help me with flights!!

Pula is not a major airport at all (they had only one scheduled commercial flight today with Croatia airlines). It has mostly seasonal (summer) flights with European low cost and charter airlines, therefore flights will generally be more expensive from the US due to lack of competition among major airlines flying from/to the US. You'll have better luck if you fly into Venice or Zurich, both of which are major airports with non stop flights from PHL and/or JFK/EWR. Milan is also a choice since you'll likely have to pass through it on the way between Venice and Zurich. All of the 3 aforementioned airports are also well connected to the major European hubs. Do a search on Kayak.com using the following airport codes in the destination box (separated by a comma): VCE, ZRH, MXP. I tested a search for May 7 - May 21, 2013 from PIT and I found similarly priced flights to any of the 3 airports (in the $930-$980 r/t range with only one stop). Zurich turned out slightly cheaper than the other 2 for the dates I tested, but only by $20-$40. Obviously that will change the order of your itinerary a bit, since your arrival/departure airport will not be Pula.

You need to get to some major hub in Europe, depending on the airline. Lufthansia, Frankfurt. British Airways Heathrow. They all have connecting flights every where in Europe. Now last year we flew US Airways from California to Barcelona Spain and their Hub was in Philadelphia, so you might check on them. You have it easier because you are already on the East Coast and should beable to get to Europe fairly easy. Remember, the cost of flights are very very high now.

Suggest booking open jaw PIT>VCE. Take ferry to Rovinj from Venice round trip. Train from Venice to Zurich. Fly home ZRH>PIT. Delta showing prices of $962 in May. You get a slight price break on the ferry doing round trip.

thanks all! super helpful!