some major questions I have about european travel

[dsuarez]

First question: I am going to be flying down from amsterdam to rome or florence. Should I buy the plane ticket a few days in advance while I am in europe, or should I buy it at home? Which will be cheaper? I am also having trouble finding a budget airline that has flights from amsterdam-->Italy...can anybody recommend a few with a wide variety or departure and arrival locations?

Second: After me and my friends part ways in La Spezia, Italy, I am going to be interested in making my way to eastern europe before my trip ends. Even though slovenia isnt really that far away, I found out I am going to have to take 3 seperate trains in order to get there! What is the easiest/quickest way to get to an eastern european country from La Spezia? plane? from where? Airline?

[space virgin]

I'm going to do some digging around about the specifics, but I wanted to say that it's almost ALWAYS cheaper to get your airline tickets farther in advance. In other words, don't wait for a couple of days before you leave to buy them, they'll certainly be more expensive (if not fully booked).

*edited to add: check out http://www.whichbudget.com for a start.

[space virgin]

Okay, doing a quick search on WhichBudget, I came up with a one-way flight from Amsterdam to Rome in the middle/end of July (no idea when your trip is-- dates will help ) for 90 euros including tax.

It may be easier for you to go from La Spezia to a larger city in Italy-- Venice, maybe, since it's on the way to Slovenia?-- and catch a train from there to wherever you want to go. That's the best advice I can offer. But also check out http://www.bahn.de for train information throughout Europe. Click "Internat. Guests" at the top right.

[dsuarez]

thanks for all of the help space virgin. I found a flight from amsterdam>Rome for 36 euros on Virgin Express.

Also through whichbudget.com, I found some insanely cheap airfare from Milan>Budapest, so I am probably going to do that after Cinque Terre. Has anybody ever flown Wizz Air?

[bellelass]

Wizz air? Heh love the name but never heard of them. Be careful with the cheap airlines, you have to show up as much as an hour in advance for some flights. I missed a flight london to rome because I showed up 35 minutes before boarding and they closed the gates 40 minutes before boarding. Fuckin A, why? Just a caveat...