Traveling in Italy, Austria, U.K., and Holland

Where in Italy will be you be teaching? We need that info to guide you in choice of weekend trips. From last sentence sounds like you are talking about going from Italy to UK, then to Holland, then to Austria. Makes more sense logistically to go Austria, Holland, UK but again need to know where in Italy you will be based.

The best place to get rail schedules and routes is the Bahn website: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en. This will not have price information for trains outside Germany; for that, you'll need the site for the national rail company of the country in question. For Italy, it's Trenitalia: http://www.trenitalia.com/ and click British flag on top for English. To search for flights, use http://www.skyscanner.com/. And yes, Eurolines handles long distance buses. It's no wonder you're overwhelmed - it is confusing. The best prices are for trains or planes booked several months in advance. I realize this may not be helpful for you, since you may not know your plans that far in advance. For routes you know you are taking, particularly long ones like Italy to UK or Haarlem to Austria, you definitely want to book in advance. Not only would these be very expensive at the last minute, but they can be sold out (both flights and night trains). There are several hot threads here about how a rail pass rarely (not never, but rarely) is a good deal, because it's more expensive than prebooked tickets and because in some countries, like France and Italy, you still have to buy reservations on all but the regional slow trains.

Thank you for that info! I do not have my placement in Italy yet but know that it will be in one of two towns near Milan. My plan is to fly in and out of Milan, which is why I was planning on going from Milan, U.K., Holland, and Austria because I would then go back to Milan. From looking at flights and talking to people flying in and out of the same airport is cheaper.

I would do some more research on how much cheaper it is to fly in and out of same city, in your case Milan. Agree with previous poster to go from Italy and work your way up to UK and fly home from there. You may save a little by in and out of Milan but you have to consider your time as well. Good luck and enjoy. We especially loved Haarlem.

"From looking at flights and talking to people flying in and out of the same airport is cheaper." You need to talk to different people. Please don't make this mistake. First of all, it may not be cheaper to fly into Milan and out of Vienna. You need to check. But, let's suppose it is. You then have to spend time and money getting back to Milan to take your "cheaper" flight. Not only that, but you have to do this in such a way as to be SURE you don't miss your Milan flight. In other words, you can't just fly or train in from Vienna to Milan that morning, but have to do it the night before. If you're booked on one ticket (even with a connection), the airline is responsible if you miss your connection. If you're booked on separate tickets (air, train, bus or otherwise), YOU are responsible if you miss the connection - and that could be to the tune of thousands of dollars, if you have to buy a last-minute one way trans-Atlantic ticket. I know I'm SHOUTING, but if you get nothing else from this forum - ALWAYS BOOK OPEN JAWS!! If you're not going to book open-jaws, be SURE you understand all the consequences (extra nights in a hotel, lost time due to having to get in a day early, money, etc). Unless you save many hundreds of dollars, it's not worth it. To do this, use the "multi-city" option on Kayak, Orbitz, etc, or on the airline's own website. I find Kayak the best place to start.

Hi, Where in Austria will you "spend some" time? Aside from the ususal Vienna and Salzburg, I suggest Graz in southeastern Austria in the Steiermark region. was there earlier this month. It's different and interesting. One of the train lines going laterally from Vienna to Salzburg is Westlines. They don't honor a Eurail Pass as do the Rail Jet (I prefer RJ to any other in Austria) and the InterCity trains. From Haarlem to Austria I suggest as most direct taking the Amsterdam-Munich CNL night train (from Haarlem to Amsterdam ca 20 mins). In Munich you can transfer to go to Austria...Salzburg, Linz, Innsbruck, etc

'ALWAYS BOOK OPEN JAWS!!' Adhering to an absolute is absolutely the worse mistake you can ever make. There are a million cases where it is not only more expensive, but actually takes longer due to routing, etc.