Thanks for the tips with the LCC's. That's much better than flying BA through Europe and constantly going through LHR.

Has anyone ever taken the trip from Paris to Normandy to see the D-Day Beaches? I love history and have always wanted to see those beaches, the memorial, and all that stuff. Is it a real pain to get out there? It looks like it's about a 2 hour train ride from Paris with one stop along the way and your tour guide (if you take a tour) picks you up at the train station. Is it worth the trip out there to go see that?

As for Nice, well my dad and my friends dad reccomended it. And we are seniors in high school so we'll be starting college in the fall. It sounds like a cool place to relax and hang out for a few days to take a break from all the sightseeing.

Again, thanks for all the tips!

One more reason to avoid it, to be honest. Nice is a place for people in their late 30 or 40 with big pockets, a Mercedes convertible and a poodle. If I were you I and wanted to stay in a cool place to hang around, I would go to Ibizza or PMI. Honestly.

That is absolutely the truth.
When I backpacked around Europe at 24, I found Nice to be very very boring and full of the above described clientele....
Skip Nice and head for Ibiza, thats where you can actually have some fun!

We're probably gonna skip Nice. I've heard it's overrated from people on this forum and other places. We might do the Ibiza (spelling) place as my friend wants to spend more time in Spain anyway. Would it be fairly easy to fly (or is there another way to get there?) from Barcelona to Ibiza and from Ibiza to Rome?

Thanks.....

It's very easy. Look at www.vueling.com ; the poster who said they are better than Easyjet was absolutely correct. As for nightlife, Ibiza is the place!

Fully agree. But to be honest: I would prefer Palma to Ibiza - one big advantage especially for me being deported to London: Less Englishers there. And the island offers more options for the time between 11 am and 8 pm and maybe the "bigger" nightlife. Both Islands are good for fun, cheap drinks, plenty of nice girls from all around the Europe and plenty of prostitutes from Russia and beyond (what I do not suggest but just note - be careful with all nice girls with an eastern accent).

Air Berlin is another option wherever you want to go from BCN to Ibiza or Palma. Good service and German efficency.

As mentioned above, Vueling is the way to go from BCN to Ibiza, book early to get the best prices.
There are no direct flights to Rome from there on any LCC, you would have to go back via Spain or via some other city in Europe.

http://www.skyscanner.net/map.asp?langid=en has all the European LCC routes you will need

My dad and I spent some time going over it and revised it yet again. My friend was in Paris in November so he wants to skip right over France. However, I've never been and would really like to go. I've been to London and he really wants to go, I loved London so I don't mind spending 3-4 days there especially since I've got family there. I wanted to go to Florence, he's been and didn't want to go again, so I compromised and said we'll just do Rome. Dublin seems alright, it's not at the top of my list, but my friend wants to go so I can't always have the choice. Anyway here's the new one we came up with. With this we've got two extra days. We could do another day in London as we'll be there 2.5 days right now or Ibiza. But, Ibiza would be a quick trip, with an outbound on July 4th and a return on the afternoon of the 6th to get to Rome.

For the FCO-LHR leg to get back to London for our flight home, 250 dollars seems awfully high for such a short flight. It's the only BA Flight that will get us back to LHR with enough time to connect. I looked and couldn't find anything much cheaper than that anywhere.

June 19th-AIRPLANE
June 20th-AUNTIE BRIDGET
June 21st-AUNTIE BRIDGET
June 22nd-LONDON
June 23rd-LONDON
June 24th-LONDON
June 25th-PARIS
June 26th-PARIS, take evening train Bayeux stay in hotel there
June 27th- Omaha Beach Tour, return to Paris for NIGHT FLIGHT TO DUBLIN
June 28th-DUBLIN
June 29th- DUBLIN
June 30th- DUBLIN, FLIGHT TO BARCELONA 4 pm
July 1st-Barcelona
July 2nd-Barcelona
July 3rd- Barcelona
July 4th-?
July 5th-?
July 6th-Fly to Rome from Barcelona
July 7th-ROME
July 8th-ROME
July 9th-ROME
July 10th-PLANE BACK TO LA, Depart Rome at 8:00 am


FLIGHTS:
June 19th
American Airlines Flight 1012 LAX-ORD, Departs at 9:55 am
American Airlines Flight 66 ORD-LHR, Departs at 6 pm

CDG-DUB=93.00 on Aer Lingus Flight 529, Departs at 9:30 pm
DUB-BCN=130.00 on clickair, arrive at about 7 pm, Depart at 4:15 pm
BCN-FCO=91 dollars

July 10th
FCO-LHR=250 dollars on British Airways, Depart Rome at 8 am
American Airlines Flight 135 LHR-LAX, Departs at 3:15 pm

TOTAL: 580 US DOLLARS for airfare intra europe.

Have you looked into Alitalia for the Rome-LHR flight on July 10th? They are currently showing a $97 USD fare all in for a 930am departure arrival to Heathrow at 1125am, which still leaves plenty of time for a 315pm departure to the US.

Another option would be to go on July 9th, and plan on spending part of the 9th/10th for sightseeing in London. The advantage to this option is you remove (or significantly lessen) the risk of problems with your flight out of Rome resulting in missing your flight to the US.

100 bucks on Air Italia. That's a good deal compared to BA. Obviously it would give us enough time (if the flight is on time) to get through LHR to our connecting flight, but if the flight was delayed what's the minimum amount of time we'd need to transfer from Air Italia to American Airlines (or Virgin for my friend because that's what he's flying)?

Thank you, thank you everyone!

Alitalia arrives T2, both AA and Virgin depart T3.

Terminal 2 Connections

But all depends on whether you can interline from AZ to AA & VS or whether you'll need to collect luggage and check in again.