Yet another issue with Sicily Trip

[WinniWoman]

So just as I finally conceded to tolerate the horrible flight schedule we have for our October Sicily/Southern Italy trip, Mt Etna erupts and now come to find out there’s a major drought going on with restrictions in many communities, Agrigento being one of many of them. We aren’t staying there, but will be going there as part of our tour.

Our balance $ is due this upcoming week for this tour. Should we be concerned with this water issue?

I go back and forth on cancelling it, but I know that if we do we will never go.

Sicily Is Turning Away Tourists This Summer

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[PamMo]

My sister and her husband cruise A LOT, and have had some bumps with storms, low water levels, volcanoes, etc. The cruise lines have always come up with alternative plans that they’ve enjoyed. I’d say, “Go for it!”

 

[ScoopKona]

I go back and forth on cancelling it, but I know that if we do we will never go.

I see this as a blessing in disguise -- cancel the tour but book the flight. Fly to FCO so you're centrally located, get a rail pass before you go, and simply wing it.

You'll spend CONSIDERABLY less and most of your stress of chasing after an itinerary goes away. If Sicily is open for business, fly from FCO to Palermo and use your rail pass to see the Temples. (My wife longs to return. It's better than going to Athens.) And if Sicily is still being menaced by Etna, Tuscany and Lazio are lovely any time of the year.

And my favorite area, Emilia-Romagna isn't really on the tourist radar and its where all the best food can be found.

I completely agree with Dwight Eisenhower: When it comes to planning for battle, I find plans are useless but the act of planning is indispensable.

 

[Cornell]

What about canceling the trip & using the $ towards a trip that doesn’t have you so stressed out ?

 

[PamMo]

I love that everyone has different traveling styles, but @WinniWoman has been planning this for awhile, and doesn’t seem to be a “Let’s wing it!” kind of traveler. October is still several months away, so it’s hard to tell if volcanic eruptions or drought will have any effect on her trip. Going it on her own means she’ll be responsible for planning everything on her own. The tour she has booked will do everything they can to make sure they have a good trip.

DH and I have had several trips interrupted by hurricanes, local health alerts, civil unrest, etc, but it’s all worked out.

 

[easyrider]

I go back and forth on cancelling it, but I know that if we do we will never go.

I see this quote and others like it and it happens often to others I know and occasionally to me. I'm a go-er for as long as I can go.

Bill

 

[ScoopKona]

Going it on her own means she’ll be responsible for planning everything on her own.

I get that. But it's Italy. A visitor can roll into any town in the entire country, get a great meal, see some beautiful things, and then hop on a train going a random direction and there's more of the same at every single station.

Even the most humble church is going to have some impressive art. Ordering at restaurants is easy -- just point at what someone else is having if the language barrier is insurmountable.

And to continue on "easy mode" -- Want to see Florence? Enjoy. But stay one or two train stations away to avoid the crowds and the higher prices. It's only 8 Euros for most quickie rides. With few exceptions (Florence and Venice being two of them) the station is in the center of town along with all the cultural wonders. Grab a taxi to the Duomo and proceed as normal.

The best part about "winging it" is, "I love it here. Let's stay a couple more days." No problems. Your trip, your way.

 

[PamMo]

@ScoopKona, I totally get your point and it’s how we usually travel, but I know winging it is definitely not for everyone. @WinniWoman has been planning this trip with her husband for awhile, and I sense it’s a bucket list lifetime trip. I say she should go for it with her booked tour and have a wonderful time - which I’m sure they will! OMG! It’s Italy!

 

[Panina]

So just as I finally conceded to tolerate the horrible flight schedule we have for our October Sicily/Southern Italy trip, Mt Etna erupts and now come to find out there’s a major drought going on with restrictions in many communities, Agrigento being one of many of them. We aren’t staying there, but will be going there as part of our tour.

Our balance $ is due this upcoming week for this tour. Should we be concerned with this water issue?

I go back and forth on cancelling it, but I know that if we do we will never go.

