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Itenerary (England, France, Italy, Greece, Germany)
Fri, 04/04/2008 - 16:14
shawnkilpatrick
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Hello everyone! I am very excited because my wife and I are finaly going to see Europe. So heres what I know so far:
– Flights from Canada: May 1st (Calgary to London Gatwick) and Returning June 11th (same airports). $1145(all taxes in for2)<br /> - We have decided on seeing England, France, Italy, Greece, Switzerland and Germany.<br /> - Have booked the Eurail Global Pass (10 days in 2 months youth) $1168(for2)
– Greece, Italy and France are very important to us (in that order). If we did not have enough time to see England on the way back we would be ok with that.
 
So far that is what Ive got. We really want to make this as fun as possible without wearing us out! We have been thinking of maybe taking a flight from London to Athens, after spending 3 days in London, so we can start in a warmer climate earlier on in may and work our way back up to France and Germany. That said, I dont know if thats the best (cheapest) way to do this trip. So I am asking for help to plan our itenerary, and by what means (train, plane, ferry).
 
Some questions:
– Should we start 3 days in London, then fly to Paris and work our way down to the ferry docks on the East coast of Italy, or work from Greece back up?
– What cities/sights are a must see along this route (assuming we are not going to go way out of the way to see somthing eg Hsmburg, Bordeaux are kinda far from the main rout from England to Greece). Keep in mind we are not big party animals.
– Where is it going to be best to pay for trains instead of using passes (when we dont want to waste a travel day)?
– Any Hostel recomendations?
– How much time should we be limiting ourselves to for each leg of the trip?
 
Any input is more than welcome.
Thank you in advance for everyones help!

Sat, 04/05/2008 - 13:03
#1
oldlady
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Quote:
- Should we start 3 days in London, then fly to Paris and work our way down to the ferry docks on the East coast of Italy, or work from Greece back up?
  I’d decide based on what cheap flights you find.  Lots of Brits vacation in Greece, so you might find a cheap flight there.  Look at Eurostar (the chunnel train) instead of flying to Paris.  Sometimes you can find leisure fares as cheap as flying (when you add in getting to/from airports) at www.eurostar.com and it’s a lot easier than flying.
Quote:
– Where is it going to be best to pay for trains instead of using passes (when we dont want to waste a travel day)?
  Decide as you go — use the pass if the ticket costs more than a day of the pass, buy point to point if it’s cheaper.  Your trips in Italy and your day trips will be the cheap ones.  Trains in Greece are cheap, too but you’re unlikely to take the train there.

Tue, 04/08/2008 - 12:03
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shawnkilpatrick
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Hey thanks for the tip on the “chunnel”. I looked around for some prices on the eurostar web site and found one for $120 US for both my wife and I. The only problem is it leaves really late and we wouldnt be getting into paris untill 11:30PM. Is it a bad idea to get in that late? I would book lated but the only way to get that fair again is to stay a whole day more and Im not sure if we want to spend 4 or 5 days in london! So I guess what Im asking is should we try to book a hostel before we go and would they let us check in really late (12:00am)?

Tue, 04/08/2008 - 12:15
#3
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We arrived in Paris at 11:30 on EuroStar although it was because the train was 2 hours late — trains that are late by even a couple of minutes are extremely unusual, but we managed to find this one.  Paris is pretty busy with lots of folks on the street until about 1:00 AM particularly during tourist season, so I wouldn’t worry too much about getting around.  You can always grab a taxi if things seem dicey — the taxi queue may be very long, but hundreds of taxis came through in just a few minutes when we were there.

I think I’d look into one of the hostels near Gare du Nord.  I know Blue Planet Hostel is nearby, but I don’t know anything else about it.

Wed, 04/09/2008 - 13:28
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shawnkilpatrick
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Well after looking into many hostels I have noticed that there are different areas in paris (eg. latin district, scary parts, nice parts) and I was hoping you could tell me what areas to avoid. Keeping in mind that my wife and I are not partiers and would prefer less noise and safer area.

Wed, 04/09/2008 - 17:26
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You’ll get more responses to posts about various neighborhood and hostels in Paris on “hostels” or perhaps “favorite places.” 

Fri, 05/01/2009 - 13:09
#6
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In greece i stayed at hotel chania in crete and had a great time saw some pretty distant family most of my family was from another island but had a lot of fun