[Idyllchat] Venice - An Awkward Arrival Plan

[AnnKristine Johnson]

We (a group of 8) are adding on 3 nights in Venice before the start of our 
early October North Tuscany tour.  The flight arrives on a Friday directly 
from Atlanta at 11:45.  The religious guesthouse we're staying in in the 
Castello area (Santa Maria Formosa) closes its doors between 1 and 6 p.m.  
Since it's unlikely (isn't it??), even if the plane is on time, that we 
could reach the guesthouse by water taxi by 1 p.m., I'm thinking maybe we 
should hire a boat to take us (and our luggage) from the airport to Murano 
to watch glassblowing and maybe do the museum, then through Burano, then 
over to the main part of the city via the sea entrance to the Grand Canal.  
I believe from my reading that the Friday afternoon would be our only time 
to see glassblowing, since we leave Monday morning.

I've emailed a couple of the Venetian transport companies to get a price 
quote on something like this, though no answers yet.  We don't have all the 
money in the world (which is why we're staying at a religious guesthouse 
that closes for the afternoon!) but with 4 couples to split the cost it 
might possibly be worthwhile doing it this way??  Does anybody have any 
better ideas?

Finally, the Marco Polo airport online brochure mentions having a "spa" but 
doesn't specify what services are offered.  I've emailed the airport contact 
to see if that would include a shower we could take to refresh ourselves for 
the afternoon, but no answer yet from them either.

Thanks so much for any advice.

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