More Flying Anxiety- This Time for Italy

[WinniWoman]

I'm wondering if you could try a new perspective about your trip?
1. It's a trip of a lifetime -- you are fortunate and blessed to be physically and financially able to do it.
2. Since you are spending time and money to get there -- why not make the best of it?
3. Give up the phrase -- this trip is too long. You can't imagine how silly that sounds to me and some others.
4. Once you make it over there, the rest is easy.
5. Why be in any hurry to return home? Maybe that's something you can "shake off"?

Why do you use a quote from Helen Keller that you are reluctant to embrace?

Forgive me if this is too harsh.
You are younger than me -- and this old dog has had to learn a few new tricks -- and I'm glad I did.

PS I’ve been on TUG for a very long time. That Helen Keller quote was put in my profile when I was a lot younger and had limited experience flying and traveling and was somewhat naive and fearless about a lot of things.

Don’t get me wrong- I still believe in that quote. Otherwise I wouldn’t have even planned this vacation.

Just now older and with the experiences we’ve had flying, and very limited experience in foreign countries, I am trying to do the best I can to make the flying tolerable and the whole trip as easy as possible for us. Much more enjoyable that way. I am also not a patient person. I know my flaws and I know what I like and don’t like and am honest about it.

 

[WinniWoman]

Taormina is beautiful. I loved sitting at an outdoor cafe in the piazza and people watching. There was a wedding going on and it was fascinating. I've not been to Palermo but I would love to go back to Sicily and see more as long as I can also go back to Taormina!

One thing I like about this tour is that we actually spend 5 days in Taormina in the same hotel and tour out from there each day.

 

[Cornell]

@Cornell
Once upon a time we had a morning flight to London out of Newark that was ideal for being totally refreshed the following day! With a cruise on the books for next year that leaves out of Southampton, I began researching early morning flight possibilities. Unfortunately, we have to connect and the schedules I'm seeing now are too tight for my comfort level.
The alternative that we will go with, assuming AerLingus maintains its direct CLE-DUB flights in 2025, will be to depart @8:30pm and arrive the next morning. From DUB we will catch a bus direct to Galway, sleeping enroute, spend a few days there then back to Dublin. We can even fly direct to Southampton from there. We'll be spending a few days in London after the cruise, but return flights to the US, even with connections, don't exhaust me. If we go home via AerLIngus, connecting in DUB we go thru US preclearance there.

Yeah - I don't want to hijack Mary Ann's thread. But going on a week trip to London which is a bit short for my liking so want to hit the ground running and not miss a beat. Picked London as the easiest, fastest Euro destination from Chicago.

 

[fillde]

Maryann we went on a 8 day tour of Sicily recently and we loved it. No recommendations for flights but Sicily is wonderful. And the fact that you’re going in October it will be less hectic than the summer months.

Palermo exceeded our expectations. Felt safe and the food was excellent. Also inflation hasn’t hit there like it has over here.

Taormina is special as is Siracusa, Agrigento and even Mt Aetna.

 

[WinniWoman]

I want to thank everyone on here for their fantastic suggestions and comments. You guys are the greatest! It has definitely helped me sort through the various options, as well as my fears and concerns, and I learned more about what the reality is of flying to Europe when there are no nonstop or direct flights. (I was spoiled with our nonstop to Edinburgh years ago).

We will be doing this trip and I will be contacting the travel agent in the next few days with what we decide to do regarding the flights.

WinniWoman's trip to Sicily and Southern Italy to be continued.......

 

[WinniWoman]

Yeah - I don't want to hijack Mary Ann's thread. But going on a week trip to London which is a bit short for my liking so want to hit the ground running and not miss a beat. Picked London as the easiest, fastest Euro destination from Chicago.

That's ok. Hijack away!

 

[DancingWaters]

You can do this……talking this out with TUG friends is very helpful!

 

[Patri]

For whatever reason, I can't sleep on a plane either. Otherwise, I sleep like a rock so I don't know what it is about a plane.

Because you are subconsciously concerned about other passengers hearing your snoring or seeing your mouth open.

 

[slip]

Because you are subconsciously concerned about other passengers hearing your snoring or seeing your mouth open.

That could be but I'm sure my wife would give me a poke to the ribs. Maybe that's it.

 

[Blues]

The Rome option is interesting but I don’t know how far Rome is from Naples by train. I will say that the tour does have an optional Rome excursion that can be added at the end which is something to take another look at.

