Italy, Train or Plane?

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

For your car rentals try www.europebycar.com and www.autoeurope.com

[wombat Member Find all posts View Profile Close wombat]

Hi Rene, where did you find the reviews for the Rome timeshare (I Cieli di Roma)? We're booked into the same 2 timeshares as Frank for next year, and have so far found only one review for I Cieli on IgoUgo (although there are plenty for Assisi). We are used to staying in the city centre .. hope the timeshares are not too far away.

[Rene McDaniel Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rene McDaniel]

Hi Rene, where did you find the reviews for the Rome timeshare (I Cieli di Roma)? We're booked into the same 2 timeshares as Frank for next year, and have so far found only one review for I Cieli on IgoUgo (although there are plenty for Assisi). We are used to staying in the city centre .. hope the timeshares are not too far away.

Ummm.. well, it's on that other timeshare website - TUG for "Timeshare Users Group". If you pay the annual membership fees, you have access to the database of resort reviews and resort sightings posted by members. (Although we all know the BEST sightings are reported here at this website!)

There was only one review for Cieli di Roma, but it was very positive, and the reviewer said they would take a trade back there in a heatbeat, so that's encouraging. It's certainly a much more affordable option than the Carpedium Roma where we will stay, where you absolutely have to have a car (ka-ching) just to get to the metro station, and now they've added some outrageous $30/person surcharge which adds an additional $120 per week for our family of four. I'd complain, but with hotels in Rome starting at $200 per night (and how do you hide the 2 kids) we'll still come out way cheaper with the timeshare because we need the space, and the ability to do some meals in.

We actually enjoyed cooking in Italy because all the ingredients in the store are so much BETTER than anything we've got at home. You'd even make something simple like scrambled eggs, and we'd all be amazed at how incredibly good it tasted. It's only there that we realized how much of the flavor of our food is lost from picking things ahead of being ripe, gassing them, preserving them, mass produced everything. After we came back we starting watching "Mario Bateli Eats Italy" on the Food Network, and now we understand the Italian appreciation for fresh food, fresh ingredients, and using things produced locally. Yum. I get hungry just thinking about heading back to Italy.

-- Rene McDaniel

[wombat Member Find all posts View Profile Close wombat]

Thanks very much, Rene. Those were encouraging comments indeed! Much appreciated. Yup, Italy's a great place .. you can go back over and over again and still won't be bored .. but with a big hole in the pocket considering how much hotels there cost.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

After we came back we starting watching "Mario Bateli Eats Italy" on the Food Network, and now we understand the Italian appreciation for fresh food, fresh ingredients, and using things produced locally. Yum. I get hungry just thinking about heading back to Italy.

-- Rene McDaniel

I had the pleasure of meeting him at his Po Restaurant in the Village. We had him cook us a meal at his liking rather than ordering from the menu. Bad mistake on our part. He served us Cornish Hens. It looked like tiny chickens on top of grass. Everything else was great, Just the main meal was not to our liking which in a way was our fault since we were asked what foods do we not eat. I would never have thought of saying a Hen.

[Sandcrab Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Sandcrab]

Frank my friend. I have been in Rome etc. albeit years ago. Why you would ever want to drive there blows my very little mind. When I was there, the traffic was awful and the guys drove with one arm draped over the steering wheel, smoking, and Italian saluting to the other drivers. My advice is to take transit wherever possible. This would save harmony to your ever so shakey marriage. I can't see squat when I'm driiving so can't enjoy where I'm at. I would rather say, "I saw Italy", than, I drove and survived Italy...and didn't see shit.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Okay, now that I know where you're staying, I think I'm going to change my suggestions a little bit. Reading the reviews for Carpedium Assisi, it sounds to me like you are REALLY going to need to rent a car for the week. The resort is on the outskirts of town, and has some negative press -- which means you'll definately want to be out-and-about. Just use the timeshare as a place to eat, sleep, and keep your stuff. You'll probably want to take a lot of daytrips since a fellow can only sit and chat with St. Francis for just so long -- then, it's time to move on and see all that your corner of Italy has to offer. I checked the train schedule, and since Florence is only 2 and 1/2 hours from Assisi by train, it's probably close to the same by car. So, rather than take a day away from your week in Rome, why not just make your Florence trip from Assisi?

