Feeds:
Posts
Comments

So it’s official, we’re going to visit: Paris and Versailles in France and Milan, Venice, Rome, Portofino, Almafi and Capri in Italy. What should we see?

This post is all about getting a sneak peek from online video & photo galleries.

When I first went to Paris, we got to the Louve too late… SO NO I didn’t see the Mona Lisa… When I visited Venice the Lucian Freud exhibition at the Museo Correr was closed the day we wanted to go (and my memory card was busted hince the 5 photos one of which is a picture of the Lucian Freud exhibition poster). Florence and Rome were far more kind to me. WHEW. I must not be over that, well. I’m glad we are going so that I can correct that.

So in Paris we will see Notre Dame, The Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, Shop on the beautiful Champs-Élysées and our hotel is near the Arch de Triumph. I found a delightful video that will give you a quick overview, click to see.

In Versailles, we will see this.

Then it’s off to Italy!

In Milan, we will only spend time at The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and the Duomo. These are the two sites in Milan pretty much nothing else but fashion houses etc which are nice but… Milan is our entry point into Italy.

From Milan we head to Venice.

From Venice we head to Rome. This is where we will spend the bulk of our trip. There is a lot to see here. The Colusseum, The Pantheon, The Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountian, The Fourm, Piazza del Popolo, The Vatican Museum, St Peters. On and On. Rome is awesome.

After we do Rome, we will head south into Naples but specifically Portofino, Almafi and The Island of Capri.

Versailles in France and these smaller cities are the places I haven’t been. I’m so ready to go. Hey post the places you are most excited about on the blog. If you want we can eliminate a place and spend more time in another.

Ciao Ciao!

As I was posting my last entry, I came across this post. A woman planned a trip with her mother who had never traveled internationally and asked about the same hotel I stayed at in Paris. I guess this confirms others out there like us who like traveling with their families. Below is some of what she said.

“I’m getting ready to go to Paris for 3 nights and then Italy for 2 weeks with my mom (who is 51). Planning the trip with dad was easy– we didn’t do much planning because we both have traveled and were okay with that! But my mother has never traveled outside of the US before (other than a few times to all inclusive beach resorts and one trip for business to Poland 22 years ago). I want to make sure she has an incredible experience…”

It’s pretty similar to the experience I would like for my mom. What were some of the concerns you encountered when you booked with your family? I’d love to have them posted here so that we all can benefit. Enjoy!

Click for full post…

UPDATE

Thorntree/forum responces.

Thorntree/forum responces, this comment is toward the bottom!

So, you’ve gotten the two biggest things taken care of. We’ve (1) decided on our destinations using TripAdvisor and (2) taken care of the intercontinental jet setting using Orbitz. Not to mention that we’ve done this months in advance and couldn’t have gotten a better deal on 3 international flights! It’s Official, we’re going.

But now that it’s official, where are we going to stay? Well i’ll tell you in this post where we will cover researching and booking accommodations with the Lonelyplanet.

6 months after that first trip to Europe I mentioned in my post on exploring and planning, I booked again. This time it was a week in Paris for New Years, London and then I was off to India for three more weeks to visit Nik. We don’t have to worry about where we will stay in some cities because of our friends in India, Milan & Germany. In our case this time, we may be too many to impose on people we know. So how do we decide where we will stay during this time away? Hummm, like this.

We search the LonelyPlanet. I love this guide and once I show you how it works, you will too!

So when I went to Paris with Harry and his Mom, we left the day after Christmas in order to be settled well before the Bon Ani (Happy New Year in French). Our requirements for accommodations were more location driven and less amenity driven. So basically we were more interested in exploring the Louvre than we were the hotel. So we looked for something reasonable off the  ChampsÉlysées. This allowed us to walk to and from the places we wanted to see (as researched on Tripadvior).

We stumbled upon a charming little 3 star hotel named the Astrid. So Paris may be taken care of on this trip.

However, the bulk of our time will be spent in Italy. A night in Milan, 3 nights in Venice, 4 in Rome etc. That’s where this tool comes in handy. How you ask? Easy I tell you.

