First buy that bargain airfare. Then figure out why. We’ve been using that strategy successfully over the past 25 years of fairly intensive travel.
If you spot a bargain airfare that fits your schedule, buy it without hesitation and then figure out what you want to do at your destination. You can also travel onward.
Our current trip offers a prime example of this strategy.
We jumped on a bargain round trip business class fare from Seattle to Frankfurt on Condor Airlines, an Alaska partner we’ve flown regularly for a number of years.
From FRA you can fly almost anywhere, so we (mainly Kathy) researched possibilities.
We settled on three more travel bargains, starting with a seven-night Mediterranean cruise on Princess, three nights in an Italian “wine resort” with great reviews, and five nights at a Hilton in Dubrovnik, Croatia that some reviewers describe as the best Hilton in the world.
The next step was to consider the transportation logistics. That’s why we flew from Frankfurt to Florence last night on Air Dolomiti, staying at a lovely Hilton Garden Inn that.was a cheap and easy 20-minute tran ride from the airport.
Today we rode a Frecciarossa high-speed train (business class €58 for two when we bought it) to Rome today, rather than fly an expensive FRA-ROM non-stop.
Our earlier ten-hour SEA-FRA flight in an Airbus A330 was fine. The seats do feel tight. The foot space is a cramped well and suffers for that reason in comparison with, for example, the larger British Airways A350 we flew a couple of weeks ago between Vancouver and London.
It still beats the heck out of economy, and the food was excellent in terms of quality, quantity, and presentation.
So here we are, a couple of days later, pulling into Rome’s port city, Civitavecchia, on a regional train, in anticipation of boarding Sapphire Princess Sunday for our cruise.
Incidentally, the train was parked way out at Rome Termini’s Gate 28. That required us to walk briskly from near Track 1 to Track 24, and then another 450 meters (1476 feet) out to Track 28. Whew!
Passengers stand around at large European train stations waiting for their train’s platform to be posted, sometimes with little time to spare.
First, we check in at the modest but friendly Hotel Traiano. We’re assigned an amazingly large suite, albeit furnished in an earlier era - the 1950s?
We grab a forgettable pizza at one of the only eateries open at this early hour within a ten-minute walk.
That’s okay. Our young server was friendly and the red wine was drinkable for a bill of €37 all-in.
Tomorrow will be a busy day, with the promise of better food and accommodation.
