For the next 14 days I'm taking the family used casita travel trailers for sale to Italy for family summer vacation. I had hoped to be able to be able to do Italy and keep something that looked like my Jenny Craig diet going as well. And, for those that are thinking of doing Italy in the future, especially with Trafalgar Tours, this will serve as something to work with in planning your trips as well.
I picked up a copy of the "Dummies guide to Italy" before I left. Took the book to Kinko's and had the spine cut off. This allows me to pull out the chapters that I want for the areas that I'm in or want to read about and not have the whole tome in my pocket.
Before I start, a caveat. When I'm talking about "Trafalgar", I'm referring to corporate, and NOT to either our coach driver or tour director. I have nothing but high recommendations for both our driver, Andreo, and our tour director, Adele. Should you do this tour and be with them you'll be in good hands.
used casita travel trailers for sale The Tour/trip is marketed as a 13 day tour. Well, it's more like 11. And I added an extra couple days at the end just for personal time in Rome. The reason for that is that Trafalgar includes your days of traveling TO Italy as a day and your day traveling HOME as a day of their tour schedule. If you call sitting on a transatlantic flight part of your tour, well, then you have a much different used casita travel trailers for sale idea of what should be considered tour time than I do.
If you're thinking of doing Italy and you depend on an efficient internet connection as part of your sanity, do yourself a HUGE favor and get an internet access card that's a USB card, or some equivalent, to provide you with nationwide wireless access. Do NOT plan on depending on your hotel for any form of efficient internet connectivity. What I've found is that for the most part, with a couple of exceptions, internet access is INCREDIBLY expensive and a lot of the wireless is rather close to first generation WIFI technology which means your going to be running incredibly used casita travel trailers for sale slow. I recommend you checkout something like Vodaphone, Tim, etc. I ended up picking up a Vodaphone card in Verona. There's a Vodaphone store just a few blocks from Juliette's balcony. BUT, you can also get them at the airport in Rome. Right after you get off the airplane and before you leave the gate area, look for a store called Dixon's Traveler. It's an electronics kiosk in the center of the gate area and had several varieties of 'internet keys'. By the way, they're called 'internet keys' over there. Now, I've not validated that they're good all over Europe, but I'm lead to believe that they area. The Vodaphone key will cost you about 60 euros which is less than 4 days break even time using hotel internet charges. And it works on the bus. Make SURE you get your phone number for the key when you're buying it as if you need to recharge it (add more time/money) you will need this number!
We took the evening Delta flight out of Atlanta, direct used casita travel trailers for sale to Rome. It departed Atlanta somewhere around 4:30p.m. and arrived in Rome somewhere around 8 a.m. the next morning. This is an absolutely great way to do your flight over as it gives you almost a full day of extra time in the city to do whatever you want, which is what I had hoped.
Frankly, this is one of the best flights I've had on Delta in a while. Seats were well sized (granted I've lost 40 some odd pounds and at least 7 inches of girth since my last major Delta flight last summer to the UK), food was great, the new seat back entertainment systems were really interesting and frankly I have nothing to complain about from a Delta perspective. I had thought of catching more sleep on the flight than I did and probably would have hadn't it been for all the stewardess call buttons going ding all night and someone's brat kid sitting behind me that just couldn't shut up. So, come the time I hit the hotel, I'm ready to hit the sack for a few hours….but used casita travel trailers for sale wouldn't you know it, they said the rooms weren't ready and wouldn't be until noon…which is their normal check in time. Oh bugger! So, we camped out in the lobby and caught used casita travel trailers for sale some sleep until the rooms were ready.
Rome airport security was most amusing and almost nonexistent. We needed a passport to get out of the US, but basically nothing to get into Italy. Rather literally, nobody checked either our passports or luggage. From a security standpoint, I was rather stunned when they just waved hundreds used casita travel trailers for sale of us through the immigration checkpoint and didn't even look at our passports. Nobody asked anything about our luggage. used casita travel trailers for sale I have to tell you that I'm really glad that doesn't happen state side.
You're going to find that the exchange rate you get at the local banks and exchange kiosks is about 10% higher than the published rates in Wall Street. Also, it appears that most everyone adds an 11% commission on top of that for honor of getting used casita travel trailers for sale local currency to spend in their country. So, in total, expect to pay about 20% or so above and beyond the published exchange rate when picking up local currency.
