The Itinerary—Italy and Greece 2021

COVID Vaccination Celebration Tour!

Here are the logistics of our trip. I started individual city/activity posts along the way, and a lot of them are still waiting in draft format. Before I post them in whatever order I feel like finishing them, I thought I’d make sense of it all with an overview of the master plan and logistics, like getting Covid tests on the road. And, if I may say so myself, it was masterfully planned (COVID considered). I forgot pulling itineraries out of chaos was a talent I have.

Brussels to Rome

The day after school was out, we took a taxi to the main Brussels airport–Zaventem Airport–and all took covid tests. At the time, even though Chris and I were fully vacinated, Rome required antigen tests for everyone coming in. The testing lady in Brussels frowned at our appointment for all four of us and told us kids didn’t need to be tested. Chris pulled up the website that showed they did, but we told her we’d defer to her judgement. She said she didn’t know; the regulations were changing so fast she couldn’t keep up. So we all four got tested, which was expensive, and flew to Rome Ciampino Airport, where not a single person checked any of our paperwork in any way.

Covid limited what size taxi the four of us could hire, so we ended up taking the airport bus the hour to Termini Station, the main train station in Rome. It would be cheaper to take the bus to the train station, but it was starting to storm, so this was easier at the moment. It was 10 euros per adult and the kids were free. Then at the station, we should have taken a cab to our hotel, but instead we walked and got there super late. We stayed in the family room at Hotel Antica Locanda, which Rick Steves recommends in his Italy guidebook. Breakfast is included, and we loved the breezy hotel terrace for eating our takeout pizza when the kids were bushed.

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Saturday was our first full day of three days in Rome; we had reservations for the Vatican Museums (closed Sundays). I downloaded the app Free Now, which is like Uber for taxis in Rome. It was easy to set up, pay on my Amex with tip, all within the app, plus it allowed me to request a cab big enough for the four of us and estimate the cost of our trip before we hailed a ride. So we took a taxi the two miles over to Vatican City, which I actually already blogged about–yay! Afterwards, we walked around and saw the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps and stuff.

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The next day, we rode Limes to the Campo de Fiori and walked over to the Pantheon, took a cab to the Pricilla Catacombs for a tour in English (only available on weekends), then back to the Parthenon for our entrance time (required on weekends). Our last day in Rome, we visited the Coliseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and had dinner at a place where Chris’ coworker’s friend’s brother was working. The tiramisu, as promised, was excellent.

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Rome to Positano

This is pretty well-covered in this Transit post I wrote on the road. We took a cab to the train station, caught the high speed train to Naples, where I’d hired a driver to pick us up. We met friends at a winery, stopped in Pompeii, then admired the view on the Amalfi Coast and lugged our suitcases up the hillside in Positano.

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The Amalfi Coast–Positano, Capri, Amalfi, Sorrento, Naples

We stayed in an AirBnB in Positano for over a week–it was VERY difficult to find a place for four people here, and this was perfect for us! Chris said he might stay in Sorrento if there was a next time for logistical reasons, and he’s right that some things would have been easier from there. When we arrived mid-June, ferries had only started running into Positano again a few days before. We spent several days lounging around on the pebbly beaches, swimming and jumping off rocks, plus visiting with Lindsey, Pat, Amelia and Henry some more. This was great fun–the kids loved playing with their friends again! We took the ferry to Capri one day and Amalfi another day. We also took a bus to Sorrento to explore some more, but mainly to get the kids’ Covid tested before we flew to Greece. Since Covid restrictions were changing daily when I planned our trip, I planned the Positano part first since it was what I was most looking forward to, and I didn’t want to be in transit on our 15th anniversary. So, inconveniently, the kids needed PCR tests more than 24 hours before our flight from Rome to Athens. I had planned for us to be in Rome the day before our flight to get tested, but in the end, that wasn’t enough time. Chris’ coworkers came to the rescue again and found us a laboratory in Sorrento (an hour bus ride from Positano) so we didn’t have to go all the way to Naples (an hour bus PLUS over an hour on the train each way, or an expensive personal driver roundtrip to the tune of $400!!).

Booking the ferries and the bus were very easy–I bought the Lucibello Positano Jet tickets to Amalfi on my phone the night before, I bought tickets to Capri at the seaside shack the afternoon before, and I bought bus tickets from the tobacco shop the day before when I double checked the schedule.

Amalfi Coast to Rome to Athens

The day we left, Chris declined to hire a porter for our 50-lb bags, so he carried them down the nine flights of stairs from our place and we pushed them up the hill to the bus stop, wrangled everything onto the bus, suffered through the lurching hour-plus bus ride, got onto the Circumvesuviana train for the 90 minutes to Naples, and stashed our bags at a luggage locker so we could meet up with the Magnos again for more fun and fried pizza. Then we took the high speed train an hour back to Rome, took another short train ride to Hotel Villa Giulia near the airport, slept a few hours, took a 4:45am cab to the airport, and flew out on the 6:20am flight to Athens. This 36 hours of transit was pretty rotten. It would have been better to hire a driver from Positano to Naples. Our original driver said we should be able to find someone to do it for 80 euros, but I wasn’t able to find that; our bus and train fares were about 30 euros, but it took over twice as long and we all felt sick. On the up side, we were able to help some girls sort out an issue with their bus tickets.