You could see Florence either a daytrip, or even as an overnight trip (midweek?). You could do either 2 full days in Florence - or - even 1 day in Florence & throw in a sidetrip to Pisa. That's what we did from our **dog** of a timeshare in Northern Italy. We just packed a few clothes, and headed for a destination that was just to far to do as a daytrip (4-5 hour drive each way), and got a cheap hotel for the night after we arrived there. Where? You ask. Well, we drove about 4-5 hours south to spend the day in Florence, then around 5 o'clock, or so -- headed over to PISA, where we stayed the night.

Early the next morning, we drove to La Spezia (parked the car for the day), then took the little train from La Spezia that goes up and down the Cinque Terre and visted all 5 of the little towns. About 7pm or so, we made the 5 hour trek back to our timeshare in Northern Italy arriving back around midnight. Now, after having done that -- I would never recommend making 5 hour trips two days in a row. (Although people drive that and more to Disneyworld, like it's nothing!) The Italian autostradas are really great, but too much driving can really take it's toll on you, especially after an already long day of sightseeing. The next day we did more of a take-it-easy day (picnic @ local castle & shopping). But it was nice coming back to the timeshare and being able to just open up the fridge make a nice leisurely breakfast kinda like we were coming back home to all our STUFF. (We had only taken a few essentials & change of clothes in a backpack, and left everything else in the timeshare). But in your case Frank, with Assisi being only about 2 hours away from Florence, you would not have the huge drive time that we had coming all the way from Treviso, which is about an hour north of Padua/Venice.

I read the reviews for your Rome timeshare and it sounds like other people who stayed there did fine using the timeshare transportation and metro -- so there would be no reason to rent a car for Rome. I would suggest reserving a rental car ahead of time from the US, picking it up at the Rome airport. Load up your suitcases and drive to Assisi for the week. (The Rome airport is on the outskirts on the autostrada, and you can go totally **around** the city of Rome.) At the end of your timeshare week in Assisi, drive back to your timeshare in Rome, check-in, maybe get your grocery shopping done, and then return the car back to the Rome airport, or their office closest to your timeshare. (From the reviews, it sounds like the timeshare is in an outskirts residential area, so you will probably be okay driving.)

Back to daytripping from Assisi to Florence. We just followed the autostrada to Florence, got as close as we could following the line of traffic into the city, and just kinda parked where everyone else did, which was down by the Arno river, a bit on the outskirts... and everyone just seems to walk in from there. Parking was about 15 Euros for the day, not cheap by any means. If you decide you will go only to Florence and no other side trips, it would probably be easier and cheaper to just take a train from Assisi if it is just you and the wife. If you're travelling with other family members, like we were, the costs can start to add up quick.

I read something from Rick Steves one time that has stuck with me. Think about HOW MUCH MONEY you have spent just to GET there, and don't worry about the nickel and dime stuff once you're there. I learned that lesson the hard way. I really, really thought it would be fun to do a gondola ride in Venice, but the prices just knocked my socks off, my husband was rolling his eyes -- so, we passed. Now, I look back at it, and realized that was stupid of me to let that opportunity get away. So, now I try to do the math and figure the costs, then if things are even CLOSE, I ask myself --- what will work best for us? Which would we enjoy the most? For us, it is having the freedom of having a car, and being able to go when we want, stop where we want, pull over for pictures wherever we want, and come back when we want that is most important. Our rental car is always loaded with an assortment of snacks, drinks, music, books and my husband and I take turns and share the driving. For families, I think travelling by car is easier if your distances are not too great, although there are times we have taken trains.

