Hello Laurie and Mark! My husband Steve and I are also taking the Oct 5 Classic Italy Small Groups tour. We will see you at the hotel in Sorrento! We also chose the pre-tour trip to Capri. This is our first time traveling with Tauck and we are excited! We originally come from CT but have been down in FL full-time for about 12 years now. Nice to meet you, and we look forward to meeting you and our other fellow Tauck travelers. "A presto"!
We are so excited to hear from you! It is also our first Tauck tour. Hopeful that the after hours events that make Tauck special go on as planned. Several caveats in the welcome package have us a little worried…🤔. Do you have any ideas on what you will do during your free time?
“Due to the Jubilee, a visit to St Peter’s Basilica may be subject to change…Likewise, a private early-morning visit to the Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel may be provided instead of an after hours visit…in the event an early morning or after-hours visit is not possible, guests will be provided a TIMED ENTRY TICKET”. What?!? Also they note Assisi may be inaccessible. Also they say the St Mark’s visit may be subject to change with a possibility of an alternate experience. The reason we chose Tauck were these special experiences and access. We are worried about Tauck delivering based on these caveats. We are also hearing about active protests across Italy right now. Hopefully, things will improve prior to our group.
I would have postponed the tour until next year. This is not anything Tauck can do, it will be the same for any tourists this year.
I seem to find your faces familiar, are you from the Philly area?
Ok Laurie. When we went to Rome the first time over 20 years ago with Tauck, jute ddi not offer private tours of the Vatican and Sistine chapel. Because they have professional ‘sushers ‘ it was totally fine and we enjoyed it very much. I’ll be honest about the following too, Rome is not anywhere near my favorite city in Italy, give me, Florence, Milan,Capri, Siena, Lake Como area, Puglia etc etc any time.
It does appear that Rome would be the most problematic. And I just discovered there IS a Jubilee event that looks pretty major on our dates there Oct 8 & 9. Sigh.
And, confirmed airline reservations. A lot of moving parts........ I would go and make the BEST of the tour, sometimes the greatest moments of trips and tours are the unexpected moments!
I always maintain the best memories are the unscripted ones. I don’t concern myself with things I have no control over. Besides, Tauck knows how to handle crowds and always has surprises for their guests.
I think the Jubilee will afford more opportunities for a very memorable trip. Think of it as an adventure and one most people will never experience.
Or another way of putting it “problems aren’t problems, they are opportunities to create memories”. That from Cameron Hewitt in his book The Temporary European. Yes, but dealing with it in real time, that’s the challenge. As good as Tauck is, there are things they can’t change and The Jubilee Year is a big one. Travel enough in Europe and you’ll encounter strikes, protests and transit interruptions of all sorts. You can’t totally avoid it and Tauck can’t either. I like to think, as an experienced traveler, I can do enough research to minimize these things. So, here is something in real time I got myself into: with a lot of work I planned a family Disney cruise to Alaska. Well, the granddaughters are apoplectic! I had to work around work schedules, summer camps, summer school, etc. Booked it, got the travel insurance, booked the flights; bibbity, bobbidy, done! But I go to book rooms for the night before and there is nothing, nada in all of Vancouver. What! Well, a little thing called the World Cup is happening at the same time! You’d think Disney could maybe get some rooms for the cruisers? You’d think. Anyway I was able to get two bare bones rooms at a casino resort near the airport and we all get to ride the train to the ship the next day. The grands are thinking this all sounds like so much additional fun! Good way to look at it, through the eyes of six year olds. So, you enjoy your trip. Italy is wonderful and things often do not go according to plan. Just additional fun!
FolsomDoc, you made me chuckle with your good intentions had a little caveat and discovering that the World Cup was occurring at the same time. Experienced travelers who go on escorted tours or who travel without a tour company understand that at any time, any type of situation can happen. I’ve learned, like life, travel is two steps forward and one sideways. It’s an absolute miracle when there aren’t any curve balls while traveling from airline glitches, to hotel reservation mishaps, I’ve been through all of them and it all works out anyway. It’s the mishaps that are mostly remembered.
Our biggest snafu was when we booked a trip to Chicago, one of our early post pandemic trips. We did not know it was the Chicago Marathon day when we arrived. We had arranged a driver to collect us from the anirport and take us to the Four Seasons. So many roads were blocked that the driver had to keep going around and around to try to get us to the hotel. Finally, we said, we are near enough, just drop us off and we will walk but then he explained we would not be allowed to cross the street and could be walking a long way dragging our suitcases. Eventually we got there but the ride ended up being a lot more expensive than it would have been.
Comments
Hi ,we are on ponant from Malta October 2.
