My son is doing a study abroad program in Italy this summer and needs to be at a town near Venice at the beginning of the program. Looking at flights so that he gets there a day or two before ahead of time and Venice is the most convenient airport. However, not sure if it's the best deal or easiest for travel in/out? We can get to any major airport in Texas so am looking for advice/options on airlines, airports, etc.

Which town? Is there a train that goes to the town?

I didn't fly into Venice but I had to visit the embassy at the airport when I was vacationing there. It was 17 years ago so I've slept since then but I do remember easily catching a bus from the main Venice train station to get to the airport. So I imagine it's still pretty easy to get to a train station and then get to the town where he's going. Or there may be a direct bus depending on which town.

Also avoid flying into Paris like it's got AIDS. Connecting at CDG is usually a disaster. We have flown direct to Paris and booked our second legs separately giving us enough time between but most connections don't give a lot of time.

That first sentence got me pretty good...
Thanks for the info!

Any chance it's in Ravenna with Ocean Engineering? Ours did that last summer.

Flew IAH to Frankfurt to Florence. Spent 2 nights in Florence to "acclimate" then caught the train to Padova for the program start. He hated the trains but used them all the time on the weekends.

Flew home Milan to Munich to IAH.

We were way to tight on transfers in Frankfurt and Munich. 2 or 3 hours in each. He had to move fast to make the Florence flight. The only reason he made the Munich to Houston flight was that the flight from Germany was delayed. Just something to keep in mind

Ol army 92 said:

---

Any chance it's in Ravenna with Ocean Engineering? Ours did that last summer.

Flew IAH to Frankfurt to Florence. Spent 2 nights in Florence to "acclimate" then caught the train to Padova for the program start. He hated the trains but used them all the time on the weekends.

Flew home Milan to Munich to IAH.

We were way to tight on transfers in Frankfurt and Munich. 2 or 3 hours in each. He had to move fast to make the Florence flight. The only reason he made the Munich to Houston flight was that the flight from Germany was delayed. Just something to keep in mind

---

I second this experience with Frankfurt; was traveling from Houston to Rome and vice versa in 2010 for study abroad and our group of 26 almost missed our connection in both directions. All flights were on Lufthansa. Due to our connecting gates, we had to go through both security and customs twice. I would leave a minimum of 3 hours for the connection. Coming back, I might also suggest searching for flights which go from Venice to somewhere in the US on the first leg, so that you're not potentially missing an international connection.

Most European airports are a pain when it comes to matching up a US flight to a regional EU flight. If you're lucky, you land at a gate in a differently terminal and just have a long-ass walk to your next gate.

Also, many regional flights don't even get a gate with a jetway. You have to take a bus to/from the tarmac and board/deplane there.

At worst, you have to change terminals that aren't even adjacent, requiring a bus ride to catch your next plane. This happened to us in both Amsterdam and Milan, with Milan having the worst arrangement. The bus ride was long, crowded, there were limited buses operating, and there were multiple stops along the route with no clear instructions as to where we were supposed to get off. We had something like 6 hours between flights, so it was no problem, but it would be miserable with a short connection.

Having enough rime to make a connecting flight means a lot of wasted time at the airport.

This is why I suggested direct to Rome and use the train to get to Venice. There will be lots of options for rail departures, and it will be easy to catch a later train if the flight is delayed.

Coming back, I second a flight direct from Venice to somewhere in the US. Just be sure he gets Global Entry before he goes. It's not unusual to have 1-2 hour lines at Customs at big US airports in the summer. This is assuming your kid doesn't want to do some independent travel around the rest of Italy or Europe at the end of the trip.

Yep...thanks for the info. Very helpful

Appreciate the info!

LandArchSA said:

---

Yep...thanks for the info. Very helpful

---

Since I assume the schedule is the same (has been for years) keep in mind that the last official night is generally a very late night out. I think he got back to the hotel at like 1am (could have easily stayed out later) and had to get up at 4 to catch the train to Milan Malpensa.

In hindsight, he wished he would have stayed locally one more night and had a bigger transfer buffer in Munich or head to Munich later in the day, stay there and come home the next day.

It was a stressful and tiring travel day.

We like to avoid Frankfurt when we can.

I would go Milan to Chicago then Houston any day versus Milan to Frankfurt then Houston.

I think Frankfurt gets a bad rap. Yes, it is huge, but it's German so very well organized.

The problem is, international flights arrive in one terminal and your continental flights usually depart from the other. And that distance is vast. It's like they built two large terminals, then put the runways in the middle.

You should always have at least a two hour layover to navigate Frankfurt. I endure Frankfurt, when necessary, because I like Lufthansa. Given a choice, I would use KLM and go to Schiphol.

I say all this because, when travelling internationally I try to avoid US carriers. And, BA usually goes through Heathrow which is bad. And Air France goes to DeGaulle which is the worst.

Going to Italy in November and just booked our tickets on Lufthansa.

The trick with FRA is to not try and understand how it all flows. Follow the signs. Yes, you might go from Terminal A to Terminal Z to Terminal B but just do what the signs say and you'll be fine.

you can fly from Schipol direct to Milan, super simple, we did it last month. the train would be an easy trip to go from Milan onward, i would do it that way