The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Yes, it’s true. No matter how carefully you plan something in advance and do everything right, it can all just fall apart.
I mentioned on here a while back that I booked a night tour of the Colosseum in Rome. I booked it months ago in order to secure our spots. The timing of the tour worked perfectly since we would be traveling from Venice to Rome that day by train. The tour included the underground parts of the Colosseum, which I didn’t get to see on my previous trip. Plus, the rest of my family has never been to Italy and even seen the Colosseum.
Well, I just received an email from Get Your Guide that my tour was canceled. What? Yes, cancelled. Here is the explanation:
“Due to the extreme shortage of Colosseum night tour tickets, we were unable to manage your night tour ticket.”
Silly me. I thought that since I booked tickets, it meant we had tickets. I guess the tour company oversells, or they just plan on getting a certain number of slots from the Colosseum that didn’t materialize.
The bummer is that not only are all the night tours sold out now, but I can’t even get regular tickets into the Colosseum. Everything is sold out. And, we leave the next morning for our cruise.
We may be able to get tickets at the ticket office onsite, but it’s not likely since we’re arriving so late in the afternoon. At 3 p.m., the office starts selling tickets for the following day.
Dealing with Hiccups
Should I let this ruin my trip to Rome? No! Sure, I’m allowed to be disappointed, maybe even a bit pissed. But, we’re still going to enjoy our upcoming trip.
If we can’t get into the Colosseum, we will photograph the heck out of it from the outside. Maybe we will have a leisurely dinner overlooking the Colosseum. Or, the Trevi Fountain is supposed to be amazing at night. And we don’t need tickets for that!
As Leana mentioned yesterday, this miles and points hobby comes with setbacks. Everything doesn’t run perfectly 100% of the time. The same is true with our trips. There will be hiccups. But, we have a choice as to how we react to those hiccups.
If my canceled tour is the biggest hiccup of my upcoming trip, I will consider myself lucky.
Update: I just got “last-minute” daytime tickets via Tiqets.com!
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions! Apparently, other people on my cruise are also having tours canceled. Update: I just got “last-minute” daytime tickets via Tiqets.com!
So if you want a sort of an unconventional alternative, try to get a reservation at the Aroma Restaurant which, if possible, will give you an incredible view of the Colosseum as well as an excellent meal! 🙂
@Lily Thanks for the tip! This looks like a good restaurant to go to with just my husband someday.
Hi Nancy, I’m no sure when you’re going, but there seems to be availability during the second week of June.
@Chris Thank you, we are going this week! The tour canceled with really late notice.
Just a thought. Maybe your hotel concierge can help?
Italy tourism is predicted to be record-breaking this summer 2023 by Italian officials in an article I read this week.
When we were at Trevi Fountain in June 2018 the crowd of people, mostly taking selfies, made it difficult to even get close enough for a photo without lots of people in the shot. Kelley got a good one. I stayed in back of the crowd and focused on taking photos showing how large the crowd was surrounding the fountain.
Yikes! I’m hoping that since we’re going in late May, the crowds won’t be as terrible?
Sorry, we were there May12th for 5 nights and tons of people! They are all back traveling.
@Lynn I hope you had a fantastic trip!!