In a move we totally saw coming but were powerless to stop, AFTER we spent a ridiculous amount of effort arranging the kids’ Covid tests for Greece, the country announced that kids whose parents were vaccinated would no longer need to be tested. Nevertheless, we were asked for our Covid vaccination cards AND the kids’ test results, plus the additional required Covid paperwork, at least four times before boarding the flight and after arrival in Athens. I think it would have been troublesome or maybe even catastrophic without having their negative tests. But we will never know for sure….

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Athens

We got a grouchy breakfast at the airport in Athens, then determined a 35 euro airport taxi to the city would be about the same cost as public transportation for four people, and a whole lot easier with two tired kids (Eloise fell asleep in the taxi). This Airbnb was fantastic for our three days in Athens–two bedrooms, a nice bathroom, plenty of kitchen and living room space. The location was kind of random…it was on a shopping street over some shops, but it was nice and quiet, with consistent and quiet AC and a perfectly central location. After a nap, we went straight to the Acropolis and Parthenon, which everyone kept mixing up with Pantheon, to Chris’ great annoyance. Chris dragged us to more ruins our other two days in Athens, and we had dinner with Alexis, David, Max and Carter. So fun!

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Athens to Piraeus to Hydra

I hired a cab to take us to the port of Piraeus the morning we left Athens (about 40 minutes away). Blue Star Ferries said to arrive at the port two hours prior to our ferry leaving, so we did. That was way too early. We tried to get on the boat and they told us no, they weren’t even on the right dock yet. So we had a toast and tea and watched ants scramble and looked at the boats. The ferry left mostly on time. It was 28 euros per adult and half that for kids, and took a little less than two hours to get to Hydra. The nice lady with KK Houses had recommended we hire burros in Hydra to lift our bags to the room, but we looked at the address on google maps and saw it was mostly flat, so we declined. The location we mapped to turned out to be the meeting place. So 14 flights later, we definitely wished we had hired a 15 euro burro. The two-story, two bedroom, two toilet place with a knock-your-socks-off terrace view (and also a washing machine) was totally worth the 14 flights of stairs. But we hired a burro when it was time to take the bags down. I think this was easily the nicest place we slept. We toured the port of Hydra, spent a day at Vlychos Beach (my favorite,) and another day at the Mandraki Beach Resort (kids’ and Chris’ favorite, because of the nice sand).

Hydra to the Peloponnesian Peninsula

When I checked us into our ferry, the departure time had changed to 20 minutes later. That time came and went, and no ferry showed up. Now, Greece is amazing–we didn’t know that we would want to go back! But it’s also different from Western Europe. I responded to the lack of ferry by feeling nervous and wondering if I had time to order a coffee. Chris responded to the lack of ferry by asking me to check my email, check the schedule, call the ferry office, and finally got the address from me and hustled over toward the office to talk to the lady I’d just talked to on the phone, who confirmed there was a schedule change but said we were in the right place. Is Chris sure he’s not secretly British? Because he ran off, the ferry of course showed up and he had to come sprinting back over. The ferry pulled up and left again in a very short amount of time; it was definitely not worried at all about accidentally leaving anyone. Our 20 minute ferry ride delivered us to the tiny, beautiful port of Ermioni an hour after our scheduled arrival time. The lady at the tourist office/rental car place laughed and said she waited because she figured we decided to come on a different ferry. She was very gracious, and it was very hot.

Ok, listen to this. This is where my planning skills really flex their prowess. Rather than take the 90 euro ferry back to Piraeus and rent a car in Athens to drive down into the Peloponnese, I found a ferry to take us directly from Hydra over to Ermioni on the Peloponnesian Peninsula for less than 20 euros for our whole family, where we rented a car from Pop’s Rental Car and paid the going rate plus an extra 35 euro fee to drop it off in Athens in a few days. We saved more than 35 euros with the lesser ferry fare, less gas, fewer tolls, etc! Well done, me.

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Epidavros, Nafplio, Mycenae

Chris took the driver’s seat and we headed into the peninsula toward Epidavros before checking in to the enormous family room at Pension Omorfi Poli for our three days based in Nafplio. The next day we braved the 106 degree temperatures to see Mycenae before crying uncle and going to Tolo Beach. Our last day in Greece we spent exploring the Fortress of Palamidi and cooling off at Arvanitias Beach.

Nafplio to Athens to Brussels

I wasn’t sure we’d ever want to go home, but by the end of our three and a half week trip, we were ready to head back to cool, rainy days in Brussels. We left Nafplio as the sun rose, drove through Corinth, returned the rental car, got a shuttle ride to the airport, checked an extra bag when ours were way too heavy, flew back to Brussels Charleroi Airport, waited an hour, took a 90-minute group shuttle back to Brussels, and ended up in our house around 5pm, carsick and very happy to be home!

