More Reservation Thoughts

Merlyn and Mary are staying with us in San Antonio now before the Pony meeting here, and Merlyn is working to book their European River Cruise next June.  They will be meeting us at the Paris airport on May 30 to sign up together for the rental car, so both he and Ron can drive; then while we go home, they’ll stay for a cruise…something Ron has always wanted to do, but the $5000 price has us stumped for now.  We chose to visit Anzio Beach for Memorial Day prior to the French visit instead of staying longer afterwards.  They have their plane tickets, etc, so we are both all set to go.

All Reservations Made

We have all of our bookings now for the trip.  I don’t think we need to say that the week of June 6^th in Normandy was already pretty much booked!  Every June 6^th is popular but the 70^th anniversary of D-Day for next year is even more so!
     Pam found us the two hotel stays in Rome, and one in San Agnello, near Sorrento, Italy. 
     Joan found the one in Nettuno/Anzio (though booking.com), a place near Monet’s garden (booking.com) and the  Normandy stay of 8 days (vrbo.com), 2 Choicehotels for the airport connections on June 8 and 9, the rental car for France (Dollar through carrentals.com) and the air reservations between Rome and Paris (Alitalia airlines, a Delta partner).  As a travel agent, Pam is confined to certain contract sites, so she does not have as many options as we.  (She also charges an additional $50 per booking.) 
     Pam said to contact her again 3-4 weeks before the trip to talk about trains. 


Get excited about our Normandy rental and check it out on vrbo.com

     (Pam warned us about booking with VRBO properties – “maybe not so good” -- but we aren’t worried – check out where we are staying in Normandy!! …. http://www.vrbo.com/316250.  Because there are only 4 of us, so we would be using only 2 of the 5 bedrooms, the owner, Marian, is only charging us $1140 for 8 nights, and which we will split with Merlyn. AND….she's from England -- so she speaks English!  Yay! )  

Our Proposed Itinerary

Both Joan and Pam started looking for accommodations.  Since Anzio is south of Rome, Joan thought she would like to also visit Sorrento to see the Isle of Capri and Pompeii…since we’d be near the area.  She had read all about them (and other places too, of course) in Richard Halliburton’s Complete Book of Marvels, which her grandmother had sent to her at age 12.   (PS: Every now and then, you'll see it in a second hand bookstore.  Grab it!)

Our proposed itinerary:

May 17^th .  Arrive Rome, 7:30 a.m.  from ATL, Delta. 

            Stay two nights, one day, to recover from the flight before going south.

Nights of May 19-22,  Sorrento, etc to see Pompeii  Isle of Capri, etc. 

May 23 travel to Anzio/Nettuno area

Nights of May 23-26^th –Anzio area, be there for Memorial Day

Lv Tuesday for Rome

May  27-29 – Rome

May 30 fly to Paris, get a rental car. Drive immediately AWAY from Paris (remembering our rule #1).

May 30 one night near Monet’s Garden

May 31 – tour Monet’s garden, then drive to Normandy beach area

May 31- June 8^th –  Normandy  beach area

June 8^th – drive to Paris, return car to airport, get a hotel with an airport shuttle

June 9^th Fly to Rome, get a hotel with an airport shuttle

June 10^th, fly back to ATL, lv 9:40 a.m. arr ATL 2:45 pm

June 10^th, fly to Seattle

Frequent Flyer Tickets for Europe

We just reserved a round trip to Rome next May with Delta FF miles, both ways non-stop from Atlanta.  Ron wants to be at the 70^th anniversary of D-Day and also to see Anzio Beach (Italy) where his father landed in 1944, so we will visit just those two countries. Tonight at 11 p.m. Central Time, it was 331 days out to June 10^th, when we will be returning. Joan spent some time planning this timeframe to grab those flights; and interestingly, the non-stops did not open up until 11:30 p.m.
     Our original plan was to fly one way into Rome and then take the train to Normandy and then fly one way home from Paris.  It’s done often.     What we did not figure on was the high Paris airport fees.  RT Fare is $653, but.....fees are $644 (unlike to Rome, it is ~$1200 and just a $60 fee.  But when you use FF miles, it was 95,000 miles to either place, PLUS the fee.  So that made the Paris leg untenable.

    It turns out that Eurorail is not as cheap or easy to use as it was in 1970 (surprise… NOT!)

      We decided to use the FF miles RT to Rome and then fly RT to Paris from Rome.  On Alitalia Airlines, it was $363 RT for both of us (the train was almost as much and took a long time.)  PS: That price was also much cheaper than Pam could get for us.

A Travel Agent

Joan’s sister-in-law Linda had taken a 3-week trip European trip last year to several countries with her two sisters and was very happy with the travel agent, Pam, in Redmond, WA.  Linda said they took trains and walked; the agent knew Europe and the hotels near train stations for easy access, etc., etc.  They stayed only two to three days at a location before moving on.  She said they each had a small rollerboard and a backpack for easy mobility.  She said Pam could help with everything.
   Joan called Pam this week to get started.  She asked about our budget; we said $100 a night and maybe more $250-$300 in Normandy when Merlyn would join us and we would be splitting a larger unit (hopefully.)  Linda had said there were kitchenettes available like in the States (the microwaves and small refrigerators) and we told Pam we would like that, since we use those so much when we are not in a timeshare condo with a kitchen (and actually, we need them with Ron’s dietary restrictions.)

    Pam said she couldn’t get us anything less than 1/3 that budget, that is, $300/night plus and $700 plus in Normandy, and probbaly not anything with a kitchenette. 

     When Joan hung up the phone she said to Ron, “We can’t go!”

     But.....she got busy on the web.

Continued Plans

Unfortunately, JT died last fall, after a great fight against cancer, but because JT didn't live to walk on the beach, Dr. Bob's plan to complete his promise to take the trip for him in his father's memory.  When we heard this, we decided to join Dr. Bob on the beach for some quiet time before the public international ceremonies.  We started firming our plans. 
      Ron had always wanted to return to Europe (we had been stationed in Germany in 1970) and spend months there traveling all around.  Joan knew she could not plan a long European trip easily, with the new traveling rules since we were there, and Ron does not do too well with new changes.  However, a three week trip to just two places (Italy -- Anzio beach --  and France – Normandy – is doable. Just remembering two rules:  Do not drive in Paris;  do not drive in Rome.!
    We need to wait 331 days before the trip to make our airline reservations.