What do you do when you can't get an Uber or Lyft?

The logical answer might be to just call a taxi. I don’t know about you, but I am not too fond of taxi cabs. Besides that, I like to book my transfers before I leave home. Call me paranoid, but that is what I do.

The back story; the airlines have changed our flights from Venice to Paris, and I don’t think there is enough time to make our flight after the ship docks and we get off and get a ride to the airport. Unfortunately, as far as the airlines are concerned, the time difference is not enough to qualify for us getting a new flight without paying about $350 per person in penalties along with any difference in the cost of the tickets.

Our solution is to disembark at Trieste, Italy and take the train to Venice and stay the night close to the airport so that we an make our flight. That leaves us with the need to get from the cruise port to the train station in Trieste as well as from the train station in Venice (really Venezia S. Lucia in Mestre, Italy) to the hotel near Marco Polo International airport.

After giving up on Lyft and Uber, I found the perfect solution. GoOpti. Their fares are great, especially compared to a cab. Only 30 Euros in Trieste and 18 Euros in Mestsre for the two of us. That plus 14.80 Euros for the train ride and about 150 Euros for the hotel room sure beats the penalty for trying to change our flights.

The best thing, of course, is a sightseeing train ride in Italy that will cost less than the cost for an excursion that we could buy through the cruise line.

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Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you. Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

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Thinking About a
Self-Guided Trip To Europe?

If you are planning a trip to Europe where you will be traveling via airplanes, trains and the metro and you have never done it here at home, you may be in for a rude awakening.

Most of our trips had been by car or by car to the airport followed with a rental car or a shuttle to the hotel or resort.

Each one of us almost always had one 24″-26″ roller bag that was checked plus a 22″ carry on plus a personal bag like a purse or computer case or book bag style backpack for personal stuff that you wanted to have handy at all times.

We were not ready for the challenge of hauling all of our suitcases up and down 2-3 flights of stairs to get from one metro train to another, nor were we really familiar with how to navigate the metro system with all of those bags.

If you are planning such a trip, I suggest that you do what I heard Rick Steves say in one of his videos(that you will find on this page). He said to pack your bags, take a short trip via train, bus and subway or metro and spend the night and return home one or two days later. You will be ready to trade in your big suitcase and learn to pack light so that you are not lugging 80 – 100 pounds of stuff with you on your European trip. You will enjoy that trim much more if you can learn to travel light.

On this trip we will start in Sacramento and spend a couple of nights in San Francisco. First, we will have a friend drop us at the Amtrack train station in Sacramento. From there we will travel to Richmond, take the BART(our version of the Metro) to San Francisco, then walk to our hotel. We will do the Hop on-Hop off bus tour of the city, just like we were tourists, to get the lay of the land. On Saturday we will visit the great farmer’s market at the Ferry Building, then return home on Sunday.

You can try the same thing wherever you live. Do it or you will hate your self and be miserable on your European Vacation.

How to Purchase a BART Ticket