Destination Florence: A Flat and a Driver

There is a saying that planning a trip is half the fun. Maybe talking about it is fun. Dealing with all the details can be troublesome at times. Like any trip, this one has presented its own set of challenges.

For the first time, I used a service called AirBnB to find a flat for the four of us. I was assuming that the BnB part stood for “bed and breakfast” and the Air part stood for; well I had no idea. I was wrong. It’s just a name. We’re on our own for breakfasts.

After weeks of searching the AirBnB web site, as many others, we finally decided on a flat in the heart of Florence. No suburbs for us. The flat’s name is “An Apartment with a View”. On close examination, we have discovered that the view is only from one bedroom. The question now is who gets that bedroom? Several options have been discussed including: first couple in the door, flipping a coin, or my favorite, a race to the top of the Duomo complete with suit cases. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Also for the first time, we decided to hire a car and driver for a day trip to Assisi and Cortona rather than renting a car and driving ourselves or using a pre-arranged tour. I contacted several car services and after recovering from the shock of what they cost, chose a service. This experience was a little more difficult than I thought and the prices ranged from high to astronomical. I soon learned that I had to check for things like was it a car or van, air conditioning or not, distance they will travel, age of the vehicle, etc. Like many other things, it became an experience in compromises; luxury verses economy. But, it’s only for one day, so how bad can 1982 Fiat be? Oh, and the driver’s name – yap Tony.

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