itinerary

Planes, trains & hotels are booked - & even several museums (because waiting in lines is not something we want to spend time on!).

This morning I was on the phone with the main museum office in Florence. Online their ticket office only had museum entries available for the afternoon but by phone I could still book morning admissions. TripAdvisor forums have been really helpful in planning so far. With regard to the Florence museum admissions for example, several websites were selling morning admission tickets at the highly inflated prices of 20.50€ v. 10.50€ when you buy by phone from the official ticket office! I would have never figured this out were it not for the helpful info on the TA site. Multiplying everything by 4 means that these surcharges add up fast & we'd much rather spend the money on gelato!

We'll see how good their hotel assessments turn out to be because that's where I got all our hotel recommendations too.

Vancouver - London (BA)
London - Paris (Eurostar)
Paris - Venice (overnight train)
Venice - Florence (train)
Florence - Rome (train)
Rome - London - Vancouver (BA) - three very tiring weeks later

View Full Size Travel Map at Travellerspoint

And hey - nobody even think of breaking into our house while we're away. Our three big dogs & the cranky cat are all staying here with their superb petsitter!