Has anyone been to Italy?
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive March 2004:
Has anyone been to Italy?
I would like to plan a vacation for next Summer. I was thinking of a tour with a friend, but now I think my DH will go with me, so I am now thinking about renting a house or an apartment for a week.
I would love to know what you think.
I've never been to Italy, but I did plan a week long trip to England 3 years ago and can give you some planning tips. First of all, www.frommers.com is invaluable for insider tips and great ways to save money. There are also message boards pertaining to each country and the major sightseeing destinations in each. You are smart to get your plane tickets as early as possible to save money. I only paid about $450 each (3 yrs ago) for round-trip tickets from St. Louis to London. Quite a deal! We also stayed at a bed and breakfast that I found on the net and it was wonderful! We were about 2-3 blocks from the underground, but on the outskirts of London. We could get anywhere we wanted to go in about 20 minutes. Since we stayed at a B&B (about $45 a night, compared to $90+/night for a hotel) we got a big filling breakfast each morning already included. We ate a big lunch around 2 pm, took cheese crackers and snacks with us, and then just ate a light supper to save money. We wanted to spend our money on experiences more that food. Of course, London is not known for its food and Italy is, so you might want to indulge a little more there . I honestly wouldn't spend the money for an apt or house because you will be there so infrequently. The one thing I really enjoyed about the B&B was getting to visit with the other family (from MO) who stayed there and the owners of the B&B who were locals. One evening we all sat around together in the living room eating chips and salsa and visiting and it was so much fun! We also got some inside scoop on cool non-touristy places to go and restaurants to eat at.
Italy sounds awesome!! I'd love to go to Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Venice...ahh, so romantic. We're probably going back to England for our 15th anniversary next year and tacking on Scotland to the trip. Since we did a lot of the big stuff in London we want to go to more obscure places like C.S Lewis' house, a Jane Austen tour, etc. Keep us posted on the planning. That's half the fun of it to me!!
P.S., Have you ever been to Europe? How adventurous are you? I found it much more fun to plan our own itinerary and do our own tours than to do pre-packaged deals, but we are pretty laid back and go-with-the-flow adventurous types. We found the few organized tours that we went on a waste of our time and we spent more time getting there than actually doing anything.
Dh was stationed in Gaeta, Italy and loved it. The pictures he sent home are beautiful. He wants to go back, but I really don't want to go until the girls are grown.
He's been all over Italy, Spain, France, Egypt, Jerusalem, I know I'm missing some, but it's been so long.
I would love to go to Italy. I have been to Ireland, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Romania and will be going to China this summer but never Italy. :-(
We went for our honeymoon. We took a Perillo tour. Although the ages were very varied on our tour-we thought it was a little slow for us-so we went off and did our own thing sometimes. We would then hook back up with the rest of the tour for dinner. It was convenient having the whole itinerary planned out including breakfast and lunch each day though. Also transportation was all arranged as well so we never had to worry about it. Would I do a tour again-no, because we know where we would like to return to (Florence was our absolute favorite) and we would just go there and spend our whole trip touring that one city. Plus, in Florence (and Rome, too) almost everyone spoke some English. Have fun and if you have any other questions just ask. I'm so jelous. We hope to go back in 10 yrs. or so with the girls.
-Meredith
My son (then 20 months old) and I stopped through Rome on our way to Bosnia. Rome was amazing. The history...there's so much to see. We went to the Vatican, too. They didn't allow strollers in so I asked some folks to watch my son while I ran in there to see what it looked like. I'm glad I did that. You could spend a year in Rome. We didn't go anywhere else in Italy since we were just passing through.
I've never been but my sister in CA has been. Just make sure you are *properly clothed* if you plan to enter any churches. She tried to go into a church there and wasn't allowed to enter because she had on a skirt above her knees and a sleeveless top.
My son and his wife went on their honeymoon. He says there are three cities in the world one ought to see - New York, Paris, and Venice. They loved Venice. Rome is an "of course". If you can, I would also go to Florence, which has some absolutely great art.
In Venice they stayed in a "pension" type hotel, not a major chain hotel, and loved it. They especially loved the trattorias (I think they are Italy's version of a deli.)
