Rail passes

Ok, dumb this all down for the village idiot here....


Travel cuts in SUB + Ask for youth pass + 7 extra days + ?? = $304 total??

So, in total, how many days of travel does that include??? AND, how many weekends does that cover for our trip, just so I have a rough idea....

Is this correct?? Je suis CONFUSED

Anyhow, my heart feels at ease finally at the cost of the rail pass that seems to provide adequate travelling days for the price!! And, to get that payment out of the way before we even leaves makes my heart feel good too!! It means I am spending less money once my feet are on Italian soil. It is a weight off my shoulders for sure, I tip my hat to all those rail pass researchers!!

Thanks for the help friends!!

Ok, so for those in the know, Am I purchasing ( from Travel Cuts ) the
Trenitalia Winter Promo Pass Youth Base Price $140 Additional Days $19 Protection Plan $12??
And, I Would be purchasing 7 extra days giving me a total of 10 days travel?? We should figure out which trips already involve travel one way for the school trips to see what travelling days WE are responsible for. Maybe that's already been done???? so many questions......

If for some reason a person wanted to add on additional days AFTER the original purchase, can that be done?? Just curious.

Ok, I think I've already answered all of my own questions, when you go to purchase the pass online with travel cuts there is a window available that outlines the Pass Bonuses; more train pass discounts, venice/milan tourist attraction deals ( 5% 0ff everywhere ) umm, other things too, 10 - 40% off in Italian hotels ( we may already have all our hotels booked up anyway ) I don't belive it costs extra, did anyone click on that and then press submit?? I am not sure if it's available if not purchasing online, 20% off ferrie transportation, OH the pass INCLUDES ferry services to Sicily....blah blah blah..I talk too much.

that's all for now I suppose....

hey Nikki,

i actually didn't even notice all of that extra stuff. maybe you get all those discounts by purchasing the rail pass??

hey everyone!
I come from Travelcuts, I just bought my train pass. So what it is is the youth pass (second class) with 10 days in 2 months (3 original days plus the extra 7) and the protection plan. It came to $285 before taxes.

Talking with my dad we realized that for the amount of travelling we will be doing the pass allows us to take 5 round trips. this is what we counted
- Jan 12: Milan
- Jan 19: Florence
- Feb 9: Venice

We concluded that there are two round trips that we could take an advantage of (for example taking a trip to Sicily, or going to Bari to jump on a ferry to Greece)
OR
staying longer at either of the other trips (for those of us who don't have class on monday for example)

Our conclusion was that the pass shouldn't be used for Siena because it takes away the nice balance of having 5 round trips. Instead we should buy a one way pass from Siena to Cortona, which shouldn't be too expensive because it is relatively close and its only one way.

Ok I hope this rant made sense.

As per the discounts on the other stuff, it comes automatically with the type of pass that we are purchasing (the Trenitalia pass). Because it covers rail all over italy including sicily and sardegna. ummm the lady that sold me the pass said that if we wanted to hop on the faster train that we can use the pass but we have to pay an extra 3-4 euros.

Also for those of us who are buying the protection plan, she recommended that we photocopy it and take the copy with us, leaving the original in Canada in case anything happens.

Great searching girls! This pass is such a deal

Just bought the Trenitalia Pass that everyone has been talking about. It was actually a pretty good deal. Thanks for your help guys!!!!!! Things are slowly falling into place. Take care.

ciao

Mariapaula,

Excellant post!! I agree with the maintaining of the 5 roundtrips and just purchasing a one way form siena, man, does that all sound awesome!!

Thanks for clarifying the 'extras' info I inquired about!
After reading your post, I am left with the conclusion that after the three trips you posted, we still have a whopping TWO trips to plan out, that is SWEET!! I love having this whole transportation issue covered even before we get on the plane!! No headaches!!!

Ok, we can figure out all the travel details, roomate listing and so on in person on thursday. Just to double check with you all, Upper Crust Cafe, Thursday December 7 @ 6:00. excellant!!

Nik

Nikki
No problem at all!!
And you guys are going to have to update me after your meeting on the 7th.. since im in calgary and all.
Ok its only 10.46 and it feels like 3 am

Perhaps ( as nerdy as this may be ) I will take some notes and then produce some meeting "minutes" that I can afterward forward to EVERYONE via the cortona mailing list, then anyone not joining us on thursday, you, Barbara, the other half of the crew not on the forum
will be ablet to catch up and join up if they would like.

I totally empathize with you Maria!! It does feel like 3, and I still have to wrtie a whole bloody presentation due tomorrow @10 for professor "I'm-a-jerk!" I feel like I am in a perpetual state of writing!

Ooooooh people, I found a place in Venice today I must see, with company of course, for those of you who grew up watching Indian Jones, there is a church in Venice that Indiana Jones and the blonde german woman emerge from in The Last Crusade, ( well actually they emerge from a sewer ) anyhow, it is called, Church of San Barnaba. I am not a weirdo I.J. freak but it is funny that everytime I watched that movie, and Indiana Jones climbs out of the sewer and says "Ah, Venice..." I always said to myself that I want to do that, say Ah Venice, not climb out of a sewer!!
So, no matter what, I am going to find that church, because it looks so cool!! Just google it, awesome stuff!! Actually, here's where the nerd in me comes out, there are several websites that outline the many scenes and european locations that were used for the films, a castle in Germany, ( not anywhere near us,) but the cavern place in Last Crusade where the holy grail is, ( in Jordan, ) soo cool!! ( Ok, now the nerd in me will recede again..)

