final itinerary with a little glitch

My itinerary may now have a little glitch in it as a strike has been announced for the day I plan to take the train from Cortona to Rome.

"June 21st ~ 22th 2007:
24 hours nationwide strike of railroaders
and maritime personnel belonging to FS
(Ferrovie dello Stato – State Railroads),
from 2100 June 21."

Strikes in Italy are very different than strikes in the US. The public is almost always given plenty of notice of each specific date and time of a strike. Most strikes last between 2 and 24 hours. Some are strikes only affecting a certain region of Italy and others are national strikes, affecting the entire country.

Here is the STRIKE website I always check to find out if I will be affected by one of the planned strikes. Now since I am officially in the "will my train be affected by this strike" club, I will be checking this website on a regular basis in the hopes that the strike will be called off.

Since reading about the train strike, I have spent the last few days trying to figure out what to do in case the strike does take place.

My first thought was to see if there were any transportation options available from Cortona to Rome. I found out that there are always few guaranteed trains that will run even in the case of a strike. I found a train that I could take from a station about 6 miles from Cortona at 6 am in the morning. Now those of you who know me well know that I am not a morning person and so this option was not even considered.

I also found an 8:30 am train that would take me to Perugia. But, with this option, I would then have to wait around in Perugia with my luggage until about 2:30 pm to take a bus to Rome or until 6 pm to take a guaranteed train to Rome. Since the trains will not be running, I would imagine that many others would also be trying to take this bus or the 6 pm train. I decided against this option also as sitting around waiting for a bus or a train all day is not something I want to plan as part of my trip.

Since train options are out, I next thought that I could hire a private driver but I also decided against this option as I figure that the private driver would end up costing at least as much if not more than it would to just book an extra night in either Cortona or Rome.

I then decided that I would see if I could either stay in Cortona for one extra night (if my B&B had a room available) or go to Rome a day early. I wrote to both my B&B and the woman I am renting in the apartment from in Rome explaining my situation to each. I heard back from the woman in Rome right away.

My worries are over. The apartment in Rome is still available the night before I am set to arrive and the woman renting the apartment has been extremely generous and understanding as she has offered me the option of arriving a day early if the strike is not canceled without charging me for that night since I will still have to pay the B&B in Cortona for that night (as they require 2 weeks advance cancellation).

I made sure to reconfirm my reservation for 3 nights in Cortona so that there would not be any confusion of a 4th night being reserved.

And so…here is my final itinerary with a little glitch:

arrive in Milan, June 9th
take the train to Venice

1 week in Venice (apartment in Canareggio)

2 nights with Katia & Guido in Coccaglio

1 night in Bologna – Hotel San Porta Mamolo

2 OR 3 nights in Cortona – B&B Le Gelosie
*depending on the train strike

10 OR 11 nights in Rome (apartment in Trastevere)
*depending on the train strike

depart Rome
1 night at the Newark Liberty International Airport Mariott
arrive Honolulu

google map of my trip

The count down begins - 32 more days and I leave for Italy!!

Click here to try out my interactive google map of my itinerary that I made today. You may need to move the map around a little to see all the places I will visit. To move the map, click and drag on the map or click on the arrows. You can also click on the +/- buttons to zoom in and out.
Enjoy!

Below is a snapshot of the map I made from Google Earth.

(Click on the picture to see a larger version of the map)