Getting Close to Our Departure Date

Just about 3 weeks until we leave on our 5th adventure in Italy. We're excited and a little nervous, as usual. Have we prepared thoroughly for everything? Have we checked all the boxes, especially our what-to-take list? This is a very important detail since we will be gone for about a month and are only packing one carry-on bag each (22 lbs). Also, is everything ready with our flights; rental cars to/from our airport; are all of our lodging reservations finalized; and, have we purchased our train tickets between the cities on our 8 stop itinerary?

Let's take a look at each of those details:

1. Flights: We booked our flights on Aer Lingus on May 23, 2022. We were fully committed to making this trip on that day.

2. Transportation to/from the airport: We reserved our rental cars at Enterprise for going to and from our airport (Logan in Boston). We found that this was less expensive than long-term parking.

3. Transportation while in Italy: To save a little money, we bought train tickets in advance of our trip through Trenitalia and Italotreno online. We will purchase train tickets for day trips at train stations. We're all set getting to the 8 destinations on our itinerary and will narrow down day trip choices when we're in Italy. Yesterday, we purchased our round-trip ATVO express bus tickets from Marco Polo Airport to Piazzale Roma in Venice. When we arrive at the airport, we can just walk out present our tickets, and get on the bus for the 20-25 minute ride into Venice proper. From Piazzale Roma, we have about a 15-minute walk to our rental apartment.

4. Where we'll stay: All of our lodgings have been booked on Booking.com. We will spend our first night in Venice before boarding the train to our hotel in Desenzano del Garda. The rest of our itinerary will take us to Venice, Verona, Feltre, Bologna, Cortona, and Florence. Several of the apartments are located in the ancient city centers, while one in particular (Donnaberarda in Cortona) offers spectacular views (Please, see photo).

Donnaberarda apartment setting. (Cortona)

Cortona view from Donnaberarda apartment.

Train tickets purchased.

Well, with our itinerary finalized and our lodging choices reserved, today we bought the remaining train tickets on Trenitalia (oh, and one on Italotreno) online. It's great seeing the exchange rate almost at par - the best it's ever been on our trips to Italy. We will still buy train tickets for most of our day trips while there, since we only use public transportation while in Italy (trains, buses and an occasional taxi).

Our first stop is on Aer Lingus (Boston to Dublin to Venice) at Marco Polo Airport in Venice. From there we take the short Express Bus ride into Venice proper to Piazzale Roma. Then we make a short walk to our first apartment rental. Next stop, the next day - Desenzano del Garda for 3 days. Photos, top to bottom - One is the Grand Canal passing in front of Santa Lucia Train Station, Venice. Two is the express bus from the Marco polo Airport to Venice Piazzale Roma. Three is Piazzale Rome. Four is the exterior of our first rental apartment in Venice. Five is a view of the waterfront in Desenzano del Garda.