As our next adventure draws near, we are forever adapting to the constant changes in travel arrangements that the industry throws our way. One that thing that is certain in today's travel climate is that the only "Constant is Change"!
Ellouise and I began planning this year's escape in July of 2022. We knew we would like to go somewhere for about 2 weeks; however, due to the demands of our business we needed to schedule our trip for spring of 2023. After going back and forth -- taking into consideration weather, activities, budget and such, -- we both agreed that Italy it would be... we would revisit some of our old favorites and explore some new locations. Since Italy has so much diversity to offer its guests, this time we decided to pick one region and focus our time on some of the more obscure (and local favorites) -- but which region? This question created a lot more debate. Ellouise finally won the debate with both of us deciding to focus our journey mostly on Southern Italy and the Apulia Region (of course we will also be spending a few days in Rome - can't visit Italy without a stay in Rome).
With our destination now finalized, it was time to actually start planning our vacation. I would like to start by stating that Ellouise and I have very different views as to what defines "planning". Basically, we are total opposites in our styles of travel, consequently what is entailed in the planning stage is also extremely different. My vision of a perfect vacation: I show up at my desired destination with the clothes on my back, a duffle bag with as much clothing I can easily carry, and money in my pocket for whatever comes my way during the adventure. On the other hand, Ellouise wants every minute of the vacation set in stone and regulated down to the last penny spent - this even includes packing the exact outfits for each day before we leave! Despite our differences we did agree that picking the dates of travel, arranging the accommodations and coordinating the transportation early on was a good comprise. We would worry about each of our "Must Visit Sites" later on.
Early on in my travels I was told "you need to be prepared to go with the flow and expect the unexpected". Well let me say that post 2020 this has never been more true! There is no doubt that since 2020 air travel is even more frustrating than it was before. One thing we have certainly encountered numerous times over the past 2 years is that domestic flights are a coin flip. Between consistent delays, limited availability in routes offered and just plain canceled flights, we now leave much longer gaps between our domestic and international connections. In many cases we will actually drive from our home in Ohio to larger international airports on the East Coast (4-6 hours depending on airport) just to skip the headaches of flying domestically. However, for this trip we decided to start our journey out of Pittsburgh (closest airport). So on July 2nd we booked a flight to Rome via Newark. Once in Rome we basically had 3 options -- rent a car and drive to Bari, take a train, or fly. We opted for the later. Ryanair had a cheap flight that left a little over 4 hours after our scheduled arrival time so that looked like a great option. We both thought this should work out well as it would allow enough time for any slight delays, to get through customs and to get a bite to eat before leaving for Bari. Figures crossed... we are at our finally destination by 2PM the day after we leave the States.
Well as I said - be prepared for changes. We are now 90 days out and every leg of our flights have been changed by the airlines. In all fairness neither change made to our domestic or international flight was major enough to create a problem. However, if we had shorter connection times there could have been. But the flight from Rome to Bari is a totally different story! They cancelled our flight all together - but were kind enough to book us on a later flight. That's good, right? It was 9 hours later. So now what - do we sit in the airport for 13 hours, leave our luggage at the airport and travel into Rome (about an hour away) for the day, or take a train to Bari. Since we are spending 3 days in Rome at the end we opted to take the train. It leaves about the same time as our flight would have but instead of a hour flight we get to enjoy 4 hour train ride through the countryside. Hey it's in first class! Anyway trains are a cool way to travel.
After booking our flights and thus finalizing the dates of travel it was now time to decide where we would be staying while in Italy and how long at each location. This typically is a pretty simple task. Since our international flight goes through Rome, we thought we would start our trip through Puglia in Bari and work our way back towards Rome. We absolutely love Rome, so we decided to spend our last 4 nights in Rome before returning home. After spending much of August booking our lodging, we were now in the long stage of waiting for the day we would leave...
By November of 2022, we are starting to get excited about our trip. We begin researching activities in each location we will be visiting to get a rough list of daily activities. Our last stop before returning to Rome will be Lecce, a city in Italy's southern Apulia region known for its baroque buildings, sunken Roman amphitheater and unrivaled beauty. It became obvious we would need an extra day to really experience all of Lecce, so without hesitation we decided to simply cancel one night in Rome and add an extra night in Lecce. Sounds simple right? Well, our original hotel in Rome said not a problem - they would change our reservation from four nights to three nights. NOW for the kicker.... they sent a revised invoice - it was for a 100 Euros more and for 1 night less. Despite not changing the booking number or anything they claimed they could not honor the same nightly room rate that was offered when the reservation was made!! I bet you can guess what happens next - they no longer have a booking for any nights from us! One perk, since 2020 most places offer an option for "100% refund" and many don't even require a deposit so making changing to your plans can be relatively painless.
With less than 90 days till our departure we are now looking at booking a few excursions. Our compromise is to book our "Must See" places, food tours (which I will talk about in another article) and leave the remainder of the days free to explore. It is often said that planning a trip can be almost as much fun as the trip itself. Believe me there is nothing like standing in the middle of the Colosseum and pinching yourself to see if it is real, but the planning process gets you and keeps you excited about your adventure. Just remember to expect changes, plan for them accordingly, and adapt! If you can do that you will have a great adventure regardless of what comes your way. You may even come home with some great stories!!
Bình luận