What else to I need to do before my vacation?
Feb 24th, 2006, 02:16 PM
#1
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What else to I need to do before my vacation?
My husband and I are going to Italy this May. We are staying in Rome,then taking the train to Florence, then the bus to Siena. We have all our hotels laid out, flight plans, and the car rental. At the risk of sounding nieve, what else do I need to do? I have ordered a map for driving in Tuscany already, so what other kind of research/purchases/reservations should I plan for ahead of time?
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!
Feb 24th, 2006, 02:20 PM
#2
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Hi D,
Uffizi and Academia Museum Reservations
The easiest and cheapest way is to call Florence 1016868 (dial around number), 011 (U.S. international access code) 39 (Italy's country code) then 055-294-883 8:30-18:30 M-F and 8:30-12:00 Sat. Florence time. You will get an English speaking operator and in 2-3 minutes YOU CAN RESERVE FOR BOTH. This is through the reservation service at the Uffizi and costs beyond the normal entry fee only about 3 euro for the service. This is MUCH cheaper than the commercial booking services.
You will not be charged for the reservations unless you use them.
Bring a compass.
Uffizi and Academia Museum Reservations
The easiest and cheapest way is to call Florence 1016868 (dial around number), 011 (U.S. international access code) 39 (Italy's country code) then 055-294-883 8:30-18:30 M-F and 8:30-12:00 Sat. Florence time. You will get an English speaking operator and in 2-3 minutes YOU CAN RESERVE FOR BOTH. This is through the reservation service at the Uffizi and costs beyond the normal entry fee only about 3 euro for the service. This is MUCH cheaper than the commercial booking services.
You will not be charged for the reservations unless you use them.
Bring a compass.
Feb 24th, 2006, 02:21 PM
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You could make dinner reservations if you have plans for any special places.
You could make entry reservations for some of the key museums in Rome and Florence, but I can't say which of them.
You could reserve a shuttle from the airport if that was something you wanted to use.
In Italy, are you required to take the CDW insurance on the car rental? If not, you might look into how you plan to insure yourself.
Have you determined how you will be paying as you go? If you want to use cash (rather than create debt) you could open a free checking acct, fund it, and use their ATM/Debit card to withdraw cash at the ATM and to pay for purchases/hotel/restaurants etc. Most credit unions do not pass more than the Visa 1% fee on debit cards.
Do you have a loose itinerary or a list of the sights/museums etc. that are important to you, so you can prioritize as you go?
You could make entry reservations for some of the key museums in Rome and Florence, but I can't say which of them.
You could reserve a shuttle from the airport if that was something you wanted to use.
In Italy, are you required to take the CDW insurance on the car rental? If not, you might look into how you plan to insure yourself.
Have you determined how you will be paying as you go? If you want to use cash (rather than create debt) you could open a free checking acct, fund it, and use their ATM/Debit card to withdraw cash at the ATM and to pay for purchases/hotel/restaurants etc. Most credit unions do not pass more than the Visa 1% fee on debit cards.
Do you have a loose itinerary or a list of the sights/museums etc. that are important to you, so you can prioritize as you go?
Feb 24th, 2006, 02:29 PM
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just for fun, from your computer you can listen to italian at www.learnitalianpod.com they have podcasts for ipod users (we are buying one which is how I discovered this site) but even if you don't have an ipod, you can stream the pod cast on your computer. They are cute, very short lessons and fun to listen to. We speak italian but always start listening to Italian daily months before a trip just to brush up. And we have comcast digital cable, and subscribe to RAI, the Italian channel for $10 a month. We try to watch an hour or so of italian tv daily - again just to keep sharp on our language skills.
Feb 24th, 2006, 02:34 PM
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I am sorry to be vague, but when my mom and I were in Florence this summer, we heard about a tour, but could not book it. It is Hidden, or perhaps Secret Florence and involves going through the Ponte Vecchio and seeing a lot of stuff normally out of sight to tourists. I am sure someone on this board knows what I am talking about.
Claire
Claire
Feb 24th, 2006, 02:38 PM
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Thank you very much for the wonderful suggestions. Seems like once all the big stuff is done, you can just relax a little bit. Our passports are ready to go, I'll make reservations for the museums, restaurants we'll worry about when we get there and I'll request an International Driver's License before we leave. Ahh - I can't wait.
Feb 24th, 2006, 05:45 PM
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The only thing I can think of is
1:get xerox cc of front and back of all cc you are taking and 1st page of passport to leave at home and take a cc with you. Add cc international emergency tele # in case card is lost and you need to call from Europe.
2: call cc(s) company customer service and notify them you are going to be using cc in Europe/& dates of trip. This should prevent them putting hold on cc when odd "not normal" charges from a new area of world start showing up on their records..
(This has happened to friend of mine...no cc for balance of trip; no one was at home when cc person called to ck on European charges...of course not, they were off in Europe on vacation! LOL...had the message on their answering machine when they returned)
1:get xerox cc of front and back of all cc you are taking and 1st page of passport to leave at home and take a cc with you. Add cc international emergency tele # in case card is lost and you need to call from Europe.
2: call cc(s) company customer service and notify them you are going to be using cc in Europe/& dates of trip. This should prevent them putting hold on cc when odd "not normal" charges from a new area of world start showing up on their records..
(This has happened to friend of mine...no cc for balance of trip; no one was at home when cc person called to ck on European charges...of course not, they were off in Europe on vacation! LOL...had the message on their answering machine when they returned)