Sicily Is Turning Away Tourists This Summer

Fodor's provides expert travel content worth exploring so you can dream up your next trip. The world is a weird and wonderful place—we want to show you around.

www.fodors.com

A Tour Company usually makes alternate plans if areas on the itinerary has issues. Talk to the Tour Company to find out what happens if the worse scenario happens.

 

[davidvel]

@ScoopKona, I totally get your point and it’s how we usually travel, but I know winging it is definitely not for everyone. @WinniWoman has been planning this trip with her husband for awhile, and I sense it’s a bucket list lifetime trip. I say she should go for it with her booked tour and have a wonderful time - which I’m sure they will! OMG! It’s Italy!

He doesn't care what anyone else wants. His sole goal is to tell you how he thinks you should do it and how he is so much above everyone else. It is a pervasive pattern.

 

[stmartinfan]

I see this quote and others like it and it happens often to others I know and occasionally to me. I'm a go-er for as long as I can go.

Bill

View attachment 96216

We are getting to this stage of our lives, so hoping to travel as much as we can while our knees and hips still cooperate! I figure it will never get easier so I'm going while I can still manage it. Both my siblings who are 9 and 11 years older than I am have ended up in nursing homes after strokes so it reminds me my time is limited.

 

[beejaybee]

Only you can decide whether or not to proceed with this trip, WinniWoman. As other posters have pointed out, the tour company will make changes to the itinerary as necessary if there are events, natural or otherwise, that make a stop no longer viable. That being said, all the reassurances and encouragement posted here cannot dispel all your concerns. Know that whatever you choose to do is the right thing for YOU!

 

[Brett]

I'll vote for the GO !

 

[Carolinian]

I see this as a blessing in disguise -- cancel the tour but book the flight. Fly to FCO so you're centrally located, get a rail pass before you go, and simply wing it.

You'll spend CONSIDERABLY less and most of your stress of chasing after an itinerary goes away. If Sicily is open for business, fly from FCO to Palermo and use your rail pass to see the Temples. (My wife longs to return. It's better than going to Athens.) And if Sicily is still being menaced by Etna, Tuscany and Lazio are lovely any time of the year.

And my favorite area, Emilia-Romagna isn't really on the tourist radar and its where all the best food can be found.

I completely agree with Dwight Eisenhower: When it comes to planning for battle, I find plans are useless but the act of planning is indispensable.

I have usually found that point to point rail tickets work out better than rail passes, but Italy is a great place to get around by rail, including on Sicily. Indeed to get to Sicily, there is a train ferry across the Strait of Messina from the mainland, so you can even go there by rail. The passenger cars are loaded onto the ferry on one side and offloaded on the other. A good travel guide like the Rough Guide or Lonely Planet series and a rail timetable beats a guided tour in my book any day. I used to buy the Cook's European Timetable which covered every passenger rail service in Europe complete with useful maps about twice a year. The Cook's travel agency went bankrupt, so now I use the German or Austrian railroad sites on the internet for rail schedules and they cover all of Europe as well.

 

[ScoopKona]

I have usually found that point to point rail tickets work out better than rail passes, but Italy is a great place to get around by rail, including on Sicily. Indeed to get to Sicily, there is a train ferry across the Strait of Messina from the mainland, so you can even go there by rail. The passenger cars are loaded onto the ferry on one side and offloaded on the other. A good travel guide like the Rough Guide or Lonely Planet series and a rail timetable beats a guided tour in my book any day. I used to buy the Cook's European Timetable which covered every passenger rail service in Europe complete with useful maps about twice a year. The Cook's travel agency went bankrupt, so now I use the German or Austrian railroad sites on the internet for rail schedules and they cover all of Europe as well.

Rail passes: No waiting in line (except for trains which require reservations). The Messina ferry is included with the pass. The pass comes with a book of coupons as thick as a Stephen King novel, many of which are useful. The trains have wifi (most of them, these days), so travelers can plan their next leg on the train. And find a hotel/AirBnb/etc. It's become child's play compared to when we first started traveling.

And the old strategy of "You wait here with the bags. I'll speed-walk and find a place," still works. We had to employ it on our last trip to Italy when our AirBnB canceled last minute.