Rome2rio.com says that the train from Naples to Rome Termini (downtown) is 1 hr 10 minutes and priced at $16-$62 per person. Have to change at Termini to get to FCO (Rome airport). That train is another 30 minutes. With connect time, a total of about 2 hours. Faster than flying. And cheaper. And more relaxing.

Rome2rio.com is a great resource, wherever in the world you're traveling.

 

[bizaro86]

Flying from Hawaii to Europe, I'm pretty-much stuck with Home->SEA->KEF->Destination. So I just deal with that.

You might consider KOA-YYC-Europe on westjet. One stop when they have the YYC-KOA directs on, and cheap ($400 each way), checking random Sundays next winter. Have to go KOA-YVR-YYC-Europe other dates which isn't as good).

Long layover in Calgary, but you can hit some hot springs in Banff (practically like being in KEF!).

 

[ScoopKona]

You might consider KOA-YYC-Europe on westjet. One stop when they have the YYC-KOA directs on, and cheap ($400 each way), checking random Sundays next winter. Have to go KOA-YVR-YYC-Europe other dates which isn't as good).

Long layover in Calgary, but you can hit some hot springs in Banff (practically like being in KEF!).

That's a solid plan. But Icelandic prices the flight as if the stopover didn't happen. They throw that in to increase tourism. Also, if you check the Great Circle Mapper website, KOA to most of Western Europe passes so close to Iceland that it doesn't even count as a detour.

I'll cheerfully visit Banff any time I can. But budget and logistics pushes me to SEA and KEF. I have to visit the UK if not this year, next. So I'll hope KOA-YYC-LHR makes sense.

 

[bizaro86]

That's a solid plan. But Icelandic prices the flight as if the stopover didn't happen. They throw that in to increase tourism. Also, if you check the Great Circle Mapper website, KOA to most of Western Europe passes so close to Iceland that it doesn't even count as a detour.

I'll cheerfully visit Banff any time I can. But budget and logistics pushes me to SEA and KEF. I have to visit the UK if not this year, next. So I'll hope KOA-YYC-LHR makes sense.

Makes sense. KOA-SEA-KEF-LHR is slightly shorter than KOA-YYC-KEF (but only by 20 nm on a 7000+ mile flight, so negligible). Having the free stopover is great. I often like to travel different routes there/back to see more places along the way.

Although now that Westjet has so many directs from my home airport that's pretty tempting - eg this summer we're taking the direct to Rome and then just training around Italy (vs trying to connect or taking fancier routings w/ stopovers).

 

[Ken555]

You might consider KOA-YYC-Europe on westjet. One stop when they have the YYC-KOA directs on, and cheap ($400 each way), checking random Sundays next winter. Have to go KOA-YVR-YYC-Europe other dates which isn't as good).

Long layover in Calgary, but you can hit some hot springs in Banff (practically like being in KEF!).

I’ve been on WestJet twice from LAX to Europe via Calgary… once to London and once to Amsterdam. They have relatively new 787s, great and friendly crew (imho second only to Qantas), and decent premium economy seats.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[ScoopKona]

Makes sense. KOA-SEA-KEF-LHR is slightly shorter than KOA-YYC-KEF (but only by 20 nm on a 7000+ mile flight, so negligible). Having the free stopover is great. I often like to travel different routes there/back to see more places along the way.

Although now that Westjet has so many directs from my home airport that's pretty tempting - eg this summer we're taking the direct to Rome and then just training around Italy (vs trying to connect or taking fancier routings w/ stopovers).

There's also something to be said for getting to visit different places.

The big advantage is that with KOA-SEA I'm "going with the flow." Alaskan and Hawaiian fly there multiple times each day. That's a busy route with some competition. (Anchorage makes the most sense from a "let's save some jet fuel" perspective. But it is more than double the cost.) Once at SEA, that's one of Icelandic's busiest routes.

I'll definitely check out Westjet for the "we really need to get rid of these GBP before they expire the notes because the wrong monarch is on them" trip. Also, I've volunteered at a beer festival in England for years now. And the pandemic ground that to a halt. Time to return to my routine.

 

[b2bailey]

One thing I like about this tour is that we actually spend 5 days in Taormina in the same hotel and tour out from there each day.

That sounds wonderful!
If it were me, I would use that as a carrot to my self-will,
" when we get to Taormina..."

 

[MULTIZ321]

8 Reasons It's Worth the Extra Money To Fly Business Class to Europe

8 Reasons It’s Worth the Extra Money To Fly Business Class to Europe

Trips from the United States can cost thousands of dollars. Many travelers save for years to try and have a fulfilling European adventure. That means forgoing certain costs like suites at European hotels, or upgraded airfare...right? Some travel experts disagree with that last point. Read: 10...

www.gobankingrates.com

Richard

 

[keno999]

Who needs AI when you have TUG!

