Travel Mania

Got off the phone with my friend a little while ago after another marathon travel planning session.

We're trying to mix it up a bit. We can't afford four-star elegance for the whole trip, but we also don't want to slum it the whole time. So we're spending a bit of time in fancy digs and a bit of time in cheapy hostels. We purchased a "Rail and Drive" pass from Eurail that gives us four days of train travel two days of car rental for one low rate.

It's very subject to change, but here's the rough itenerary as it exists at the moment:

• WED 9th - NK leaves Nashville in morning, sits in Phildelphia airport all afternoon, and leaves for Rome at night.
• THU 10th - NK arrives in Rome in morning, catches midday high speed train, arrives San Remo at 8:30 PMish. Somehow makes way to Monaco to stay with friend's aunt. Collapses from two days of cumulative fatigue and jet lag.
• FRI 11th - Hang out in Monaco.
• SAT 12th - leave monaco 10 AM, pick up car in San Remo. Drive to somewhere like Padua, spend night in TBA location. Maybe make a brief stop in Milan on way if time looks good.
• SUN 13th - drive into Venice. get rid of car. Sleep in Venice at place TBA.
• MON 14th - tour Venice including Murano Glass works. 11:30 PM - catch overnight train to Naples.
• TUE 15th - Arrive Naples, stash luggage somewhere, tour city. At end of day, catch train to Sorrento. Check in to Grand Hotel Aminta
• WED 16th - Catch ferry from Sorrento to Island of Capri. Tour Capri. Back to Sorrento hotel in evening.
• THUR 17th - Leave Sorrento, take train to Pompeii. Tour archeological site. Take train back to Naples. Catch 7:30 PM train to Florence, arrive at 11:05 ish. Check into cheap lodging place, TBA.
• FRI 18th - Tour Florence. (need to check on art gallery reservations and stuff.)
• SAT 19th - Rent car -- drive to Pisa, take obligatory pictures of imminent tower collapse, and tour cathedral. Drive from there to Siena, tour town. Return to Florence at night.
• SUN 20th - Attend Easter festivities (including exploding cart) in Florence, then catch afternoon train to Rome. Check in to Hostel des Artistes.
• MON 21st - Tour Rome (Easter holiday, so need to figure out what's open.)
• TUE 22nd - Tour Vatican. Friend on Train 10ish overnight to Monaco.
• WED 23rd - NK on flight from Rome. Friend on flight from Nice.