Client Review: Summer Vibes in Rome and Sorrento

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We were so excited to plan another trip for long-time clients Alicia & Jay, along with Alicia’s parents. They’ve traveled to Italy before, but this time they were focused on a summer adventure in Rome and the Amalfi Coast. A pretty straightforward trip, but we love making it special with amazing guides and local experts to add something unique.

Thanks again for all of your help planning our amazing Italy trip! We had an incredible time.

Rome

Hotel La Rovere in Rome was a great choice. We found the rooms to be clean and spacious, and mine and Jay’s room even had a cute courtyard attached where we had a pre-dinner bottle of wine one night.

The golf cart tour was a highlight – this was a great idea to help us beat the jet lag and get oriented within the city. Our guide Constantine was awesome! He was so knowledgeable and very attentive and accommodating. It was SO hot in Rome, so being whisked around in a breezy golf cart was a real treat. Mom and dad had a great time at the Vatican tour. Jay and I also loved the Colosseum tour, although in hindsight because of the heat we wouldn’t have minded if it was a little shorter.

The Trastevere food tour was another highlight. Our guides Michele and Miguel were great, and the food was incredible. We lucked out and had a great group of people – three of them also live in the same town as me and Jay – what are the chances?! The only problem is that I don’t think I will ever find gelato better than the place they took us!

Sorrento & Amalfi Coast

On our way to Sorrento, we stopped at a vineyard suggested by our driver Fabrizio. This lunch ended up being one of our favorite meals and we shipped a case of wine home, so needless to say the wine was amazing.

Fabrizio is the best! He made our time on the coast so easy and gave us so many great suggestions for how to get around and do what we wanted to do.

Sorrento was amazing and is now one of my favorite places. I am so glad that you based us here. Grand Hotel De La Ville is beautiful! Mom wished she had gone for the full ocean view room, but we found the rooms to be spacious, clean, and all of the tiling detail so beautiful. We spent a lot of time at the beautiful rooftop pool. We especially loved the proximity to the main part of town.

Strolling around Sorrento and the small cobblestone streets was the best. Our visits to Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello were a breeze thanks to Fabrizio. We went back a second day to Positano and spent the day at La Scogliera beach club, which was amazing! Our boat trip to Capri was also a highlight. The boat was so much fun, and we loved Capri.

Can’t wait for the next trip!

– Alicia

A Summer Family Vacation in Italy

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Regina and her family were overwhelmed with planning a summer getaway to Italy. With three kids (ranging in age from 10 to 18) and a very limited window of opportunity to get everyone together in one place, they needed to make the most of their time, without overdoing it. They wanted to see as much as they could, experience the art and history but also have some relaxing time by the sea to really feel that summer vacation vibe. We put together an adventure in Italy with spectacular views and a little bit of everything! Here is their report of the adventure:

Florence

We had many many highlights and favorite moments! Florence was literally steaming hot, but the kids surprised us by totally loving the two tours we had — the walking tour which ended at the Accademia, and then a short but awesome whirlwind into the Uffizi!

They are old enough and curious enough to have been utterly wowed by the history — and both guides we had were AWESOME! It was too hot to climb the Duomo, but no matter, we walked and walked and felt always in the orbit of that amazing dome. Of course, beautiful food and endless gelato helped keep spirits up too!

view from the florence rooftop

Plaza Lucchesi was fantastic — can’t tell you how much fun that rooftop pool was at the end of a dripping hot day, before heading out for dinner! 

Sorrento

We loved Sorrento. As you predicted, the location of the apartment was perfect. And we all enjoyed having a little more room to spread out. (you cannot overestimate how amazing it was to have a washing machine to deal with our very very sweaty clothes!)

We had some of our very best days in the orbit of Sorrento. The amazing joyful cooking class at Villa Pane, the drive through the Amalfi Coast with Carmine (who works with Fabrizio — we totally loved both of them).

I would say the boat ride — which we were able to salvage after the initial cancellation — was quite simply one of the most wonderful days we’ve had in recent memory.