Anyhow, just some thoughts, trivia, blah blah blah....

ciao!

OMG I love Indiana Jones.. I am a nerd, and I love it

Ah Venice! indeed.

I would really appreciate your meeting "minutes" Nikki thank you !

And yes I realized now that I need to read another Paleopathology article to be ready for discussion tomorrow at 8 ( does anyone function properly at that time?)

And speaking of holy grails.. I am a Monty Python fan, and if we go to England and happen to cath a SPAMALOT I will freakin die and go to heaven. Besides if anyone is a Dan Brown fan (please art historians don't hit me! I like fiction loosely based on reality!) I intend to "follow the path to illumination" in Rome.

Can't you wait to live with me?? Muahahahaha

Maria!!!!!!!

We will get along way to well, Dan Brown and I are tight! ( In a matter of me reading some of his books kind of a way tight )

Anyhow, I say we write down some of the places he talks about and try and find them!! Then we can just solidify our nerdyness!! Or maybe I am truly just the nerd.....

You then must have seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail??? OMG don't even get me started, I think I can probably recite ALL the lines in the entire movie!! WAY TOO FUNNY! I just hope we don't run into any random rabies infected bunnies on our expedition!!!

Don't worry about the minutes, it gives me the perfect platform to perpetuate my nerdy behavior!!

So, to wrap THIS post up, living with you will be an adventure I look forward to in its own!!

Well, Nikki this is wonderful to know!!
I will read his books again for the ...nth time, I can't remember.
And YES Monty Python and the Holy Grail is one of my absolute favorite movies of all times. (alien?) We actually watched it at the end of our Chaucer lit class. It was awesome!!
(Bring out your dead! I'm not dead!)

Hey Nikki!

I'd appreciate your minutes-I am soooooo out of the loop at the moment that I have NO idea whats going on. I 'll catch up as soon as I dig my way out of this pile of school related books and papers!

Why cant it be the end of the semester NOW!!!!

I never have been able to get over the coconuts for hoof-beats!! HILARIOIUS, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT BRILLIANT PEOPLE HERE!!

Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

Barbara!!

I will be passing those minutes on to all the lucky souls, and if you have all been paying attention to my novel-esque posts, you can assume the minutes will not lack detail and information! ( GIANT NERD HERE!!)

I know about feeling lost, you miss ONE day worth of forum and half the trip gets booked up!!

( I keep posting tonight because I feel like if I write until 3 in the morning I Will just be physically and mentally unable to do my presentation!!)

I have such a weird way of justifying things... I wish I was more like
this face No, I mean this face ( OH NO, THAT'S STOLLS FACE !!!) HA HA HA HA HA HA

ROFL (they should have a smiley for this) so .
Ok Im going to bed i feel like this but i didn't consume any alcohol today. unless....

Question: When looking at train costs, our departure/return-to city is Rome, correct? And is it not a two hour bus ride from Cortona? And do we have information on these bus tickets? It just occured to me that I had no idea how we were getting to and from the train station - or how much it will be costing us

Stephy
I thought about that when I was buying the train pass because I was comparing the prices between the pass and individual trips. When I was looking into these individual trips the departure place was Rome. Im sure Cortona has many buses that go to Rome, or it has a train station. We'd have to ask TRevor or Helena.

I remembered that there are two train stations we can use for Cortona but I could only remember the name of one so I googled it and this is from one of the pages I found:

Quote :

Train tickets can be purchased directly at any departure rail station. Remember that tickets must be stamped by the yellow devices located inside the station before getting on the train.
Cortona is on the line Florence - Rome. You should check for your train to stop either at the Terontola-Cortona station or the Camucia-Cortona station. You can view the italian railways timetable or the german railways timetable (better) in order to find a train and check that it actually stops in one of the above stations.
The Terontola station is 11 km. from Cortona and the Camucia station is 5 km. from Cortona. There are regular bus service between Cortona and the rail stations. Plase note that the service is less frequent on sundays and that tickets must be purchased at the newspaper stand in Camucia or at the cafeteria in front of the rail station in Terontola and not on the bus.

Trenitalia Pass Winter Promo!
This might be the best thing since sliced bread! And can we talk about all of the wonderful bonuses that come with it! These will be of great use to us.
Trenitalia Pass Bonuses
* Special passholder fare on Artesia (France-Italy) and Elipsos (Barcelona-Milan) trains.
* Notturno Italiano Hotels: 10% to 40% reduction.
* Bed & Breakfast Italy: 5% reduction in 2500 hospitalities in 650 cities.
* Hellenic Mediterranean Lines: 50% discount on passenger and vehicle rates (excluding DeLuxe cabins) for departures from June 15th to September 15th.
* Grimaldi Ferries Prestige: 20% discount on all routes and accommodation types. Ferry services connecting: Rome (Civitavecchia) - Barcelona / Rome (Civitavecchia) – Tolone / Salerno - Malta / Salerno - Tunis / Palermo - Tunis / Livorno – Tunis.
* Venice Card: 5% reduction. Single ticket to access all main tourist facilities in the city, available online only."

I know what I want from Santa.

I have just purchased my train pass, and it has been validated from January 4th onward, but I realise that is stupid because I don't know when everyone else's passes are valid from, so what's the general consensus?? I can exchange for a different date when I know the answer. Thanks!

We all put our first day on our rail pass for the 19th of January.

hey Nikki!

my pass doesn't begin till Jan 12th since our first trip is on that weekend.

i hope you get something to eat!! lol my boyfriend never has freaking food at his place either. boys...