lauramsgarden

As long as our covid tests come back negative, we take off for Italy on Monday. Our itinerary is 2 nights Bellagio, 4 nights Venice, 6 nights Tuscany (including Siena and Florence) and 5 nights Rome.
Question one: When I went to Verizon to set travel plan for the trip they seemed much more loosey goosey than in the past (no instructions for switching phone once we arrive) we both have Samsung phones with "world" capability. Has anyone from the states had any trouble using Verizon or Samsung phones in Europe?

Question two: we've arranged guides/tickets for the ancient Rome sites as well as the Vatican. Are there any other sites you would recommend getting tickets in advance for (i.e. Doge's palace in Venice). We did decide to skip the Uffizi since we only have one day scheduled in Florence and there are so many other things we want to see.

with any luck I will be posting trip report soon. Grazie

agedude

You really need advance tickets for the Borghese Gallery in Rome and the I suggest getting them for the Doria Pamphlij Viila. The Doria is not as well known, but it's pretty spectacular in my opinion.
Two beautiful churches are overlooked gems near the Parthenon and are great places to get away from the crowd. St Maria Sopra Minerva is almost right behind it and the Church of St Louis of the French is only a couple hundred yards northwest.

bilboburgler

Samsung not a problem. Your Comms supplier, no idea, but if it were 10 million Americans would have kicked up a storm. So I'm guessing it works.

Don't forget a charger and a USB cable ( useful in cars and buses for charging). Also bring conversion thingy for charger to local European socket.

Traveler_Nick

The possible issue is something like 5G. Your phone may not be using the same frequencies that Verizon's roaming partner uses. If your phone isn't 5G I doubt you'd even notice.

MaineGG

In 2020 we used the $10/day Verizon Travel Pass plan with both a Samsung phone and an iPhone. Signed up for the plan with Verizon before leaving the U.S. and simply started using the phones in Europe as we would normally. Don't recall having to "switch" anything. It worked well and we were charged only for those days when we used the phones. Enjoy your trip!

https://www.verizon.com/plans/intern...l/travel-pass/

lauramsgarden

Thanks Bilboburgler - I've been combing my dusty travel gadgets, decided last minute to get another conversion thingy since I wasn't sure if what we had was adequate. I was thinking the same thing about no "storm" is good news. Just don't want to get there and not be able to make calls but guess we will make it all work.

Traveler Nick - I was thinking it might be the 5G thingy. My new phone is 5G, my husbands is older so we shall see.

raincitygirl

I second the Borghese Gallery in Rome, in Venice the Peggy Guggenheim Collection is worth seeing and it's timed ticketing so suggest getting those in advance. Open daily from 10 to 6 and closed on Tuesday.

lauramsgarden

Got the tickets to the Borghese - so excited. I think we'll leave the rest of the time unstructured - thanks

Paqngo

No sure if you have the maps.me app it is a great one. I have Verizon and paid $100/ month for the time we were gone for one phone.