For a quickie two-station ride, I'll just pay the 8 Euros and save a train day on my pass. But there are so many advantages to the pass that it's worth having -- at least for the month-long trips we tend to take. If we're going to spend our entire time in one general area, no need. If we have three or four major train rides, it typically works out costing the same or a little less (since we make use of the perks, like a free ferry across the Strait of Messina).

 

[klpca]

So just as I finally conceded to tolerate the horrible flight schedule we have for our October Sicily/Southern Italy trip, Mt Etna erupts and now come to find out there’s a major drought going on with restrictions in many communities, Agrigento being one of many of them. We aren’t staying there, but will be going there as part of our tour.

Our balance $ is due this upcoming week for this tour. Should we be concerned with this water issue?

I go back and forth on cancelling it, but I know that if we do we will never go.

Sicily Is Turning Away Tourists This Summer

Fodor's provides expert travel content worth exploring so you can dream up your next trip. The world is a weird and wonderful place—we want to show you around.

www.fodors.com

What do you *want* to do? It will either be the trip you signed up for, or it will be an altered itinerary. The tour company will do the worrying and rejiggering of the itinerary, so the only real decision that you need to make is if you are ok if the itinerary gets changed.

Don't base your decision on alarming headlines/stories that you read on the internet. If it is a genuine issue, the tour company will change to a different destination. If you have to visit a specific place (i.e Agrigento in this case) and a cancellation would ruin your trip, then maybe you should cancel (I wouldn't). If you are ok with seeing an alternate place where you have never visited before and learn something new, then carry on as planned.

As someone who lives in a place that has been going through droughts for years, tourism seems to get a pass when it comes to water restrictions. We are taking 5 min showers at home but when you stay in a hotel the only mention of the drought is a note asking you to reuse your towel. I wouldn't worry about the drought. It will not ruin your experience.

 

[Krteczech]

I wouldn’t worry about possible impact of volcano eruption and a drought. October is months away and your tour organizers will have plans for different situations. You will not be alone. Enjoy your planning and stay calm. We will be in the same area in October and on a transatlantic cruise right after.

 

[Talent312]

Simple: Call the tour company on Monday and ask them.
They'll have the inside scoop on what's going on.

We used to say we'd travel as long as we could walk.
DW is now wheelchair-bound, but we still find ways to go.
IOW, go while you can, and don't let hiccups get in the way.
.

 

[Laurie]

Definitely: Just Do It. Especially since you already know the consequences of cancelling -- you'll probably never go.

I've always been a trip DIY'er, because the planning (and adjusting plans with changed circumstances) has been half the fun -- for me. And one of our best trips ever: we didn't like our Italy timeshare, so checked out 4 days early, and toured most of the country we'd never expected to visit with just a single guidebook and a paper road map -- no phone, no internet, no reservations. The joys of discovery were unparalleled. But you have to love doing all that, and shrugging off a few disappointments. My travel buddies haven't ever enjoyed the planning parts. There have been days I've said "Hey, I'm tired of figuring out what we're gonna do every day and every hour, and how we're gonna get there ... someone else take over for a few hours please, and just let me know what to wear." When we've traveled with friends, it has even driven a few of them to distraction when we'd spontaneously change a plan due to weather, or whatnot. Most of my friends prefer cruises, and organized trips. It would stress them out to have open space and blank itineraries in front of them, and they really don't want to spend each evening reading, researching and planning the next day.

And Mt. Etna erupting: IMO that's a plus!! We've been to Sicily, but only for a few days, not long enough, and missed some major sights. It was erupting some when we went, we could see it from Taormina, but when I read it's erupting now, my first though was what a perfect time to go back.

 

[susieq]

Definitely: Just Do It. Especially since you already know the consequences of cancelling -- you'll probably never go.

I've always been a trip DIY'er, because the planning (and adjusting plans with changed circumstances) has been half the fun -- for me. ................

Twenty or twenty five years ago I'd be right there with ya. But now I'm with Mary Ann ~ I need to know everything in advance............... Maybe it's being older and the need to simplify ... I'd just call the tour company and go from there .................

