Traveler Comments

Hi Dick,

I just wanted to tell you that our trip to Italy was wonderful!!!

Everything went so smoothly and all of the accommodations, guides, trains, etc… Could not have been any better.  We loved to all.

We can’t wait to go again…

Be assured that your company will be highly recommended!!!  Thanks again.

Grazie!!!

June and Miguel

Paul and Vicki Helbig talk about how their “cooking class” was truly a cooking experience with an Italian family. Family style dishes they prepared included; rabbit, duck, chicken and steak… They even made bread sticks.

In honor of the wedding season, we invite you to share these humorous tales of post-nuptial adventure.

Janet Fullwood, Sacramento Bee Travel Editor

Doug and I had a picture-perfect June wedding four years ago. With the help of Dick Mercer at Experience Italy in Sacramento, we planned an equally perfect three-week honeymoon in Italy.

The trip was everything we had hoped for until the last leg of our journey, when we were to travel by train from Florence to Venice. We arrived to a chaotic mob of people boarding trains on 14 tracks in an unusually bad heat wave. We could not determine when our train to Venice would arrive or on which track, so Doug ran off to stand in a long line at the information counter to check while I stayed behind with our many heavy pieces of luggage.

Doug was gone 20 minutes when a train for Venice appeared and then departed the station. I started to worry when the second train to Venice came and went, but still no Doug. After 45 minutes I inched my way with the luggage over to “informacione,” but he was nowhere to be found. Panic set in as I realized I had his passport and other paperwork and neither of us had brought our cell phones or had any plan in case we got separated. The polizia station in the terminal made an announcement (in Italian) but he did not respond.

The male officers snickered at the thought of a husband “leaving” his wife on their honeymoon but agreed to help me search the terminal. We looked in every restroom, restaurant, and waiting area but there was no sign of Doug. Frantic, I suspected foul play such as a kidnapping or mugging; it was like a bad romance novel.

After nearly three hours of searching and crying I found a payphone and called our Sacramento travel service. Dick Mercer answered the phone, heard my tearful story and started arranging for me to stay in Florence, since a sudden train strike had shut down further transportation that evening. Finding lodging proved a challenge due to the heavy volume of passengers left stranded by the strike. What else could go wrong?

By the time Dick found me a hotel and I was able to negotiate a taxi, it was nearly midnight. I faced the prospect of spending the night calling Italian police stations and hospitals looking for my lost love.

When I reached the hotel, there was a call from Dick. He had heard from Doug, who was okay, and in Venice. What?

As is turns out, Doug exited the informacione counter into a crowd of people rushing to catch the first Venice train. He did not see me standing in the terminal and thought I was waiting for him on the train. He got on to look for me, but as he discovered I was not aboard, the train departed the station. He was devastated, worried sick and feeling a little stupid when he reached Venice and telephoned Dick to say “I have no passport, I don’t know where to stay and by the way… I lost my wife in Florence.”

The next day Dick arranged a rental car for me to make the three hour trek to Venice.

Now, as we plan our fifth wedding anniversary return trip to Italy, I’m leaving train travel off the itinerary.

Terry – Sacramento

The Lombard family talks about their family adventure and the personal tour guides in Florence, Tuscany, Rome and the Vatican.

Hi Dick,

Marguerite and I had a wonderful trip to northern Italy. Thank you and Experience Italy for making the trip smooth and one we will always remember. We have been back three weeks and still sorting through the hundreds of photos we took.

The Mozart Hotel was a great start for our trip. The Corso was a kick. Great people watching and we learned about what we called the Italian Stroll. Our guide, Lori, was wonderful. We got the layout of Rome and had a great tour of the Vatican. We stayed in an apartment with friends near the river and the Vatican. We were glad that we got in walking shape before going on the trip. We walked from one side or Rome to the other during the seven days we were there.

The train ride worked out well. Getting the car in Florence was crazy, but it was nice to have a car to get around Tuscany.  Our guide in Florence, Anna, was great.  We realized that the guides loved their work and have so much pride in showing off their home towns. The accommodation’s at Colle de Buggiano was just what we were looking for. The train ride into Florence was longer that we expected, but we got the trip down. Tuscan Trails was an interesting and relaxing day.

