Larry & Margie,

Thanks so much for getting your trip report posted! Love the detail, very helpful.

I will be follwing the link to your adventures with your Garmin. I have an older model and purchased the W. European map recently. So far, not happy. It seems the search function is a major puzzle, and only finds sites by just searching for the most broad category. So far, most of the places I am staying and/or want to see, it can't seem to locate at all. :-(

I should note that I am trying to use their "Base Camp" feature. But I'll reserve further comments and questions until I read your other post.

Was the Sicily off-line app truly off-line? No roaming data charges? Sorry if that's a stupid question, but this will be my first trip with a Smartphone in Europe. I also have the Samsung Galazy III - love it!

Your flights were booked with Delta, but were Alitalia code shares? Coming from Utah, I have to make 2 connections. Alitalia flys only the Rome-Palermo leg, so I'm hoping for the best. Now you are making me a bit concerned.

Glad to hear you mostly enjoyed your trip. Thanks again in for all the details!

Dayle

Hi, Dayle,

I'm not familiar with the "Base Camp" feature on the Garmin. I love the GPS in general, but you still need to be aware of where you are, have good maps, and use your common sense. See my blog entry "Recalculating!", if you haven't already. It's at http://ljkrakauer.com/LJK/00s/recalculating.htm . You can see a picture of "American Jill", the lady inside!

Yes, Sicily off-line was truly off-line. It had to be for me, because I had no data plan in Italy. My connection to the web was only available where I had Wi-Fi. I recommend Sicily offline. In my Android "Play store" it's called "Offline Map Sicily, Italy". The icon looks like a globe. I think there was a small charge for it, but I forget how much. It's NOT "Sicily Offline mappa Map" for $0.99, which I haven't tried.

Actually, I COULDN'T have a data plan. My Samsung Galaxy S III is a Verizon version. Verizon uses CDMA, not the GSM that's used in Europe. It's said that the hardware, even the Verizon version, is capable of GSM, and it will be made available with a software update at some point. But I've had the phone for almost six months now, and that update hasn't come along.

So I carried an entirely separate phone in Italy - a basic Motorola C123 with a SIM card from OneSimCard.com. Actually, we carried two of them - I had one and Margie had one. That made her feel more comfortable going our separate ways from time to time, which we don't do that often, but do every now and then.

Even if the Verizon phone gets activated in Europe, I may still carry a separate phone, because the Verizon roaming charges are pretty steep, and OneSimCard or other options are much cheaper. There are other possibilities, like getting the Galaxy unlocked and putting a local SIM card in it, but I haven't looked into that. And that also depends on this alleged software update to make the phone work on GSM networks, and I'll believe that when I see it. Samsung won't give a date on it.

Our flights were fine - it was only the seat assignments they messed up. Every time. I don't think Alitalia will really give you advance seating on the Rome-Palermo leg anyway, and it's not that long. Get to the airport early, and you should be OK (I hope you have enough connection time in Rome).

We enjoyed our trip very much. It wasn't our all-time favorite, partly because we prefer to move around less, but as our first time in Sicily, we wanted to sample various places.

- Larry

Thanks for the answer Larry. I went looking for the offline app and found the MAPPA one. I'll look further for the one you used.

I do have a good detailed Michelin map and a very good sense of direction. I'm a good map reader, but wanted the speaking directions option because I'm driving solo! I'm just expecting to make a lot of u turns and enroute checking....

I agree with you on the moving around a lot. I'm doing the same as I know this will be my only Sicily trip. I have 3 1/2 weeks and wish I had 5.

I wasn't concerned about the seat assignments for the Rome-Palermo leg. Just the longer legs for which I paid extra for economy comfort. Hope it's worth it. I also paid extra to get the flights I wanted, rather than the humanly impossible connection times the airlines "package". Now I just hope for the best.

I've been looking forwad to this trip for many years and think it's going to be one of the very best for me!

Ciao!

Visit Sicily! One of the best region in Italy! Visit Eolie islands, Milazzo! Visit it!

Dayle (Margie here), the flights were booked through Delta ( yes, it was a codeshare) because we had a coupon from a seating snafu the year before on a flight to/from France. We were extra careful for this flight to Sicily calling both airlines multiple times. Since Delta was involved with both set of flights, we suspect that at least part of the problem lies with them, but Alitalia seemed just incredibaly clueless at each stage of the flights. As an example, at one point in Boston before our first flight, the Alitalia representative said that the airport alitalia uses a different computer system than the telephone representatives. Huh?

Like you, we were most concerned about the cross Atlantic flights, but, in the end, it all worked out just fine.

By the way, last year, when we had the orginal problem with the seating at Logan ( Boston), the only seats we could get together were the extra priced more room seats. They were excellent and well worth the extra fees.

As Larry said above, we love Italy and, in general, are more amused than annoyed by their "casual" approach. Larry's Italian is rather excellent, and his fluency in French and his knowledge of Spanish help in all our travels. We work hard to read about the cultures of the places we are visiting and to respect and understand the perceived oddities of any society. Each tinme we travel, we learn something new.

Looking back, I really enjoyed our visit to Sicily and would go back another time to visit those areas we either missed or particularly liked. I would chose to go in cooler weather, either early in spring or late in the fall, but then we might have to deal with rainy seasons. It's alwasy a balance. As I said, we are thinking of going back to provence to see the lavander and because we get drawn to the area again and again. On the other hand, the lavander blooms in July, and provence is very hpot and dry during the summer months. We'll have to sort it out soon.

In the mean time, we are awaiting the arival of our first grand daughter in ealry March and I'm finding I don't want to plan anything for travel too close to our daughter's delivery. My daugher and her husband are huge travelers. We are all starting a new voyage.

thanks for your PS, Margie.

and good luck in your family's new "journey".

Thanks Margie! My trip is April-May. Hoping for nice temps, wildflowers and green scenery!

Good to know the extra $ for the "economy comfort" seats are worth it.

Congrats on the soon to be grandchild.

Dayle

Margie, we visited Sicily the last week of March/very beginning of April and had a marvelous time. I do not like hot weather--in fact I have been putting off a dreamed-of trip to southern Spain because I can't seem to schedule a holiday at work during a coolish time in Andalucia. So I can certainly relate.

FWIW, we only hand one afternoon of light rain/drizzle while we toured Sicily.

Again, thanks for the report. Enjoy the grandbaby when she arrives!

Larry and Margie, thx so much. Very helpful for our upcoming Sicily Trip.
Dayle, we don't leave until mid-May so counting on you to post your TR quickly.

Alison,

I won't be back until mid-May. You might not see my report until about May 17ish.

There have been some great trip reports here that convinced me I just had to get to Sicily. Bob's "Navigating Sicily" and thursdays', "Creamy Cannoli, Crumbling Palazzos...." plus others. Bob convinced me to see Sicily and thursday convinced me I had to see Erice. Appriliacs got me set on the Aeolian Islands definitely!

Thanks everyone!

I read the same trip reports. Bob the Navigator's report was in my Sicily file for 7 years. We leave May 19 so will check before we go or from the road to read Dayle's TR.