Italy: Missteps
 

I don't want to be grumpy, and I definitely want sympathy (not too much; just a little).

It has been a day of uncovering screw ups in my normally impeccable planning. I guess it didn't start today, either, as I first got uncomfortable about our April 20 trip when I read a very bad review here about rentalinrome.com. That was several days ago.

Today, I checked my flight seats. Moved out of the two seater. No two seaters available in either direction. Grabbed two aisle seats on the two side in both directions, and I'll just hope for someone that wants one of them and will let DH and I sit together. In any case, they aren't far apart.

Hmmm, start to read Fodors. Train strikes in Italy on my train days. Rush to change rental car to cover myself. OK.

Finally, decide that either I am an idiot or there are screw ups afoot that I can't account for, so decide to double check Orvieto hotel. hahahahaaaaaaaaaaa

B&B has us down for dates that are completely outside our itinerary. They can move us from one building to another but don't have two nights in a row. They'll do the moving. AAARRGHHH. Will accept this, but have written to other places.

So: I am going to Italy. How dare I be grumpy? Help if you can; please don't slam me, I feel awful already.

I went to stir the sauce while I loaded this for preview. While doing so, I spilled olive oil. Extra Virgin First Cold Pressed Olive Oil. Woe.

tuscanlifeedit, I do feel your pain and have both sympathy for you and raw fear myself! I'm bound for Rome on April 25th and have hotel reservations beginning on the 28th in Florence. Now I'm thinking I may have to seriously consider staying in Rome. What was your source to find out about the strike?

Tuscan - You will be in Italy on my birthday and I won't. I don't think you have anything to complain about! No sympathy from me. lol

tuscanlifeedit: I feel bad for you. You didn't screw up at all. When I fax hotels with my confirmation and cc#, I put all the information down on the fax like arrival and departure date, what type of room, etc. This way I have proof. I attach it to all the e-mails between us and bring it with me. I have had where Delta canceled just my daughter's reservation out of the three of us! Where would that come from? I have had Alitalia re-route us only to find they canceled our whole ticket, etc, etc. So I know how you feel. These strikes are annoying. You're not alone in that boat. This will be a great trip for you, I'm sure.

Aren't you going to be there for your birthday? You and kybourbon have close birthdays....happy birthday to both of you. I hope I'm remembering correctly.

The good news - you discovered these problems ahead of time and not after arrival...

Your trip is dommed. I will give you $500 for your prepaid accomodations and plane tickets. My offer decreases $50 each hour.

Dommed?

I swear kybourbon, I typed doomed. If that isn't a sign this trip is doomed, I don't know what is. Down to $475.

tuscanlifedit,

You will have a wonderful time. All you need to do to guarantee this is drink more vino and eat more gellato!

On my last trip, the trains were supposed to be on strike the only day I had to go out to visit Tivoli. The strike was cancelled the day before, yeah! Besides, you've got the rental car anyway now, yes?

We loved the Palazzo Piccolomini in Orvieto - if that helps.

Buon viaggio!

Oh, you guys are so nice.

cold, it's my birthday; I just can't do it. Thanks for the offer, anyway.

poetess: here's the link for the thread about strikes:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ly-strikes.cfm

I've seen strikes canceled but this week has been strike-hell. Client going ALL OVER the UK, and a National Rail strike is a real possibility. I've been scrambling like a nut to get him to all his meetings. I'm pooped.

kybourbon: this is a big birthday for me. I will be 60 on April 23. When is your day? I will do some Italian superstition thing for your b'day if you like. I've tied strings on trees, rubbed various parts of saint statues, and lit countless candles; just say the word.

Ann1: how cool of you to remember. Grazie.

Dayle: I don't drink, but I certainly eat gelato. I eat as much gelato as I light candles. I leave a hole in Italy's gelato supply, and I leave a little light behind to make up for it.

Can you please tell me about Palazzo Piccolomini? It is one of the places that I wrote to. Price, cleanliness, room size, anything you can tell me would be appreciated.

Melnq8: I know! It's so much better to be able to head off problems now.

Mine is the 25th and so is my daughter's. Ours is a national holiday - we should be there for it. Hmmm....pondering what to have you rub.

