European Air vrs Train

[flexible Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close flexible]

I need help figuring out transportation choices for this itinerary.
My husband qualifies for senior rate, I don't.
Whether using FF miles is viable?
We plan to ONLY carry one small back pack on wheels if possible

TRAINS (someone mentioned Italian rail fares were so cheap I'm better off buying point-to-point tickets. But maybe an Italian railpass makes sense if it includes more benefits. Or a France/Italy 2 Country Eurail makes sense if we take the ferry from Ireland-France (discounted ferry if we have railpass).


Air preferred for Italy -> Edinburgh between 6/6-6/8/2009
Air probably best or Ferry Ireland to Southern France late April 2009 - The first Monday in May is a 'bank holiday' in England and I think it is causing less availability


4/22/2009 SFO - Dublin
We can take 2 pieces of luggage each for free because tickets issued before baggage fees started.
BUT we need to either: leave luggage in Dublin to pick up on 2nd cruise from Dover - NYC. OR get the luggage to Dover before we go to Nice, Frances so we'll have it on the first cruise (Norway/Russia). It would be nice to have some formal wear and warm jackets BUT we want to travel as light as possible from 4/25 - 6-19.


We need a car in Ireland. So we can keep suitcases until we leave Dublin.
Galway
Giant's Causeway
If we took ferry over to Scotland we could take luggage and leave it for pick up early June after Europe/before cruises.

Air - Dublin -> Pau near Pyrenees on France/Spain border (my husband's grandmother is from Pau - we'd like to see the area for about 2 days)
OR
Ferry Rosslare -> France, then train
Train to Pau, France for a few days (near Lourdes in the Pyrenees)
Carcassonne Castle
Nice, France
If I found an 'escorted tour from the Pau area that went to Carcassonne & Nice it would probably cost less than getting hotels on our own/transportation

5/2/2009 - Nice, France
5/9/2009 - Saturday - Trevisio, Italy - RCI Resort #1649
airport near Trevisio - flying Nice - Trevisio might make sense if it is not too expensive but car rental might possibly make sense except for drop charge. Maybe train to Milan, get car rental, use for 7 days near Trevisio to get to Padua also, then return to Milan if necessary? Then train to Venice for 5/15/09 week?

Or the train from Nice - Trevisio.

5/16/2009 - Saturday -check out Tevisio a day early
5/15/2009 - Friday - check in Venice -RCI Resort #3577 - do not want a car rental in Venice (not necessary & high parking costs)

5/22/2009 - Friday - check out of Venice

5/22/ 2009 - Over night possibly in Milan, Bologna, Pisa, Florence or a Marriott Rome. (If we get a 10 days in 2 months rail pass we are probably better off overnight in Rome. Otherwise we'll use 2 days of the pass if we stop over.

5/23/2009 - Saturday - check in Rome - RCI Resort #4267 - resort has free shuttle to Metro one time each way per day (not sure of times) - but a car for a few days might be nice for area surrounding Rome

5/30/2009 - Saturday - check out Rome - maybe 3-4 days Positano- RCI Resort #2809 (Amalfi Coast) then rest of week in Florence - RCI Resort #4270

Options:
train Rome -> Naples -> Sorrento -> bus to Positano and back -> train to Florence
OR car from Rome to Positano on Amalfi coast but Resort #2809 states "limited parking" & I think it is 13 Euros per day

6/6/2009 - Saturday - check out Florence

2 night gap
Air from Italy to Edinburgh, Scotland.

6/8/2009 - Monday - Northern England - check in Akeld - RCI Resort #3816 (17 miles to Alnwick Castle)
6/15/2009 - check out Akeld in Northern England - we will need a car so we'll probably either pick up/return to Edinburgh or pay the drop off fee to return car in Dover

I have a hold on same resort Akeld #3816 on hold for 10 - 17 Jun which I might to release by tomorrow. Depending on figuring Italy - Scotland transportation.