Our hotel is the Mediterraneo in Rome. Just a few blocks down from the train station. Rooms are very adequate, staff is fine, no real problems there at all. A quick 6 block perimeter walk of the hotel (which I did while the rest were out cold) shows that I've got about all I need in terms of support for most things I would need from a pharmacy to newspapers. I wish this place had in room internet, but it's wireless which is fine, except that they want 15 euros per day for internet access. Frankly, that's an outrage, but they've got you by the balls and they know it, so what to do? At least the internet connection speed is fast – which is a helluva lot more than I was able to say for most of the UK trip last summer!
Also, the place doesn't have a laundry, nor was I able to find any in the area. They only want to tell you about their laundry service which is going to be a left nut, but then again, they've got you by the balls.
If I have a major regular fault with Trafalgar, used casita travel trailers for sale is their total lack of concern for the logistics needs of a traveler when it comes to needing laundry done while on a trip. Unfortunately, Trafalgar used casita travel trailers for sale seems to intentionally play into the hands of their hotels to insure they get as much services revenue as they can from tourist. Frankly, I think that just totally SUCKS.
After a quick nap we decided to hit a few of the major sites to have some extra time there. Granted we knew these were going to be covered in the tours on the 21st anyway, but there are times when you just like to have the extra time to meander at your own rate.
We walked down to the coliseum, got some nice external shots then snagged a cab to Pantheon. The Pantheon is a really interesting place and we enjoyed some time poking around used casita travel trailers for sale it. Then snagged used casita travel trailers for sale a cab to zip over to St. Peter's. On a Friday afternoon, we got lucky. The place wasn't crowded used casita travel trailers for sale at all. We breezed through security and had a nice walk around the cathedral. BTW, you can get Vatican post card stamps there at the post office, they're good for any post card mailed in Rome, proper. used casita travel trailers for sale Which worked really used casita travel trailers for sale well to get cards sans service charges as I've quickly come to the conclusion that Italy would charge for the air you breath if they could.
Now, a heads up if you're going to St. Peter's or any other cathedral for that matter: You need to dress appropriately. I was able to get away with a t-shirt and longer shorts and I saw lots of guys with these multi-pocket knee length walking shorts and none of us had any problems getting through security, but the folks at Trafalger tell us to wear long trousers and appropriate shirts. There's also appropriate dress for ladies as well which means that loose shorts used casita travel trailers for sale showing your incredible legs, tank and tube tops, etc., are verboten. Just a heads up, don't want your vacation ruined on a rules issue. We weren't informed of this until after we hit Italy. Fortunately I had some in my suitcase for other reasons.
Trafalgar is notorious for their "optional" used casita travel trailers for sale tour options. They tend to pack into these things that by all means of logic should be part of the base tour, but, alas they bundle them into fee based optional events during the tour. To me, it's kind of the same functional equivalent of taking a trip to DC and being told that the tour of the US Capital is done as an optional, used casita travel trailers for sale extra fee based, used casita travel trailers for sale tour that's not part of the package. used casita travel trailers for sale What was interesting was that I later found out that one of our group had taken this same tour about 10 years ago and a lot of the stuff that was not extra fee based, was then part of the base package. Go figure.
After coming back from our afternoon self guided tour, we hit the rooftop restaurant and then to bed. The rooftop is a really nice view of Rome, but I don't recommend eating there unless you think paying 65 euro for 2 sandwiches, 1 salad and 1 bowl of soup isn't a totally rip off. But if you have more money than brains, by all means, chow down. Frankly, I was beat on my ass, wanted a quick sandwich and to hit the shower and bed and didn't care.
Today starts the real touring fun. After a nice buffet breakfast we started out what would be a really good day with hitting the Sistine Chapel, used casita travel trailers for sale the Vatican museums and going through used casita travel trailers for sale St. Peter's in a more organized manner. But, absolutely no regrets for the time spent there yesterday. We breezed by the Forum and Circus Maximus, had a nice walking tour inside the coliseum, They could have easily fit in doing some additional things like the Trevi Fountain and a few other items, but, alas, that's saved for one of those "optional" tours this evening. The tour guide for these events was really good and personable. We had a good day with her on this circuit.
Pick pockets, beggars and street ripoff artists are ubiquitous in this town. On of our troupe had his pockets lighted for a hefty amount, including some personal items. Evidently, pick pockets roam free in Rome, virtually free from legal harassment that is. You would think that to keep crime town and increase the appr
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