1st trip abroad

Please follow advice on flying "open-jaw" into Rome and out another city. I also think advice on going straight to Naples makes sense, and then from there work your way north. Question on Florence Do you really like art or have been told that you have to do the 2 big galleries in Florence? I did both galleries because everyone gives them 5 star ratings, but in the end it was to much art for my needs. I enjoyed climbing the Duomo instead and travelling to see the leaning tower of Pisa. Just one persons opinion so ignore if need be

I'd delete the ground service agency and make the arrangements myself. However, it does take a lot of effort so maybe a first-timer will be more comfortable with help (for which you are paying extra.)
Here is one basic tip: You do not have to fly home from Rome just because you landed there. For the same money you can leave from Bologna, or other Italian cities, saving both a day and the cost of the transport back to Rome. It's called a multi-city ticket and most travel search sites offer them. Look at the travel-agency sites first and then go to the airlines' own sites to compare. One place to start is Kayak.com which surveys other sites and provides appropriate links. There are lots of on-line agencies to search, so it is time-consuming, but you're in control.

As far as the itinerary above, you are moving around too much and taking too many tours. You basically have 2 days in each city with a few day trips included. That's too much travel for me. I would suggest: Arrive Rome take train immediately to Florence or Bologna. They are only about a half hour from each other by train so you could stay in one and visit the other without needing to change hotels. I would spend 8 days between the two and spend the end of your time in Rome. This will eliminate a lot of hotel changes and give you time to explore the cities and take your day trips. The itinerary you have listed has you moving every second day with tours in some cities everyday. This leaves you no time to explore. You should consider planning this yourself. You can find lot of help on this forum and on the Trip Advisor forum. For hotels you can use venere.com. The trains are the best way to get around Italy. You'll easily be able to get to each city without the need for a car. As for sites, grab a guide book and determine what it is you want to see. Don't just go on a tour that visits the most visited sites. They might not be what you want to see. Each of these cities has hundreds of sites to see and limiting yourself to a cookie cutter tour will not give you the full experience. Grab a map and a guide book and start planning. donna

Consider flying in to Rome & out of Milan. I suggest choosing either Florence or Positano ( with a vote here for Florence ), but not both for this short trip.

I have never used agencies to organize my EU trips, but for a novice it might provide some comfort. As mentioned above, the one thing I would certainly change is the flight back. I would leave from Bologna, instead of taking the train back to Rome. That would give you an extra day that you don't have to spend traveling and changing hotels again. Also the train back to Rome costs almost $100 per person, unless you secure a discounted ticket, so you would save that too. Bologna airport (BLQ) is even better than Florence, since there are plenty of flights to European hubs (Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, London LHR, Amsterdam, Rome, Madrid) from which you can catch the connection back to the US. I wouldn't bother to go to Milan either to catch a flight. Milan is closer than Rome from Bologna, but you still need to spend the night in Milan to make it to the Milan Malpensa airport in time. So that would mean having to change hotels again. I would stay in the same hotel in Bologna and fly out of Bologna. As I mentioned Bologna is the best and largest airport with the most connections north of Rome (after Milan and Venice). If you make the air travel change above (depart from Bologna instead of Rome), you could even consider to go to Bologna a day later and stay in Florence one extra day, since you are not staying in Florence long enough (basically just one full day). Bologna, besides the car factories, can be seen in half day. Staying in Florence and commuting to Bologna is another possibility (37 min. for 25 euro, one way). In that case you should fly out of Florence instead of Bologna. Regarding the tours that is up to you. If they are guided tours, they will cost you money compared to going on your own. However there is some value in having someone explaining what you are looking at.

Agree with Cliff, try to go into Naples, go straight from there to Positano and eventually your way back north. Not sure how much you are paying for the service you mentioned but I personally think you can do it by yourself. However, You need to do what you are comfortable with. I do suggest you get some tour books yourself.

Tracy, Whether using a "planning service" or not, my first suggestion would be to read Europe Through The Back Door prior to your trip. It provides a lot of good information on "how" to travel in Europe, and will help avoid problems. You should be able to find a copy at your local Library or larger book stores. I also recommend picking up a copy of the Italy 2014 Guidebook, which should be available in October, as it will be an excellent reference during your trip. Are you able to provide any details on the "planning service" you're using? Aside from the visits to the car factories, are they choosing the destinations for you or did you specify the places you wanted to see? Most of us here plan our own trips, but I can certainly understand that it might be easier for you to have some help, since this is your first trip abroad. If you want to have help with the planning, I have a couple of alternate suggestions: > ETBD provides a travel planning service, for a very reasonable fee. Have a look at www.ricksteves.com/about/consulting.htm for all the details. > Other travel planning service - I can provide the name of an exceptional trip planner who has extensive knowledge of Italy. I don't know what his rates are, but if you're interested, send me a PM and I'll provide the details. It's great that you're getting an early start on working out the details. Good luck with your planning!

As usual Ken has some sound advice. I also fully agree with my fellow Texan, Cliff. Open -jaw flight and in regards to Florence. Climbing the Duomo was one of many highlights for us.

Most of us on here and on tripadvisor.com plan our own trips with the help of Rick Steeves' books and Fodor's website. We pretty much followed Rick's advice on our first trip to Paris but discovered how easy it was to arrange things ourselves. You can too. First, book your airline tickets open jaw or not, and we never do it that way, preferring to return to the city of our arrival for several reasons. Once the tickets are booked you can lurk on the websites, ask questions about hotels, where to stay, how to get from the train stations or airport to your hotels, where the toilets are and how much they cost, how to find cheap eats, and what to do in various cities. You can always get help and advice from experienced travelers. We've used www.seat61.com to learn how to book trains and ferries all across Europe and it's very easy. Part of the enjoyment of travel for us is in the planning, learning from others, and discovering bargains along the way. We live in rural Kansas, and are likely viewed as bumpkins by many, but if we can do it with aplomb, so can you. :-)

"Bumpkins with aplomb" -- what a wordsmith, George! I like it.

Ken said what I was going to say - again.