awesome.. sounds great what you have set up with your friend! i am travelling alone. i leave london for ireland on the 20th too... so i think the best time id have free to meet up would be the night of the 19th which is the day i arrive in london... if that suits you. otherwise we'll just catch up in rome so what are you up to after the italy tour..?

The 19th night would be good!! I wish i had time to go to Ireland! but i guess there is always next time. After the italy tour i'm going up through central/eastern europe with my friend which i'm so exicted about! we start off in Budapest then go to Vienna prague berlin and amsterdam.

sweet.. night of the 19th would be good. do you know roughly where youre staying in london (i havent booked yet)? you sound like youre going similar places to me, but im doing it the other way round.. im doing contiki berlin-prague-budapest straight after the italy tour. closer to the time we'll have to arrange to catch up on the 19th

hey shawna... i was just reading back on the previous posts and i arrive in rome on the 31st at 11.35am on BA from London, you said earlier you arrive at 11.15am...? If we're there at the same time we should meet up and travel to the hotel together!

Hey Ladies,
Lots of chatting ... I am so glad that Contiki has a place for this kind of stuff. It is the greatest idea to get to know your travelmates

Shez, I was unfortunately mistaken about my flight time ... I leave Toronto at 11:25 and arrive in Rome 2:25pm It would have been nice to travel to the hotel together!

Hey ... has anyone paid for the trip in full and gotten their travel documents yet? I was just wondering which hotels we are actually staying at to start and finish the trip.

Hi again Shawna (& Canadian gals & fellow aussies!!).
I'm 28 and am account manager in promotional marketing.
Positano is on the Amalfi Coast and is supposed to be an amazingly beautiful part of the world (it's where The Talented Mr Ripley was filmed).
Anyway, not long to go now girls!

Hey ladies...
Wow... I don't sign on for a couple of days and I miss alot of planning and excitement. I have to admit that you ladies are making me jealous of all the cool locations you are going to visit before or after our Italy trip. Great to see that there are so many of us who are just as excited as me.
I touch down at 1:55pm Rome time on the 31st. I still haven't figured out my plans to get to the hotel and I don't know where I am staying for the extra 2 nights at the end of the trip (Sept. 11-13)
Shawna- I have paid my trip in full but they still don't send out the travel stuff until like a month before no matter when you paid... BOOOO!!! I am also interested to find out what hotel we are staying at in Rome.
Here I am enjoying the Canadian Sunshine and dreaming of Italy in less then 2 months! WOW... it's coming quick! So much to do, in what seems like so little time!
Cheers ladies,
-B-

Hi Everyone,

I am a canadian and will also be on this tour.
Here are some usefull numbers to make reservations for Uffizi, Academia (to see David) in Florence and Last Supper in Milan. Calling the numbers below will only pre-book and you will not be paying upfront.
Milan to see "Last Supper":
t:011-39-02-8942-1146 . All tickets for Sep 6 are sold out, but I was able to get a reservation for 9:30 on Sept. 7, hope our bus does not leave before than. In any case I didn't pay upfront.
Florence Uffizi and Academia Gallery:
t:011-39-055-294-883 for both. I read on the contiki forum that we can reserve tickets for the free day in Florence (in our case Sept 4) for time from 12 to 3:30.
Have fun.

So as I said I was confirming everything with my travel agent this past week.

Shez ... you were right and I was wrong. I arrive in Rome at 11am. I would love to take you up on your brilliant offer to travel to the hotel together ... if you haven't made other plans already.

I am also booked into a hotel in Rome for an extra night (Sept 11). It is the Hotel Giglio. If anyone would like to share I am sure we could make that arrangements.

Not long now ..50 days SOOOOOOO excited!
Shawna

Hey Shawna.. how did you book that hotel.. at a travel agent? I'm looking into accomm. now. And travelling from the airport together would be awesome!

I have paid for my trips(s) in full... my travel agent tells me they send out the pack a month before you leave, and even tho i'm leaving a bit before the tours they'll take that into account and send it out a bit earlier... so i really ought to receive it in the next few days cause i got 1 month to go! yay!!!

Hey Shez ... ya I booked that hotel through my travel agent. I am currently booked as a single for that one extra night that I am in Rome. I am sure it would be easy to change that part of the reservation if someone wanted to share accom. for another night.

Wow! I can't believe you leave in a month. I am starting to get a little excited now with 44 more days, you must be sooo excited.

i know.. its all happening so quickly! and I havent even discussed with my boss that im taking 8 1/2 weeks off yet.. haha! and i broke my hand this week so im in a cast heres to HOPING i dont have to have surgery and am good to go for 4 weeks time!!!! yikes!

i got my contiki documents today.. yippee! 1 month to the DAY before i leave. It says we're staying at Hotel Palladium Palace in rome.. so is the Hotel Giglio youre booked into shawna close to that?? either way id prefer to stay with someone i know so im gonna look into staying there. so youre booked in for 11 sept? im sticking around for the 12th as well so i'd have to book in for that too. what do you think we'd need to do to get a room but pay at different times??? could you give me the street address or something so i make sure i got the right place would anyone else be up for joining us??

by the way, the booklet also says that to view michelangelos david or visit the uffizi gallery you do need to book in advance.. it suggests to book between 1 and 3.30pm on our full day in rome. it gives the official website www.firenzemusei.it or to purchase online tix www.polomuseale.firenze.it . in milan youd need to book to see leonardo da vinci's last supper.. to book to see it on the day we travel from la spezia to milan between 1.30 and 4pm.. book on www.cenacolovinciano.org

Shez,
as you are the first to receive travel package, what hotels we will be staying (i am particulary interested to know) first night in Rome and in Milan? Thanks...

OUCH! Broken hand ... that sucks! My fingers are crossed that you don't need surgery. How did you manage doing that?

You got the travel docs that is so cool. Now we all don't have to be all in the dark and we can plan some things So I have a few questions ... Does it tell you what time the bus will be leaving each day? If so, what time will we be leaving Milan on Sept 7? The reason I am asking is it has previously been mentioned by Explorer1104508 that all tickets to see the last supper on the 6th are all sold out. Our only chance would be to see it the morning of the 7th if the bus isn't leave really early.

My next question is more of a clarification one ... to see David or go to visit uffizi gallery they want us to try and book something on our free day in Rome or Florence?

My last question (I promise) ... does anyone want to try and book into these things together and go as a group or do most of us just want to do their own thing these days?

Shez ... the hotel I am booked into is about 4 or 5 blocks from the Hotel Palladium Palace. I will go in and talk to my travel agent to discuss how we could go about (or get her recommendations) booking a room and paying at different times. I could also talk to her to see if maybe it could be switched to the hotel Palladium Palace.

Hey ladies!!!
Way to keep the excitement up ladies! Shez... I am so jealous that you got your travel documents already. I can't wait for mine! Hopefully in the next couple days! Only 42 days till I leave!
Keep me up to date on the booking of the sites... I am up for booking as a group! Half of the fun of seeing these things is having someone to share the experience with!
As for the hotel... I am still in need of a hotel booking for the 11-13th! Anyone interested in booking together? I agree that it is much nicer to stay with people you know. Shawna- let me know if you would like to share at your place.
Anyways... off to do some shopping for our trip
Cheers,
-B-