at least examine the things I say. We go to Italy yearly and have been all over Europe,so do know quite a bit about travel in Europe.

Relax. There is almost never a need to arrange things from here unless it is a first night and the city is packed. Use the internet to make reservations a day or two in advance or just wing it (there is almost always SOMEPLACE available-- except in Barcelona!)
We disagree that travel agents are not useful. Many who feel that they are saving money by doing things themselves are often egregiously wrong and are working instead of enjoying.
TIs and travel agencies, as well as places like Trenitalia offices in Italy, will help with how to get where. Let them help you- you dont have to do it all beforehand.
Buona Fortuna e Buon Viaggio!

Take a deep breath and remind yourself that you have an entire YEAR to go. (^_^)

You will definitely need to arrange for lodging ahead of time (considering that you'll be there in peak season), and can easily do that over the web, but train tickets can wait until you get there. At that point, you might want to visit a local travel agent and help them get the train tickets lined up for you (an RS tip that we followed last time we went, with great success). The places you'll be staying can make the museum reservations for you, with a few exceptions (e.g. Vatican Museum needs more lead time.)

Other than that, I agree that you don't need a travel agent if you get a good guidebook, read it closely and follow its suggestions. The RS ones are quite good.

Thank you all for your replies. We do travel every year and I have been to 5 countries so far in Europe alone. However, by reading my post you would think I had never traveled. I guess it all just got to me today and my head was spinning from trying to make sure all the pieces were in place. Since we are traveling with children, I don't have the glory of the come what may attitude. I want to make sure we are all safe and sound and where we need to be, or to be heading.

thank you again! I will take a deep breath and a few days off from the computer. A fresh mind will help in a day or two

thanks again!

for the trains, the deutsche bahn website is the best resource! i used it to plan all my trains through italy and germany and it was very very helpful!

Viv. Do you have all of your travel plans down on paper? Can you look at a spreadsheet and see date of travel, time train departs, departing location, arriving location and total travel time? If you can't, you really must do the homework and get this done. Once this is done, the train websites, especially www.trenitalia.com can be an excellent resource in mapping out which train run you want from where to where. Trenitalia can be confusing if you aren't really prepared to use it as a tool for travel. If you have all of this down, please explain what is confusing. I can normally see any run you want on the site quite easily. Next, you most likely cannot get tickets in advance for the private Circumvesuviana train from Naples to Sorrento. It's like the MTA. You buy the local ticket, get on and try and find a seat. The trains are almost as frequent. From Sorrento, you can either take a bus or ferry to Amalfi. There is no train. You probably can't get those tickets in advance either. You know how to ride the MTA, you just have to learn to ride a different, but similar, system. It's not that hard. Since you mentioned Praiano, you will want the bus as the ferry doesn't stop there although you could go to Amalfi by ferry and take the bus back to Praiano.

Once you've got your homework done, we can really move you forward to helping you get the tickets you need in Italy.