So much fun! Such a great way to get glimpses of the gorgeous coastal towns without having to spend too much time amidst the crowds. I would recommend this small boat trip to EVERYONE!

Ischia

But as amazing as all this was — our favorite 2 days of the trip were on Ischia! Seriously, we didn’t want to leave! I briefly pitched the idea to Jim that we could retire there! We loved the hotel (the Continental Mare) — here was the view from our balcony:

We had the most amazing experience at a hydrothermal park/beach – Negombo Thermal Park and Preserve. So so incredible.

We got there when it opened at 9, and stayed until 7pm. The first half of the day was spent going from one thermal pool to the next

… and the afternoon was spent floating in San Montana Bay. The kids made us promise to return — and truthfully, we could have stayed several more days there happily.

Rome

So by the time we got to Rome, we were wiped out! After Ischia, we didn’t have a lot of tolerance for the 100+ heat. But — we had dear friends from White Plains (one of whom was Roman born) who coincidentally were there the exact time we were. So we canceled our tours and spent the time with them roaming around Italy, having great food, and getting some wonderful views. Such a beautiful city — we will return some November! (We would totally return as well to our awesome Hotel Dei Mellini!)

Really, for us, it was more spectacular than we could have imagined. You took what could have been a chaotic and unwieldy trip to Italy and made it as smooth as it possibly could have been! And we are so grateful!!!!

A Honeymoon in Paris & Italy

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Kelly and Chris were looking for an October honeymoon in Europe. Someplace romantic, with plenty of food, museums, and opportunities to explore on their own. The perfect combination of these? Florence, Rome, the Amalfi Coast, and Paris! Here is their feedback on their European Honeymoon:

We had such a great time on our trip! Everything turned out amazing! The transfers you set up for us were very helpful. The cars were all on time and it was nice to not have to worry about finding transportation. All of the flights and trains were on time and easy to navigate.

The Highlights

We loved all of the hotels but we especially loved Hotel Le Littre in Paris and Hotel Berchielli in Florence (the views and the locations)! All of the tours were great. The guides were all very knowledgeable and helped us see the main attractions in a short amount of time.

One of the highlights of our trip was the Semi-private wine-making experience and gourmet dinner. The vineyard in Tuscany was beautiful and we had fun at the wine and olive oil tasting. We also loved getting to blend our own wine to take home.

The Sorrento Farm Experience was another activity we really enjoyed. It was nice being able to try their different olive oils and cheeses and even watch them make fresh cheese in front of us! 

Good to Note

We just had a few things to note: When we landed at the Paris airport it took us over an hour to get through customs. Luckily the driver was still there when we got through so it wasn’t a problem. The other thing was the private tour of the Amalfi Coast. The driver was so great and he recommended an excellent place to eat.

We got to visit Positano and Ravello which were beautiful but we spent almost 2 hours in traffic and were not able to stop at Amalfi due to crowds and timing. Totally understand that traffic can’t be predicted and we had a great time at the stops we did get to make! That is really the only feedback we have!

We had an incredible honeymoon thanks to you! Your planning was a great help and took a lot of stress off of our plate and the Pocket Travel app made everything so easy and accessible. We will definitely use your services again when we plan another big trip.

It’s All About The Details

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Judging from the trip report below, Mia and Matt clearly loved their Italian honeymoon! But here’s what jumps out at me the most  —  the things that they’ll remember forever (the things that make or break the overall experience) are NOT the hotels.  Even though that’s what most clients want to focus on when we’re planning the trip. Instead, it’s the finer details. The fabulous tour guide in Rome, whom they invited to have drinks with them afterwards. The private water taxi that whisked them to the airport on their way home from Venice. The food tour in Bologna that she’s been raving about to anyone who will listen. All of that clearly overshadowed the Rome hotel that she thought was “shady”, and I’ll bet she will have forgotten the name of that hotel before her first anniversary — unless she looks back and re-reads this blog post 🙂

ROME

The hotel {Hotel Cecil} was a little shady. The location, yes, is great, but the hotel itself is weird and they were not very helpful or even nice at this hotel.  As for the breakfast in the morning – I spit up the first thing I tried into my napkin… it was disgusting! Thankfully we were not in our room long…..

