Mittens 2010 Italy -- Sat 31st July - Sat 7th Aug. Last few spots remaining!

[Chrille]

I'd be interested in going by car from Milan as well if there's space.

[Matt Frith]

For the people getting the train from Milan, I am led to believe that the villa is roughly equidistant from two local train stops (Lucigiano and Foiano della Chiana) on the line from Arezzo.  That would involve about a two-three mile walk, depending on the station.  

Map (Feel free to add anything else onto the map)

Bicilotti, Disco and I should be getting the train down from Milan on the day.  Who else is definitely travelling by train besides Cat and Miez?

[Quintaros]

I'd be interested in going by car from Milan as well if there's space.

You can ride with me.  Any others?

[Snarky]

Yeah, since it seems like no one else would like to go from Rome, I'd be very happy if I could hop on in Milan. (Getting from Rome FCO to the villa by public transport seems like an exhausting all-day venture.)

Edit: When were you planning on leaving? I can get a 150 EUR flight to Milan BGY getting in at 17:45, while a flight to Milan MXP at 13:45 is twice that price.

[bicilotti]

I finally informed myself, and found out that we can get a 10% discount if we there are at least 10 of us (talking about Milan - Arezzo).

I will prolly go by train, are there any folks interested? No need to be deifnite, it's just to test the water.

p.s.: snarky, it's not really a great idea to travel from rome to milan to get back to the villa. Can't you just take a train to arezzo and let them lift you from there to our destination?

[m0ds]

It now looks like being two four seater cars. Which would leave one possible space. However, we're also planning to spend the day and night in either Milan, so you'll have to be up for doing that too!

I don't know if this includes me but I'm willing to rent but no matter who with I would need those people to help pay for it in advance. It would be about 75 euro each rental and maybe 25 petrol. So those wishing to go by train are you sure you don't want to get in on the car? Because the total train fare is 80 euro. For the same amount, 20 euro extra, you'll get a personal seat in a car throughout Mittens. There might be problems if we all want to go out but only 80% of us can be seated in cars.

We do need to double-check drivers, who is willing at least. So far its CJ, Quintaros, me possibly... Anyone else? Still: Let's split down the current info.

Train:
1. Bicilotti
2. Tier
3. Disco

And possible car arrangements. Well, just to give an idea of spaces and alternatives, etc.. I'm not suggesting you actually ride with these people Apart from car 1, who already have their minds made up

Car 1 - CJ:
CJ
AGA
Jen
Jake
Creed
Kim
Grundislav
Esseb

Car 2:
Quintaros
Snarky

Train:
cat
miez

Currently unknown:
Chrille
Mods

Wait! Perhaps it's Darth who is another willing driver?

[Darth Mandarb]

Okay ... my plans have (maybe) changed a bit.  I am bringing Tarah with me but now where we "land" is up in the air.

There are a few things I need/want to see while in Italy (Rome, Pompeii/Vesuvius, Venice, etc) so if people want to make some road-trips during mittens (which would be preferable) that would be great!  However, if nobody else wants to make the road-trips (which is fine, of course!) I want to plan around doing them before/after Mittens.  I figure if I'm going all the way to Italy I'm going to see all those places I have always wanted to see!!

I will probably rent a car where ever we (Tarah and I) land so we'd probably have (at least) 2 spaces available.  However, we have talked about trains as well so that's not fully decided just yet!

I know I mentioned it before but this thread is 20 pages long now ... anybody interested in Rome, Pompeii, Venice?  Let me know and let's solidify some plans!

[cat]

What you also have to consider is highway toll in Italy. It's not that cheap, if I remember correctly.

[Quintaros]

Personally, I'm not up for a lot of road trips during Mittens.  I planned an extra week afterwards to take care of my desire to see Italy.  During Mittens I'd rather just relax and socialize in the vicinity of the villa. 

[cat]

There are so many nice places to go in Tuscany (Firenze, San Gimignano, Volterra, Siena,...), I think we should do some of those trips and people that stay longer in Italy go to Rome, Pompeii, Venzia.

[Snarky]

p.s.: snarky, it's not really a great idea to travel from rome to milan to get back to the villa. Can't you just take a train to arezzo and let them lift you from there to our destination?

It's not a matter of going from Rome to Milan and back to the villa, but of flying to Milan instead of Rome. The train option seemed painful and complicated enough that I'd rather avoid it.

Like I asked in my last post, would a 17:45 arrival at Milano BGY be OK (what with possible delays, and baggage and all, it might mean as late as 7 PM before I'd be ready to go) with the other car people? Seems a bit late to start a 4-hour drive...

[Darth Mandarb]

Well for those of us who can't get 2 weeks off (I went on a cruise last week using 1 of my 2 allowed vacation weeks) cramming as much into the week is a necessity!  I have managed to squeeze a few extra days out of them, but not another full week.