 

[4TimeAway]

We flew from LAX-London, Hard a couple hour layover in a lounge. I took a shower. Then London-Milan.

We took trains in country. It adds to seeing it for us and paid for the train lounges. Not really worth it, but it helped take the edge off.

Used Hilton almost everywhere... gotta love points, executive lounges at hotels are very nice. Booked a Pompeii tour group.

Its not that hard if you travel lightly. We used backpacks and front packs. You can also just ship luggage if you like or buy what you need.

 

[stmartinfan]

One of the best discoveries for me on a recent trip was the Yotel chain, which has small hotel rooms within security area at some major airports. We had a flight from Minneapolis to Cairo with an 8 hour layover in Paris because there weren't many choices to get there on airlines we wanted to use. We made a reservation at the Yotel and managed to get a nice nights sleep of about 6 1/2 hours between our flights. It was a quick walk from our gate, we had a room with a queen bed and a bunk, so it fit the 3 of us. There were no windows of course, except one to their private interior hallway with drapes to close, and in a quiet area so we could sleep soundly. They had a nice snack area with tables and chairs. It turned out to be a great way to break up our really long flight and helped us arrive without being completely exhausted. Friends returning from Cairo to Seattle booked a room for a long layover on their return trip and also thought it worked well.

 

[WinniWoman]

8 Reasons It's Worth the Extra Money To Fly Business Class to Europe

8 Reasons It’s Worth the Extra Money To Fly Business Class to Europe

Trips from the United States can cost thousands of dollars. Many travelers save for years to try and have a fulfilling European adventure. That means forgoing certain costs like suites at European hotels, or upgraded airfare...right? Some travel experts disagree with that last point. Read: 10...

www.gobankingrates.com

Richard

It’s all great if you have the money. Everything is wonderful when money is no object.

Some of us peons simply are lucky to even be able to do a tour like this. But 4x the price of economy is over the top for us.

 

[Talent312]

It’s all great if you have the money. Everything is wonderful when money is no object.

I've spent an absurd sum of $$ on a few things...
But I have no regrets. Within a few years, I don't notice it gone.
There's an expression: You can't take it with you (or so I've heard).

 

[WinniWoman]

I've spent an absurd sum of $$ on a few things...
But I have no regrets. Within a few years, I don't notice it gone.
There's an expression: You can't take it with you (or so I've heard).

Well we have a financial plan we are adhering to. We don’t have millions of dollars or monthly pensions or long term care insurance or paid for health insurance by a former employer and not collecting SS yet.( though hubby will be finally next month at age 70). I have 2 more years until I collect my SS. All this time we have been draining savings and blessed to be able to do so, so yeah-we won’t be taking it with us because we’ve been living on it and it will be gone.

No complaints just being smart with our money. We are thankful we have enough money to do this pricey tour, plus a week in Vermont in a log cabin, and did the short week in Florida to see my brother.

We might need a newer used car in the future because we have a 2013 and a 2016, so we have to have money for that as well and we will have home maintenance issues the longer we are here- especially hiring a painter since we never had the house painted when we moved in 4 years ago.

Everyone has to determine what they feel is worth spending money on in terms of value, necessity and wants for them in the sphere of what they can afford.

For this issue we will probably just do economy and maybe we will be able to upgrade to premium at the last minute if they have some kind of miraculous deal because of empty seats. If premium was just double economy we would have done it, but it’s triple and business class is quadruple that! So if we can’t upgrade for a reasonable price we unfortunately we will have to tolerate being in the lower echelon seats.

 

[Venter]

Napcabs

Napcabs

www.munich-airport.com

If all you want is to rest with some peace and quiet, and not go anywhere you can make use of this service instead of leaving the airport.

Hilton has a hotel inside the terminal at Munich that you can consider too.

So many options...

 

[elaine]

Actually, with a place like above, a 6 hr layover might be perfect. Enough time for a solid nap.
We always fly coach-we use FF miles and want the cheapest miles to stretch our travel. I’d definitely check out a hotel in secure area for a nap.
After a long red-eye, we always go straight to hotel and take a nap. Even 3 hours is enough to restore you until bedtime. We stay at hotels where we have status and are likely to get early check in. Accor hotel chain (and maybe others) often offer guaranteed early check in for a small fee.