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Hey Yap, I'm going to Italy!
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Yapette
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February 14, 2011 - 11:19 pm
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Scout, first tour I ever took was in 2001 to China – by myself (+ everyone in the tour). 10 days, $999 all inclusive: airfare, meals, hotels, fees, tips, visa, everything. No one on the tour could believe the price as airfare alone US->China is around $900. Price has gone up since then but it's still at least 1/3 less than other companies charge. Another tour was $1099 for 12 days in Thailand. When a weekend in DC costs the same, I'd rather go to Thailand.

Traveling independently, it is impossible to beat what tour companies change for hotel (5 star) + airfare. Some experienced travelers join tours for airfare, hotels & multi-city transport (often domestic flights) & ignore daily activities completely. Or dump parts & rejoin the group on the outbound ride to the airport.

I get antsy if I'm in one place for a year without traveling. And that's coming from someone who never spends a full seven days at one house (4.5/2.5). [Image Can Not Be Found]

 

Toger, just read your latest (last) post. Wouldn't that have been a fine kettle of fish if your pin had made you a penniless beggar. I carry a cc for emergencies but always backup solutions. Plus, *I* have gone to *my* bank & looked up debits cards, and international usage, so *I* am going get me a debit card before my trip. This thread delivers!

Scout
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February 14, 2011 - 11:55 pm
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I would take the train to a town, check into something cheap then spend much of the next day looking for a hotel I liked. Once I paid for a night in this total dive in Siena, found the best hotel in the world a block away and just grabbed my bag and checked in there. Yup, paid double for the night. I was smoking a cigarette on the balcony of my groovy room when the proprietor of the dive comes out onto the balcony across the courtyard of the room I had just deserted. God, the sad look he gave me. I'll never forget it.

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Toger
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February 15, 2011 - 11:23 am
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Yeah, I'd have been in a world o' hurt if'n I had to beg cash from my friends. They'd have shared but I wouldn't have liked it.

What I'm also considering is opening up another checking account – just for the debit card – transfer $$ from main checking and ING account and use that card in Italy. That way, I don't totally blow my entire checking account while in Italy. I may skip down to the branch down the street from work during lunch and check into doing that as I'd rather not change my pin. Of course that means having to maintain the second checking account to avoid fees and that could be a PITA. [Image Can Not Be Found]

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Yapette
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February 15, 2011 - 12:17 pm
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Travelers checks may seem old skool, but they are instant cash (hotels/banks) & replaced if lost/stolen. Couple of large denominations tucked away in a place separate from your main money/cards/passport/tickets can be comforting.

Planning your first Big Away can be daunting. So many details, so much to learn, constantly wondering about what you haven't considered. During & after you'll learn what could have gone better & plan accordingly on the next Big Away. This is always a next one once the bug has bit. 

I have bins of travel gear accumulated over years of total failures & must-have winners. Country, season, length, accomodations & transportation (5 hr flts vs. 17 hrs [Image Can Not Be Found]) have different needs. By end March you will be a semi-expert on short trips with many hops to coastal Italy in late winter. [Image Can Not Be Found]

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Toger
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February 15, 2011 - 1:34 pm
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The funny thing is I'd planned on getting traveller's checks, but everyone kept saying "oh it's MUCH easier to just use your ATM or CC!" Traveller's checks can be a pain with all the signing (that much I remember) beforehand. My wrist probably won't survive! Plus, there's no fee involved when I use them like there is with the ATM card.

Feh.

I probably won't decide for sure until I'm standing in the Amex office. [Image Can Not Be Found]

And don't get me started on clothes...

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Yapette
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February 15, 2011 - 2:41 pm
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I'm not talking a book of TC, no kidding, signing those is a pain. Maybe 2-3 in $100 denominations. Just for emergencies.

Clothes. [Image Can Not Be Found] No, [Image Can Not Be Found] Or rather, [Image Can Not Be Found] Both outer & inner wear. [Image Can Not Be Found]

How many, what weather, casual vs. frump, how many layers of black & brown can one woman comfortably pile on.

Plus, laundry. My clothes aren't worth the cost of hotel laundering & out of the developing (I'll always think, Third) world, prices are crazy stupid. Self-laundry? How many one-nighters & how many multi? Will clothes dry? (in hot-as-hell countries a mixed blessing – clothes dry in hours on a ceiling fan but you change clothes multi times a day).

Tips from my travels:

1. if planning on washing, bring a flat, pancake universal sink plug. Don't expect sinks to have plugs, or a plug that seals. Plan B is throw clothes in tub and let soapy water do whatever while taking a shower.

2. bring soap powder if thought of clothes washing with shampoo or teeny non-lather hotel bars is unappealing.