6/19/2009 - Dover, England for cruise

THANKS in advance for any advice.

[Linda VH Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Linda VH]

We took the train from Venice to Rome last fall. Very nice train - unless you want a big midday meal don't eat in the dining car - I was sorry I didn't buy a sandwich to brin onboard.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

I would rent a car when in Italy, We did Rail, Car and Air there. Ryan air is Cheap to use in most of Europe but they tend to use airports that are not smaller and are a bit out of the way.

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

Check out budget carriers at Cheap Flights from Budget Airlines with WhichBudget.com and also air passes at Fly Europe - Airfare Cheap Tickets - Eastern Europe Travel Flights: europebyair.com

[Pstreet1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pstreet1]

Driving in the U.K. : Compute carefully. We picked up a car in London and drove to Glasgow; I figured that since we needed a car anyway, we'd save money getting it in London (and we would be returning to London anyway) and not having to pay extra transportation. Boy, was I wrong! Before we arrived in Glasgow, we had spent more on gasoline that it would have cost BOTH of us to fly round trip from London--and we still had to return to London. At the time, there was some sort of big air fare sale, but I passed on it "because, of course, driving would be less expensive." I had not figured on the price of gasoline in the U.K. It was staggering then; I have no idea what it is now.

[Pstreet1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pstreet1]

I forgot to say the train from Rome to Sorrento is very inexpensive. Then you could take a bus the rest of the way. Sorrento is a beautiful town.

[flexible Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close flexible]

Driving in the U.K. : Compute carefully. We picked up a car in London and drove to Glasgow; I figured that since we needed a car anyway, we'd save money getting it in London (and we would be returning to London anyway) and not having to pay extra transportation. Boy, was I wrong! Before we arrived in Glasgow, we had spent more on gasoline that it would have cost BOTH of us to fly round trip from London--and we still had to return to London. At the time, there was some sort of big air fare sale, but I passed on it "because, of course, driving would be less expensive." I had not figured on the price of gasoline in the U.K. It was staggering then; I have no idea what it is now.

I agree about gas prices.

Before we arrived in Southampton on 4/22/08 on a world cruise I had tried to mail a box from Ireland that we wouldn't need and it would have cost $180 US for the 14 pound box! The stuff wasn't worth $180. Luckily a tour office manager agreed to keep one of the large suitcases until we returned to Ireland 3 weeks later.

Then I used American FF points for Dublin - SFO roundtrip.

I reserved a small car in Southampton with Enterprise Rent a Car. All other car rentals had NO availability as the Queen Mary, QE, and our Princess WC arrived on the same morning. We had 5 suitcases on wheels PLUS two small backpacks on wheels (Walmart) and hand stuff. When Enterprise picked me up at the dock we couldn't fit my husband in with the luggage so she drove me to their office and I had to come back for my husband.

If I had planned better, we would have flown home via a LONDON airport. We drove over the Hever Hotel/Castle associated with our El Cid TS. We could have left luggage there, enjoyed the next month, come back and got the luggage before flying back to US.

There were even cheap 1 Pound fares Southampton to Dublin. But we couldn't consider it because of baggage costs.

It was a ridiculous waste of time, to unload at Hever, reload, unload at Woodford Bridge TS in County Deven, reload, drove to Marriott Birmingham thinking we could take train/ferry from there but concierge warned we'd have to change trains/use steps etc so we drove to the nearest Enterprise Rent a Car near the Holyhead port for the ferry to Dublin. 50 Pound ($100) DROP FEE because we didn't return car to Southampton.

Then got stuff on port bus, very expensive taxi to Marriott Shelbourne at St. Stephen's green, unloaded, reloaded to get to Marriott Limerick, unloaded, reloaded, then to next Marriott before Dublin airport.

Got car from Thrifty/Dollar in Dublin. Enterprise wanted about a 70 EURO drop fee if we picked up in Dublin City Center and returned to Dublin Airport.