TUSCANY: What is it? Which parts should YOU visit? How to avoid the hype
Aug 5th, 2010, 09:45 AM
#42
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 16,525
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I,ll be darned--does not surprise---the Forum will be better for it. I hope St. Cirq is back soon--she is one of the best.
About a year ago I called Zeppole on changing post names and she denied it, but the style is hard to miss. Primeranoche was the only name I recall.
About a year ago I called Zeppole on changing post names and she denied it, but the style is hard to miss. Primeranoche was the only name I recall.
Aug 5th, 2010, 09:54 AM
#43
<i>As for all these "bannings", hopefully those involved will use the time off to enjoy life without focusing so much on pointless bickering on a computer, for pete's sake. Of course, I didn't read the comments involved-so maybe the 2 posters said profound things about which I am still blissfully unaware.</i>
Agreed. Although the style of the OP is kind of snotty and rather dogmatic in its own way, she makes some good points. Regardless, I still love the "biggies" in Italy and don't feel that any one kind of trip is more authentic than another (i.e., I don't worship at the temple of Off the Beaten Path for its own sake). But I have absolutely no desire to follow someone's very specific driving itineraries in Italy or France or elsewhere in Europe, especially considering the ages/backgrounds/interests of many posters here diverge wildly from my own. But for those who like such things, enjoy!
Agreed. Although the style of the OP is kind of snotty and rather dogmatic in its own way, she makes some good points. Regardless, I still love the "biggies" in Italy and don't feel that any one kind of trip is more authentic than another (i.e., I don't worship at the temple of Off the Beaten Path for its own sake). But I have absolutely no desire to follow someone's very specific driving itineraries in Italy or France or elsewhere in Europe, especially considering the ages/backgrounds/interests of many posters here diverge wildly from my own. But for those who like such things, enjoy!
Aug 5th, 2010, 12:03 PM
#44
Wow, how did I miss this one????
I would like to lend my incredible expertise below when it comes to traveling in Italy. OK, maybe not incredible nor do I have any expertise, but here they are anyway.
1) If you do not know how to put your rental car in reverse, you can be sure many embarrassing moments are on the near horizon. After pushing our car into our parking space in Spello, every night before I went to sleep for the rest of the trip, I repeated the words, "Pull up on the ring! Pull up on the ring!"
2) When filling up your rental car the first time, take that extra few seconds to make sure it is Super Gas or Diesel. If your car sounds like a bicycle with baseball cards in the spokes after filling up and driving for a few minutes, you can be assured you used the incorrect petrol.
3) If you find yourself suddenly driving in circles on the Trevi town square, immediately get the hell out of town before the locals jot down your license plate number.
4) If a truck is coming straight at you on the wrong side of a two-lane highway, I found closing my eyes and having Mary say a quick prayer in the back seat helped immensely (you may substitute other traveling partners for Mary, however she is available for a price to travel with you).
5) Speaking of Mary, Ambien and Italian red wine do not go together very well.
6) Every wife should watch at least one original Star Trek episode in order to get Tracy's "look" down to perfection when their spouse screws up.
7) For husbands: A good way to keep from getting "the look" is to help your wife with the luggage and not the two cute girls seated adjacent to you on the train (Trust me on that one guys).
8) Most Importantly - When you do screw up (and you probably will), don't let it bother you. I find that two glasses of red wine (sans Ambien) and a good sense of humor make most miscues seem not so bad and sometimes, in retrospect, they can be very funny.
Hope this helps.
I would like to lend my incredible expertise below when it comes to traveling in Italy. OK, maybe not incredible nor do I have any expertise, but here they are anyway.
1) If you do not know how to put your rental car in reverse, you can be sure many embarrassing moments are on the near horizon. After pushing our car into our parking space in Spello, every night before I went to sleep for the rest of the trip, I repeated the words, "Pull up on the ring! Pull up on the ring!"
2) When filling up your rental car the first time, take that extra few seconds to make sure it is Super Gas or Diesel. If your car sounds like a bicycle with baseball cards in the spokes after filling up and driving for a few minutes, you can be assured you used the incorrect petrol.
3) If you find yourself suddenly driving in circles on the Trevi town square, immediately get the hell out of town before the locals jot down your license plate number.
4) If a truck is coming straight at you on the wrong side of a two-lane highway, I found closing my eyes and having Mary say a quick prayer in the back seat helped immensely (you may substitute other traveling partners for Mary, however she is available for a price to travel with you).
