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In March.
Tuscany (Montecatini, Cinque Terre, La Spezia, Sierna, San Gimignano), Florence, Rome, Capri(!) and Pompei.
Any suggestions for things I must see or go?
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Fantastico!
I haven't been to Italy in decades. My areas of expertise [Image Can Not Be Found] are the cheaper-to-travel countries (vs. E.U. or U.K.).
A tour? Independently? If going solo (with friends), itineraries on budget tours are a guick&dirty way to learn an area's must-sees.
For example:
1990s trips were independent (+ husband), low budget travel that *I* (alone) planned with Lonely Planet Guides (pre-internet). Couldn't have done it without LP.
2000s trips all budget tours as husband didn't want to go. (he wanted to nest! in one place! and besides, he was working)
2011-> time will tell. Postponed next trip (conflict w/ grandchild's due date) will be in Sept. to China & Tibet.
My fav guidebook series, hands down, is Lonely Planet. This series is especially strong on DIY. Learning one secret shortcut, one money saving hint, one hidden delight, will pay for the cost of the book. And the books are HUGE. What I did (it may greatly pain your book-loving genes) using an X-acto knife to neatly cut [Image Can Not Be Found], is bring only those chapters/pages that we would be visiting. Otherwise, I'd be lugging around full country guides numbering 300-400+ pages. Nowadays, LP guides have become so humongous that regional guides are more widely published.
What else? I have 100s of hints learned over trials and error, fiasco and success. [Image Can Not Be Found]
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Toger, you will love it. If you mean Siena, (and not Sierna,) definitely hit the pastries hard. You can smell the sugar from all the bakeries at dawn. Siena is a real interesting, spooky place with little chapels built into the city walls and some very quirky stuff going on. Florence is nuts with tourists year round. What I did was find a couple of little restaurants I liked and then went back to them over and over and eventually the owners began to recognize me. At one place they started seating us in the back with the locals where we got better service and better company.
It's been so long that of course I can't remember the name of anything but we hit the Cinque Terre too. Mostly hiked there and swam in the sea. Sounds like you are making the rounds. If you can take the crowds and like the art do check out the big usual spots in Florence but I had a lot more fun befriending locals in little out of the way spots but that takes staying somewhere for a week or two. If the weather is nice, Florence has wonderful big parks where you can wander for hours and picnic. Italians are gregarious and once they see you aren't an ugly american they will practically adopt you. This was in the early 90s though. Don't know what they think of people from the US these days.
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Yes, I did mean Siena… can't type for shit anymore.
We're using a smallish tour company & based on the itinerary several days to wander on our own so I'll definitely need guiding. Most of our time will be in Florence & Cinque Terre. It'll be a combo of people I know (3 friends are going) and don't know.
Um, Yap.. cutting pages out of books?!! [Image Can Not Be Found] I can't even bring myself to dog-ear pages. Are you mad? [Image Can Not Be Found] If I'm lucky digital versions will exist as I'm taking my Kindle and iPhone with me. I'll definitely look into the Lonely Planet series. My plan is to gorge myself on fabulous pastries, food, coffee, cheese and limoncello for the entire 10 days.
*edit: Ooo! Lonely Planet has digital chapers in .pdf format. Brilliant!
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Hey Tog, meet up in JFK?
Daughter who changed mind at 11 o'clock biological time about never wanting children is due April 29 thus delaying China/Tibet until Fall (originally planned for Spring cause I avoid travel in "high time" summer).
Late yesterday I emailed a single line to my trip partner, how about Turkey in March? Her one word reply: "OK." [Image Can Not Be Found]
Her first time, my fourth to Turkey. A great place to visit except for the less than perfect weather in March. It's the going somewhere, not the anywhere in particular that we seek. Plus bargain rates. And destinations that don't require 24->36 hrs in transit.
Ten years ago she was a traveling neophyte. Today's comment after checking flight details, "Look, it's only nine hours to Istanbul."
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Deal! When in March are you going? We're flying out of JFK late on the 12th.
That's what I need - a travelling buddy - who'll put up with my dislike of heat, bugs and dirt. [Image Can Not Be Found]
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Have either of you read Honeymoon in Purdah? Just re-reread it. Makes me want to visit Iran every time.
grooowrrrr! [menace menace] rrrrowwwr!
