Non-Disney travel question... About This Page:

[Lilianna]

In a couple of years, my husband and I will be traveling to Ireland, England and France for our 10th wedding anniversary. We are looking at cramming in 2 weeks of fun and sightseeing. My problem is, where do I start? There is so much I'd like to see and do.

England-HUGE Harry Potter/Alan Rickman fan. Would like to see film locations, etc. Only really care to spend a night or two in London-maybe see a play.

Ireland-My family tree hails from there (especially Slane.)

France-My husband's family comes from Normandy. Plus, he'd like to see Paris and I was thinking about throwing in a day and Disneyland Paris.

We would also like to see a great deal of Pagan/spiritual sites, Stonehenge, etc.

Is it possible to do this without tours? Would tours be our best best? While money is somewhat of an issue (isn't always?), we don't want to stay anywhere cheap (as in not clean) and prefer B&B's.

I know I'm all over the map on this, but you can see how overwhelmed I am. I'd really like to start pinpointing down some details, even though I've got a couple years to go.

Thanks for any and all help!!!!!

[SuzyMouse]

Hi Lilianna!

Tours are a great way to get your feet wet in Europe. (I also recommend cruises, but I don't think that you will find cruises that meet your particular needs.)

To start, I would check with your travel agent (if you have one, if not, there are quite a few of us around here) and look into what various tours are out there. We do a lot of work with Classic Vacations which offers all sorts of European tours (including Ireland, castle tours, England adventure, etc.).

Two weeks can be a little busy, but if you are motivated, you will see alot and have a great time. You may just look into a tour that offers England and Ireland and then take a train down to Paris from London. I have been to all three countries and thankfully, travelling through is not too daunting.

Feel free to PM or email me if you have more questions.

Ciao!

[dmpyron]

That's a lot for two weeks. Remember to allow at least one day to adjust to the time change. There are plenty of castles that you can book, the question is where do you want to go? There's a ton of stuff to do in London, you may be disappointed.

I agree with Suzy, the train is a nice way to go from London to Paris. It may seem slower than an airplane, but the Eurostar takes you from downtown London to downtown Paris, instead of having to schlep out to the airport. De Gaul is an awful long way from Paris.

When I send people to Hawai'i, I tell them that they need at least 10 days for two islands. You are going to be flying into either London or Dublin, then making a hop across the Irish Sea. If you are flying into Dublin, you don't have to double back. But if you fly into London first, you'll have to get back to London to take the train to Paris, or fly there from Dublin. Each hop will chew up a day of your vacation.

Catch me off line for some more travel tips.