As previously mentioned in my past posts, my itinerary is now July 18-21 Florence, July 21-23 Cortina D'ampezzo, and July 23-26 in Venice. (3 nights Florence, 2 nights in Cortina, 3 nights in Venice. I will be flying in to Rome, taking the train to Florence to stay for 3 nights, and then taking a train from Florence to Venice Saint Lucia Station to pick up a rental car for the two-night trip in the dolomites, and then I will be dropping off the rental car and be within walking distance of my Venice hotel to stay my last three days.
I like this way because i would rather avoid taking a rental car all the way from Florence to the Dolomites. I would much rather take a train to Venice and then drive from Venice to cortina as it is only about a 2 hour drive.
My problem is that my travel leg to get to Venice from Florence on the train is on a Sunday, which does not have any guaranteed trains since those are only Monday thru Saturday. My train tickets are purchased in advance from 8:20am to 10:30am so that I may have an hour to pick up my rental car at 11:30am. Hertz closes on Sunday at 12:30pm, so it is IMPERATIVE I make it to pick-up my rental car on time.
I would just like assistance in preparing in case of a strike. Here are the options that I have come up with.
Option 1) Change only my pick-up location with Hertz from their Venice/ Piazzale Roma location to their VCE Airport Location so that i no longer have to worry about the 12:30pm closing time, and if any strike comes, I may take a bus instead and not worry about closing time being sooner than later. This means I would be able to wait up until the moment of my train departure to see if the strike happens or not. If no train strike occurs, I will simply take a bus from Venezia Saint Lucia train station to the airport to pickup my rental car. My drop off location will remain at Piazzale Roma.
Option 2) Purchase back-up Flix-Bus tickets in advance as I've seen on July 21st, there is a direct bus from Florence Piazzale Montelungo to Venice Tronchetto from 4:55am to 9:30am. In this case I will have to just stick with leaving that early because, if I risk waiting to see if the train strike actually happens or not, and if it does happen, I will have missed my chance to make it with this bus. Then I will not make it to Hertz by 12:30pm.
In any case, I was also wondering are ALL strikes announced in advance? Could one simply happen with no announcements at all? Because if that is the case, it would be best to prepare with option 1. Any advice or recommendations whatsoever are appreciated. The strikes for May 4-5 and May 19 both happening on Sundays are what have me concerned because I saw how it really messed up a lot of people's plans.
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!