My sister Priscilla and I are planning a trip to Italy this fall. We’ll be traveling to Rome, the Amalfi Coast and then back to Rome again.
We booked a hotel in Rome for the first leg of our journey and found a great deal. We wanted to book the same hotel for the last part of our trip, but the price went up significantly, even though it was just a few days later.
I couldn’t help but feel frustrated. We’d had such a hard time finding a good hotel in Rome that fit our budget, plus was safe and had air conditioning. After researching every place imaginable –and almost settling on a hotel that was missing a lobby – we’d finally found a good option. And now it was too expensive.
“At that price, we might as well stay at that really nice hotel I found,” Priscilla said. “It was the same price.”
“Which one was that?” I said. We’d been emailing each other links to hotel after hotel. I could barely pronounce all the names, let alone remember them.
“I don’t know,” Priscilla said. “Michelangelo something?”
I searched my email inbox for “Michaelangelo.” Nothing came up. I searched for “Michael.” Then “Angelo.” Sill nothing. (Of course, now I realize that I was spelling Michelangelo wrong!)
Finally, I Googled it, spelling mistake and all: “Michaelangelo Rome.”
A hotel popped up, one with excellent reviews. The photos were amazing. Priscilla laughed. This definitely wasn’t the hotel she’d been talking about. It was way too nice. Out of curiosity, I checked the price for the dates we had in mind.
“Oh my goodness,” I said. “How is this possible?”
It was cheaper than the first hotel we’d booked…and much, much nicer! Air conditioning, free breakfast and a real, genuine lobby. I was even able to use a promotion on it, driving the price down even more.
It was one of those moments that was so random, so strange that you know God had to be involved. Almost like He was leading us to this particular hotel, which coincidentally – or maybe not! – happened to be right by the Vatican.
Has something “oddly wondrous” like that that ever happened to you? Share your story below!
