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  • Day 17

    Day 13 - Pompei coffee shop

    April 25, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Note on tour company
    World tours

    They were where they said they would be outside the port entrance.  While it seemed to take a long time, we were in the bus and on the road at the time they indicated.

    The tour was provided as a gift and the necessary paperwork was given to us ahead of time. However, the "necessary papers" did not include the information that entrance fees were not included. Someone on the tour had the original email and buried in the tour information section it informed the buyer of that information.  We just happened to have enough Euros to cover but others did not have the needed cash.. Close to 50 euros per couple. The tour company should correct that and make sure it's in the voucher.  Many months can pass between the booking and the actual trip, we should have been reminded. The best way to do that is to have it on the reservation voucher.

    Our guide was Irena. She was happy and friendly, with nothing to dislike.  The archeological guide in Pompei (Susy) was good as well - she knew her information.  A little more dialogue from Irena while driving would have been appreciated - information about the neighborhoods, day to day life in the city, for example. When asked questions, Irena answered happily enough with one or two word answers, not what you are looking for from a tour guide.  For example, we asked what sort of people lived in a certain neighbourhood, to get an idea of the economic demographic.  She replied, "Italians" and left it at that.  At the end of the day she was quite talkative when asking us to give her and her driver a good Tripadvisor review. As for the driver, he was decent enough and we felt safe, but he drove the tour van as if he was driving a car.....A little tough for someone who tends to get motion sickness. Maybe that's the way to drive in Italy, but it wouldn't take much to turn it down just a little for the comfort of the clients.
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