Buona sera tutti!
Sorry it has taken me so long to post this, but One week after returning I had a couple of vertebrae fused. Just now feeling up to posting.
This trip was my 2nd with Insight. Was on BOI in August 2003. Have been back to Rome, on my own, 4 other times in between with little side trips to Cinque Terre / Pisa/ Caserta / Florence / and little towns surrounding Rome.
I'll not give a blow by blow because every trip is vastly different. Each TD has his or her own style, and of course the 39 fellow travelers tend to set the mood for the entire trip. What I do hope to do in this post is give my impressions of the differences 3 years, a different itinerary, and personal experience can make.
First, we had SO much room on the coach, it was amazing. Driving by other coaches on the highway, you can look over and see how cramped those other poor travelers are.
The Rome hotels on Intermezzo are very modern and very out of the way. I took a cab from the Sheraton Roma up to via Veneto and it was about 15 Euro. While the Sheraton is in between 2 Metro stops, I was pressed for time and did not want to walk on a busy thoroughfare. THe Crowne St. Peters is no where near a Metro, but I had plenty of time, so I walked to the Cornelia Metro (with a few stops at cafe's along the way). Contrast this with the BOI 3 years ago when the hotels were in the center of Rome, one near Piazza della Repubblica, and the other overlooking the Colosseum.
The "hotel" meals in Montecatini Terme and Venice (Lido) were not in the hotels. They were at restaurants within an easy stroll. Insight claims you always have a choice of meals, but I have never encountered a choice on either tour. I will say the included meals were of a slightly better quality this time around. The food on the optional dinners was comparable each tour. However, the really stand-out optional dinners were the ones in Montecatini Terme, both on the BOI 3 years ago and last month on the Intermezzo. The BOI had music and dancing and fabulous buffet. The Intermezzo was family style, no music, but what a view!
Don't ask me about breakfasts...I go Italian...out of the hotel early...down to the nearest cafe'...capuccino and cornetto.
The Intermezzo was supposed to stay at the Francia & Quirinale (same one we stayed at on the BOI 3 years ago). Luckily for us, we got switched to a hotel 1 block away called La Pace. WOW, La Pace is a knock your socks off elegant old world hotel. So glad we did NOT stay at F&Q.
The hotel on Lido (and yes, it is still VENICE)is very nice. On a main street that cuts through the narrow part of the island. You can easily stroll down to the docks for a water taxi, or walk the other way and enjoy the sandy beach.
The optionals from BOI 3 years are all fused together with my overall memories. The optionals on the Intermezzo that took you to a different town were Pisa / San Gimignano / Burano. This was my third time in Pisa, and we went very early before it because a madhouse. DO walk around to the other side of the Tower, and out of the gate. You will see a cypress tree that is leaning at the exact angle of the Tower!
Do NOT miss San Gimignano...it is charming. Burano was also a lovely island, very colorful and quaint.
Overall, I enjoyed the BOI better. Perhaps because it was my first encounter with the country that has so entwined its heart and soul with my own. "there's nothing like the first time"
The Intermezzo was enjoyable, but as I said in the beginning, I've been to Italy on my own 4 times in the last 3 years, and in a way I felt constrained, and almost like I'd taken a step backwards in my travels. (no offense to organized tours).
This trip was a High School graduation gift to my niece, taken with her other aunt, a sister-in-law and her friend. Other aunt and sister-in-law were on BOI with me 3 years ago; first time for niece and friend of sister-in-law. We all enjoyed the Intermezzo except it just wasnt't long enough.
Now I get to plan my next trip in March!!!

You were on that tour the week after me. It was my first time to Italy and I fell in love with it. I have to go back. Who was your tour director and bus driver?

Hello BellaLuna,

Hope your mending well. I have a few questions to ask about your trip. I am thinking of going in Oct as a single traveler. Were there any single travelers or is it couple oriented? Also the optional tours, are they something that most of the group takes? Is there any time to go to the spas while you stay in Montecatini?

Thanks for any insight you can give me.

Jnt

What an outstanding tour! My husband and I just returned from the Italian Intermezzo tour - June 30-July 8. Our Tour Manager, Brad McEwen, was wonderful - extremely knowledgeable, well-read, and culturally aware inspite of not being a native Italian. The optional tours were priceless enhancements as they were specifically chosen by Brad for our tour. The members in our group of 34 included people from South Africa, New Zeeland, Australia, and the United States, so we had the additional joy of learning about their cultures as well. We had individual travellers, couples, and families on this tour and they were aged 14 and up. We loved the variety! There was a parallel tour going on with an additional 23 people and we had the opportunity to mix with some of that group as well.
This tour exceeded all of our expectations and we will happily recommend Insight to our family and friends in the future; we are already looking into signing up for another tour next summer. Ciao!

quote:

Originally posted by AlisonL:
You were on that tour the week after me. It was my first time to Italy and I fell in love with it. I have to go back. Who was your tour director and bus driver?

Buona sera Alison,
Our TD was Debra D'Angelo and our driver was Pino

quote:

Originally posted by Jnt:
Hello BellaLuna,

Hope your mending well. I have a few questions to ask about your trip. I am thinking of going in Oct as a single traveler. Were there any single travelers or is it couple oriented? Also the optional tours, are they something that most of the group takes? Is there any time to go to the spas while you stay in Montecatini?

Thanks for any insight you can give me.

Jnt

Buona sera Jnt,
As with most of the shorter (less than 2 weeks) tours, there is not much down time. With the Intermezzo, you go back to Florence on the 2nd day for the gold and leather demo (shopping) or you go to Pisa in the morning and then back to Florence in the afternoon. Nothing in the rulebook says you have to board the coach. If you prefer, stay in Montecatini Terme and explore. I ditched the group the final Friday in Rome and did my own thing. Check back here in a day or so, and I should have some links to the spas nearby.
We had a high ratio of families, my own included. We had a young single student, a trio of sisters, and a few couples without kids. Chalk that up to it being June and schools being out. If you go in October, you will probably find more couples and singles.
I have found that usually 50% or more of the group will take the optionals...certainly not everyone takes them all, but rarely is more than 1/2 the group left behind. It really depends on the makeup of the group.
Thank you for the good wishes, I am healing quite nicely and already planning my return for March '07.

quote:

Originally posted by Jnt:
Hello BellaLuna,

Is there any time to go to the spas while you stay in Montecatini?

Thanks for any insight you can give me.

Jnt

ECCO!

http://www.termemontecatini.it/

Don't be concerned that it's in Italian. Look in the upper left corner of the home page for a little "British" flag. That will bring up the English version and you will probably learn more than you ever wanted to about the spas.

Hello BellaLuna,

Many thanks for responding to everything. I'm going to Italy!

Ciao,
Jnt

not another one what is going on...

Jeffrey seems to be a "real frog", perhaps working for a tour company.