So, reserve the car before you go. Also, make reservations for the Uffizi museum in Florence BEFORE you go. The Rick Steves books can help you on how to do this. (We called when we got to Italy and we couldn't get anything until a week later, so thank goodness we had a 2-week trip!) And you don't have to have a completely firm itinerary before you go. You can decide at the last minute whether to make a daytrip, or have a non-timeshare overnight stay somewhere, or whether to drive vs. taking a train. It was our inability to get Uffizi reservations that caused us to make the 4+ hour drive from Northern Italy back to Florence. But that misfortune turned into adding on Pisa and the Cinque Terre when we realized that we didn't want to make such a long drive up and back all in the same day. Ends up the Cinque Terre day was one of the highlights of our trip, although there were many! Who knew? And we ended up writing off making a trip to Milan, because it looked just too far, and we weren't sure we could get in to see "The Last Supper" without reservations. (That trip we would have done by train, because we were definately starting to slow down near the end.)

Pack light- because we were there last week of June, first week of July and it was so hot and humid in Rome. We could definately understand all that closing up shop and taking a mid-day siesta business. Phew! And even though it's practically 100-degrees, they still won't let men into St. Peters without pants, so you may want to pack a very, very lightweight pair of pants, or just spend the 10 Euro to buy the cheapo nylon ones they sell outside. We girlies had to buy big scarves because sleeveless arms are a no-no, too. But it was so blasted hot, even though we knew the rules before we went out that day, there was no way we could have survived the heat wearing anything more. The good news is that it cools off nicely in the evening, and there are lots of wonderful outdoor restaurants, and people walk and stroll -- evenings in Rome really have a special magic. (Also in Florence, too!)

I'm sure you're going to have a fantastic vacation. Just don't let any of the "timeshare-related" negatives get to you. Look beyond those, to the glorious countryside, incredible history, the world famous art, mouth-watering food, and warmth of the people -- it will help offset any of the negatives you might run into at a resort.

Just my 2 cents worth.
---Rene McDaniel

My trip is coming up soon and I wanted to get to this post up again for easy access.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Frank my friend. I have been in Rome etc. albeit years ago. Why you would ever want to drive there blows my very little mind. When I was there, the traffic was awful and the guys drove with one arm draped over the steering wheel, smoking, and Italian saluting to the other drivers. My advice is to take transit wherever possible. This would save harmony to your ever so shakey marriage. I can't see squat when I'm driiving so can't enjoy where I'm at. I would rather say, "I saw Italy", than, I drove and survived Italy...and didn't see shit.

Frank, I drove there in 1964 and it's miserable. All I remember is the tooting of horns day and night and drivers being very impatient. It was easier to walk and much more relaxing and take a tour or taxi cab to the places you want to visit. We didn't try public transportation because of the language barrier.

However, walking in Rome is very nice where the fountains are. We drove all through Italy on both sides and loved seeing so much but visiting the big cities by car is very hard, however, not for everyone.

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

I just returned from a trip where we tacked on Venice at the end of a trip to the French Riviera (through DAE). My previous trips to Venice had all been in spring, except one in late winter for Carnival. I had always heard that the canals stunk in the summer, but that did not seem to be the case in late June. I wish I was back out there in one of those open air bow seats on the vaporetto crusing up the Grand Canal!

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

I did not have time to post the last chain of events but I will now. After I started looking at this thread again. I started to look at all of my current Itinerary. now it might get confusing especially since I am writing it.
Now I was originally booked coming home on Delta using my FF miles on Aug 20 with a 10 am flight from Rome going to JFK. Well there was a Schedule change. They had now booked me into LGA with a 12:20 flight with a few hours lay over in Cinncy and getting in at about 10 pm. This to me was better because I live closer to LGA than JFK and I did not have to rush out that early since the flight is around noon.
Now As you may have read I booked a flight to Venice from Rome with Ryan air leaving on the 18 and arriving at 9:20am in Rome making it in time for my connecting flight in Rome to LGA at 12:20 right?
Wrong I goofed big time, There are 2 airports in Rome. I am arriving at 9:20 am to the Rome Ciampino airport. And flying out of the Rome-Leonardo, (FCO) airport. . Of coarse I panicked and called Delta to see if I could somehow change it. They told me no. So I called around to see how far the 2 airports are. I was told I could make it in an hour. But that would be cutting it to close if I get stuck someplace as it would have given me less than 2 hours to check in. So now I am on the phone with Delta again, This time we were on for about 2 hours. She could not find anything else for me and the wait lists were all closed. Then I recalled the Schedule change and tried with that. There was a direct flight going into JFK that leaves Rome at 12:50 pm and arrives at 4:30pm. That was 30 minutes later than my flight going to LGA and arrives about 5 hours sooner going direct. They would not give me this flight because there were no FF seats left and the wait list was closed. I asked since because of the time change can they get me on that flight. The rep put me on hold and checked with her supervisor. She said sorry but they can not because it was JFK and I was Booked into LGA. Ding Ding Ding. I said well I was originally booked into JFK and you guys moved it to LGA. She laughed put me on hold to check with her boss and Voila I now am booked on the direct flight leaving 30 minutes later. I know coming home on the 20th will be hectic but being that I arrive in Cip at 9:20 AND I depart at 12:50 out of FCO. I should have enough time to get from one airport to the other airport to make my return home. Basically I have an hour and a half to get to the other airport so I can check in 2 hours early at 10:50am. Oh is my wife going to kill me when she hears this latest turn of events. Then again maybe she won't since we are now on a direct flight coming home in the afternoon rather than at night.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

