Ischia Earthquake/mobile wifi

Old Aug 22nd, 2017, 04:57 PM
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Ischia Earthquake/mobile wifi

Hello,

We are scheduled to be in Ischia next week. The house we rented is in one of the most affected towns. Communications with the owner last night is that they were ok post earthquake, but that I probably shouldn't travel there and he'd give me more news soon. I just sent him another message via Airbnb and am waiting to hear back.

I also emailed Caremar, as we bought our costly car ferry ticket already. Does anyone have any experience with Airbnb, natural disasters and refunds? Ferry refunds?

Also with the car I opted for mobile wifi, is it better this way or to get wifi via my at&t phone here in the states? Both options seem to be about $10 us per day.

Thank you
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Old Aug 22nd, 2017, 08:55 PM
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do you have travel insurance? That should cover everything.

Just a guess, but I imagine the airbnb host is going to be very cooperative about refunding your money. A big company like Careemar might be more time consuming.

I think this is one of those siutations where you need to realize you were personally quite fortunate that you were not already on the island when this happened. Even if you were not killed or injured or right where things were collapsing, you would have found yourself caught up in a very unpleasant siutation. I hope you get the money refunded & I hope finding and paying for alternate lodgings elsewhere is not too difficult for you. But in reality, you had already spent money you could afford to spend, and while it is too bad you didn't get what you paid for, you are one lucky person.
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Old Aug 22nd, 2017, 09:03 PM
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one more thought: I think I've heard that if you don't have travel insurance, the cost of transportation tickets are sometimes covered by credit card companies if you paid for them with a credit card. That might include ferry tickets if true.
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Old Aug 22nd, 2017, 10:26 PM
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I think you will certainly get your money back from Airbnb. The cancellation policies are well established, and Airbnb tries to be flexible, IME.

I do not think, however, you should expect anything from Airbnb to do with travel expenses. You will get your funds back, except for the fees, of course.

I do not mean to be snarky, AP6380, but your post came across wrong. Perhaps it was inadvertent, but wording seemed to indicate you cared more about your ticket refund than you did about the poor Greeks (and your landlord) standing in streets full of rubble. Being an Airbnb host I would appreciate a bit of sympathy if I were in that situation.
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Old Aug 23rd, 2017, 03:19 AM
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My exchanges with the owner have be very thoughtful- thank you. As this is a travel site I didn't feel the need to express how sad I am for the people of the Italian Island of Ischia. He states he is finding us alternate lodgings on the island, I am trying to figure out how I feel about that. From what I see in the news, the damage was localized to two towns.
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Old Aug 23rd, 2017, 03:23 AM
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Ischia is in Italy, not Greece. I don't think the original poster was obliged to talk about anything other than the questions for which they were seeking the assistance of social media, faced with a sudden rearrangement of their trip.

Wouldn't assume they haven't already expressed sympathy to the Italians with whom they spoke, etc. In fact, the original post suggests to me they did.
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Old Aug 23rd, 2017, 09:25 AM
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As a matter of fact, almost the first words of the post indicate that the owners of the lodging are OK, which comes across to me as showing concern for the people ahead of the money.

At least none of that sappy and insincere stuff about "thoughts and prayers".

The damage was indeed very local, and even in the most affected towns, it was limited to certain buildings. It was really a minor earthquake, and damage seems out of proportion to its magnitude. Italian newspapers are accusing substandard construction of some of the buildings. However, it's too early to point fingers, in my opinion.

I myself wouldn't hesitate to visit the island.

I don't know what the mobile wifi option on a car rental means. It may mean that they include some sort of portable wifi (mifi) device with the rental. In that case, it might be cheaper, and more versatile (because you could also use it to make local calls) to buy a cheap unlocked GSM Android phone (on Amazon or EBay) and a local SIM card (when you get to Italy). You can use the phone to create a hotspot, which is the same as a portable wifi device.
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Old Aug 23rd, 2017, 09:37 AM
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I believe it is a mifi. I will switch my iphone to wifi calling like I did in the Bahamas, and I was able to make and receive calls normally. For Italian calls, I could use Whatsapp.

The owner of the house in Ischia is looking for an alternate house for us, and said he would get back to us tonight. So, hopefully, in a different area clearly and along the same lines as his house is. I am leaning towards going. Thank you all.
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Old Aug 23rd, 2017, 10:50 AM
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It should be easy to find an alternative house, I would think.

On tonight's evening news, they showed ferries unloading tourists in Ischia, sunbathers under umbrellas on the beach. They interviewed people who were there during the earthquake and decided to stay. Of course, they do these interviews to reassure people and to avoid adding economic damage to the structural damage. However, the photos and videos were real.

We were in our summer home in southern Le Marche when last year's devastating (6.5 on the Richter scale, if I remember correctly) earthquake hit. We spent most of the night outside, but we decided to stay even though our year-round home is only about a 1 1/2 hour's drive from there. Driving through the area in the succeeding days, there were few signs of the damage. Even in the towns with the most damage, you could go a few miles away and everything seemed normal.
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Old Aug 23rd, 2017, 12:20 PM
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The owner of the house cancelled on me and will give me a full refund. Now I'm seeing about the ferry cancellation. Now I am looking for a place between Calabria and Naples. If the ferry won't refund, I am seeing if maybe they will replace it with a ticket to Procida.
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Old Aug 23rd, 2017, 12:32 PM
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If you do still want to go to Ischia, and I would highly recommend it, we were just there in early July and stayed in Sant'Angelo, which is all the way south. All of the earthquake damage is in the northern part of Ischia, from what I've gathered. We stayed at Hotel Casa Celestino and it couldn't have been lovelier and the staff couldn't have been more welcoming. Give it a shot.
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Old Sep 11th, 2017, 10:12 AM
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Just as a follow-up, we did go. It was great and the roads even right near the affected towns were fine. We did stay in Sant'Angelo. Our Airbnb was very convenient as we could walk into the town. Although you must park outside the town.
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Old Sep 11th, 2017, 11:02 AM
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AP6380, thanks so much for following up with your post and outcome. I'm happy to hear that you had a great trip.
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