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Now….. as for the guided tour…

honeymoon couple and their guide in rome italy

OH My Goodness – our guide was AMAZING. yes it was a long day touring everything in 90 degree heat and 90% humidity but wow was it worth it. Matt and I lost at least 5 pounds walking around in all that heat! But she made everything fun and exciting and boy did she know her stuff… We even invited her to drinks after, she was that great we had to take a picture with her!

The train was easy to get to and our car service was waiting for us in Naples and was the nicest guy!

SORRENTO

This was the most amazing part of our trip. From the crazy city and walking around we did in Rome, what a relaxing time we had here. And OUR ROOM!!! my god, I couldn’t believe that was ours! it was unreal. It was like I was in a dream. It was the most picturesque place I have ever been to. We even did a day trip to Positano and Amalfi and omg I can’t say enough about this place, the hotel {Hotel Minerva}, the view, the people we met…. Unbelievable
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FLORENCE

Ok, not going to lie, we were a little depressed to leave Sorrento for a city but what a lovely place Florence was. Our hotel {Hotel Kraft} was in a great location (right near the American Embassy and walking distance to lots of places) we did some shopping at the Mercato Centrale and had wonderful dinners every night. Our tour to Siena and Chianti was like being in a postcard. Our tour guide was amazing once again and so knowledgeable. Our wine tasting and lunch were delish and it was a memorable excursion.

As for the cooking class – MY FAVORITE!!! I already made a dish we made in Florence at home! I loved loved loved it! and Matt loved it just as much! Check out pics!

new groom learning to make pasta on his honeymoon in italy

BOLOGNA

Our hotel room was HUGE and perfectly located {Al Cappello Rosso}. I loved everything about this city, the people, the food, I would recommend bologna to everyone I meet. That is because we went on the tour of our lives to the prosciutto, cheese and balsamic factories. WHAT A DAY!!! unreal. I’m still telling people about how amazing that tour was. It was one of the many highlights of our trip!

VENICE

Our hotel {Hotel Ala} was very tiny but easy to get to and accessible to everything. I loved Venice. Again, our tour at night was awesome. The lady was a sweetheart and we learned so much about the so-called floating city. And to top it off… our water taxi to the airport was the best way to end our beautiful honeymoon.

I can’t thank you enough and have been giving your praises to everyone I see. You planned the best honeymoon for Matt and myself and every place was better than the next.

If I could suggest two things:

1 – we did an AIRBNB experience in Rome and it was amazing their company is RomaEat

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187791-d6728912-Reviews-Roma_Eat_Food_Experience-Rome_Lazio.html

what a great way to try local roman food

2 – Teatro De Sale – a dinner theater that I would go back to Florence just to go to again. worth looking into!!!!

Also – go on netflix and watch “somebody feed phil” and he does a segment on florence and venice and we went to both those restaurants! and they were amazing!!!

AGAIN…. I can’t thank you enough.

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You provided excellent guidance for us. I appreciated that you really had us think about what was most important to us when we were selecting the right cruise – and not to totally focus on what other people had to say. THANK YOU for helping to make this a memorable trip for our family! It really was a trip of a lifetime!

– Clare and Mark (family cruise to Alaska)

The level of service we experienced was out of this world (and we did NOT make it easy on Ann). We weren’t quite sure where we wanted to go, when we would be able to go, or what “vibe” we were going for. After asking us some key questions (what we liked, didn’t like, why, etc.) Ann helped us narrow down our trip details and planned the honeymoon of our dreams. She helped book some of our excursions, answered some emergency questions while abroad and was always available/willing to help. I think it’s safe to say we won’t be using anyone else for future travel planning – Ann is a rockstar!

– Carli (Italy and Spain)