Tuscanlifeedit - they are calling a strike on April 23rd - your birthday! Maybe all the transportation workers are planning a surprise birthday party for you! :wink:

Don't feel down - I spent an hour emailing and redoing my plans - I have to spend an unexpected (and unwanted) extra day in Turin - but I just discovered that Turin is in the middle of the chocolate region of Italy. You know what they say - when life gives you lemons...eat chocolate!

Oh and happy birthday to you too kybourbon!

tuscanlifeedit : Oh, geez, I have 16 days planned starting on 4/27--and now I find out about train strikes? OH NO-I have started a novena against strikes.

Happy Birthday--60 is a good one-I remmeber it well :)

Where else ya going? For me this trip is a big deal too. To celebrate my formal leaving of the work force. I will be thnking of you, and watching this post for more updates.

KrisMom: I had pondered and pondered where to go for my 60th; I even thought about having a party. The end of that line of thinking was that I don't like anyone enough to have a party for them and miss a trip. Trip it was, but I didn't know where.

You can probably find threads on here (I started a couple) about where to go for my birthday. The short list included Virgin Gorda, Yosemite, and Banff/Calgary/Lake Louise. Then I started working on plans for a client going to Italy, and one thing led to another (which usually means obsessive checking for FF tickets) and suddenly: tickets for my birthday period at a bargain rate!

So we are going to Orvieto for two nights; then on to Montone, near Citta di Castello for three nights (things I want to see are the Piero della Francesca paintings in Sansepolcro and Monterchi, as well as Gubbio and the St Francis site at La Verna); and then on to Rome for 4 nights.

I have it broken down like this (but am fully aware of the value of my best laid plans)

Day 1: arrive FCO, drive to Orvieto. Chill.
Day 2: drive to see Pitigliano and surrounding Etruscan sites.

Day 3: leave Orvieto, drive to Sansepolcro, have lunch and visit the Pieros, then drive to Montone. Franco has given me a don't miss lunch spot in Sansepolcro.

Day 4 and 5 are interchangeable as I have to check out more opening and closing times. One will be
Gubbio
and the other will be a quick stop in Monterchi, then make our way to La Verna, going via Poppi.

Day 6: drive to Arezzo to get train to Rome.
Day 7: Rome
Day 8: Rome
Day 9: Rome
Day 10: fly home.

Things I want to do in Rome are
Caravaggio exhibit
Some of the museums I haven't been to include Palazzo Massimo and that complex
The Capitoline Museum (can't believe I haven't been inside)
Galleria Doria Pamphilj
Tour of Vatican Gardens
The Hopper exhibit in Rome

That already sounds like a lot, so I am going to try to add nothing.

kybourbon: as long as it isn't alive, I will try to rub it.

If the preparation is so complicated, the trip itself should go without a hiccup! Step away from computer for 2 hours, come back refreshed and ready to fight. Bon Voyage!

No sympathy from me. I wound up in the hospital on my first Italian trip.

Sorry if I missed your earlier trip reports but: Have you seen the art museum in Perugia? I would put that ahead of Hopper exhibits and a tour of the Vatican gardens if you haven't.

Zeppole, I sure have been to National Gallery of Umbria in Perugia, and it is one of my very favorite museums.

I wish I had written more trip reports. I try to report on lodgings, foods, transport, and attractions, but do fall short.

I make a point to respond to questions that I know something about. Probably not as good as trip reports, but I hope I help a little bit. I'm certainly not as well traveled as lots of Fodorites, but I have been to Rome several times.

My Rome itinerary is made up of places that I've missed on maybe 10 visits to Rome, and a few temporary exhibits that I'm interested in. If there is time, I will probably take in a gallery show and photo exhibit or two.

I'm very sorry that anyone would land in the hospital on a trip. I hope it never happens to me.

tuscanlifeedit,

Our stay at the Palazzo Piccolomini was in 2000, but others have stayed more recently and basically reported the same.

It really is the historical palazzo home of the Piccolomini family. Huge common rooms, guest rooms of various sizes and shapes as you might expect. Breakfast is served in typical Orvieto underground, vaulted rooms. Very cool. Service was very professional and good, comfy rooms.

The hotel is not huge, but bigger than most in small Italian towns. It's at the opposite end of town from the train station and funiculare. It's up from the multi-level parking garage and you can actually take multiple, underground escalators nearly right to the hotel from the parking.