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Nope, Finkbug. Stoning & flogging, chador & hijab, pervasive purdah. Not a place I-as-female care to visit. [Image Can Not Be Found]
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The author's experience of being there as a woman is what makes it such a good read. She traveled with a male friend and they pretended to be on their honeymoon. He was her beard. In public things got dodgy but everywhere they went they'd be pulled into peoples' homes and treated wonderfully. Wine and Kenny Loggins CDs (okay, that part not wonderful) pulled out of the floorboards to celebrate the visitors. Chadors removed and giggling women asking her if she had ever been to Victoria's Secret.
The thermocline between public and private is why I want to visit. The place is a storm cloud waiting for the crack of thunder signifying the cooling rain. Turkey, which I'd also love to visit, is, and I'm only guessing, the safer version of the same frisson in the Islamic world.
Or: damn envious of both your trips! Have a ball! [Image Can Not Be Found]
grooowrrrr! [menace menace] rrrrowwwr!
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Paranoia: persecutory beliefs concerning a perceived threat towards oneself. Historically, this characterization was used to describe any delusional state.
In some parts of the world the threat isn't delusional. Hard to describe except that it's a soul crushing environment that one must experience to appreciate. Hidden moments of rebellion do not compensate. At the end of the day, one might get caught. With no forgiveness. Nor civil courts of justice or rule of law.
Returning to happier thoughts: Toger, I'll pass your inward bound on my way out. We leave March 24.
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who'll put up with my dislike of heat, bugs and dirt.
I'm all yours, Toger. Svalbard?
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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I just know Steerpike and I would make good travelling buddies. We'd spend much of it kvetching about the abysmal conditions and how it's too damn hot to go sight-seeing. [Image Can Not Be Found]
Svalbard is too damn cold! WTH is wrong with you? [Image Can Not Be Found]
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I thought you didn't like heat!
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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I don't like heat, but I dislike freezing my ass off just as much!
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Well, your definition of heat and mine probably differ. I like it below 60. It's depressing how few places in the world are consistently below 60. Alternatively, I am comfortable in much higher temperatures, so long as there's a constant breeze. CONSTANT.
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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Give me 85º with a 3MPH wind and mostly sun and I am in heaven. I've the same problem Steerpike has...no place I know of where my preference can be had 365 days a year - and not be in the tropics or a swamp.
"…you just keep on trying 'til you run out of cake."
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SF generally hovers around 55 and that's quite comfy. The perfect range for me is between 50 and 72... Moderate in all its moderation. Warmer than 72, I'm in agreement about the constant breeze...
And refreshing beverages...
And a large body of warmish water (the Pacific is not warm until you get to Mexico. There's a reason all those SoCal surfers are in wetsuits)
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Sheesh, you two are either retired or independently wealthy!
Wish I could go to Turkey 4 times!! I have traveled NOWHERE. Been to fuck-all. Excluding the stupid island places that everyone goes to.
If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever
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55 F is comfy?
Damn, girl, that is coat weather. Maybe even a hat & scarf!
Turkey in late March will be rainy, 30s-40s-50s-60s. Lots of climates, mountains to Mediterrean.
In all likelihood I wll freeze.
On the other hand, prices are likewise low (at that time of year).
I am a SF born transplanted Southerner with environmentally induced thin blood. For me, SF has 355 days of winter. Except in Autumn when it gets WARM (ok, HOT). But many windows are not built to be opened due to the other 355 days of winter. And those ten days of WARMTH (ok, HEAT) causes one to ponder why the Bay Area has not yet discovered AC.
In truth, I find SF (and the Bay Area) just a bit too twee. Or perhaps, it is because after decades I feel as though I am preceived - quite reasonably - as a dyed in the wool Redneck. [Image Can Not Be Found][Image Can Not Be Found] [Image Can Not Be Found]
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55F is not comfy, it's perfect. That's what heaven will be, and I will wear t-shirts. Largely because I'll be in hell, but still.
Xtal, now that Toger and I are traveling buddies you should join us. We're going to Svalbard!
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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