Mother-daughter trip: first-timers to Europe.

For train schedules, look at the Deutsche Bahn site: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en. This will not have prices for any of your routes, but is usually the easiest to use for schedules and routing. You're quite late to be figuring out transportation, and may not get any discounts. And some of your city pairs will involve night trains - I hope there's still space. Rome to Venice, and Venice to Cinque Terre, would be Trenitalia http://www.trenitalia.com/. There are lots of reports of people having problems booking on this site, which is a shame, since the advance booking discounts are so huge. If you don't mind paying full price, you can wait until you get to Italy, then buy all the tickets at once, at your first station or at a travel agency. Domestic trains in Italy are frequent on your routes, so you don't have to worry about finding space. And, the last part of the route to the Cinque Terre involves regional trains, where reservations are not possible and there are no advance discounts anyway. So, you don't have to worry about this part so much. For CT to Barcelona, I'd want to fly, but it may be too late to get an affordable flight. With a quick and cursory search on the DB site, I see the train takes about 20 hours (or more) and involves 1-4 changes. Since this means a night train, you need to get this figured out NOW. If you do want to fly, you should look at using Pisa, Genoa, Florence, or Milan airports. You can use http://www.skyscanner.com/ to find flights. For Barcelona to Paris, you can fly, take day trains with one connection, or take a night train. More info in this thread on this board: http://tinyurl.com/7rxsc6h. As with CT to Barcelona, get this nailed down NOW. Good luck!

What a special trip. While you have chosen some wonderful places they are really spread out and I fear that your pace just isn't doable. Even within Italy a travel day uses at least a half a day. I see Ryanair flies from Venice to Barcelona which could save some time. You may want to save Cinque Terra for another trip and add a night to both Barcelona and Venice which are both fun cities. Good luck

As Harold has stated, it would have been better if you had made your transportation arrangements quite some time ago. Waiting will end up costing you much more money. You have such a short time in each location. You have to keep in mind that 2 nights = 1 full day. You will be traveling more than you will be sightseeing, especially with the distances you will be going. Since you only have your Rome and Paris hotels reserved you have some flexibility. At this late date and at the height of the tourist season you may have trouble finding a place to stay in the Cinque Terre. If you cut out the CT you could fly from Venice to Barcelona. Then you could add a night to Barcelona. It would really not be worth going there for only one full day, since it is so far from your other destinations. I would then add your other night to either Venice or Paris. Good luck and have a great trip!

Angela, I agree with the first reply. You've left the transportation much too late, so it's likely all the discounted fares will be sold out. One other important point is that August is also prime holiday season for Europeans, so getting Hotel bookings could be a bit "challenging". This will especially be true in the Cinque Terre. If you don't have anything booked there, it might be advisable to leave that for another trip. Keep in mind that those locations where you've listed "2 nts" will in reality only allow a bit more than a day for touring once travel times are factored in. For that reason and also for the length of some of your travel routes, I'd suggest skipping one location on your list. As much as I dislike suggesting this, the C.T. would be a logical choice to skip. In the same circumstances, I might arrange the trip this way: > D1 - Flight to Rome > D2 - Arrive Rome > D3 - Rome > D4 - Rome > D5 - Freccia train to Venice (3H:43M, reservations compulsory. Your departure station will be Roma Termini and your arrival station will be Venezia S. Lucia). Buy your tickets a day or two before departure. I'd use the 10:20 train. > D6 - Venice > D7 - FLIGHT from VCE to BCN. Try Vueling first but BOOK SOON! Be sure to read the "Terms & Conditions" carefully, esp. relating to luggage. > D8 - Barcelona > D9 - Barcelona > D10 - Train to Paris (ie: Depart Barcelona Sants @ 08:16, arrive Paris Lyon at 15:53 - time 7H:37M, 1 change, reservations compulsory). Flying would be slightly faster (check EasyJet) and may be a better use of your very short time. > D11 - Paris > D12 - Paris I'd recommend getting some Hotels booked! You may have to adjust your budget accordingly. Good luck and happy travels!