 

[rapmarks]

Twenty or twenty five years ago I'd be right there with ya. But now I'm with Mary Ann ~ I need to know everything in advance............... Maybe it's being older and the need to simplify ... I'd just call the tour company and go from there .................

Definitely, you reach a point in your life where there are things you don’t want to do anymore. You need to respect her right to simplify.

 

[pedro47]

I'll vote for the GO !

I”ll also vote to GO !

 

[CalGalTraveler]

How many trips have you ever regretting taking? (in-law and family get-togethers excluded)

Call the tour company and GO. It is not like you are going bankrupt or have health care issues. Do it while you can.

If the tour company cancels (which I highly doubt - they will adjust the itinerary) then go anyway and use refund to take a cruise or other tour. Make sure you have insurance in case they cancel to get your money back. It will work out.

Have a great time!

 

[DaveNV]

We used to say we'd travel as long as we could walk.
DW is now wheelchair-bound, but we still find ways to go.
IOW, go while you can, and don't let hiccups get in the way.
.

This ^^^

My Mother deferred plans to do just about anything for "later." She'd say, "Someday I'm going to go to..." or "When I find the time, I'll do..." She never did anything. Then she was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, and died three months later, at 67. That convinced me to just do things. Even if it's not a perfect trip, it's still a trip. It's about experiences, not a perfect itinerary.

Our three-week bucket list trip to Italy and Greece starts tomorrow. Is it perfectly planned, down to the last detail? Maybe? Maybe not? We'll find out. I've done my due diligence, planned for what I can see from here, and I'm comfortable jumping into this. If I missed something THAT important, I'll have to make plans to go again. But at least I'll be able to appreciate what we DID see and do.

Life is truly a journey, not a destination. The older I get, the more I believe that.

Go for it, Maryann. And eat dessert first. Nothing in life is guaranteed. Ask my Mother.

Dave

 

[jp10558]

This ^^^

My Mother deferred plans to do just about anything for "later." She'd say, "Someday I'm going to go to..." or "When I find the time, I'll do..." She never did anything. Then she was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, and died three months later, at 67. That convinced me to just do things. Even if it's not a perfect trip, it's still a trip. It's about experiences, not a perfect itinerary.

Our three-week bucket list trip to Italy and Greece starts tomorrow. Is it perfectly planned, down to the last detail? Maybe? Maybe not? We'll find out. I've done my due diligence, planned for what I can see from here, and I'm comfortable jumping into this. If I missed something THAT important, I'll have to make plans to go again. But at least I'll be able to appreciate what we DID see and do.

Life is truly a journey, not a destination. The older I get, the more I believe that.

Go for it, Maryann. And eat dessert first. Nothing in life is guaranteed. Ask my Mother.

Dave

This is my feeling too. Of course, it's easier for me to say in my early 40s than perhaps older people, but I spent my 20s not travelling due to College and lack of money, and I spent my 30s doing what I thought was "responsible" travel, i.e. every 3ish years. I skipped out on 2 trips "because I already did one this year and should "save money" that I regret to this day. I remember how my mom went on almost no trips for decades because of "work" and even in retirement because of "I have to watch the animals", "I don't have the money", "I only want to go to one place for a couple days in the summer", {insert reason here}.

It's really easy to come up with reasons *not* to travel, but I also see people saying "I wish I could do X but now I'm not in good health" or "I have to take care of family member" but regretting they didn't get to go to X. There's only so many chances to travel, and I want to go while I can. And honestly - I don't think it ever gets easier - prices go up, you get less physically fit / mobile / healthy, the weather gets less predictable.

And even not being that old, the alternatives to doing things is stuff that you rarely remember or get that much enjoyment out of. One more gadget? Video Game? Book or Coin in your collection? They're interesting for about 10 minutes, and then maybe another 5 if you happen to show them to someone. A cool trip though? You're telling stories about it for a while each time you talk about it, and way more people are interested IMO than in your recent collectible coin or whatever. You have pictures and memories and hopefully it's something different while you're doing it...