Getting Organized

When?

We chose to leave in late September to avoid the Summer crowds and Summer prices.  Furthermore we let on a Friday night and arrived in Venice on a Saturday morning as most accommodation rentals go from Saturday to Saturday.  Fall is also cooler and the leaves were changing colour in Tuscany.

Where?

Where depends on your individual tastes and the length of time you have to visit.  We planned a week in Venice, two weeks in Tuscany (at two different locations), 5 nights in Florence and four nights in Rome.

Plane

We chose Air Transat principally for the direct flights from Montreal to Venice and Rome to Montreal.  Thanks again Denis for driving us to and from the airport.  The price was comparable to Air Canada whose flights take longer as they go through Frankfurt.  I guess we could have taken longer and used our Aeroplan points but it can be a hassle if you have limited flexibility in your dates.  Don’t forget to check out insurances.  We took out trip cancellation insurance which is not covered by my VISA card.

Accommodation

See my article on Homelidays.  I reserved our accommodation in advance.  Most owners prefer a small deposit to hold the reservation but when I pointed out that the bank fees on a small money transfer are as much as the deposit itself they were OK with paying upon arrival (in cash).  Our average per night cost was $120 CAD for the three of us, two bedrooms, and all amenities.

Money

Luckily for us the exchange rate was very favourable following the demise of the Greek and then the Spanish and Irish economies which forced down the value of the euro.  I bought some euros in advance which turned out to be a good idea as the exchange rate improved by 7%, in favour of the euro, during our trip.  In addition to cash we also used our bank cards to draw cash and also used our trusty VISA Aerogold card.  We never had any problems with the instant teller machines or purchasing items by credit card.

Luggage

Travel light!  We took less than 20 kgs of luggage each in one medium size suitcase which could be wheeled.  I still found this minimal amount too much especially for the fourth floor (no elevator) climb to our Venice apartment.  Think over eighty stairs, dim light and narrow with Paul carrying 20 kgs in each hand.  And this was after wheeling our suitcase for 600 meters between Marco Polo airport and the docking area for the vaporetti.  Less luggage helped us to rent a smaller car and to negotiate the mayhem (many tourists with large suitcases) on the Eurostar train from Florence to Rome.  For those of you who need to change clothes once if not twice a day, don’t forget that you will probably never see these people again so you can wear the same thing twice in a row.  The Homelidays apartments all come with washers.  Just buy some laundry soap.

Venice apartment, 77 steps to the top floor

Rome apartment, 54 steps to the third floor

Reservations

I strongly recommend reserving tickets for well-known attractions (Doge’s Palace, Uffizi, Accademia, Coliseum, Vatican Museum) in advance.  You will pay a small administration fee however you will avoid long line-ups.  I reserved my tickets through the Internet except for the Doge’s Palace Secrets Itinerary tour.  Because their website sucked I called a perky tourist agent in Venice who gave me the opportunity to practice my Italian, parla inglese, due, due, quattro, cinque, arrivederci.

Language

A big thanks for the Harraps Learn Italian book and CDs from Chantal and to Marielle whose latin came in handy.  In fact it was rather frustrating for Paul considering he had studied for hours and hours when Marielle who didn’t study much (didn’t get past chapter 10 of 50) could understand and even converse as if she had been in Italy for a few months.  Italians like tourists to make the effort to speak their language no matter how poorly.  In Rome when we took taxis everywhere, once I attempted to speak in Italian the drivers would open up and point out sites and make conversation.

Writing Home

We used the same setup as for our trip to Australia that is, mobile phone with international card and our Hotmail account on the Internet.  The mobile phone worked almost everywhere except for some places in Tuscany where we would have to go outside the apartment to get reception.  It was more difficult to find Internet outlets than Australia.  In Australia we would go to the local library.  In Italy we couldn’t even find a library (what is library in Italian by the way) and would have to ask the locals.

Avoiding the Internet cafes by borrowing the apartment onwer's laptop