3. bring wire or non-weighty hangers (I use plastic throwaways from cheap clothes) & hanger-clips, whatever it takes to hang laundry. Especially when sharing a bathroom with more than one doing laundry. Hangers in many better hotels don't let you take hangers off the rod (so you won't steal 'em) or if you can, they don't have top hook (hook stays on the rod). Plus they're heavy wood. (cheap hotels don't have hangers but that's not you) Some hotels have lines across the bathtub but I find them worthless. Hang a couple of items on the line and it bows/bends down so everything slides to the middle in a clump. Your aim is flexibility so you can hang wet things (beyond obvious tub & towel bars) on floor lamps, window handles, air vents, ceiling fans, light sconces, balcony furniture, wherever they will dry (but please, no dripping or hanging in open windows, gives us self-washers a bad name. [Image Can Not Be Found]).

4. I always map out a trip on a calendar in AM + PM + dinner & hotel blocks. Note tours, meals provided besides breakfast, and especially *transitional travel.* City to city travel can be glossed over in a tour description when in reality it eats up most of a day. Laundry is done when it has more than one night to dry, not always concomitant with my dirties. Plotting out helps me prepare along the road – will I need snacks, amusement for airports & buses, blanket* & pillow for comfort, extra clothes for weather changes, whatever.

* I don't actually bring a blanket but I won't leave home now without a "wrap." That might be a faux pashmina shawl, sarong, sari scarf – a length of fabric that can be used for covering, shivering, napping, etc.

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Spike
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February 15, 2011 - 3:12 pm
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Toger, do you know Rick Steves - maybe from his travel show on PBS?  If not, get to know him.  Check out his free podcasts and inexpensive Apps in iTunes.  I subscribe to a few of his podcasts and have bought some of his Apps.  Check out his travel guides on Amazon.  They are updated each year, and are available for many countries and individual cities.  His web site includes many tips, and he has a store with useful items such as inflatable hangers (Fun for the whole family!)  Many of his items can be had for less on Amazon.

Yap certainly has the travel chops.  As she says, you will learn much from your first trip.  More info is good.  I'm envious.

 

http://www.ricksteves.com//

"…you just keep on trying 'til you run out of cake."

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Toger
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February 15, 2011 - 5:03 pm
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Yap, your knowledge is priceless.

I bought some Woolite in one-use packets to use for the trip. The thought of dragging 8-10 days worth of dirty laundry home makes me itchy. I figure at the very least, I'll have mostly clean underwear when I come home.

The bulk of the trip will be spent in one hotel in Montecatini Terme, so we should be able to do some kind of laundry. My plan is to take as much linen as I can as that dries reasonably fast and doesn't require ironing (wearing it just looks like you slept in it no matter what!) and that should suffice for dinner-wear. We're not required to get "dressed" for dinner but I'll feel better if I'm not sporting jeans 24/7. I'll probably take some of my better "work wear" shirts/blouses to wear for nights out. The rest of the time, I'm trying to hunt down nice shirts (Lands End may be my best bet) that aren't polyester - me not be wearing fake fabric. ick. I do need to track down a faux pashmina... I used to have one but donated it as I never wore it.

I have a lightweight sweater and inexpensive trench that's going, plus a couple pairs of nice flats.

I have a neck pillow, not inflatable (sqishable) but it's okay as it doesn't take up much room.

Flying from NY to Florence I'm wearing sweats. It's a red-eye and attempting to sleep, sitting up, while wearing jeans is insanity.

We're taking the train from Florence to Rome so I can live with jeans.

Spike: yeah, I know of Rick Steves... he kinda creeps me out and I don't know why.[Image Can Not Be Found]

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Yapette
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February 15, 2011 - 7:22 pm
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For you, a shawl may be redundant. You have a full length raincoat.

For me, I carry a thin blazer-like jacket. Habit started after buying said pieces during travels & finding them so useful en route. For over-AC'd planes & buses & terminals. For 8 hr. airport layovers. For under-heated rooms. None of which may be on your trip.

Scout
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February 15, 2011 - 7:37 pm
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Don't rule out neighborhood laundries. Hotel are a crazy rip off but if you have the time ask around and you can often find an inexpensive cleaner that services the locals.

+1 for the thin blazer jacket.

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Yapette
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February 15, 2011 - 9:33 pm
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Scout, you mean a lady with a wash tub & a line tied from here…….all the way to……there? [Image Can Not Be Found]

Amazing thing to experience small time capitalism & entrepreneurship in countries where previously such a thing was shunned, impossible or forbidden.

As for cleaners & laundries requiring, like, piped running water & electrical plugs? I don't think I've ever seen either where I've traveled. Not once. (but then, considering where-all I usually go….)

All teasing Scout aside, he's correct. When many tours & foreigners stay in a hotel, (depending upon neighborhood) often someone has set up laundry services just across the street. In hot, poor countries that is a given. However, since I expect they are beating every item equally on a rock by the river…knits, dainties or chinos & jeans…..I'd rather do it myself. That said, it has always amazed me that no matter the weather, laundry is usually returned the same day it's picked up – washed, dried & folded or ironed.

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Spike
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February 16, 2011 - 12:00 am
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Toger said:

Spike: yeah, I know of Rick Steves… he kinda creeps me out and I don't know why.[Image Can Not Be Found]


He kinda creeped me out when I first saw him years ago.  Looked him up.  He's not shy about his faith (Lutheran, if I remember), and it seems to underpin much of what he does, and the charities he supports and/or started – shelters for homeless women and their children, for example.  But after watching/listening to him for years I realized that either because of, or in spite of, his religious faith, his mind and heart are wide open.  He doesn't shy away from what some might find objectionable.
 