I'd start now, with getting some good travel books from the library and eventually buying a good up to date Fodors or similar guidebook, which can advise you on hotels, travel, trains (etc.), and so on.
Thanks everyone. It's great to hear that everyone loved it. (Not that I have ever heard anything bad.) It does seem like a once in a lifetime kind of place to go. Italy has been calling me for about a year now and I told my DH that I just need to go. Life is too short. I want to LIVE now! I don't want to wait until children are grown, or until the house is done, or until my DD's college is paid for. So, I am really hoping I can get it together to go by next May. It feels good to be thinking of ME!
Pam, thanks! You know, I never thought about how it would be running around seeing all I want to see. You are right. I will do some more research. A house in one location may just be a waste. A B&B sounds wonderful. It never even crossed my mind! Thanks again. I'll check out the Website too. Do you mind if I email you and ask you some questions.
Ginny-I am hoping to find a good book tomorrow! That should get me moving in the right direction.
A passport might be helpful too. LOL!
Eve, feel free to email me (speech-chick@cox.net). It's great that you are going in May. I was going to suggest that too. The weather is fairly nice, but it is before tourist season so everything is a little bit less expensive (hotel, airfare, etc.) Maybe we'll have to go to Italy for our 20th anniversary and you can give me all the inside info
Italy is awesome. My favorite all time city is Venice...it's just so beautiful and interesting. I know a great hotel. It's called the Academia. Everything gets booked up quickly, so reserve soon wherever you go. Rome, Florence, Milan (see the Last Supper), Capri, Tuscany...they're all great. If you want to stay in a remote Tuscany village in an old castle in a little sort of cottage, I know a fun place there. It's one hour from Florence and two from Rome. Here's a link: http://www.gargonza.it/ Another fun area is near Naples (Sorrento, Capri). You can see Pompeii and Vesuvius. Do I sound like a travel agent? I just love it there. I hope you have a great time
Ok, I bought my Italy travel book. My DH bought "Learning Italian in your Car." LOL! It's been fun reading.
Pam, you are so right. Everything I have been reading, says to avoid the Summer months when the prices of everything go up and it gets crowded. I am having issues with "packing light." I don't know how to do that. Atleast I have over a year to think about that one. I'll be sure to email you. I do have lots of questions for you!
Irene-how long did you go for? You did a lot! Wow. I think I am only going to concentrate on 3 cities. Rome, of course, Venice, and Florence. I don't want to be on the go the whole time. I also only want to go for a week. From what I have been reading, that may be tough.
Irene, Did you plan everything yourselves? Did you do any tours? I think I would like to do a few half day walking tours. I would love to know what you think.
Meredith-The Perillo tours were what I was originally thinking of doing when I wanted to go without DH. They look really great!
Eve, I would LOVE to go to Italy. HAve fun planning your trip!! Of course keep me updated and I want to see LOTS of pics when you return.
OF course I would also love to travel too, anywhere in Europe, Australia, Canada, Hawaii, Alaska, US Virgin Islands, NYC, LA, Key West, etc,etc,etc...LOL Just to name a few.
Eve,
The Perillo tour we took went to Rome, Sorrento, day trips to Capri and Pompeii, Florence and a day trip to Venice. We skipped the Venice day trip and stayed in Florence, though-since we had so much we wanted to see there. I think you could do a trip in a week if you plan on just going to Rome and Florence-you could probably just take a day trip to Venice from Florence. If you don't know when you will be returning to Italy-then I would say try to take a longer trip. The one we took was just under 2 weeks (including flight time-that takes almost a whole day each way).
We went in August and it was very hot and I guess a little crowded-not really anything though compared to Disney in July! Anyways, traveling in the summer allowed us to pack pretty light. We did a ton of walking-so good shoes are a must.
That's so funny that your DH is already learning Italian-my DH has been doing the learning italian CD-rom that he bought after we returned from Italy. He told me that his goal over the next five years is to learn some conversational Italian for when we return .
For those of you whom have been, do you remember where you stayed?
Did you spend much time in the room?
