Upon learning that I had been awarded a Lilly Endowment Teacher Creativity Fellowship Grant, I began planning my itinerary, purchasing airline tickets, and booking accommodations.
I began by searching for an online itinerary creator. I tried several different sites that had good reviews, but none of those would do everything that I wanted them to do, and most of them only allowed me to book accommodations through their website. I finally chose to use www.inspirock.com to create my itinerary. My youngest daughter was graduating high school so I decided that I would take her with me for a portion of my trip. I wanted her to see the major sites before I embarked on my journey to Sardinia. I made a decision to fly into Venice and do the usual Venice, Florence, and Rome itinerary, but I added a couple of days between Venice and Florence into our Mother/Daughter trip to visit the Cinque Terre before she flew back to the US and I headed to the island.
In 2019, while planning my first trip to Italy, I purchased Rick Steve’s Italy 2019 guidebook, which has good advice and lots of great information about traveling in Europe. I also watched his videos on youtube to get advice about traveling by train…a huge concern for me.
I purchased a round-trip airline ticket to Venice since it was the least expensive option. My daughter would fly into Venice and depart from Rome. Thank goodness she has all that graduation money to pay for her airfare!
Here is my itinerary:
Fly into Venice and spend three nights. We will be staying at Hotel Abbazia, a hotel built into the spaces of an old abbey in the heart of Venice. I fell in love with this unique hotel when I first visited Venice in the spring of 2019. A huge plus for me is that it is only a few steps away from the train station and the main Vaporetto stop so I won’t be dragging my luggage through the streets of Venice.
From Venice, we will take a train to Monterosso al Mare which is the largest of the five coastal villages known as the Cinque Terre. We will spend only two nights in the Cinque Terre region, which will not give us much time to enjoy the area, but I have lots more to do and only a few weeks to do it.
After we leave Monterosso al Mare, we will travel by train to Florence. We will be in Florence for four nights; I love Florence and want my daughter to experience everything that it has to offer!
We will take the train from Florence to Rome. We will spend four nights in Rome, which should give us plenty of time to see the major sites and enjoy this amazing historic city. We will be staying at Bloom Hotel which is within walking distance of Vatican City. I have also scheduled a cooking class for myself while in Rome. My daughter and I will part ways in Rome. She will head home, and I will continue on to the island of Sardinia.
I booked a flight from Rome to Cagliari for only $50. This price for any airline in the US is unheard of, but intercontinental flights in Italy are very affordable. For another $30, I have booked transportation from the airport to the hotel in Cala Gonone. Hotel Caramare will be my home base while I explore the island of Sardinia.
Living in the Zone 