NCteacherlovescruising

I didn’t realize that but I’m sure we’ll enjoy them wherever they take us. Any suggestions on things to see on our way back to our hotel day 2, following our tour? We’re starting at the Colosseum. We plan to take a leisurely walk back, enjoying Rome, and lunch, along the way. Also, I understand the Vatican is far from where we’re staying. Should we plan to see Saint Peter’s Basilica while we are there? Are they within walking distance? Anything else we should do before heading back? What’s the best mode of transportation there and back?

We’ve made more plans for Rome. Updates or additions are in blue. Day 1 - We’re staying at Albergo del Senato so thought we’d visit the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, walk around whatever is near our hotel and go out for a nice dinner Going to try to get dinner reservations at Armando Al Pantheon. Day 2 - We have a private tour of the Colosseum, forum and Palatine Hill Day 3 - Private tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel Booking a Roman Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere Food Tour with Dinner with City Wonders for that evening. Day 4 - Thinking about doing a wine tour to Tuscany. Sounds nice to have a relaxing day after 2 days doing a lot of walking. Booking this with City Wonders as well. Day 5 - day trip to Florence or stay in Rome? I’d love to visit Florence but are there any must sees in Rome we would have to miss to do this? Also, isn’t Florence where they make the nice, leather bags? I’d like to purchase a purse, belt, and perhaps gloves while we’re there. We decided to book a third tour with City Wonders, The Original Crypts, Catacombs & Roman Underground’s Tour. Just debating on morning or afternoon. I’m leaning toward afternoon assuming these sites would be a welcome relief from the hot afternoon heat.

Thanks! You've given me some ideas and I'm very interested in some options with CityWonders.

What all did you do? We have a private tour booked for the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the Forum one day, and a private tour of the Vatican the next. First day there we just plan to walk around, see the Trevi fountain, Spanish steps and Pantheon. What else were your highlights? I’m trying to figure out what would keep us occupied there another full day. We should have plenty of time for shopping the three days we’ve already planned out.

Good to know! Thank you!! I'm the same. I'm always early everywhere because I don't want to be late. And I certainly wouldn't want to miss our flights to Italy! Thank you! We are not Admiral's Club members. We aren't frequent fliers. Thanks for the heads up on the app too!

Sounds like a pain, but with such a long layover it would be worth it. How much time would we need to allow to get back to terminal 8 and get to our gate in plenty of time? I'm always early everywhere, so I will pad whatever I'm told.

If it's only a ten minutes ride and we have 6 hours between flights it would be worth it to go to the terminal with the Chase lounge. Hopefully my husbands Global Entry get's taken care of in time. I can't believe we applied at the same time and my pre-approval came the same day and I already have mine (although my friend and I had to travel to Atlanta for our appointment) and he's still waiting for approval. If he doesn't hear something soon, I think he should just go ahead and apply for TSA PreCheck.

I agree. I’m so glad we kept scrolling until we found it. The Chase lounge is in terminal 4. Any idea how far apart they are via air train? As long as we have we thought it might be worth it. It appears to be AA.

Sounds ok to me. I assume we will be able to tell the difference between the legitimate taxis and the scammers.

I didn’t think about that. lol Our flight arrives at 12:45.

We thought so too. We had to buy some points for my ticket, but it only cost about $400. Just a little more than 2 flights from Munich to Rome.

Maps says it’s about 35 minutes from the airport to our hotel. Does that sound about right?

If there’s a reason to upgrade we would be open to it. We’re doing several private transfers on this trip. We are sharing a minivan and private water taxi with another couple going from Trieste to Venice as well. We don’t mind paying for security and convenience.

Thanks, but we found one that goes Clt-JFK, JFK-Rome with a 6 hour layover. We just had to keep scrolling down to find it. And i totally spaced it that we have lounge access with my husband’s chase sapphire reserve card.

I’ve sent them an inquiry but haven’t received a response yet. Stefano’s is 75 euro. Would there be a reason to use them or a private transfer over a taxi? Are taxis lined up outside the airport?

We’ve now booked all our air and we are not planning on visiting Florence this trip. I have transfers booked from Rome to Amalfi (with Pompeii tour) and Amalfi to Naples, where we’re just spending one day then flying to Athens. Now my questions. From the airport in Rome would it be cheaper to take a taxi to our hotel or book Joe Banana again (they are $109). And from our hotel in Naples just take a taxi to the airport? Is that something our hotel could arrange? I have no idea what we will do on our last day in Rome but I will investigate your suggestions. I have some places on a list as well, just nothing I felt was a must do. I feel like we could even wait until we get there to decide as long as we don’t want to book a tour. update: Google says a taxi is 48 euros. Sound right?

Not sure what this is. Will need to look it up but dh wants to see Pompeii.

We found a flight Clt-JfK, JFK-Rome with a 6 H layover so we booked it. Thanks for everyone’s help! Not a bad layover given we can utilize a lounge.

Thanks so much! This makes the long layover at JFK more appealing.

I believe my husband’s Chase Sapphire Reserve card has access, but do we have to book with that card or just show it? Because we would book with our AAdvantage miles.

I don’t see your response. They have another option with a slightly longer layover, 1H 45M. That might be a bit better. According to Google that is doable.

Does that mean they don’t take care of our luggage on this mess? And is that connection at LHR long enough?

I had no idea. What if you choose the option that is all through JFK. Would we still have to deal with our luggage? It has a LONG layover. And I was mistaken. I forgot, although I got global entry months ago, my husband also applied back in August and has never heard from them. If we take one of the flight that first go to EWR or LGA, which is easier to get to JFK from?

Sorry, yes it’s EWR. We have Global Entry, which includes pre-check. I assumed since it was connecting flights they would transport our luggage. When they did have tickets options, months ago when we first started looking, everyone said they didn’t leave enough time to make our connecting flights so we didn’t buy them. We could buy nonstop tickets but would have to fly economy. My husband is a big guy and he doesn’t want to do that. He’s not huge, but big enough that he wants the extra space. They do have a Clt-JFK, JFK-FCO. It has a 12.5 H layover and I think it’s about 15-20,000 more points, which we have. You think it’s worth it? That’s a really long time to be stuck at an airport!

After reading your concerns about our current plans to fly Clt to Munich and then buying separate tickets to Rome, we are using miles for tickets from CLT to Rome. We only have enough (we want Premium Economy for the extra room) miles for connecting flights from LaGuardia and then JFK to Rome. We have options of 6 H, 7.5 H or 13 H. Is 6 hours plenty of time? I see travel time by taxi is approximately 90 minutes. I assume the airlines take care of transporting our luggage, correct? Or do we have to retrieve it and check them in at JFK?