Discount all inclusive family vacation

A couple of years ago, when our daughter, Nancy, asked that as a gift for her 30th birthday in March 1999 we take a family trip and include our 32-old-son, Robert, we were excited but also nervous at the idea. It had been many years since we all had gone on a family vacation together. In addition, both of our children had lived on their own for 10 years; we were anxious that so much togetherness might make the trip less than fun. Had their lifestyles, manners and interests diverged from ours so much that we and/or they would be annoyed or annoying?

The "Oohs and aahs" we sighed upon seeing the view from the castle in the walled, medieval hill town of Erice gave us a feeling of closeness as we shared this most beautiful experience. There were many more of these moments of shared beauty -- in the tiny hamlet of Scopello; at breakfast in Taormina as we sat overlooking the coast; at the Botanic Gardens in Taormina, and the many times we stopped and got out of the car to see the magnificent views that were constantly being presented to us.

The discussions in the car, over, meals, while walking on the streets, when touring the sights and while drinking wine together in our rooms were not only about sharing the present but about life in the "real world" back home -- jobs, relationships, dreams, problems... It gave us loads of that overused but, in this case, accurate term "quality time."

The tours that we had seen advertised for Sicily appeared rather expensive, even during March's "off season." They started at $1,500 per person, inclusive of flights to and from New York, seven nights in 4-star hotels, meals, touring and bus transportation. They "moved" around a lot, usually staying in five places; we did not want to change hotels that often. All emphasized visits to Greek and Roman ruins, something we did not want to emphasize, and the most reasonably priced did not stay in Taormina. The destination we most wanted to spend time in was Taormina.

We like to shop, wander around cities and towns, view scenery and search out places to eat and drink. Also, the structure necessitated in a packaged tour could get in the way of reacquainting ourselves with our children.

After reading articles and guidebooks, we decided to stay three nights in Taormina and four in Palermo and rent a car so we could take day trips. It cost no more to fly into Catania (near Taormina) and out of Palermo than it did for a round trip to either city.

Much of our travel planning is done on the Internet. Initially, for this trip, it proved very frustrating as we perused many hotel reservation sites, either finding the costs of 4-star hotels (which is the level we desired) far above our budget or seeing that rooms were not available. Contacting hotels directly gave us the same results.

We had better results finding reasonable car rental prices, although comparison shopping was needed for there was a tremendous difference from one company and/or website to another.

Changing strategy, we checked travel agents' websites that served Sicily. Here we had success. We ended up using Festive Travel, which had, among many other products, an auto/hotel package they could tailor to our needs.

The "package" did not detail the prices of each hotel; however, we would stay at hotels (Villa Diodoro in Taormina and the Jolly Hotel in Palermo) we had previously contacted that had been either unavailable or cost more than our budget would allow but now we could get for much less. The auto rental rate through Festive Travel was slightly better than the best we were quoted on other Internet sites.

We checked the cost of the flight with Alitalia and on numerous "discount" websites. All came up with the same price. We called a discount travel agent we had used in the past, Travel Tkts, who took off about $4 per ticket. Our flight cost $585 per person. In checking the hotel and auto costs, the agent at Travel Tkts found he could not match Festive Travel's low price, although he did quote a much better price on the hotels than we had found on the Internet.

The auto/hotel package from Festive Travel cost $460 per person. We had a "category D" (Fiat Brava/Opel Corsa level) air-conditioned auto, a 4-door, manual-transmission car, and the price included a dropoff charge (we picked it up in Catania and returned it in Palermo). We had hotels (two double rooms) for seven nights including buffet breakfasts and free parking.

The price was charged in lire, and $460 per person was what was charged to our credit card, but the cost could vary with the exchange rate.

We feel we saved money by buying the package. With the added expenses of food (which was not expensive), fuel (about $120 for the roughly 800 miles we traveled) and touring, we paid a bit less than the best group tour price and stayed at a more costly hotel for three nights (the one in Taormina). And, of course, we stayed where we wanted and saw what we wanted, when we wanted. Equally important to us, we had more "flexible" time with our children.

In Taormina we stayed at Villa Diodoro Hotel, Via Bagnoli Croci 75, Taormina 98039, Sicily, Italy; phone 0942-2332 or fax 0942-23391.

Wandering around Taormina was a joy. The views from the Botanic Gardens, Piazza IX Aprile, Greek Theater and Grand Hotel Capo Taormina were particularly beautiful.

One day we went to Mt. Etna, but it was cloudy out and difficult to see the mountain. Huge lava fields were evident. The town of Linguaglossa, partway up the mountain, has a cemetery with extremely ornate statuary, marble, carvings, etchings, sculptures and buildings and a large amount of fresh flowers placed in vases on the graves, making for an interesting visit.

On another day trip from Taormina we went to Siracusa, a beautiful city with "major" Greek and Roman ruins. On our return we stopped in Acireale. It being Saturday night, the downtown area was filled with many hundreds of young people performing the "hanging out" ritual so prevalent among adolescents all over the world. There was no mall, as in the United States, but the streets were much more pleasant.

In Palermo, a large city with many museums, beautiful buildings and lots of shopping, we stayed at the Jolly Hotel Palermo, 90133 Foro Italico, Palermo, Sicily; phone (091) 616-5090 or fax (091) 616-1441. In the U.S., call 800/221-2626.

The hotel's front desk personnel warned against our driving and trying to park downtown; however, we're from New York City and therefore fearless in traffic. Driving in Palermo did prove to be absolutely chaotic with few traffic lights and no one following rules. We constantly played the game of "chicken" with other cars and pedestrians. Parking on sidewalks was quite acceptable. Robert felt perfectly at home in this atmosphere.

The following are day trips we made from Palermo: Castelmarre de Golfo -- a pleasant seaside town.

Scopello -- a tiny hamlet with a magnificent view.

Erice -- a gorgeous walled, medieval town with beautiful buildings, piazzas and streets. The view from the castle is breathtaking.

Trapani -- a nondescript "ghost town" during the afternoon.

Cefalu -- a pretty seaside town with an impressive cathedral.

Santo Stefano di Camastra -- a ceramics--making town, just cast of Cefalu, with a multitude of ceramics shops selling an enormous variety of very beautiful styles and items at inexpensive prices.

Monreale -- a quaint town with a magnificent church and a good view of Palermo.

Mondello -- Palermo's beach resort with many places to eat. There is a busy, festive atmosphere on weekends.

Palermo offered great shopping for clothes and shoes. There's the market along Vias Bandiera, and on Agostino there are stalls in the middle of the street and stores on either side. Prices were excellent for highly styled clothing, even though the stores were not "upscale." Stores along Via Maqueda and Via Roma also had good prices.

Pendieri d'Argento (Corso Vittorio Emanuele, 442, Palermo) had excellent prices and a good selection of sterling silver items.

Piazza Marina in Palermo has a Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning antiques market. It was one of the few shopping experiences one could have on Sundays. Lumachi Katia makes and sells very interesting Murano glass jewelry here.

We hope that ITN readers traveling on a budget will find some of the strategies we used on this trip to be very helpful.