Itinerary

Update 11/27/11:

• This is the final itinerary as it occurred.

This is a work in progress, I'll be updating it as I go and figure out how much time to spend in each place. Color coded to keep the countries straight.

Days off in bold are placeholders and are flexible. My Eurail pass runs out 2 calendar months after my first trip on the Continent on Sept. 23 from London to Paris Sept. 28 from Paris to Amsterdam, so it's good til Nov. 23 28.

Boring change history moved to the bottom of this page.

1. Sat. Sept. 17: Leave the US, fly to London overnight
2. Sun. Sept. 18: London (and jet lag), day and night
3. Mon. Sept. 19: London, day and night
4. Tue. Sept. 20: Stonehenge + outside London for the day, return to London for the night
5. Wed. Sept. 21: London, day and night
6. Thu. Sept. 22: London, day and night
7. Fri. Sept. 23: Eurostar train to Paris in the morning, then Paris in afternoon and night
8. Sat. Sept. 24: Paris, day and night
9. Sun. Sept. 25: Paris, day and night
10. Mon. Sept. 26: Paris, day and night
11. Tue. Sept. 27: Paris, day and night
12. Wed. Sept. 28: Train to Amsterdam in the morning, spend the day and night
13. Thu. Sept. 29: Amsterdam, day and night
14. Fri. Sept. 30: Train to Cologne, spend the afternoon, overnight train to Copenhagen
15. Sat. Oct. 1: Copenhagen, day and night
16. Sun. Oct. 2: Copenhagen in the day, Malmö Sweden in the evening, overnight train to Berlin
17. Mon. Oct. 3: Berlin day and night
18. Tue. Oct. 4: Berlin, day and night
19. Wed. Oct. 5: Berlin, day and night
20. Thu. Oct. 6: Train to Prague in the morning, day and night
21. Fri. Oct. 7: Prague, day and night
22. Sat. Oct. 8: Prague, day and night
23. Sun. Oct. 9: Prague, day and night
24. Mon. Oct. 10: Prague, day and night, overnight train to Vienna
25. Tue. Oct. 11: Train to Vienna in the morning, day and night
26. Wed. Oct. 12: Vienna, day and night
27. Thu. Oct. 13: Train to Danube Valley (Melk) in the morning, night in Krems & Mautern
28. Fri. Oct. 14: Train to Bad Ischl in the Lake District in the morning, day and night
29. Sat. Oct. 15: Train to Hallstatt in the morning, day and night
30. Sun. Oct. 16: Train to Salzburg in the morning, day and night
31. Mon. Oct. 17: Salzburg, day and night
32. Tue. Oct. 18: Train to Munich in the morning, day and night
33. Wed. Oct. 19: Munich, day and night
34. Thu. Oct. 20: Munich, day and night
35. Fri. Oct. 21: Munich, day and night
36. Sat. Oct. 22: Train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the morning, day and night
37. Sun. Oct. 23: Bus to Fuessen in the morning, day and night
38. Mon. Oct. 24: Train to Lucerne in the morning, day and night
39. Tue. Oct. 25: Train to Bern in the morning, day and night
40. Wed. Oct. 26: Train to Interlaken in the morning, day and night
41. Thu. Oct. 27: Interlaken, day and night
42. Fri. Oct. 28: Interlaken, day and night
43. Sat. Oct. 29: Train to Zermatt in the morning, day and night
44. Sun. Oct. 30: Glacier Express train to St. Moritz [** hard constraint - last day for train]
45. Mon. Oct. 31: Train to Milan in the morning, day and night [** hard constraint - meet Dad]
46. Tue. Nov. 1: Train to Venice in the morning, day and night
47. Wed. Nov. 2: Venice in the day and evening, overnight train to Naples
48. Thu. Nov. 3: Naples (Pompeii/Vesuvius), day and night
49. Fri. Nov. 4: Naples (Amalfi coast), day and night
50. Sat. Nov. 5: Train to Rome in the morning, day and night
51. Sun. Nov. 6: Rome, day and night
52. Mon. Nov. 7: Rome, day and night
53. Tue. Nov. 8: Rome, day and night
54. Wed. Nov. 9: Rome, day and night
55. Thu. Nov. 10: Train to Florence in the morning, day and night
56. Fri. Nov. 11: Train to Pisa in the morning, stop for dinner in Genova, train to Nice at night
57. Sat. Nov. 12: Nice in the morning, Monte Carlo in the afternoon, back to Nice for the night
58. Sun. Nov. 13: Train to Aix-en-Provence in the morning, drive to Avignon for the afternoon/night
59. Mon. Nov. 14: Drive thru Provence in the day, drive to Aix-en-Provence for the night [** hard constraint - Dad's flight out of Marseilles early 11/15]
60. Tue. Nov. 15: Train to Barcelona, day and night
61. Wed. Nov. 16: Barcelona, day and night
62. Thu. Nov. 17: Barcelona, day and night
63. Fri. Nov. 18: Train to Madrid, day and night
64. Sat. Nov. 19: Madrid, day and night
65. Sun. Nov. 20: Madrid, day and night
66. Mon. Nov. 21: Train to Algeciras in morning, then bus to Gibraltar in afternoon, bus to Tarifa for the night
67. Tue. Nov. 22: Ferry to Tangier (Morocco) in morning and back in afternoon, bus back to Algeciras in afternoon, Gibraltar in evening, Algeciras for the night
68. Wed. Nov. 23: Train to Madrid in morning, afternoon and night
69. Thu. Nov. 24: Fly to Houston

