DOn’t panic! Rick Steve’s’ company will send you all the information you need re first and last hotels, including* info on how to get to the hotel. Your tour starts in Rome and you should look for direct or one stop flights departing from Seattle, flights from Portland seem to reqjuire more than one stopover. The airlines that people seem to like are Delta and Virgin. There is also British Airways via London Heathrow, United Airlines, or American. You book your return flight from Paris, using the open jaw or multi-city function. If you are uncomfortable booking your ticket on-line, use a reliable travel agent. Kayak and Skyscanner are good apps for seeing what flights are out there, but always book with the airline.
May is not far away and flights are getting full, so you need to get moving on this.
To get to the hotel from Rome Airport (Fiumicino or FCO), the easiest way is to get a car to pick you up. You can book this on line from home and the driver will meet your flight. Cost is close to the set cost of the regular taxi. Try either Rome Taxis or Welcome Pick-ups Rome.
For the hotel, once you know the name of the hotel, email them to see if they can accommodate you for the couple of days before the tour starts. Make sure you tell them that you are part of the Rick Steves tour.
If you need more help contact the Rick Steves office, they are very good at responding. Rick’s Europe guidebook will be useful to you; your local library should have a copy.
You will find most Europeans speak some English and certainly the hotels will, I’ve never had too much of a problem anywhere in Europe. Always nice to learn, phrases such as good morning, good afternoon, please and thank you, and of course excuse me, do you speak English, in the different languages you will encounter.
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