A CHANGE IN PLANS...

This happened 5 years ago, the first summer I was guiding a group around Italy, from Milano to Roma. We were supposed to arrive to Roma on 14th August and stay in the city two days before coming back to their respective origin cities. Then the official tourist guide from Roma phoned me to inform that, as every year, on 15th August everything in Italy was closed, in fact it is a festivity day called ¨Ferragosto¨ because all places, included The Vatican, are closed. As well as on 15th August, The Vatican usually closes also on 16th August. As a consequence, the group could not visit it since they were flying back on 17th. Taking into account that this is one of the most expected visits in Roma for some people, although, by the way, not the most exciting in such a fantastic city, people got very disappointed especially because the visit was included in the package. Of course I was not responsible for that change in plans but the travel agency which sold the package holiday. The travel agency compensation was to offer them an alternative trip in the city such as The Coloseo or The Catacumbs, or simply to get their money back. But in my opinion the travel agency was not honest, I think on the moment they sold the package holiday they knew in advance that this particular group was not going to enter The Vatican and they left this information out. If people had known it, they would not have bought it in those dates but maybe in other ones. This is how some business work and make profit..