Anyone on May 19-28 Best of Venice, Florence and Rome tour?

Hi, I'm taking the VFR tour also, but on a different date, Apr 7-16. Thanks for the question you posted about which other islands are visited in Venice, as I'm trying to plan for the free time and doing some research and reading. There's a chance they may tell us when the detailed itinerary arrives 3 weeks prior to departure, or it could be "game-time" decision. Since I am going earlier than you I can let you know where we end up going which may give you some indication, but it could still differ, I suppose. Ciao for now!

Alleyo: Thanks much for the response. I'm counting down the days. Three months from today we should be in Venice! Any reports you can offer upon return would be eagerly appreciated. Hope you have a terrific time!

My hubby and I are joining you... Celebrating our 30th anniversary and our first trip to Europe.

I see your names on the list. We three are at the alphabetical bottom.

Can't tell you how much we're looking forward to this trip. When are you arriving?

Hello!
We will be on the tour as well. Arriving 5/18 and really looking forward to it. First time in Italy.

I went on this trip last year at this time, your going to have a great experience! Venice is magical, Florence is delightfully medieval, and Rome is awesome. On the nights when you are on your own for supper use the Rick Steves guide book for locating good restaurants, it was invaluable. The day you spend in Tuscany at the vineyard/ olive grove was a high point for me!,

We're arriving on 5/17. Maybe we'll run into each other at the hotel.

Also, we've scheduled Alessandro's "backstreet" and cicchetti tours for 5/20, if anyone's interested in joining us.

I finally found the spot to change my display name. While my real name is Gaylene, I usually use SpringRedHead on forums. We aren't being particularly smart about arrival. We get into Venice the morning of the 19th. My work has a policy of one week at a time off that they bent for me to allow for this trip, but asking for two weeks or an extra couple of days would have been stretching it. So, I'll be the redhead with massive jet lag coming from Spring, TX :-)

SpringRedHead: No worries. Your secret identity is safe with me.

We had planned to arrive one day before the tour, on the 18th, but Aer Lingus canceled our original flight and the sensible solution was to leave a day earlier, so we should have plenty of time to recover from jet lag. Just try not to snore during the group meeting. ;-)

Looking forward to meeting you and having a great tour. Cheers!

You will love Allessandro's Cicchetti tour! Good call to book that on your own time. :)

Enjoy the tour and Italy!

We've booked Alessandro's Cichetti tour on the 20th also. Sounds like fun!

Good to know we've already got tour buddies, SpringRedHead!

mbpusey is considering Alessandro's tour, as well.

We leave three weeks from today!

We are on this tour July 17-26 so I am enjoying reading about your plans and feedback. I haven't dissected the tour breakdown to determine what we should book. I am hoping to get around to that in the coming week or two. Someone mentioned you receive a more detailed itinerary closer to the start date...do they suggest things you can do/book?

I am a little unsure as to what is included when you are somewhere like the vatican...again i probably just need to spend time dissecting the details.

Enjoy your tour!

leti_35: Yes, you receive your final tour documents -- hotel list, tour member roster, itinerary -- about four weeks out. Thanks to the roster and this forum, we've already made contact with two other couples. The final packet does include some suggestions for things not covered by the tour. We've booked a number of other activities -- Secret Itineraries Tour in Venice, where we have a couple of extra days, along with bus tickets, vaporetto and museum passes, plus Alessandro's cicchetti tour. We're looking to fit in a Duomo climb for my wife and son in Florence (alas, my knees won't be up to long, claustrophobic stairs), plus attend a Gregorian chant service at San Miniato. In Rome, we've booked reservations for the Borghese gallery. My one concern about that day is that someone who just got back from the tour reported that they'd switched up that day's itinerary and moved the Vatican museums and Sistine Chapel to later in the day, which would conflict with our 5 p.m. Borghese tickets. So we'll see what happens. Hoping they stick pretty close to the planned itinerary. We'll also be staying one extra day in Rome and are hoping to take a stroll on the Appian Way and visit Aqueduct Park

Hard to believe we're leaving in three days and will be in Venice on Wednesday. I'll try to post some trip reports when we return.