Ciao - well, maybe not...
I'm planning a trip to Italy this spring, and thought the arrangements were all made and we were set to go. I booked via a site called Go-Today - it's a great place to find deals on packages. We got a package for Venice and Florence - includes air, hotel and the train between the two cities. Nice hotels, too.
Anyway, I got a call 10 days ago from GT, saying that our airline had made a schedule change, and they couldn't get us into Florence on the day requested. I told them I didn't care what order we saw the cities - could they rebook us into Venice first. They worked it out, and yes, we could go to Venice first, then fly back from Florence. We had to change our hotels, but the new ones look better than our originals. Great.
So last night, I get another call from GT. Yes, another change by Lufthansa - but for a good reason. Apparently the airport in Florence is closing on February 2nd - for THREE MONTHS! That explains why we had that original change. Would have been nice if Lufthansa had explained that to GT in the first place, because now we're flying out of Pisa - which is @an hour from Florence - at 6:50 AM! That would be fine - if there were some way of getting to Pisa at that hour!! The last train would get us into the Pisa Airport at @1 am - that would give us, what, five hours to kill. The next train goes at 12:03 am - and arrives at the Airport at 5:45 am - where in the heck does it go for 5 1/2 hours?? Does it just ride you around Italy all night? The NEXT train goes at 5:30 - and gets us to Pisa five minutes before our flight departs! AARGH
Lufthansa said this morning that they would be providing ground transport from the Florence airport...but by 12 noon, had backed off on that. I guess since the closure is not their fault, they don't have to provide a transfer. (They're also transferring all their operations to the Pisa airport, so that may have been the deciding factor).
What to do?? I suppose we could get into the airport at 1 am - pay a one day membership for the Lufthansa club room and just go drink for a while (or sleep or shower or whatever other fabulous services they offer in those "exclusive" rooms). We could rent a car...
No. What GT and I worked out is that they're finding us a hotel in Pisa for that last night - our last night in Florence was actually an add-on anyway, so they just cancelled that. Guess we'll go into Pisa in the afternoon - go see the Leaning Tower and retire early. Then an EARLY morning trip to the airport. The hotel mentioned by GT says on their website that they offer a shuttle to the airport, so that might be okay. Now I just have to wait for GT to hear back from the Pisan hotel if they have space for us!
Man this is so complicated. But what would we do without the Internet to look over all our options? I actually enjoy all this planning. If it weren't a dying profession, I might have become a travel agent in my retirement. Although it's much more fun to plan your own trips than someone elses!
Anyway, I got a call 10 days ago from GT, saying that our airline had made a schedule change, and they couldn't get us into Florence on the day requested. I told them I didn't care what order we saw the cities - could they rebook us into Venice first. They worked it out, and yes, we could go to Venice first, then fly back from Florence. We had to change our hotels, but the new ones look better than our originals. Great.
So last night, I get another call from GT. Yes, another change by Lufthansa - but for a good reason. Apparently the airport in Florence is closing on February 2nd - for THREE MONTHS! That explains why we had that original change. Would have been nice if Lufthansa had explained that to GT in the first place, because now we're flying out of Pisa - which is @an hour from Florence - at 6:50 AM! That would be fine - if there were some way of getting to Pisa at that hour!! The last train would get us into the Pisa Airport at @1 am - that would give us, what, five hours to kill. The next train goes at 12:03 am - and arrives at the Airport at 5:45 am - where in the heck does it go for 5 1/2 hours?? Does it just ride you around Italy all night? The NEXT train goes at 5:30 - and gets us to Pisa five minutes before our flight departs! AARGH
Lufthansa said this morning that they would be providing ground transport from the Florence airport...but by 12 noon, had backed off on that. I guess since the closure is not their fault, they don't have to provide a transfer. (They're also transferring all their operations to the Pisa airport, so that may have been the deciding factor).
What to do?? I suppose we could get into the airport at 1 am - pay a one day membership for the Lufthansa club room and just go drink for a while (or sleep or shower or whatever other fabulous services they offer in those "exclusive" rooms). We could rent a car...
No. What GT and I worked out is that they're finding us a hotel in Pisa for that last night - our last night in Florence was actually an add-on anyway, so they just cancelled that. Guess we'll go into Pisa in the afternoon - go see the Leaning Tower and retire early. Then an EARLY morning trip to the airport. The hotel mentioned by GT says on their website that they offer a shuttle to the airport, so that might be okay. Now I just have to wait for GT to hear back from the Pisan hotel if they have space for us!
Man this is so complicated. But what would we do without the Internet to look over all our options? I actually enjoy all this planning. If it weren't a dying profession, I might have become a travel agent in my retirement. Although it's much more fun to plan your own trips than someone elses!
posted by Beth at 3:15 PM
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