I was planning a Cosmos Tour of Europe's Highlights on Sept. 18th and found out that it is not a guaranteed tour. They said, you would be put on a different date, but if the date dosen't work for me, then what?? The Sept. 25th is a guarantee, but is early October warm enough to wear capris? I heard October was rainy is that true? Do you think it is too early to be booking something with Affordable Tours?

Can a person use a large duffel bag as their luggage for under the bus? I am just thinking of weight, as suitcases weigh 10lbs to start with.

Apprecicate any other tips.

You can use pretty much any kind of bag you want for under the bus, as long as it is "not exceeding 30"x21"x11" and weight not exceeding 50lbs (22kg)". . Most people on my tour had pretty decent sized suitcases.

The weather issue can be tricky, but my suggestion would be to choose the guaranteed departure over the earlier tour because you would have peace of mind that your tour wont be cancelled, and just because it's a couple weeks earlier doesn't mean the weather will be nicer. My tour was in January, when the weather is supposed to be among the worst of the year, and although it was cold sometimes, we only had a couple moments of rain during the whole 3 weeks- the evening we were in Florence and the afternoon during our drive back to London from Dover. In Southern Italy is was even quite warm. So it's really hard to say. Find the temperature and precipitation charts of the cities you will be visiting to get an idea of what it might be like. Even if it does rain, you will still have a good time.