One other thing - I am allowed one stopover on my trip, meaning I can fly to pretty much to any city in Europe that the Star Alliance flies for "free", spend as much time as I want, and then fly to Houston. Cities under consideration include Reykjavik, Majorca, Las Palmas, Athens, and Istanbul. Of course I'd have to pay for my time there too, but the flight is "free".

Boring change history:

Update 5/29/11:

• Removed Luxembourg, Brussels, Bruges, and Budapest (to make room for Spain at the end of the trip). 
• Added placeholder days off every ~7 days 
• Removed Zurich and redistributed the time in Switzerland

Update 6/12/11:

• Removed 1 day in Switzerland to be able to make the Glacier Express on 10/30 (last day of availability)
• Removed 1 day from French Riviera
• Added 2 days in Florence

Update 7/11/11:

• Changed my mind and removed Florence (again) to make room for time in Provence

Update 8/3/11:

• Changed my mind yet again and added 1 day in Florence (again) at the expense of 1 day in Cinque Terre

Update 9/5/11:

• Removed 1 day from Amsterdam and added it to London, shifted Paris to the right by 1 day 

Update 9/7/11:

• No overnight train from Malmo or Copenhagen to Berlin on 3rd day there, so return to Copenhagen for the night and fly to Berlin in the morning 

Update 9/8/11:

• Forget the above, will cut short my stay in Copenhagen and leave for Berlin 1 day early. Took the extra day and added Budapest in between Prague and Vienna (Oct 10).

Update 9/12/11:

• Cut a day out of Prague, now I've got 2 days in Budapest

Update 10/8/11:

• Too tired to go to Budapest, so decided to stay those 2 extra days in Prague anyway

Update 10/13/11:

• Scheduled my free day in the Austrian Lake District (10/15) to be in Hallstatt

Update 10/22/11:

• Removed one day from Lucerne and added it to Interlaken, moved everything up one day

Update 10/28/11:

• Due to disastrous flooding in Cinque Terre, had to change my routing to replace it with Naples. Now instead of Venice --> Rome --> Florence --> Pisa --> Cinque Terre --> Nice, it's Venice --> Naples --> Rome --> Florence --> Pisa --> Nice. Also removed one day from Nice/Monte Carlo (formerly 2 days) and added it to Rome.

Update 10/29/11:

• Will rent a car in Aix-en-Provence and drive around for 2 days instead of taking buses, which allows visits to Avignon, Arles, and various small towns in Provence

Update 11/17/11:

• Moved up the trip to Gibraltar and Tangier by one day to make the connection back to Madrid easier, now I get back to Madrid and have the afternoon to catch up on anything.