Our trip to Villa Albergotti was smooth and we found it without problems. We were so lucky to be there at harvest time. Tomaso and his family made us feel that we were part of their family. We had some memorable day trips from the farm on our own and some fun times with our hosts.

It is hard to put in words, but as you know, Italy is someplace special. We loved all the sites we saw and the moments we will always treasure. We get asked by friends and relatives, what we liked best and I think we would both say, it was the great Italian people we meant on our travels.

Thanks again.

Phil and Marguerite

Bud and Sally Tollette share their thoughts about using experienced travel planners such as Experience Italy, where everything is well thought-out in advance; the purchasing of tickets, the scheduling of tours and tour guides, hotel reservations, etc.

Hi Dick:

We had a FABULOUS honeymoon and have been meaning to send you a letter of thanks for such a wonderful trip! Your recommendations were perfect, and we loved the apartment in Venice. It was the perfect placed to unwind after a busy wedding. The accommodations in Santa Margherita and Florence were superb. We would love to come to this event.

See you next weekend.

Thank you,

Shelagh and Kevin

Dick and Lori,

Thanks for making our trip to Italy a wonderful experience!!!!!!  Our guides were fantastic, the hotels were wonderful, the reservations were perfect.

One down side is I now have some pounds to shed.  The food and wine were beyond belief.

I forgot to give a voucher to our driver in Sorrento.  What do I do about that?

AND speaking of our driver, he (Tony) was one of the highlights of the trip.  He was accommodating, stopping for us to take pictures.  The museum in Naples was closed the day we were scheduled, so we arranged for him to drive us to Naples after Pompei.

Driving in Naples is a thrill, but Tony navigated it well.  Our daughter sat in the front seat for a while, then told us it was too scary and I went to the front seat.  Tony directed us to an excellent restaurant, found a cash machine for us, got us to the museum and back to Sorrento safely.  The next day, he was to drive us to Naples, the museum (which we had already seen the day before) and to the train station.  The time we were to spend in the museum was spent instead in a driving tour of Naples.  He got us some wonderful Buffalo Mozzarella cheese which we ate on the steps to a fabulous galleria.  He dropped us off at another wonderful restaurant and walked us into the train station, explaining how it worked.  Kudos to Tony, we cannot say enough about him.

I don’t want to take away from the other guides.  They did a wonderful job.  In fact our guide in Pompei told us the museum in Naples was closed and arranged for us to have Tony that afternoon.  All that said, Tony went over and above our expectations and his responsibilities.

We will recommend you to everybody.

There were two downers on the trip.  First it rained in Sorrento our first night.  We got soaked.  BUT, we had stopped at a small deli.  The owner was, for lack of a better term, very grandmotherly.  She took our wet coats, helped us order and wouldn’t let us leave until the rain stopped and our coats were dry.  So all in all it worked out great.

The other was our flight from Venice to Frankfurt was late leaving and we missed our connection to Denver.  Lufthansa put us up for the night at a comfortable hotel, paid for supper and breakfast and got us on our way the next day.  We and our luggage arrived at Chicago for customs and later in Sacramento with us.  The downer, we were in the same clothes for 48 hours.  BUT, we enjoyed some great German food.

Thanks again, and let me know what to do with the voucher.  Also, how can I email Tony’s employer in Sorrento to let him know how wonderful Tony was?

Merle and Carolyn

Hi Dick and Lori,

We’re back from our three week+ trip to northern Italy and want to let you know how WONDERFUL it was!!!  The itinerary was perfect: great locations, excellent pacing, smooth transitions from one place to the next.  We loved showing up at each destination with the knowledge that we could walk right into the hotel (once we found it, which was occasionally a challenge…) and BINGO!  We had a pleasant, comfortable room to settle into.

We loved Lucca and want to go back there, especially to experience it without the effects of jet lag.  Such narrow “streets!”  Our first plunge into Italy, and a great place to start the trip.

Bonassola was an ideal choice, not as crowded and “buzzing” as the other Cinque Terra towns, until Saturday night.  Getting around the area by train was a snap. We swam in the sea everyday.