His free video podcasts on Italy are informative.  He also has a couple of inexpensive paid Apps on Italy.  I like them all.  He's really good about mixing the usual touristy stuff with off-the-beaten-path stuff.  He gives you the messy with the pretty.

He did a video series, then a lecture series, on a trip he took to Iran a couple of years ago.  It's also worth watching.

"…you just keep on trying 'til you run out of cake."

Finkbug
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February 16, 2011 - 3:11 am
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I'm with Toger. I get an itchy crawly whenever I hear him. I think it's because his delivery is oddly stilted and so very pleased with itself. Matha Stewart is the same dialed to eleven. Or forty. She has the strangest English language diction and accent this side of Celine Dione's singing.

grooowrrrr! [menace menace] rrrrowwwr!

Jen
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February 16, 2011 - 11:20 am
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Rick Steves definitely has some dark secret, probably involving children or pets.

 

Finky, you can only know how Celine Dione sounds if you listen to her [Image Can Not Be Found]

Scout
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February 16, 2011 - 12:46 pm
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Yeah, after a week of wearing clothes stamped flat in a bathtub and rinsed by hand wringing and hanging and ironing/shower steaming, picking up three clean shirts, a pair of pants and a few changes of underwear/socks in niftly little bundles of paper packages with foreign writing on the top is like the lap of luxury.

I've never traveled in a tour enviroment, so I'm clueless as far as that goes. Do they not let you have access to running water and electricity on tours? 😛

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Toger
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February 16, 2011 - 4:13 pm
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This is my first tour. I'll let you know. [Image Can Not Be Found]

And what Jen said about children and/or pets. That's the vibe I get. I'm sure it's completely untrue, but it's comforting to know I'm not the only one getting it.

And can I just say that trying to get my friends to make timely decisions regarding reservations of hotels/flights to/from NY is like herding cats? Sheesh.

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Yapette
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February 16, 2011 - 4:47 pm
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Usually I fly nonstop from IAH to LAX to catch an afternoon international flight which is one flight on Continental that arrives early enough (even then cutting it sweat-inducingly close). So limited, I've never tried to "beat" the price.

Read that best prices are posted on Tuesdays at 3 pm EST so this trip I ran a test with sample size N=1.

[Image Can Not Be Found] Damnation, positive results!

JetBlue's site RT HOU-JFK was $367. Tuesday with identical flights & days was $282. Yes, I bought. [Image Can Not Be Found]

 

P.S. now I feel comfortable enough to chime in: I netflixed a Rick Steves video, once. Didn't make it past the intro for reasons of creepy crawliness although to be fair, I didn't watch long enough to guess why I found him so icky.

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Toger
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February 16, 2011 - 6:00 pm
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PBS usually runs a Steves marathon during their "begging for dollars"... I mean pledge drive. That's where I've been creeped out.

I asserted myself (no surprise there) and fought for non-stop on JetBlue or Virgin vs my friends wanting to fly Southwest (and its "let's stop everywhere plan") just so she could collect points. JetBlue (and I) won. (and it was cheaper than Southwest)  It's a long enough flight non-stop from SFO to JFK, without going through every two-bit airport from here to there. [Image Can Not Be Found]

I also booked the hotel in NY so there'll be no cheap-ass motels with only one water heater (really happened). The stories I could tell. [Image Can Not Be Found]

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Yapette
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February 18, 2011 - 10:58 pm
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Toger, thought of another most annoying bit of trip prep. Don't know if EU is the same as India, M.E., Far East but if so, be warned. No one, I mean no one (not hotels, money changers, banks, taxis, tuk-tuks, cyclo, restaurants, noodle shops, roadside merchant, vendor of any kind, etc) will take US bills if they are marked or torn.

That means no: 1) rips, 2) cut corners, 3) ballpoint, 4) scribbles, 5) pink pen, 6) faded, 7) worn, 8) flaw beyond clean (not necessarily crisp new).

Believe me, trying to explain that to a bank teller & taking the time it requires to examine each & every bill while holding up a line as you change larger bills into $20s, $10s, $5s, and 100x$1 is not a task to be left until the last minute. [Image Can Not Be Found] [Image Can Not Be Found] [Image Can Not Be Found]

Anyone out there traveled in EU recently & can confirm or deny?

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Toger
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February 19, 2011 - 2:39 pm
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I think I'd heard that somewhere, Yap. Thanks!

My plan is not to use US bills at all while there. Yesterday, I bought a fistful of Euros at the local Amex office. Any big ticket items - say, shoes or handbag. C'mon it's Italy and they do amazing things with leather! -  I'll use either Visa or Amex. My friends are just now considering buying Euros, so I'll mention the thing about flawed dollars and mayhap that will spur them to get their butts in gear. (They far outrank me with regards to procrastination)

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