Italy (can we get a travel sub forum?)

[daft twat]

I know this is overly ambitious. Too bad. Flights and hotels are all booked. We’re taking our 17 and 14 year olds. I’ve been to Venice, Florence, and Rome, but none of my family has. I’m excited and nervous. It’s a lot of moving around. Any tips would be appreciated. I have “wander” frequently because that’s my favorite thing to do in Europe - just look around and find shit on my own. Coliseum, David, and Pompeii are musts.

July 29: Arrive in Venice at 11:20 am
July 30: Venice - wander
July 31: Venice to Florence late morning - drop bags and wander
Aug. 1: Florence - David and wander
Aug 2: Florence to Pisa early morning and then to La Spezia
Aug 3: Cinque Terre - wander
Aug 4: La Spezia early morning to Rome. Vatican in the afternoon/evening
Aug 5: Rome - Coliseum - wander
Aug 6: Rome to Naples in the early morning - drop bags, Pompeii
Aug 7: Naples ferry to Positano - decide on return to Naples
Aug 8: Morning in Naples to Rome late morning - drop bags - wander
Aug 9: Fly home at 9:40 am

[Higgs]

For me that's too much movement in too short a time. Lots of traveling and lots of checking in and then checking out. But then again, I am yet to travel Italy and am having the same issues around planning our trip in September.

We've decided to actually do less and "wander" more. In our case that's hiring a car to do 3 days through the Dolomites and a separate 3 day car trip about Tuscany.

I do appreciate that you are managing to hit a lot of "must do's" in a short trip though.

[Higgs]

I asked my Italian uncle-in-law who's been back to Italy 4 times to review our planned itinerary and he came back with a ton of suggestions. Trouble was he took our 28 day trip and turned it into a 3 month trip with things like "stay 7 nights at La Spezia to really soak up the Italian experience".

So all very interesting advice but useless as tits on a bull in the end.

I do find that reading through the "Let's Go Italy" book that every page has 15 things you "can't miss" and it all gets so overwhelming. So we decided to put away the "Let's Go Italy" book.

I like your idea of "wandering around". That's a winner right there for sure.

[tragabigzanda]

There is a wolf in me . . . fangs pointed for tearing gashes . . . a red tongue for raw meat . . . and the hot lapping of blood—I keep this wolf because the wilderness gave it to me and the wilderness will not let it go.

There is a fox in me . . . a silver-gray fox . . . I sniff and guess . . . I pick things out of the wind and air . . . I nose in the dark night and take sleepers and eat them and hide the feathers . . . I circle and loop and double-cross.

There is a hog in me . . . a snout and a belly . . . a machinery for eating and grunting . . . a machinery for sleeping satisfied in the sun—I got this too from the wilderness and the wilderness will not let it go.

There is a fish in me . . . I know I came from salt-blue water-gates . . . I scurried with shoals of herring . . . I blew waterspouts with porpoises . . . before land was . . . before the water went down . . . before Noah . . . before the first chapter of Genesis.

There is a baboon in me . . . clambering-clawed . . . dog-faced . . . yawping a galoot's hunger . . . hairy under the armpits . . . here are the hawk-eyed hankering men . . . here are the blonde and blue-eyed women . . . here they hide curled asleep waiting . . . ready to snarl and kill . . . ready to sing and give milk . . . waiting—I keep the baboon because the wilderness says so.

There is an eagle in me and a mockingbird . . . and the eagle flies among the Rocky Mountains of my dreams and fights among the Sierra crags of what I want . . . and the mockingbird warbles in the early forenoon before the dew is gone, warbles in the underbrush of my Chattanoogas of hope, gushes over the blue Ozark foothills of my wishes—And I got the eagle and the mockingbird from the wilderness.

O, I got a zoo, I got a menagerie, inside my ribs, under my bony head, under my red-valve heart—and I got something else: it is a man-child heart, a woman-child heart: it is a father and mother and lover: it came from God-Knows-Where: it is going to God-Knows-Where—For I am the keeper of the zoo: I say yes and no: I sing and kill and work: I am a pal of the world: I came from the wilderness.

[Bammer]

I’ve been to Italy 3-4 times (that includes twice as an adult).

I guess it’s cool to say I’ve been to Venice but I don’t like it.

I could live in Florence. Absolutely love it.

Have not been to the Amalfi Coast (nor south of Rome at all for that matter) and that’s what I want to do next time.

[spike]

Italy’s a vibe.

[spike]

But also has endless amazing things to actually seek out and see. Tough to get your arms around.

[wease]

I’ve been to Italy 3-4 times (that includes twice as an adult).

I guess it’s cool to say I’ve been to Venice but I don’t like it.

I could live in Florence. Absolutely love it.

Have not been to the Amalfi Coast (nor south of Rome at all for that matter) and that’s what I want to do next time.

This is basically our itinerary.

[96583UP]

whenever in Piazza del popolo, think of Chris H_2

[E.H. Ruddock]

That itinerary looks exhausting. And no Bologna!

[daft twat]

That itinerary looks exhausting. And no Bologna!

I’ve been to Bologna. I don’t remember anything other than a famous dead guy was buried there.
I’ve also been to Assisi and loved it, but we don’t have time for everything.

I understand this looks exhausting, but we’ve done extensive road trips with much longer travel time between places. We did a week in Cozumel on our last vacation. It was nice to have a home base we stayed at, but my kids don’t want to lie around on a beach for more than a couple hours. Conversely, they’re happy to sit around and look at their phones in a hotel room. Fuck that. They can look at those on the trains and see a bunch of amazing shit in between.

[96583UP]

i am def a one town per week guy at this point

not doing extra logistics is a feature of my current travel style

and thank heavens for uber as well

hopefully retired from the agony of attempting to navigate some other country's urban transit or roadway system

[doug rr]

I'm at the point where we've been to a lot of places and just enjoy staying at a nice hotel and watching tv in different time zones

[96583UP]

yup i am def a sucker to pay more for a nicer hotel with a comfy bed / quieter atmosphere

[epilogue]

I'm at the point where we've been to a lot of places and just enjoy staying at a nice hotel and watching tv in different time zones

aw huh

Wife and I have been veering this way for a while now. But it got cemented for me on last month's trip to Kentucky. I tried to save some money and the place was... interesting.

[Higgs]

On that note, we left booking a lot of our accommodation for the upcoming Italy trip a tad too late and are currently getting fully reamed on prices for anything decent.

The failing Australian peso, the lateness of our bookings, and a seemingly toxic aversion to any accommodation that isn't at least 4 star or "so amazing" is costing us dearly.

We originally budgeted $300 aud a night but I upped that to $400 aud as backpacker hostels weren't gonna get it done.

We are staying on Santorini for 4 nights at the end of the trip before flying home from Athens. I knew that was gonna be expensive AF, but that wasn't a problem. It's all the Italian accommodation that's hurting.