We enjoyed Fulvia’s lovely B&B in Buggiano, especially her delicious breakfasts in the private courtyard.  Staying there was a highlight, thunder storms and all.  Great drives around the tiny hill towns of her area.

We really liked Bologna and could have stayed an extra day. Fun to poke around all of the fabulous gourmet shops. We (Dave) bought lots of aged balsamico. Fun taxi ride to the train station.

Venice was fascinating, but hot and quite crowded: a great place to visit, but we sure wouldn’t want to live there.  Riding the vaparetto around was the best way to keep cool.  Dave was overjoyed to find a deep bathtub in the Giorgione Hotel, which was charming. We enjoyed the Peggy Guggenheim Museum.

By the time we got to Verona, the heat wave that arrived in Italy with us was making us feel wilted, and I was crabby about that sticky feeling, so the Giulietta and Romeo was our least favorite accommodation of the trip (our room was dinky and claustrophobic, but it was air conditioned).  No doubt it’s not fair to make that judgment based on the heat factor, but I would probably skip Verona next time, except that we found a pizzeria with fabulous salads and ate there 3 times!  That saved the visit there for us.

We loved Follina (had quite the adventure finding it), and the Villa Abbazia Hotel was superb.  Manager guy reminded us a bit of Basil on BBC’s “Fawlty Towers.”  Our guided tour with Sandro’s sister, Marie Louisa (??) was lots of fun, especially since she did the driving.  Another highlight!  Good dining in that area.

The Dolomiti were stunning, as we expected they would be.  Only regret is that our photos of that area don’t begin to do it justice.  The Impero Hotel was fun and folksy, but verrrrry noisy, right on the main drag.  Good thing we brought earplugs along.  We loved the (ski lodge) atmosphere and the family that owns and operates it are so warm and friendly = good vibrations.  We had quite the hiking adventure there, after riding the gondola waaaaaaay up. Laurie’s knees were jello much of the time.  Very memorable.  No laundromats in the entire town, but plenty of fresh mountain air, and so much cooler than down below, thankfully.

Stresa was the perfect ending to our trip.  The drive there from Cortina was mostly beautiful, but long and a bit hairy; again, we needed better regional maps.  But we did find the La Palma Hotel, and loved our stay there.  It was wonderful to relax at the end before the long flight home.  Great boat rides around the lake.  Plenty of tourists, but Stresa didn’t feel touristy, odd, eh?

We never found that restaurant book you recommended; our experience with the food was hit and miss.  It wasn’t as great as we had anticipated, probably because we really didn’t know where to go or what to order.  We asked locals, and that helped.  Laurie tried to be brave, i.e., experimental, but almost ordered horse and frog.  Those may be tasty, but I couldn’t do it!  Some yummy experiences, such as beet root ravioli, but some disappointing ones too, including a gaggy lasagna memory from Cortina.  It was all part of the adventure!

I could go on and on, but will throttle back, and just thank you for making all of the arrangements that so well suited our desired trip. I hope this at least gives you a sense of our experience.  I have raved about how wonderful it was to have things so well planned, including car rentals and train tix.  Our friends and family may be contacting you in the not so distant future to inquire…

Feel free to call or email if you want to follow up on any specifics.  We loved our Italian holiday!

Laurie and Dave, Napa

Hello Dick and all the folks at Experience Italy,

We returned from our trip to Italy with aching backs, tired feet, lots of dirty clothes, “tons” of pictures and wonderful memories of a country that I want to visit again and again.  One trip doesn’t begin to do it justice.  My only regret is that neither Dick nor our daughter Sue was able to share the experience with us.  The hotel accommodations, transfers, tours, etc. that you arranged went off like clockwork.

We had some trouble finding the farmhouse.  We arrived in Greti after dark and as you probably know, the road sign is not well marked.  We “circled the town” about 4 times, found a man who spoke no English but understood and tried his best through hand gestures to send us on our way…  We found the place about 9:30 p.m…  Just one of the many twists and turns that made this trip so fun.  Ours was especially memorable.  What a delightful family…  Baby Martina is beautiful.  Our cooking class was such fun and I hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.  Judy and I have put together a small album of pictures we took at and will send it on to the Michele family in the next few days.

Sincerely,

Joan Shannon