US to Italy Trip ?'s

Shabby wrote:
2 of us are planning a trip to Italy leaving on a friday and
returning on
Sunday. We live in Seattle, WA now.

I made the *exact* trip in March of 2002.

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.travel.europe/msg/aecb146db79ab092?dmode=source

The exception being we took the train all the way to Rome and drove day
trips(Florence/Orvieto, Pompeii/Sorrento) from Rome as our home base.

1. Plan is to fly into Venice, train to florence, and train to Rome,
fly
home from Rome. Sound reasonable?

Your 8 or 9 days isn't going to be enough. That's OK - if you keep in
mind you'll be back.

2. Should I go to a travel agent for the flights or is Expedia good
enough?

We took the KLM/NW to Amsterdam then KLM to Venice. That worked out
well. However, we found we could cut our rail expenses in half by
buying our train tickets in Venice instead of online here in the US.
There is an American Express office near San Marco.

3. Is the end of May/beginiiing of June good timing?

Yes.

4. Itinerary seems tight - is it too tight? and how would you split
up those
days?

It's a little tight. 3 days minimum in Venice if you're bringing a
sweetie along. Probably 5 days to see the highlights of Rome if you
haven't been there before. Maybe skip Florence and hit Tuscany next
time.