Note how so many things in Orvieto are underground? Be sure to take the underground tour! We absolutely loved this town. Plenty to see and do. Great food and wine too, of course. Orvieto has a true passagiata which is why I always recommend people stay over night.

Hope this helps!

tuscanlifeedit,
Sometimes you just have to hang on to thinking that things have a way of working out perfectly. Deal with what you have the power to change.
And then get those train workers back on track. It's sounds like a couple of people here will be counting on you ;)

You may just meet incredible people while taking alternative transportation.

We arrived in Venice on Easter Sunday & through a mix-up, did not have the hotel we had expected. They carried our bags and walked us over to the next door hotel (gave us the same rate & a nice breakfast). THe next morning, the guy came over & picked up our bags & walked us back over to the hotel we had hoped to stay at. It turned into an interesting experience and really wasn't all that traumatic (we didn't bother unpacking). I'd say, you have things well in hand and will have a wonderful time. Try to worry less and your vacation will go even better!

The one thing that almost did derail our vacation in Rome was gypsies that were drawn to the bulge in my hubby's slacks where his wallet was. Once I convinced him to put all his valuables in the moneybelt under his clothes, things went MUCH better & we became invisible and anonymous.

Have a wonderful time & birthday!

I think because I always look slightly confused (at least I always feel slightly confused), it's always me that the gypsy girls and teenage thieves have their hands all over. They haven't pinched anything from me yet in Italy, but they sure do try. My husband is usually more aware, but last time in Rome he had a lens lifted from his pocket on a very crowded bus. He did get it back,chasing the thief down the street and through a park.

Our Orvieto B&B wrote today that they had found us a nice little apartment in one of their family properties where we can stay for our two nights. I'm perfectly happy.

This is the cheapest trip to Italy yet, and we go as budget as we can. But never have our accomodations for 9 days cost only 845 € for all 9 nights. So if we have to punt a little on this, I am quite OK. That's an average of 93.88 per double per night. And everything we have looks charming.

Does anyone have a good map for parking in Orvieto? I've done several searches but still can't quite get the lay of the land, in terms of getting to and from the parking lots.

So, I'm much more calm, and even planning a treat for us for our least expensive trip to Italy ever. I am going to hire a car and driver to take us to Tivoli, Villa d'este and Hadrian's Villa.

My 60th b'day and our 25th "together" anniversary deserve a little extra, I think. We set out on the road together on May 17, 1985. We didn't legally get married until 15 years later, but for our purposes, this May marks 25 years of committed togetherness for us.

Best wishes for your birthday and hope your trip is perfect in every way. I would love to know the name of the B&B you are using in Orvieto, if I may?

We turned up with no map in Orvieto and found the way to the carparks clearly signposted. Then you make your way to the escalators, up about 7 levels to the town. All very easy.

Best wished for your birthday - my big brother turns 65 the same day. I really hope every thing that can go wrong with your trip already has and you have a wonderful time. Congrats too on your silver "togetherday" :).

Thanks everyone.

Maudie: our original B&B was Ripa Medici. They offered a great rate and reviews on tripadvisor.com are terrific.

I tend to think the mistake is their's, but I won't insist. I can easily make a mistake as well as another.

Anyway, they have offered a little apartment for the same price and the name is B&B Michelangeli. I can't find reviews of it, but it looks cute and may even offer a little more privacy that B&B Ripa Medici. I'm OK, either way.

I like to wash my airplane clothes after arrival, so the fact that the Michelangeli apartment has a washing machine is good. I like fridge, too, so I'm happy.

Glad your Orvieto stay has worked out. Just go with the flow, and if you run into a strike, don't let it ruin the trip! I just hope the July flight prices come down, or I won't be able to go!

Hello again, Thanks for the info - well you certainly have good taste as that is the B&B I have been looking at! I think it looks lovely on the website and as you say the tripadvisor reviews sounds really positive. I wouldn't mind if they make the same mistake with us - I would love a little apartment for exactly the same reasons as you! I do love having a fridge.

At least they have done the right thing by you and your attitude is great. This trip is turning out to be a wonderful adventure, I am sure you will have a memorable time for lots of different reasons! Remember glass half full not half empty, keep up the positive thoughts and go have a wonderful time with your loved one. Best wishes to you and I look forward to reading your report.