Many thanks to everyone for the help. I didn't consider flying from Venice to Barcelona. I found tickets on Alitalia for less than $100 US each. Great idea! I also found a promotional fare on night train from Barcelona to Paris. We fly into Rome very early on Day 1, so that gives us 3 full days in Rome (albeit jet lagged on day 1), then to Cinque Terre by mid-afternoon on day 4 if we can get reservations. We'd prefer to explore/hike CT than spend an extra day in Venice, so maybe 3 nights so we'll have 2 1/2 days there. That leaves us a day to travel to Venice and a full day there before the flight to Barcelona. I'd hate to cut Venice out completely. Think I'd better call a Rick Steve's consultant since we're such novices. Learning fast! I'll know a lot more when my 2nd daughter graduates in 4 years and we'll start planning earlier. Thanks again for the feedback.

That's a very fast paced trip, considering you could easily spend an entire week in Rome, in Paris, in Barcelona. I would leave out one city or add in a couple more days or both. Have a good time - graduation trips are great!

I would get your hotel reservations for Venice now. It's extremely busy this time of year and you don't want to be wandering the streets of Venice carting your luggage looking for somewhere to stay. There are always rave reviews of this place: www.pensioneguerrato.it/ Also check the Best Western chain of hotels. Check the Rick Steves' tour book for more recommendations. You also need to figure out what town in the Cinque Terre you are going to. Again, read the tour book. RS mentions that there are proprietors at the train station advertising their rooms. At this late date, you might have to go that way.

Don't throw out your guidebooks. They'll help you avoid missing a lot of amazing stuff. It's all a matter of balance. But Ralph is right that it's very easy to end up with your head stuck in the guidebook while missing much of what makes Italy so enchanting. Be open to the unexpected. Happy travels.

I appreciate the advice. I believe you're both right! It's a balancing act. I'm so fortunate that my daughter and I enjoy each other's company and travel well. This is the longest we've been away together on our own and the first time overseas. A last great hurrah before she moves away to college. We've got Rick's Italy e-book and his softcover Europe Through the Back Door. We've been reading them here and will consult them a bit along the way. It will definitely be an amazing adventure! Thanks again and wish us Buona Fortuna!

Nothing matters. The time you spend with your daughter using sign language to get by and laughing ,laughing, still to this day my daughter and I start talking about the trip we took in 1987, before the euro and the internet we laugh, laugh and have so much fun remembering! Actually the euro and the Internet take a lot of the mystery out of traveling. Have a great trip....laugh and have fun!

"Personally, if you are a first timer to those cities, throw out the guidebooks. You will be fine. It amazes me to see people wasting time reading their guidebook while missing really cool stuff." Precisely why you should be studying your guidebooks months in advance of any trip! During your trip they should be referred to only, and as little as possible. First-timers in particular should use a guidebook!!!

I completely agree with Eileen about studying and digesting the guidebooks well in advance so when looking around you understand what you are seeing. It would be irresponsible to dispose of the books before the trip. How else can they be used a reference during the trip...

I agree with Eileen and Nigel. I read my books thoroughly before going. I still refer to them from time to time on the trip, though I try to do that in the evening. I then make notes on my iPod Touch so I don't have to pull the book out during the day in most cases. My husband does not read the books, and leaves the planning to me. He prefers it that way, but frankly I think I get more out of things because I know what we are looking at and some of the history of it.

What a wonderful time you'll have! I spent 18 days in Europe with my daughter last year. She was on her own for 15 days prior. Flights, yes! We had Eurail passes and took trains everywhere including from Nice to Venice--ugh! 6 trains, 9 1/2 hours--what were we thinking? But it was an adventure! Anything that goes wrong gives you something to talk about and laugh about for the rest of your lives!!

Ken is a great poster and always my "go to guy" for trip planning. I'd go a little further than he goes, though, by either adding a few days onto the trip or eliminating Barcelona. You're showing one night in Venice! You are not seeing Italy if you don't have time to actually sit in a piazza and sip some wine or cappucino! As it is now, you're taxiing to an airport and flying to another destination and unpacking, and checking in and out of hotels every two or three days! Slow down! :-)
Every change in location eats up a half day! Spain can be left for another trip,,and it itself, worthy of an entire 10 days or more. Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla, Granada -- are all beautiful. The same can be said for Paris/France! This trip will be a wonderful time for you and your daughter, and you'll have the rest of your lives to remember it, so enjoy, no matter what you decide.