5) Speaking of Mary, Ambien and Italian red wine do not go together very well.
6) Every wife should watch at least one original Star Trek episode in order to get Tracy's "look" down to perfection when their spouse screws up.
7) For husbands: A good way to keep from getting "the look" is to help your wife with the luggage and not the two cute girls seated adjacent to you on the train (Trust me on that one guys).
8) Most Importantly - When you do screw up (and you probably will), don't let it bother you. I find that two glasses of red wine (sans Ambien) and a good sense of humor make most miscues seem not so bad and sometimes, in retrospect, they can be very funny.
Hope this helps.
Aug 5th, 2010, 12:21 PM
#46
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 432
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Bob
Travel is fun
Writing about travel is fun
Helping others travel is fun
The fun had gone from all this.
Where does living in Italy and claiming the moral high ground just for that reason fit into all this?
It will be a better place until she decides to troll us again.
Travel is fun
Writing about travel is fun
Helping others travel is fun
The fun had gone from all this.
Where does living in Italy and claiming the moral high ground just for that reason fit into all this?
It will be a better place until she decides to troll us again.
Aug 5th, 2010, 01:15 PM
#47
I always wondered if she lived in Italy full time as she claimed, as many of her postings were done in the middle of the night. Then again, maybe it was the sleep deprivation that made her so cranky.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/31/bra...privation.html
http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/31/bra...privation.html
Aug 5th, 2010, 01:22 PM
#48
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,350
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Granted I did not read all of the posts, but I have never seen anything that crosses the line as abusive from zeppole. Opinionated, yes, but I think the reaction is a bit overblown. If there was some major insult I missed then I truly apologize, but I think everyone should have a thick skin when they frequent any forum. I always found her posts really informative, whether I agreed with her assessment or not.
Aug 5th, 2010, 01:33 PM
#49
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 6,024
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
That is because, yorkshire, you were never on her short list of people to insult or abuse in a public forum; she is legend under many a name. I only ran afoul once, back when I didn't quite understand the history, and called her on some particularly rude remarks about another travel forum. Later I learned that not only had she been banned there, but had used a few names there as well. When I learned who she had been, I remembered her well. It is really too bad because yes, a lot of her information was good, but the rest was insane.
Aug 5th, 2010, 01:43 PM
#50
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 563
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I post only occasionally, and normally steer away from the fray when things get testy between zeppole and Bob, or zeppole and St Cirq., or zeppole and kybourbon ... though there does seem to be an unmistakable pattern here.
I must admit to having found this thread entertaining ... except for the initial post, which seems to be an accumulation of incoherent ramblings, leading to no discernable objective. Honestly, what was the point of this OP, if not to stir up some of her favorite “rivals”?
I must admit to having found this thread entertaining ... except for the initial post, which seems to be an accumulation of incoherent ramblings, leading to no discernable objective. Honestly, what was the point of this OP, if not to stir up some of her favorite “rivals”?
Aug 5th, 2010, 02:00 PM
#51
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 16,490
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
yorkshire
zeppole spread a lot of lies and half-truths about me. See the thread posted here earlier:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...long-sorry.cfm
On another thread that was deleted by the Fodors people, she told a newbie OP to ignore any advice offered by me or StCirq - before either of us even posted anything.
She accused Joan Grace of being an agent or having a financial interest in Paris Perfect Apt rentals - which Joan does not - just a repeat customer who spends several months a year renting Paris Perfect apts and therefore probably receives some discounts & special "considerations".
Is this abusive?? How would you like to be told that your advice is "irresponsible" (see above link), that it should be ignored (deleted thread), and that you are WRONG (another comment about me in another thread) ???
Stu Dudley
zeppole spread a lot of lies and half-truths about me. See the thread posted here earlier:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...long-sorry.cfm
On another thread that was deleted by the Fodors people, she told a newbie OP to ignore any advice offered by me or StCirq - before either of us even posted anything.
She accused Joan Grace of being an agent or having a financial interest in Paris Perfect Apt rentals - which Joan does not - just a repeat customer who spends several months a year renting Paris Perfect apts and therefore probably receives some discounts & special "considerations".
Is this abusive?? How would you like to be told that your advice is "irresponsible" (see above link), that it should be ignored (deleted thread), and that you are WRONG (another comment about me in another thread) ???
