Italy or Bust!

You know, I always put off trip planning to the very last minute. I have to be forced into doing the web surfing and making reservations and all that. I think it is because I obsess about getting all the details right... and since I am late in the process reservations are moving quickly. So I find something one place but want to keep looking to see if anything else is just a *little* bit better... and then when I go back, the one I had is gone and everything else is worse. But I have to wait until the last minute, otherwise I'm never forced into making a decision!

Witness my attempting to find a reasonably priced yet decent hotel in Milan for Sunday night when I arrive. Starting the Wednesday before no less. Nothing from a guide book is available. I search and search. Everything is wildly expensive. But I found two good sources of information. There are lots and lots of postings by travelers on Rick Steve's web site. Lots of good yea's and nay's regarding hotels. And they you can find the sites from there. But I'm still in the 130 euro range. Is it just that Milan is too expensive?? Yeah, I think it partly is. It might be partly because Rick Steve's represents a slightly more upscale traveler. IE, the traveler I used to be rather than am currently!

Then I came happened across the Lonely Planet web site. Which of course is a great reference too. And they have a hotel search engine. The reasonable stuff had no availability... but there were a bunch of hotels mentioned that they referred you to a "third party booking agent recommended by Lonely Planet". Which got me to Hotels Made Simple. And that, amazingly enough found lots of hotels, like over a hundred, with availability, and some that were reasonably priced. I think it is one of those meta search engines. It looks at a bunch of search engines and compiles them.

Anyhow, I found a three star near the train station and then googled to see what people said. Reports were good. Price is great. Went to the hotel directly and figured I'd check the pricing there. Price was much higher!?? What the heck is that? I figured that the search engine was just out of date or something and when I attempted to complete the booking it would tell me that it was no longer available or something. (Or maybe I'd actually made a booking for 1908 and not 2008??) But no, it seems to have gone through just fine. I think it will be okay. I think the problem is that the hotel's "home page" is actually a booking agency that adds on. Despite their claim of "cheapest rates guaranteed". I saw the same site format at several Milan hotels. But here is where I'll be staying Sunday night then, at the "Monopole".

So, for those following my travels, Carol is taking me to the airport on Saturday at 9:30. That's early for my actual flight which is at 1 something but I want Erin and Emily to come see me off and this way Erin gets back in time to make it to ballet practice that morning. (Which is good... I wouldn't want seeing me to the airport to interfere with ballet!) Then I go through Frankfurt and arrive around 10:30am at Malapresa airport. There is supposed to be a fast train service from the airport into the central train station, dump the bags at the hotel and wander around Milan for the rest of the day. Then I have a train reservation heading for Macerata on Monday. A long trip, 5 hours, hence my hanging in Milan for a day. And the class group is supposed to be assembly in Macerata at 3:30 that afternoon. Cool! :^)

I'll get some links and maps posted here over the next couple of days. Right now I'm going to go and do some of the other million items that I've left to the last minute...! :^)

- B -