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BAT crosses atlantic
Page history last edited by Lori 2 yrs ago
Blythe is coming! !
blythe's in maroonf
Timeline -- see most updated BATimeline
- When's the vacation going to be? February 10-15
- ok, here's what I was planning in class today: The stuff below, if its in bold, we need to fill it in. The flights and crap will be complicato, but we can do it if we start now...let's aim for set in stone by at the LATEST, next wednesday.
- B: Deal. I added a bunch of stuff here, mostly thoughts and musings. If you have better airline possibilities to check, definitely go for it. I looked on Kayak.com and Ryanair, but I don't know if those are the best for Europe. Here's an overview of possibilities from my end:
1. Leave London for Florence sometime after I (we both) arrive Feb. 10. Return to London (at least me) later on Feb. 15. Have fun, and ensure ease of return trip the 16th.
3. Leave London on 10th from cheaper airport and return on 15th to cheaper airport.
Let me know your thoughts, and let us book away!
- 9th - Blythe flies to London...I fly in that evening.
CORRECTION from Blythe: I leave on the 9th but don't arrive till 6:30 a.m. on the 10th. Thusly, you may arrive at any time that day and we can either stay in London or plane-hop and hit Firenze. I will head on over to look for flights now... I checked kayak.com, and things are pricey. What we could do is get a later afternoon flight out of one of the other airports that's not Heathrow. They're all reachable by train and much, much less expensive to fly out of. Here's a thought: We leave London on the 10th if you can get there early enough, and we return to London on the 15th and spend that night in a hostel there, partying it up. Thoughts???
- More B: Upon further review, it seems like a good call to fly out early on the 16th and get to Heathrow. I'm hoping a one-way ticket from Florence wouldn't be that much. That way, you can just book the tickets TO Florence, and I can book a one-way back. Let me see if that's cheaper... OK, I just checked Kayak.com, and there weren't any flights that got me from Florence to Heathrow before 11:10 a.m. Think that would be enough time for a 1 p.m. flight?
- B: Looks like a one-way ticket costs as much as a round-trip one. Figures. Thus, here's the question -- Do you want to try to fly to Florence on the 10th and then fly back to London late on the 15th?
Lori says: yes.
I might try to do this regardless, just because I'm hesitant to cut it too close with the flight back to the states. We could get a late afternoon flight to London from Florence, maybe, and spend the night chilling there. You could begin your next adventure from London (heathrow or one of the cheaper airports).
- Evening: We spend the night in London (absinthe? mm-k) I am officially bringing BARELY any luggage and some laundry detergent, ps.
- Travel? Lori flies to London the 9th as early as she can. We stay in a hostel in L-town.
- 10th - We are in Firenze in the morning. We rent a car and drive to Sienna.
- Evening: Possiblity of Hostel in Florence for the night (possible some italian shopping opportunities?), and early morning car rental next day.
- Travel? We fly to Florence from London the morning (or so) of the 10th. Explore a bit, stay in Florence the night HOSTEL and rent the car in the morning.
- 11th - Drive to Sienna Day
- 12th - Drive around day -- see other hill cities, maybe find a winery? ARt compound?
- Evening - Drop off car (in Florence?) and go to Cinqueterra (by train...possibly overnight... from Florence?) or possible restay in Castle Selvole, and leave super on the 13th to drop of car in Firenze, then go to Cinqueterra city tba.
- Travel? overnight train to cinqueterra possibility.
- 13th - Cinqueterra -- Specific city TBA -- arrive in the morning if we take the overnight train.
- Stay in some sortof pension/rented out room. Espresso in a cafe celebrating our arrival = must. Limoncello as well.
- Travel? just the train in the morning. Bring shoes/boots made for walkin.
- 15th - Cinqueterra by day -- Specific city TBA -- travel by night
- Evening - we go back to LONDONHOSTEL -- to spend the evening recapping before sending Blythe on her merry way the next afternoon.
- Travel? flight - probably from Genoa, to some cheap airport anywhere in London
- 16th - 1pm, Blythe MUST be on the plane...which means she should get there by 10 or so in the morning b/c of crazy customs (no liquids!)
- flight for blytheback to L-town, flight for me out of L-town somewhere...TBA.
- B: OK, I see -- you totally don't need to fly back to London. I bet I can book a pretty cheap flight out of somewhere in Italy for that morning. Florence seems like a good bet, though I haven't experienced that airport before. I'll bet it's not bad.
- L: no worries, i would probably end up flying out of london anyway!
Cities on the trip?
- Where all will you be going?
- London, Florence, Sienna, other hill-towns, Cinqueterre
- rent a car and drive around sienna, then to cinqueterra to chill with the people! Maý be reverse order.