Hello Laurie and Mark! My husband Steve and I are also taking the Oct 5 Classic Italy Small Groups tour. We will see you at the hotel in Sorrento! We also chose the pre-tour trip to Capri. This is our first time traveling with Tauck and we are excited! We originally come from CT but have been down in FL full-time for about 12 years now. Nice to meet you, and we look forward to meeting you and our other fellow Tauck travelers. "A presto"!
We are so excited to hear from you! It is also our first Tauck tour. Hopeful that the after hours events that make Tauck special go on as planned. Several caveats in the welcome package have us a little worried…🤔. Do you have any ideas on what you will do during your free time?
Laurie, what are your worries? Maybe some of us can help explain.
“Due to the Jubilee, a visit to St Peter’s Basilica may be subject to change…Likewise, a private early-morning visit to the Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel may be provided instead of an after hours visit…in the event an early morning or after-hours visit is not possible, guests will be provided a TIMED ENTRY TICKET”. What?!? Also they note Assisi may be inaccessible. Also they say the St Mark’s visit may be subject to change with a possibility of an alternate experience. The reason we chose Tauck were these special experiences and access. We are worried about Tauck delivering based on these caveats. We are also hearing about active protests across Italy right now. Hopefully, things will improve prior to our group.
I would have postponed the tour until next year. This is not anything Tauck can do, it will be the same for any tourists this year.
I seem to find your faces familiar, are you from the Philly area?
I appreciate your honesty. No Philly connection.
Ok Laurie. When we went to Rome the first time over 20 years ago with Tauck, jute ddi not offer private tours of the Vatican and Sistine chapel. Because they have professional ‘sushers ‘ it was totally fine and we enjoyed it very much. I’ll be honest about the following too, Rome is not anywhere near my favorite city in Italy, give me, Florence, Milan,Capri, Siena, Lake Como area, Puglia etc etc any time.
It does appear that Rome would be the most problematic. And I just discovered there IS a Jubilee event that looks pretty major on our dates there Oct 8 & 9. Sigh.
And it also appears that there are planned transportation strikes & protests Oct 3, 10, 13 during this trip…
Ok Laurie, now you have to start thinking positive since your trip is so near.
At this point, if it were me, I'd move the trip to next year.
That would depend on insurance taken.
And, confirmed airline reservations. A lot of moving parts........ I would go and make the BEST of the tour, sometimes the greatest moments of trips and tours are the unexpected moments!
Rome will not be your favorite part of the tour. Enjoy and see you on another tour!
I always maintain the best memories are the unscripted ones. I don’t concern myself with things I have no control over. Besides, Tauck knows how to handle crowds and always has surprises for their guests.
I think the Jubilee will afford more opportunities for a very memorable trip. Think of it as an adventure and one most people will never experience.
Or another way of putting it “problems aren’t problems, they are opportunities to create memories”. That from Cameron Hewitt in his book The Temporary European. Yes, but dealing with it in real time, that’s the challenge. As good as Tauck is, there are things they can’t change and The Jubilee Year is a big one. Travel enough in Europe and you’ll encounter strikes, protests and transit interruptions of all sorts. You can’t totally avoid it and Tauck can’t either. I like to think, as an experienced traveler, I can do enough research to minimize these things. So, here is something in real time I got myself into: with a lot of work I planned a family Disney cruise to Alaska. Well, the granddaughters are apoplectic! I had to work around work schedules, summer camps, summer school, etc. Booked it, got the travel insurance, booked the flights; bibbity, bobbidy, done! But I go to book rooms for the night before and there is nothing, nada in all of Vancouver. What! Well, a little thing called the World Cup is happening at the same time! You’d think Disney could maybe get some rooms for the cruisers? You’d think. Anyway I was able to get two bare bones rooms at a casino resort near the airport and we all get to ride the train to the ship the next day. The grands are thinking this all sounds like so much additional fun! Good way to look at it, through the eyes of six year olds. So, you enjoy your trip. Italy is wonderful and things often do not go according to plan. Just additional fun!
FolsomDoc, you made me chuckle with your good intentions had a little caveat and discovering that the World Cup was occurring at the same time. Experienced travelers who go on escorted tours or who travel without a tour company understand that at any time, any type of situation can happen. I’ve learned, like life, travel is two steps forward and one sideways. It’s an absolute miracle when there aren’t any curve balls while traveling from airline glitches, to hotel reservation mishaps, I’ve been through all of them and it all works out anyway. It’s the mishaps that are mostly remembered.
Our biggest snafu was when we booked a trip to Chicago, one of our early post pandemic trips. We did not know it was the Chicago Marathon day when we arrived. We had arranged a driver to collect us from the anirport and take us to the Four Seasons. So many roads were blocked that the driver had to keep going around and around to try to get us to the hotel. Finally, we said, we are near enough, just drop us off and we will walk but then he explained we would not be allowed to cross the street and could be walking a long way dragging our suitcases. Eventually we got there but the ride ended up being a lot more expensive than it would have been.