London - Paris - Rome is too much.

Key is to travel by train. No intra-Europe flights.

Fly into London. Stay in the Residence Hotel SoHo (formerly the Nadler), or if your budget permits the SoHo Hotel. Have dinner at Hakkasan Hanway place. For quick bites, pop into Pret a Manger. Get some one pound coins for the loo. Get to the tower when it opens- go straight to the Crown Jewels to avoid the one hour queue. Consider day trips to Windsor, Cambridge or Bath. People hate on it, but I really like the hop on hop off bus to get the lay of the land on your first day - especially for your first trip to Europe. Don’t take Uber - take the tube or a taxi - London has the best taxis in the world. Whilst you need to eat fish and chips and a Sunday roast, try some Indian and Asian food.

There is a direct train from Heathrow into central London. From there take a taxi to your hotel. You can taxi from Heathrow if you want to spring for 80 pounds.

From London, take the Eurostar to Paris. For a guide to European trains go to seat61.com. Download the rail Europe app. Buy 60-90 days in advance and get first class tickets. If you time it right, they are cheap and well worth it.

I’ve only been to Paris once, so I’ll defer to others who know more.

I like the idea of doing two nights in Amsterdam. It’s unique and super compact. Take a mid morning train - about 4 hours. That will give you a day and a half to explore. Take a canal cruise. Visit the Rijksmuseum and MOCA (Banksey exhibit). Anne Frank house. Eat some pickled herring from a street vendor and visit a coffee house. Walk the red light district in the evening.

Fly out the next morning out of AMS. About a 40 minute train ride from Amsterdam Centraal. Buy an open jaw ticket - probably on Delta. Assuming you connect through Atlanta, you can book Virgin Atlantic on Delta’s website. Way better than Delta and usually cheaper. Maybe take KLM home.

One other thing. Try to dress like a European, especially in Paris. The French treat you better if you’re not obviously American. Parisians dress up - especially the women. Wear dark navy or black. Americans stand out because we're fat, and wear logo t-shirts, ball caps, cargo shorts or khakis and sneakers. You don’t have to get a manbag or anything, or you may not care. Just saying you can get better service in a restaurant if you don’t stand out like a sore thumb.

Have a great trip. It will be amazing!