The Parameters: I started planning when Covid restrictions were in full place and we had no idea whether any or which restrictions would be lifted before we left. Our time period was constrained by the kids’ school schedule, Chris’ work schedule, Covid restrictions, and quarantine. Our goal was to go somewhere we wouldn’t have to quarantine, and allow enough time to quarantine back home in Belgium if necessary. We wanted to see more than one country to make up for some of our travel time lost to Covid. Chris and I were also celebrating our 15th anniversary. Chris wanted to maximize his saved up vacation time, and we wanted to minimize the risk of getting stuck at home quarantining (so that ruled out multiple shorter trips, which would have made more sense in a world without Covid. Actually everything would make more sense without Covid, but we work with what we have). When I started planning, Italy was still requiring a five-day quarantine when moving between regions within the country.

The Take Aways: We agree we should have packed lighter, and we didn’t need sweaters. Shorter trips are easier. Covid makes things more complicated, and if you want to travel, don’t bother complaining about the cost or inconvenience of masks/tests/temperature checks/reservation requirements/etc. Everything now requires a reservation and an entrance time, often (but not always) booked more than 24 hours in advance. Or maybe that’s changed again already, who knows. We extended our trip a few days so we’d return after July 1, when the quarantine rules changed again; if we’d returned June 30, technically we would have had to quarantine 10 days in Brussels, but since we returned July 3, none of us had to.

I thought we’d get back and be so sick of traveling we wouldn’t want to go on vacation again. On the contrary, it was so nice to be different places and see different things and talk to different people that I was looking at cheap flights while in line for our flight home. When I agreed to Chris’ idea to take a longer trip–easily the longest non-moving trip we’ve ever undertaken–we agreed to balance Chris’ SEE ALL THE THINGS mentality with time to relax on the beach and some slow mornings at the lodgings. Isaac made sure we played lots of Monopoly Deal. I had the kids do travel journal assignments with me. We observe tea time every day and plan around it.

Packing: The place in Positano, Athens, and Hydra all had washing machines, so we each only brought about a week’s worth of clothes. Our main overpacking issue was in bringing too many layers, like we needed last year at this time in Paris and along the Brittany and Normandy Coasts. I brought mainly sleeveless short dresses in solid urban neutrals–black, olive green, beige, blue. I tried not to pack anything I wouldn’t wear at least three times. I brought a pair of blue sperry sneakers and my favorite black Ted Baker Rialy floral city sneakers, plus a pair of beach havianas I can wear in the water. I was very happy with what I brought. My kids both have some weirdness going on with their wardrobes as they outgrow the last of their Hawaii clothes but never need summer clothes in Brussels, so they just kind of wore whatever and everyone was happy. The day Isaac wore lime green basketball shorts is the day he blended in best with the Italians in Naples. Everyone brought a hat and we wore them every single day. We brought loads of sunscreen and we ran out and bought more–nothing screams tourist like resembling a lobster (although we 100 perfect look like tourists anyway). My policy on sunburn is that everyone is welcome to get as sunburned as they want to, but not until the end of the trip. For the first half, especially since we were all so very pale–I hadn’t been swimming in two years–we were religious about reapplying sunscreen. Chris packed for himself and will never blog about it, so you’ll just have to wonder.

Tech: We have Google Fi for our phones, so we have free, unlimited data anywhere in the world, and 20 cent per minute calls. This works really well for us, since we can text anyone free with WhatsApp. I saved our itinerary and hotels into my Google Calendar (synced with my iphone calendar) and Google maps. I also starred places we wanted to go on the map, so it was very easy to see how far they were from our hotel, get walking directions, and see what else I wanted to see was in the vicinity. Other apps we found useful were the Priority Pass app/card for lounge access, RyanAir app, Booking.com and AirBNB apps, Free Now for taxis in Rome, Google Translate (always, at all times, everywhere, do they make one for marriage?) and, when my brain has extra space, my WordPress blogging app. I planned extensively from the Rick Steves guidbooks for Italy and Greece, plus his PBS show (20 minutes, great to watch with the kids). I downloaded the Rick Steves Audioguide app and we didn’t buy any $7 audio guides at museums–Rick has them all available for free, and they can be downloaded ahead of time. Chris liked these more than I did; you can read the same tours in the guidebooks faster.

Ok, so that is an overview or framework of the logistics of our trip. I planned it in that order: flights, cities/hotels, transportation, activities, food—big picture to details. Future blog posts will be photos and stories, or more details. My personal deadline for working on all this ends Thursday, when the kids and I take off for Alaska to see family for the first time since Covid separated us. Our two and a half weeks home in Brussels was complicated when I checked my flight and discovered our direct flight had been cancelled and rebooked to the wrong city with zero notification two weeks before take off. Obviously this occupied most of the two weeks since, but hopefully I can churn out some blog posts before we go (now on a different airline, with a much longer itinerary), because it really was a WONDERFUL vacation, the type that motivated us to want to move to Europe in the first place!

Questions? Comments? Let me know. Also, please share: What are your favorite travel apps and why? What makes your trips easier? What logistical victories can you tell me about??