"Hello, I am writing this review of the travel transport business driven by Nicola Manicone.
I was in Positano and through events occurring last minute on my trip, my passage from Salerno to Matera in lower Italy was without a means of transportation.
I contacted Daytrip, which I had never used before, to determine a method of transportation.
Now, this was FOR THE FOLLOWING DAY; additionally, I had a means from Positano on the Amalfi Coast, to get to Salerno.
This means when I would arrive in Salerno, without transportation, I would not have lodging. We were spending the night in Matera, perhaps three hours away on the highway.
Ah, but not just for me, my wife, my two college age daughters, and our NINE pieces of luggage.
Daytrip provides a human search for this last minute arrangement, and I was notified in less than an hour.
It was Nicola Manicone to the rescue with his immaculate Mercedes van, which swallowed all our luggage easily, and was smooth and quite besides.
Really now, a man with a wife and two daughters knows at the end of a long day to sit with the driver and not in the “chat” middle seating area with his three prized ladies, who had information to share, but not with me!
I sat with Nicola, and I am very glad I did.
But one thing before, I contacted him concerned that we would end up on the street in Salerno, all 13 of us including luggage and people, and have nowhere to go.
Nicola was very understanding, professional, helpful, and reassuring. He understood how I must be feeling as a head of the house and all this responsibility in my care!
When he picked us up, a bit early, we were, indeed standing on the street with luggage all around, and had been there for four minutes because our prior driver had to get to his next gig.
But Nicola and that driver had already talked on the phone, and made the transition transparent and easily in a nice safe shaded area, so really we never were in a bad position.
Back on the road, Nicola pointed out many things in the countryside based on his years of living and driving in this area. In fact his family owns a wheat farm in the general vicinity – he pointed it out to me. It was almost my own private tour! I took a lot of pictures and unlike some travel, I know the captions for them.
I want to stress as he talked his eyes never left the road, he did not drive in the fast lane swerving in and out to maximize the euros made for his time. He was entirely responsible, and even though there were several road maintenance diversions and large trucks, he handled them with smooth efficiency and totally without any close approaches or sudden stops even though those large trucks had to pick their way across these lane closures and reroutes.
I have other complements, such as his willingness to grab suitcases out of our hands to get them to and into the car, his engaging reassurances, and more.
We also used him to secure our two hour drive the very next day with the same professional expertise.
Tomorrow I rely on him for two separate trips to the airport from Polignano a Mare, and he’s already confirmed his pickup time and exact location under an archway to the plaza we now occupy AT 4:30 AM!
I am not usually one to make reviews or recommendations, but I highly recommend Nicola Manicone for services within the area I mentioned.
And I was a bit concerned about making a reservation without an actual contact phone call with a human; that went exceedingly well, as well, with Daytrip."