Stu Dudley
Aug 5th, 2010, 02:11 PM
#53
<i>Is this abusive?? How would you like to be told that your advice is "irresponsible" (see above link), that it should be ignored (deleted thread), and that you are WRONG (another comment about me in another thread) ??? </i>
Obnoxious and annoying and perhaps not very nice but I wouldn't call the above abusive.
Obnoxious and annoying and perhaps not very nice but I wouldn't call the above abusive.
Aug 5th, 2010, 02:44 PM
#55
zeppole
stepsbeyond
sfinge (that isn't exactly how it was spelled)
primeranoche
nessundorma? - was that another one?
There were others and as stated above, some of the names were used on other boards that do a better job of permanently banning. Yes, she had some info that she gleaned from reading lots of articles, many in Italian newspapers/guides and from Google. She regularly told people to stay at various agriturismo and eat all their meals there when she had never set foot on the properties yet slammed everyone else for their suggestions and questiong whether they had ever actually stayed/ate there.
Leely2 - Yes, verbal abuse is still abuse. It was to the point that every time Bob or Stu posted, she attacked them and essentially called them liars and stupid as she did others.
>>>or zeppole and kybourbon ... though there does seem to be an unmistakable pattern here.<<<
AFAIK, I only had one or two threads where I posted because I was tired of her abuse of others. It was putting a pall on the entire Italy forum and had run quite a few nicer posters off. She says she "dropped a piano" on me, but I don't recall any run in with her about Orvieto. I think she confused me with someone else.
Bob and Stu have been on Fodor's for years and to my knowledge, never banned. Nor have they been banned on other boards. When you are being banned on multiple boards, under multiple names, you have serious issues.
stepsbeyond
sfinge (that isn't exactly how it was spelled)
primeranoche
nessundorma? - was that another one?
There were others and as stated above, some of the names were used on other boards that do a better job of permanently banning. Yes, she had some info that she gleaned from reading lots of articles, many in Italian newspapers/guides and from Google. She regularly told people to stay at various agriturismo and eat all their meals there when she had never set foot on the properties yet slammed everyone else for their suggestions and questiong whether they had ever actually stayed/ate there.
Leely2 - Yes, verbal abuse is still abuse. It was to the point that every time Bob or Stu posted, she attacked them and essentially called them liars and stupid as she did others.
>>>or zeppole and kybourbon ... though there does seem to be an unmistakable pattern here.<<<
AFAIK, I only had one or two threads where I posted because I was tired of her abuse of others. It was putting a pall on the entire Italy forum and had run quite a few nicer posters off. She says she "dropped a piano" on me, but I don't recall any run in with her about Orvieto. I think she confused me with someone else.
Bob and Stu have been on Fodor's for years and to my knowledge, never banned. Nor have they been banned on other boards. When you are being banned on multiple boards, under multiple names, you have serious issues.
Aug 5th, 2010, 02:57 PM
#56
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 62,150
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
As a relative newbie I would like to chime in. I am by no means an Italy expert having made only three trips there and visiting a few areas, and have not, alas, been there since 1992. I have learned about Liguria from Zeppole's posts and am interested in travelling there.However, I am very put off by the abusive, yes, abusive tone and have been afraid to post some impressions of places I travelled because of her. I do not look forward to her new incarnation, but I do miss some of her info. I do not agree that posting on a travel forum should require a thick skin. It should require the ability to tolerate disagreement, to take everything with a grain of salt.
Aug 5th, 2010, 03:21 PM
#57
kybourbon, I don't see what Stududley described in his post as abusive, verbal or otherwise. He said he was called "wrong," that the OP said his advice should be ignored and that his advice was irresponsible. That's verbal abuse? When it's directed at an adult posting on an internet travel forum? I think it's obnoxious, tactless, etc., but no, I don't call it abuse.
Admittedly I pop in and out of the Europe forum based on where my next vacation will be and seem to have missed all this history that you're talking about. I don't think I've ever seen those other screen names.
Ciao!
Admittedly I pop in and out of the Europe forum based on where my next vacation will be and seem to have missed all this history that you're talking about. I don't think I've ever seen those other screen names.
Ciao!
Aug 5th, 2010, 05:25 PM
#60
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,501
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
When a self-proclaimed "artist" tells you that she goes to Florence many times but has no interest in seeing David, you can't help but wonder. You'd think she'd at least want to check out the competition.