Sightseeing
- What do you want to see along the way?
Lori:
- castles, people, leather goods, round toed shoes, festivals, wineries, obscure-type hostels where we can chill with owners...not crazy college dorm hostels (though those are fun)
- I also want to go to Villa Vignamaggio, http://www.vignamaggio.com/english/tours-tasting.html Greve in Chianti, Florence, Tuscany -- because that's where they filmed Much Ado about nothing. We could drive there and i could dance around the trees.
Blythe:
- see the glorious riviera, partake of some nonintensive but very scenic hiking. enjoy some chatting and some wine and maybe even some verandas?
WORD! the hostel fella in Firenze loved me for my mad Italian skillz, and I imagine those in the hinterlands will be no different for two fine ladies with fun on their minds, the language of love on their tongues and adventure on the horizon.
- ITENERARIES/CHECKLISTS will be a must for each day
Blythe's travelin' details:
- approx 6:30 am Feb. 10 Blythe soars into London.
... then some deals go down... we could stop for a quick jolt of absinthe in some of my old London haunts. or we could move on and get to the rock!
- approx 1pm on February 16th, Blythe will time travel far away from me :( But I will see you in June, Miss B!
Flights/Travel Info
- I'll find hostels/room rentals for each time around.
- Blythe, lets check out www.europcar.com for the car rental around Sienna. Look around for other options, and Ill ask my sister what her friends sister got when she rented a tuscan car.
- http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0001/steves.shtml good article that lists lots of flights ...hopefully I will get up early tomorrow to get the down-low on all this business.
Important questions to be answered:
- Should we book flights?
- L: yes, lets be done with this in a week (Jan 17th at the LATEST) Trains I will look up the sites.
- B: Upon investigation on Kayak.com, I have found that round-trips from London to Firenze are lookin' to cost about $300. We can make this cheaper by investigating surrounding airports. THE cheapest flight according to kayak (leave 2/10 and return 2/15) goes from London-Gatwick to Bologna and back from Firenze to London Gatwick. It's $184. This is probably needlessly complicated, and paying for convenience might be our best bet. At one time, I was familiar with the quickest ways to get to London Gatwick and other smaller airports. I no longer remember, and they're probably not that hard, but paying for trains and excess worry might not be worth it.
- More from B: If we go to Ryanair.com and look to fly out of London Stansted to FLorence, it shows a fare of 19.99 GBP per person per flight. I can't remember exactly what this means. I do, however, remember that this was always the cheapest way to go. If we decide to fly out on the 10th and back on the 15th, this is an even wiser choice because we won't have to worry about rushing straight to Heathrow for more flights.
- What will be our flight situation?
- L: Complicated, but doable.
- B: It's true. I am willing to haul ass to Stansted (or Gatwick or Luton) if we think it's feasible. I am also willing to pay to fly out of Heathrow. These flights, I suspect, will be the costliest part of the journey. But the journey is what's important, and money comes and goes.
- Where in Italy does one fly to get to Cinque Terre?
- L: Florence, but I am not sure. Either way, let's go to Florence. I adore me some Florence. Italy's not that big, let's remember, so driving from somewhere central is wise.
- Who should we get our car from?
- L: Europecar, but I'm having my sister ask.
- Where is Johnny Depp and how to we get to his local cafe?
- What discount airlines does Blythe like?
- B: Like I said, I've used Ryanair before. I can't remember what else I flew while I was rocking L-town. I am happy with any and every discount airline out there, my friend!
Hostels:
Don't Forget!
Put any important requirements for the trip :
- karate skills? hat for blythe when we go to italy b/c she has the blonde hair...my hair is also suspiciously un-italian. Maybe just for rome. Parliamo piu!
- Sudoku. I mean, don't you think we should have Sudoku? Just, like for the times we're on the train at night.
- good, but cute walking shoes and not a lotta clothes.
Also must: take a turn on public transportation often. That's one of my fave ways to get the flava.
Also needed:
- footprint gas pedal
- perhaps a handkerchief
- "no means no" in italiano --- I'll consult my italian sources -L.
Extra commentary
*Options for Miss T ---
Lori says she could:
- meet you in london and we travel elsewhere and don't go to lyon (no biggie) adn you fly out of ondon (we could also go to london, but wouldn't you rather go to ITALY!? I'd love to take you to prague but it looks like italy is the place we should be, like yes)
Blythe says:
- I rocked the Prague in December of '04 when I studied in London, so I'm ready for some of the spicy sweetness of Italy. I say we rendezvous in L-town and make the proverbial beeline for The Continent.
Lori now says:
- Rendez-vous in L-town it IS.
BAT crosses atlantic
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