Meredith-Can your DH come with us? LOL! I'm worried about the language barrier. BTW-You are brave to go in August. I've heard it's the toughest month to go!
Eve, I don't remember where I stayed -there were 4 hotels in all-except for in Sorrento-something like the Parco de Principe (very wrong spelling I'm sure, DH probably remembers better than I do).
Pretty much we used the rooms only for showering and sleeping. We were up and out early each morning and dinner was later than it is here. So by the time we got back from dinner-or got back from getting some gelato-yum! it was time for bed. The hotels are definitely not up to par with american hotels-we even ended up with twin beds in a few  .
Don't worry too much about the language barrier if you are sticking to the high tourist areas. I think we only ran into one problem when we were in Florence, I think my DH did not have enough money for the gelato and the server could not explain it to him since he only spoke English. The most helpful thing was our pocket guide books-we had a Fodor's one for Rome (complete with good maps of the streets) and a Florence one we actually bought in Italy.
I think it wasn't too bad for us to go in August since we were with a tour. Everything had been set up ahead of time so we didn't have to worry about making arrangements for meals (other than lunch) and transportation. Also the day we went to the Vatican the tour guide knew exactly at what time to arrive to avoid the very long lines.
Have fun planning your trip!
Meredith-I was just thinking I hope all your hotels had AC! I was reading that a lot of them don't! I was also surprised that a lot of the hotels have rooms with shared bathrooms or a private bath, down the hall.
I would like to go to the Vatican too. Did you have any problems wearing shorts? I've read that they sell paper clothing, so you can still go on the tour and be covered. I was just thinking August is supposed to be very hot, and I can't imagine walking around in the heat in pants.
Florence seems to be everyone's favorite tourist spot in Tuscany. (I'm sure there are wonderful places though, if you can get a car and drive)I was told to take a night away from Venice and add a night to Florence. I was thinking, then we could take a day trip to Siena.
My head is spinning. There is way too much to try to see! Also, I can't even imagine the gelato. There is a section in my book all about it and places to stop along the way. The different flavors...too funny!
I was also surprised to read that Italians will look at you funny if you just order a glass of wine or a alcoholic drink and no food. I'm not sure if it's true or not.
It's all been really interesting reading.
Thanks for your input. I love hearing about people's trips!
Eve, I can't remember if all had A/C but I don't remember being too hot in the room so I guess they must have. We had a private bath in each hotel we stayed in. Of course ours were arranged through Perillo so they had to meet certain standards.
I wore dresses and skirts almost the whole time I was there. I don't know about the paper clothing thing-I know people were refused from a lot of the churches we visited (not just the Vatican). At some places they even closely checked the length of skirts. DH wore pants the entire time (and he needed a dress jacket a few nights, too) I would say overall, people were much more dressed up in Italy even in the summer. I never wore sneakers, just comfortable sandals for walking.
Florence is amazing-we walked all over the entire city and still we missed so much.
I don't know about the wine thing-but one thing to keep in mind is Cappucino is only a morning drink-you will be looked at very strange if you order it in the evening. Epresso is common from lunch time on and it is super strong.
Eve, now that you have done a little reading you probably realize why some people opt to take a tour.
Sorry to ramble on and on-I'm trying to live vicariously through your trip planning-Oh I so want to go back to Italy!
Buy a ticket and come along!
I read that everyone is always more dressed up in Italy. One of the articles, said don't try too hard though, that all the young girls, not even trying, look like they walked off the cover of Vogue. LOL! I enjoyed that. I figure that in May it will be cool enough that I can wear slacks and sandals and be ok.
I read that about the Cappicino. It's amazing how different things can be, isn't it? Have you heard about Cafe Americano or something? I guess it's a watered down expresso.
I do see why people take tours! There are so many little details. I think if I go through a travel agent though and reserve my train tickets,hotel and my outings, we should be ok. We can always pay too much for a cab if we can't figure out the bus system. My DH is not worried at all. So, I guess that's good.
I've found lots of online places where you can schedule day trips and walking tours. Then, I don't have to worry about missing any of the major sights. Then, after our tours, we can just wander.
Ok, I wish I were going this Spring! LOL!
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