If there is such a thing as an accidental vacation, this would be it.
Last September I was browsing frequent flyer tickets and saw that we could get 4 tickets to Rome from DC using only 200,000 miles on American Airlines. The timing with the kids spring break was perfect. So I booked it. And then forgot about it.
Fast forward six months to March. A lot has changed – all for the better. Trish, the badass, quit her job and went freelance (go Trish!). We had an epic 2 week trip to the Yucatan. I got a promotion at work.
The kids are deep into activities like Hip-hop dance, guitar lessons and gymnastics. We got a new dog, Monty and survived the DC snowmageddon. I had some loss too; my dearest friend and mentor died unexpectedly of cancer over the winter.
And holy crap, we go to Italy in 3 weeks and nothing is planned. Doh! Of course Italy is an easy place to plan, but it is high season (Easter) and we only have a short 7 days in-country.
We choose our 3 destinations: Venice, Rome and the Amalfi coast. We considered more exotic spots like night hiking on the active volcano of Stromboli and adventure parks in Valle D’Aosta of the Italian Alps.
But the girls really wanted to see Venice, which every kid (and adult) should see. And the Amalfi coast has Pompeii and some challenging and spectacular hiking. We’ll round it out with a few days in Rome to hit the highlights. We order Eurail passes and fight to find decent cheap hotels.
Monday, March 29th – Arrive in Rome and 7-hour train to Venice. Hotel Carracio
Tuesday, March 30th – Wandering Venice Hotel Carracio
Wednesday, March 31st – Wandering Venice Hotel Carracio
Thursday, April 1st – Travel to Rome via Train: Le Real Deluxe
Friday April 2nd – Rome basics: Vatican, Colosseum Le Real Deluxe
Saturday April 3rd – Rome to Amalfi: Hotel Antiqua Repubblica
Sunday April 4th – Pompeii and Herculaneum Hotel Antiqua Repubblica
Monday April 5th – Hiking on the Amalfi Coast Hotel Antiqua Repubblica
Tuesday April 6th – Train to Rome, light touring (No hotel yet, lawl)
Wednesday April 7th Depart for DC
That’s it: a simple itinerary with few plans. Thanks to Trish for fighting with Italian hoteliers that lie about available space and jack up the prices when they find we are Americans. It was a bitch getting something affordable. (We didn’t in Rome.)
We’ll be live blogging again, of course. Ci Vediamo!
We used http://www.eurocheapo.com/ for accommodation -only paid 160 USD a night max for all four of us (it was xmas time and high season too altho i dont think Italy has a low season really) and stayed in some fantastic wee boutique hotels (in Venice we paid 150 USD for a one bedroom huge bathroom and kitchenette about 5 minutes walk from the Rialto Bridge). I got heaps of tips from the blog too plus we bought rail tickets on http://www.trenitalia.it/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ad1ce14114bc9110VgnVCM10000080a3e90aRCRD each legs separately (including the night train from Brindisi back to Milan) 2nd class all the way (didnt seem to be much difference we checked) except to Pisa which we booked the night before using the automated boxes at Centrale (station in Rome).
We all LOVED Venice…I would go back in a heartbeat!! HAve an awesome time. Look forward to reading all about it.
Thanks Tanya! Great tips. We found a little b&b near Rialto for about 120 Euro. It’s Easter week, so extra high season prices. Ugh.
Love your blog, we put up a link.
Trisha