We had a wonderful time in Italy. Rome was my favorite part of the trip. Our guide, Max, was unbelievable and provided us with a tour of the Vatican, the ancient city, and the coliseum that more than exceeded our expectations – I wish we could have hired him for the entire time we were in Italy. He was a professor at a university in Rome and had a PhD in art history. There was nothing he didn’t know! The hotel was perfect. The location could not have been better and our rooms were great! When we arrived at the hotel we were personally greeted by the hotel manager. Also, the driver in Rome was prompt and we were very grateful to have had a driver at that point in our journey.
Thank you for following up with the the limo company and the hotel to inform them of our late arrival. Franco – from the limo company – was very nice to deal with. He called immediately when we landed in Rome and told us exactly where to meet the driver.
Also the rental car was the perfect size too. All of our luggage fit with a little room to spare.
After we left Rome we spent the rest of our week at our villa in Pistoia which was very nice and the owners could not have been any kinder and more welcoming. They even cooked us a typical Tuscan dinner in the outdoor kitchen one night. We had wonderful food and lots of wine! And we had 2 dogs to entertain us as well.
We traveled to Florence 2 days and went to the Accademia Gallery one day (I purchased tickets online in advance and was very glad you suggested doing so. We waited in line only 5 minutes.) We also traveled to Pisa, Siena, Pistoia, Lavornia and Viareggio, Lucca, Arezzo and the Chianti wine region. We climbed towers in several doumo’s in several cities and the leaning tower of Pisa, ate wonderful Tuscan meals, ate pounds of gelato, toured museums, churches, took a horse and carriage guided tour through Lucca, walked on the beaches of the Tyrranean Sea, shopped and drank wine.
It was a very enjoyable and will be a memorable trip for all. We got to spend a lot of time (nearly every evening) with my cousin who is studying in Pistoia which was a bonus for her and us.
Coming home we again missed our connection in Paris and ended up staying the night in Paris. A lesson learned -Paris is a wonderful city to visit and make your destination, but never make a connection through that airport. There is never enough time between flights to make the connection – at least that was the way it appeared on AirFrance.
All the services you provided for us were perfect and I don’t know how to thank you for all that you did. I would love to go back to Italy when the dollar becomes stronger – the exchange rate was not good at all and it dropped even further while we were there. Next time I would like to visit southern Italy. When I do so, I will be sure to have you help me plan the entire trip.
Hope we can see you sometime soon. I would love to share some pictures and talk about our trip further.
Deborah A. M. Mercado, USA
