sue00

We are leaving (Montreal & Toronto) on Sept. 27 and staying 2 weeks. Can anyone suggest a spot in the airport (Da Vinci) Rome where we could meet - arriving min. apart on different flights. We would like to spend time in Rome, Florence and Venice. All we have right now are our airline tickets. We plan on buying train tickets when we arrive (is this a good idea or should we buy ahead of time)? Can anyone suggest how much time should be spend in each city? Return flight is from Rome on Oct. 11th. Merci!

lyb

Which airlines are you both flying with? If it's the same airlines, just wait right outside the Customs/luggage area. If it's different airlines, check which terminal they are flying into. I could be wrong, but I think that most international flights come in at the same terminal.

tdyls

Assuming you're flying direct from Canada to Rome and not changing in another European city, all international flights land at the same terminal. When you exit the plane, you'll be herded down a corridor to passport control, then to the baggage claim, and then customs. Once you pass customs, there's an arrivals lobby.

Since your flights are just minutes apart, I'd probably wait in the baggage claim area and then both of you clear customs together.

Shrink

Sue
Was in those three cities last week and left from the Rome airport. I cant come up with a really good meeting place other than a baggage carousel (know each other's flt numbers). Read the thread below marked 'train reservations' and it will tell you all you need to know about trains in Italy. I have said before, I am biased and prefer Tuscany. I would not spend more than 3 days in Venice, and not much more than that in Rome. I love Florence and all the little outliers (Lucca, Siena, Piza, etc). These are all available from Florence, or for that matter, I would think staying in someplace like Siena might be even more fun. At any rate, you guys cant miss with those three -- you are going to have a ball. Good luck!
BTW I dont know whether you are an experienced Fodie or not, but in case you are new to this site, pay attention to the advice here. The vast majority of posters are knowledgable and quite helpful. I am new myself, and have learned a lot from them.
Shrink

sue00

I am arriving through Zurich and my girlfriend through Francfort. We would like to join up to share a taxi to our hotel. Thanks for the reference to the train info.

ira

Hi Sue,

I suggest that, after you find each other, you go to the train station at FCO where you will buy tickets on Leonardo da Vinci Express to Roma TE.

At that time buy a ticket on the next ES* to Florence.

Spend 5 days in Florence (one day to Siena) and train to
Venice for 4 days.
The take the train to Rome for the rest of your trip.

You can buy all of your tickets at the train station at FCO, or Rome or Venice or at any travel agent.

Enjoy your trip.

sue00

Thanks Ira. I was thinking of spending 3 or 4 days in Rome when we arrived before heading for Florence. However, your advice sounds better. We arrive in Rome at 11:30 am and I think the train to Florence is about 2 hours so that would be quite "doable". It might make more sense to return for the 3 days in Rome at the end of the trip since we have to fly out from there...thanks again.

ventnor

You should think about booking rooms now. Ira's plan is good.

sue00

Hi Ventnor, I`m in the process of looking for hotels right now. However, I`m a little overwhelmed at the amount of info...and the time it takes to go through. Do you know what is the best way to make reservations if you don`t speak Italian? Do you need to give your credit card info?

ventnor

Personally we stay in high end hotels that I pick then have my T/A book. There are many others on this board that can give you better lodging advice than I.

BowenLinda

Sue, a girlfriend and I did the same trip last autumn, out of Vancouver.

We flew Vanc to London, and then hopped EasyJet to Rome. Stayed three nights in Rome at Hotel Margutta, near Piazza de Popolo, E140 per night for top floor room with terrace. Then trained to Pisa for one night, which was enough. (An inadvertent side trip due to the all-Italy black-out - the first train out of Rome went to Pisa, so we went to Pisa). We next trained to Monterroso, the "last" of the Cinque Terre hill towns for 2 nights. Stayed at Hotel Baia, E140/night with ocean-side view (Wonderful! Grumpy owners/managers, just ignored them.) Then trained to Florence for 3 nights. Stayed at Hotel Alessandra, E108/night, really enjoyed this hotel. We next trained to Venice for 5 nights and stayed, mostly, at Hotel Galleria. Highly recommend this hotel, E98/night, on the Grande Canale. (Last hotel in Venice was horrible.) Flew Venice to London via EasyJet.

At that time you couldn't buy Trenitalia tix from Canada on-line, so we simply printed out the info on the specific trains we wanted and visited a ticket station in Rome where we bought all the train tickets for the trip. Not difficult at all.

Have a wonderful time - I'm off to Paris, Venice and Tuscany on Sept. 28th, this time with another girlfriend.

Cheers,
Linda

sue00

Thanks for the advice Linda. I`ll check out your hotels suggestions. Have a great trip!

ira

Hi sue,

>Do you know what is the best way to make reservations if you don`t speak Italian?

Try www.venere.com You don't have to speak Italian.

>Do you need to give your credit card info?<

Is the Pope Catholic?
If you are concerned about someone stealing the info. Send part of the CC number in one post and the rest in another.

In Florence, I can highly recommend a very good, inexpensive B&B,
www.bedinflorence.it

johnhu

You may be able to get a better deal on train tickets by going on line from RailEurope.com. There are special deals for multiple days and even for two people traveling together. You can get train schedules from trenitalia which can be accessed from RailEurope. We are also going to Italy in September & I've already got our train tickets. The tickets need to be validated at your first station before you get on the train.

Melissajoy

You can make hotel reservations by e-mailing the hotels directly. Most hotels have someone who speaks English, with the exception of a few very small family-run hotels...however, even most family-run hotels or b&Bs still have at least 1 enlgish-speaking family member who answers e-mails. If the hotel has a web-site you can get their e-mail from their web-site.

Once you have contacted the hotel by e-mail and they have answered you and offered you a room and quoted a price, then they will usually want you to fax them your credit card information to confirm the reservation. They will then re-confirm your reservation either by fax or by e-mail. You then save the name of the person who e-mailed or faxed you the re-confirmation, and you can write again to this person with any more questions. This is how I booked all of our hotels in Italy and it worked out very well. In every case we got the rooms we wanted, everything was fine. (I also re-confirmed our reservations a few weeks before we left, just to be sure...)

Melissajoy

I would worry about planning to meet someone in the airport, because if one person's flight is delayed, the other person will be stuck waiting in the airport. If your first hotel was in Rome, it would be better to meet at the hotel. However, if your first hotel is in another city, then that won't work...

We once took a flight which was supposed to connect in Chicago. Due to bad weather, our flight was unexpectedly delayed in Chicago for 4 hours in the middle of the night!!!!!! That would be a long wait in the Rome airport for the other person...It's definitely not fun waiting in airports or train stations with luggage in Italy...You'll have to lug your luggage around with you every time you want to use the toilet, buy a drink, etc. When it comes to travel I like to expect the unexpected!

Maybe you should get a hotel in Rome for at least 1 night upon arrival, and meet at the hotel. Then if you really want to you can take a train the following morning. If that's your plan, you will probably want a hotel convenient to the train station. That's what I would do in this situation.