Let’s try with our trip dates and destinations.

1. Just log onto LonelyPlanet.com

2. Click Hotels & Hostels pictured in the screenshot below.

The Hotels and Hostels link for Europe

The Hotels and Hostels link for Europe

3. Click Search and choose based on location or price.

Easy as the warm pound cake I had at French Roast yesterday on 6th and 11th st. I’d love to browse through your recommendations in each city as posts on the blog be sure to include direct links (by copying and pasting the link up top in the browser).

So now that we’ve gotten the basic necessities out of the way, the important work of planning our gallery visits can begin!!!

Stay tuned for my next post, Step four: What are we going to see?
Building excitement by
getting a sneak peek from online video & photo galleries.

So now that you are an expert in exploring trip ideas and planning using Tripadvisor, what’s the best deal to get there? Good question. Well, we comparison shop to book our tickets online. Ok it will take a bit more explaining because we’ll be visiting: Paris and Versailles in France and Milan, Venice, Rome, Portifino, Almafi and Capri in Italy. You’re in luck, this post will teach you how to book multi-city international travel in Orbitz.

My first international trip was a whirlwind 3 week tour of Europe. The trip had three parts, Switzerland, Italy and The Czech Republic. We flew from JFK in New York to Frankfurt Germany and as soon as we landed, took the EuroStar to Switzerland. Our stops in Switzerland that week were Basel, Bern, Interlaken and Grindelwald. We took the train to Italy where we visited Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome. At this point we were to meet a friend in Berlin, Germany for the last leg of the trip. So we flew from Rome to Germany then took a train to Eastern Europe for our last week in Prague, The Czech Republic. After spending the week there in beautiful Prague, We flew from Prague to New York. Why did I tell you all that?

Well because we booked the multi-city flights in Orbitz. So we began the trip in New York and flew to Germany on one date and three weeks later booked a return trip from The Czech Republic back to New York. How? Really easy.

See Expand Search Options just above this caption? Select it and see how you hop around.

See Expand Search Options just above this caption? Select it and see how you hop around.

Let’s try with our trip dates and destinations.

1. just log onto Orbitz.com

2. Click Expand Search Options pictured in the bottom of the screenshot above.

3. Then select the Multi-city radio button as pictured below

Select the multi-city option and enter cities and dates

Select the multi-city option and enter cities and dates

4. Enter the destinations and dates for departure, press find and voilà (look there, on the screen, but in French)!
Notice that we fly into Milan and then Return to NY out of Rome. You guessed it, we will be taking the Eurostar from Milan to Venice, Rome and below.

Try it. You may even get lower prices if you leave on a different day say a Friday instead of a Saturday. Try it and post what you decide on the blog.

Stay tuned for my next post, Step three: How do we decide where we are staying?
Researching and booking accommodations with the Lonelyplanet


So you want to go on vacation but there’s a whole world out there. How do you decide where to go? Well you explore the possibilities, make decisions and the plan. There are a lot of places to go to online to see photos or videos of destinations like this but not all of them will give you advice from people who’ve been there. This post will introduce you to a really good resource called Tripadvisor.

So in our case we will be traveling to Europe specifically France and Italy. Now there are hundreds of places you could go in those countries, let alone places to go in specific cities once you arrive. I’ll make it easier for you, We will be visiting: Paris and Versailles in France and Milan, Venice, Rome, Portifino, Almafi and Capri in Italy.

There's a whole world out there, Tripadvisor will help you choose.

Here's the Europe blog

Tripadvisor will help you choose. It’s a whole world out there.

So how can you use this site to determine the specific sites in these cities? Easy.

1. just log onto Tripadvisor.com

2. Click trip ideas

3. Then select History & Culture, then Europe below

The inspire me button below will then show you the possibilities. Some of the places you’ll see are the very ones we will be traveling to. Try it and post your comments on the blog.

Stay tuned for my next post, Step two: Let’s go there, what’s the best way?
Booking multi-city international travel in Orbitz.