ITALY PREPARATION
September-October 2022
In 2014, my husband and I did our first trip to Italy — Rick Steve’s Heart of Italy Tour. On this 2022 trip to Italy, we decided to stay longer for a total of 24 days. (Yep, go ahead and let out a gasp. It was a long time to spend in another country, but we covered a lot of ground.)
We visited Varenna on Lake Como first, then we flew to Sicily to start an Odyssey Unlimited tour of Southern Italy & Sicily and we ended our vacation on Ischia (pronounced EE-skyah), a volcanic island in the Gulf of Naples.
I broke this blog into several areas so you can easily navigate to areas of interest.
24 days is a long time to travel which makes packing a challenge. You can keep checking the different weather apps but like we found out, weather is a moving target.
I packed:
- 4 short sleeve shirts
- 3 long sleeve shirts
- 1 pair of shorts
- 4 pair of pants
- 1 dress
- Blue jean jacket
- Bathing suit
- Sun top full zip
- Chaco sandals for walking
- Strappy dressier sandals
- Pair of tennis shoes
- Ilse Jacobson flat shoes
- Hat (my favorite is a packable Wallaroo Victoria Fedora)
- Rain jacket & umbrella
- On the long-haul plane trip go for comfortable clothes. I wore Vuori jogger pants, sleeveless shirt, and in my backpack in case I got cold on the plane I had my Vuori lightweight crew top, and Vuori zip hoodie jacket vuoriclothing.com
- Compression socks.
Tips:
- If flying, pack an extra pair of underwear and toiletries in a carry-on just in case, you get stranded on one of your legs of travel or your luggage ends up in Miami.
- I now see I should have taken just 2 long sleeve shirts, 3 pair of pants, and left the zip up hoodie, Chacos and strappy sandals at home. But I do wish I’d taken 2 dresses and 2 pair of shorts. It was too hot most days for long pants.
- Upgrade your airline seats to Economy Plus.
- The extra legroom is well worth it on the long flight to Europe and home. You can check upgrade options on the day of the flight, and many times the upgrades will be reduced cost.
- Don’t pick a seat by the restroom.
- Take a water bottle and snacks.
- In most Italian cities (the ones everybody flocks to) are insanely crowded. I’m not sure there’s a month when this isn’t true. Just be mentally prepared that the Vatican isn’t the only place you’ll have to do the Vatican shuffle.
- Rules—There are no rules! This is charming and stressful when you’re not used to so much chaos. Scooters, cars, buses all look like they are on a collision course. As my guide reminded me, “Debi don’t hesitate, just cross the street.”
- There are pick-pocketers in most big cities and they are quite skilled at it. Wear a money belt inside your pants or have anti-theft backpack, purse, or hip pack. Travelon and Pacsafe are two good brands. But most of all, stay aware of your surroundings.
- If you are traveling with others and sharing costs, download the free app called Splitwise. It records expenses easily and splits them as you travel so when you settle-up with your traveling companions at the end of your trip, it is hassle free.
- Make photocopies of everything and store them in Notes on your phone. Passport, vaccine card, tickets (rail, airline, tours, etc), contact info for hotels.
- Think about adding international service to your phone from your carrier OR purchase an international chip for phone. My husband spent $30 for a 15GB chip from a company called THREE (3). The only drawback is that he had a UK phone number but could make unlimited calls/texts within Europe. Plus, the 15GB of data was plenty for the 24-day trip.
- Carry a 50-cent euro and one dollar euro coins on you for public bathrooms. Most places only took the exact amount.
- In restaurants you will be charged a coperto (cover charge) for your table. At gelato stores, go outside and find some place to sit and enjoy your treat without the additional charge for sitting inside.
- Go ahead and get trip insurance. Our friends who were traveling with us learned unexpectantly that her husband had a health condition and could not make the trip. This was very close to our departure. Luckily they had trip insurance.
- Learn a few Italian words. Download Google Translate app and practice saying the following:
Buon giorno—hello
Buona sera—good evening
Arrivederci—goodbye
Per favore’—please
Grazie’—thank you
Prego—don’t mention it, you’re welcome, may I help you (many uses)
Mi scusi—excuse me/sorry
Si / No—Yes/no
Come sta?—How are you?
Bene, grazie…e lei? —I am well thank you and you?
Mi chiama(o)?—My name is…
Come si chiama(o)?—What is your name?
Parla inglese?—Do you speak English?
Non parlo italiano—I do not speak Italian
Non capisco—I do not understand
Dove’ sono le toilette?—Where are the toilets? (Also dove’ bagno?) Pronounced banyo
Quant’e?—How much does this cost?
Dov’e?—Where is?
Grande—Big
Piccolo—small
Acquanon gassata—water non fizzy
Il conto—Bill, the check
A few more tips for packing from BuzzFeed:
https://apple.news/AUXpCVdJISpCMADZbx6l2kQ
And now onto our Italian adventures!! We’re gonna have a blast!
Blogs in order of Italy travels:
- Varenna
- Sicily
- Southern Italy—Might be broken into several parts as we covered a lot of ground!
- Ischia