That is the question?
Look for those hidden costs ………
Rome, Florence and Venice, Romantic Cities of Italy
All excited to be visiting the 3 cities of Italy for our wedding anniversary, Rome, Florence and Venice. A romantic trip for 2 seniors only having been married for 6 years. Who said romance was dead.
Having booked via a tour company, Orbis, I hadn’t heard of them previously but this amazing deal landed in my inbox. Three cities, Rome, Venice and Florence. Who could resist, advertised at under £1000 for 2 people, a steal, was there a catch……….
Looking more closely, only 2 nights in Rome and you didn’t arrive until evening on the first night. Whoops you had to get the train to Florence at 9.30am the morning of the 3rd day. So to summarise, we would be arriving in the evening so by the time we arrived at the hotel and checked in, day one would be passed. That left all of day two for site seeing and then day 3 early morning hop onto the train….. Not a lot of time for seeing Rome!
Ok that had to be addressed, so now we would select an extra night in Rome at extra cost. Oh here’s another little nugget of information further down the page, no baggage allowed for what is now a 7 night 8 day trip. Those days have gone pushing some clean knickers and tiny T-shirts and shorts into a small hold-all so let’s book a 20kg case for my husband and my clothes. Lucky it’s mid August and no heavy clothes required. What else did we need to allow for………. Oh yes this was an anniversary trip so we should sit together on the plane, book seats, another additional cost and don’t forget getting to the airport. What about getting to train stations, hotels and airport back to the UK, all additional cost.
We did have an option of a choice of 3 hotels so we decided to choose the ones nearest to the train stations. Do be careful when faced with this situation, we chose the Donatello Hotel in Rome, 10-15minutes from the station. Ok if your a jogger with no luggage this may work but at our time in life we would class our selves as strollers so 35minutes it took us to walk.
So taking all this into consideration the trip without spending money came in at just under £1500 for two, still a good deal but if you are on a budget LOOK OUT. I would certainly use Orbis Travels again but next time look for those hidden costs…..////
Read my blog Travel Tips for The Golden Ager Traveller
Elle Je` Travel 