I have spent all day (in between schooling of course) researching train, plane and automobile options for the travel portion of our trip. As usual, I am coming in over my budget, which keeps my wheels spinning, thinking of different options.
My biggest concerns are when we are needing to cover a large distance. At one point in the trip, we need to get from Todtmoos, Germany to Rome, Italy. According to my calculations, that is close to 600 miles. In another, we need to get from Florence, Italy to Barfleur, France (about 900 miles) in a day. My guidebooks warn about tolls and fuel prices, plus I wonder if we shouldn't stop along the way to see Milan or Venice... adding a hotel, parking, more food, etc.
I had originally thought we would drive the entire time. I started out today by researching train schedules. Maybe I am reading things wrong, but that is a very expensive option. What I did discover, was that for some reason Milan is just about the cheapest place to fly out of in all of Italy! If it didn't matter that I would be arriving in Paris at 11pm, I could have flown the four of us for about $20 each! Of course, I need to get into Barfleur at a decent time (4 hours away) so I settled on about $70 each.
All in all, I might have saved a couple hundred dollars. My biggest objective was met though, we will not be spending 2 1/2 days in the car and a night in a hotel when we are skipping countries. I could figure out how much money in tolls and fuel I am saving (1500 miles!) but I really should get out of my pjs and feed my family... it is 4:30pm after all.
It is hard to believe that we will be on a plane four weeks from tomorrow. Phew! I have got a TON to do!
Have you checked about the Europass? I don't know if it is still around but that was what I used and you only had to pay a small cost for the trains.
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