Timlin

Great report but we need more!!!

It was in Ireland that I experienced the biggest "Oh my God who would imagine I'm actually here"! feeling. I loved Italy and Rome (especially enjoyed our day in Pompeii)and I love reading about your experiences.

Please continue.

excited_confused

I was just going through this trip report & realized that I had never finished! It is too old to revive now but if anybody wants any information about our drive through Siena to Venice & then the stay in Venice & Bellagio, please let me know & I will be happy to oblige. Siena was amazing, the Duomo was breathtaking but so was the one in Milan, However I found the interior of the one in Siena incomparable.Anyway, I would love to go back, debating between Bali & the Amalfi coast for next summer, God willing!

YvonneT

Yes, please. I'm sure there are lots of people, aside from me, who want to hear the rest. (For me, especially Venice.)

And, did you ever get that folder back?

docdan

I do believe the ATM issue may have been simply trying to withdraw too much per transaction - I had a similar problem when trying to wtrhdraw 300 E adn found that jsut lowering it to 250 E fixed the problem. Anyone else have that experience? in going from US to Europe?

kwren

I'm enjoying your trip report, especially since I just booked flights for our trip to Italy next summer! We'll be in Rome at the end of the trip so I've already gotten some good pointers.

<<I would love to hear about other trips that did not go smoothly, maybe I will feel better about ours!>>

And to help you feel better, read the first day of my Montserrat trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/community/cari...rip-report.cfm

hikrchick

Yes, I would love to hear about Venice, please! I'm starting the research for my Sept 2011 trip. And I'm glad to know that even with things that go wrong, you had a nice trip. And did you find the folder????

nytraveler

Wow!

It seems to me that a lot of problems were due to dependence on not very efficient technology.

IMHO I never go anywhere without a detailed street map (a driving map if we have a car) - and have never trusted a GPS (have seen them do way too many stupid things even here in NYC). And if you had studied maps in advance most of these problems could have been avoided.

(And that big fortress thing near St Peter's is Castel St Angelo - a fascinating place to visit.

excited_confused

Yes, we had left it in the taxi, the can co dropped it off at our friend's hotel the morning we were leaving Rome so did not help us in Rome at all but at least we had it for the rest of our trip!
Trusting the GPS was definitely a problem. I was familiar with the layout of the cities after looking at numerous maps but the kids were not & after Rome, we always carried maps with us. As far as the mix-up with the taxi, I don;t think any maps would have helped us realize that we were in Pietra Square, not Pieta!
Will try & recreate the rest of it starting tomorrow!