So whoever is interested let me know!  It'd be great to have a group traveling together!  Venice is a long way from the villa so Tarah and I will probably do that after and, no offense, but I want to be alone with her in Venice   I know in France we made a day trip to Bastogne and it worked out very well (except for that traffic jam on the way back!).

I'll go by myself (with Tarah of course ... unless Andail steals her heart from me!!) but I thought I'd just offer up the option to see if anybody else was interested!

[Quintaros]

p.s.: snarky, it's not really a great idea to travel from rome to milan to get back to the villa. Can't you just take a train to arezzo and let them lift you from there to our destination?

Like I asked in my last post, would a 17:45 arrival at Milano BGY be OK (what with possible delays, and baggage and all, it might mean as late as 7 PM before I'd be ready to go) with the other car people? Seems a bit late to start a 4-hour drive...

It's not so late.  Maybe people should start posting their arrival information so that the car arrangements can be organized.

Well for those of us who can't get 2 weeks off (I went on a cruise last week using 1 of my 2 allowed vacation weeks) cramming as much into the week is a necessity!  I have managed to squeeze a few extra days out of them, but not another full week.

Yeah, I can appreciate that.  If the majority of people want day trips I will go with the flow but I think I prefer Cat's recommendation of keeping them in the Tuscany area.

[Disco]

A day trip within Tuscany (though not much further) could be a good idea. Of the cities Tier and I are visiting before and after Mittens, we were not able to fit in some nearby ones like Siena or Florence. We were assuming at least one day trip though which is customary.

Currently we are landing in Milan 4 days early and leaving straight away for Turin, then back to Milan a couple days before Mittens. Afterwards, our itinerary takes us through Cortona, Assisi, and Venice (where we shall happily provide a buzzkill for anyone's romantic plans  ) before flying back to London from Milan.

Magintz is currently planning on doing the 4 day Turin/Milan leg with us, but would be flying back the day Mittens starts, so would be around to visit anyone who is there the few days prior.

[AGA]

Creed's plus one (Kimi) said she would help drive whatever car she's in. But she can only drive an automatic, so it might just be better for whoever's car it is (Mods?) to do all the driving instead.

Also CJ's car will probably be a five seater, with Esseb crammed in there too.

[Darth Mandarb]

Currently we are landing in Milan 4 days early and leaving straight away for Turin, then back to Milan a couple days before Mittens. Afterwards, our itinerary takes us through Cortona, Assisi, and Venice (where we shall happily provide a buzzkill for anyone's romantic plans  ) before flying back to London from Milan.

Haha!  Well we can all travel there together (would be fun) but you can't come on the romantic gondola ride with us (unless you steer it and do that singing stuff)

I am thinking that the road-trip might have to be something like Pisa (it seems roughly the same distance as the Bastogne trip was - might be a bit further, hard to tell on google maps).  I've heard Pisa is a tad underwhelming but I still would like to see the leaning tower thing-a-ma-bob.

Pompeii looks to be very far and would probably take too much time away from Mittens so I'll worry about that outside of the Mittens time-line.  I'm flying into Rome so that solves that little bit as well.

Sooo ... Pisa anyone??

[Disco]

Haha!  Well we can all travel there together (would be fun) but you can't come on the romantic gondola ride with us (unless you steer it and do that singing stuff)

Well I am confident in my singing but will only steer if there is a Red Cross nearby, a caveat I'm sure will dissuade you


Dunno the time frame you are working with but we have alloted two days each in Cortona and Assisi and three in Venice, making it 10-13th I believe, so we can see about making the journey together at points. Would be fun I agree

---

I just checked some mileage from the Villa on possible daytrips:

• Castiglione del Lago (on the large lake nearby) - 32km/20 miles (36 minutes by car)
• Perugia - 61km/38 miles (57 minutes)
• Pisa - 189km/117 miles or (2 hours)
• Siena - 50km/31 miles (53 minutes)
• Florence - 86km/53 miles (1 hour 10 minutes)

[Creed Malay]

okay, caus eof times and all, the early arrivers cars are looking like-

car 1 - CJ, Berian and his fair lady, and jake
car 2 - me, my fair lady, esseb and grundislav

I guess there's a potential two more seats there, but remember we'll all have baggage and stuff. but we've alwayts managed to cram it in before. I gues it's down to how many care people want?

[AGA]

Four seater cars are cheaper than fives, so it's more likely to be just us eight. Unless people really to go for another two seats.

[m0ds]

Yeah TBH I'd rather be a car able to mission it about and pick random people up. But there's no way I could cover the rental cost on my own initially. And if all else fails I'll be taking the train