Thirteenth day we head out for our next ETBD tour
We were on our thirteenth day. Our South Italy Tour with our terrific guide, interesting tour group, the locals we have met, the spectacular sites, villages and cities of South Italy is now in our amazing ETBD tour history book. Well Done! We were off on an early flight headed for our twelfth Rick Steves Europe Through the Back Door Tour in Sicily. Before we departed the US we had posted a travel question on Rick's Travelers Helpline, asking whether to stay in Naples (which we wanted to do) or go in a day early to arrive in Palermo for the Best of Sicily Tour. One of the responders reminded that snafus in the travel industry are known to occur without warning in Italy. We chose to make the early uneventful flight a day early into Palermo. Two other members of the South Italy tour had also scheduled the next Best of Sicily Tour and were taking flights later in the day, or they thought they were. Snafu!! On that day Alitalia Air line declared bankruptcy. The fuel companies refused to deliver fuel for their aircraft. Later in the day the Italian Government stepped in and guaranteed to cover the fuel cost, but the flight schedule damage was done. Our fellow tour members did get to Palermo after being rerouted to Rome, then onto Palermo and spending most of the day with travel duties. Once again thank you to Rick Steves helpful advice we have received from members of the Travelers Helpline.