For your car rentals try www.europebycar.com and www.autoeurope.com

Steve Thanks for posting this.

Europe by car seems to have the best rates. I am still shopping around but there rates are hard to beat. Auto Europe came in twice as much but they will try to beat the price, I will know after they verify in 24 hours if they can beat it.

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

Wow Frank,

Sounds like you had a rough morning. I'm really glad that you were able to work things out. I think you got lucky with the direct flight. Hopefully, your wife won't be too mad.

Maybe you should leave out all the bad stuff, and just tell her that you got an upgrade to a direct flight, that should make her happy.....

[nortonski Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close nortonski]

I've been to Italy many, many times, both on business & pleasure, we in fact had our honeymoon in Sorrento.

Of course there are tourist traps as with any country, & of course everywhere has an element of dodgy areas.

I wouldnt concern yourselves with Southern Italy & Naples shouldnt be missed, if you like history take in both Pompei & the Herculaneum (apologies for my poor spelling) Herulaneum is far more in-tact than Pompei... Whilst in Naples get the jet boat over to Capri & delight in it's beauty... & dont forget to take an open top taxi up to Anna Capri then the chair lift to the top cos the views are magnificent!!!

Whilst in the area, do go to Sorrento, it's gorgeous & give the Amalfi coast a shot.

If you're further north, don't miss Rome & if you like to shop try Milan & have a nice cool beer or Frappe in the Piazza Del Omo for a little people watching.

On the car front...do you have a death wish??? The Italian & Greek driving is some of the worst I've ever seen in my entire life!!! Where 2 lanes exist, well they'll squeeze 4 cars in...I'm not saying that they're bad drivers, but if you gotta hire take as much insurance on the hire car as you can get!!

Last time I was in southern Italy I saw an entire family of 3 kids mom n pa on one moped!!!

Certainly not my personal choice to drive...

For those of you who havent been since the Euro, it's had a dramatic change to the cost of living, therefore also the knock on to tourism!!

Trains tend to be clean, but not always punctual, my first choice would be to fly, try Alitalia as you'll often get good Primo (business class) seats with no changes for a fraction of the cost of full Primo & often cheaper than full price economy.

At the end of the day you're not on vacation for long, why spend days on trains is my view... but ultimately your call...

Just my tuppence worth folks...enjoy, it's one of my personal fave's, cant wait for an MVCI Italy...hurry up Marriott!!!

Lee

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

For your car rentals try www.europebycar.com and www.autoeurope.com

Steve Thanks for posting this.

Europe by car seems to have the best rates. I am still shopping around but there rates are hard to beat. Auto Europe came in twice as much but they will try to beat the price, I will know after they verify in 24 hours if they can beat it.

AutoEorope came back with a rate that beat Europe by car. At first they only beat them by $20 but I got a hundred dollars less for booking it right now. It cost me $1000 for 13 days with an Automatic mid size which could be a b class Benz or a VW Passat.


Avery my wife was happy with the direct flight. She feels as I do, the return trip that day will be hectic. But it will be worth it if all goes well since we will be home during day light.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

1 week to go, We just need to pre purchase our tickets to the places where we want to go to. Any ideas on were to start?