Doing more footwork

Today I sent an email to the cruise folks to determine how long we can remain on board once we're back in port near Athens. If we're lucky, we can have a leisurely breakfast, do out packing, and then catch a midday taxi to the airport for the flight to Rome. I also sent an email to the chap in England who rented us the Mini Cooper for a month in 2008 for our trip around the British Isle. I was interested in finding out if Minis are available in Italy by someone he might recommend. And, I determined that the best thing to do for our last night in Italy would be to stay at the airport Hilton, even though expensive, so all we have to do is take the short walk to the terminal before flight time. It would also allow us to turn the car in the day before our flight. Once I hear from the cruise folks, I will book the flight from Athens to Rome.

Tickets Ordered

Well, I finally got tired of searching all the Orbitz/Expedia/Etc. Websites and just ordered the darn tickets. Got them from CheapOair.com. The process seemed to work out okay, but no seat assignments. I emailed CheapO and asked about seat assignments and they said they had already emailed them to me. They hadn't. So, I called the various airlines and did my own seat assignment task. For the most part, I got the seat assignments I wanted, all except for the outgoing Denver to Toronto 3-hour flight. On that one, it's what they call a "Shared Code" flight. That means that two carriers are in on the particular flight. I called each one and asked them to assign me a seat. Each one refused. So, I waited a time and called back. Once again the two carriers indicated that they were "unable" to issue a seat assignment. So, we'll have to take pot luck on that leg. Word to the wise: stay away from flights by a carrier actually flown by another carrier. You'll get screwed because no one takes responsibility for the seat assignments. Anyway, the trip has been scheduled. The next item is to find a flight going from Athens to Rome after the cruise, nail down where we're staying in Athens and Rome, and possible nail down the rental car in Italy.

Searching for a flight

Today I spent several hours trying to find the perfect flight(s). What we would really like to do is fly from Reno to Athens, Greece. Then, after the cruise is over, we'd like to take a short hop over to Rome (about a two-hour flight). Once we've spent a couple of weeks in Italy, we'd like to fly from Rome back to Reno. However, the airline companies seem to be conspiring to keep the perfect flights out of our grasp. I fear we're going to have to make some compromises in order to pull off our objective.

Tackling the nuts and bolts

This morning I emailed "Brightroam," the company who provided the phone that we took so successfully to England, Wales, and Scotland. All you do is get the correct sim card for wherever you're planning on traveling, then buy some minutes before you go. They give you a USA phone number to bounce USA calls to them. You also have a European phone number, if I remember right. On our trip to Italy in 2006 we found ourselves at an extreme disadvantage not having any way to communicate with anyone. The phone is a real must-have. I also contacted the cruise company to see if they had any tips on what to bring and not bring, and if there was any place I could go and read feedback on other cruises. Still to do is making sure our GPS works in Italy.

Booking the Tour to Greece

Well, this morning I took a deep breath and called the Archaeological Institue of America Tour company and booked our tour to the Greek Islands. Lucky I did. In our preferred price range, all but one of the cabins were already booked. So, we're committed now and we must begin to plan this vacation in ernest. My intent is to fly to Athens a couple of days ahead of when we must board the ship so we can see the city. Then, after the cruise is over, we want to fly to Rome, rent a car, and spend a couple of weeks in beautiful Italy and Sicily.